2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee

[A.H.Black]

It's this week starting tomorrow - 5/31. It has changed networks - Now on ION. Much of it will be streamed on ION plus. Lavar Burton is hosting this year.

https://spellingbee.com/ - Main page.
https://spellingbee.com/watch - Where to watch.
https://spellingbee.com/competition - about this year's Bee plus the Spellers.

Television Schedule - as far as I can see -
Semi-finals - Wednesday, 6/1, 8:00 pm on ION.
Finals- Thursday, 6/2, 8:00 pm on ION.

Streaming - ION plus streaming is only available on Samsung TV plus and Vizio, Watch + Free
Preliminaries, Tuesday, 5/31, 9:00am - 7:00pm - ION plus
Quarter Finals, Wednesday, 6/1, 8:00am - 1:00pm - ION plus
Semi-finals, Wednesday, 6/1, 3:30pm - 7:30pm - ION plus
Finals, Thursday, 6/1, 8:00pm - 10:30 - ION plus

Times are eastern daylight time.

I hope I will enjoy it as much on ION. I can already tell I will not be able to watch the streaming. Hopefully someone will jump in with instructions/options on how to watch ION plus.

 

[Debbie S]

I've never heard of ION but it turns out I have it. Looking forward to watching the finals! I don't remember the word meaning round from last year but it should be interesting.

 

[Sylvia]

Preliminaries livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-oVylxUtDo

The 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee will begin with the Preliminaries on Tuesday, May 31, at 9 a.m. All 234 spellers will have a turn at the microphone in the hopes of becoming the 2022 Champion! Watch the Preliminaries live from the Bee's official YouTube channel.

ETA that 74 spellers remain after 5 groups and qualify for tomorrow's QF round; the 6th & final preliminary round gets underway ~6 pm ET.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Thank you for the heads up. I have tried to see what is up with ION Television. I cannot make heads or tails out of it.

I haven't watched Akeelah and the Bee in ages. One if nt faves,

I remember in High School (yep there wee a few in the dark ages), my counselor who was working with me on college apps. I will never forget: "With these spelling scores, I cannot believe he high grades you have"

Still can't spell......spell check may be the best invention ever!!

 

[A.H.Black]

Preliminaries livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-oVylxUtDo

ETA that 74 spellers remain after 5 groups and qualify for tomorrow's QF round; the 6th & final preliminary round gets underway ~6 pm ET.

So glad there is a better option for streaming. I hope it is kept available after the day is over so I can catch what I missed earlier.

 

[BaileyCatts]

Ah yes .... time to watch 12 year olds that are smarter at 12 than I will ever be in my entire life.

I can't even imagine what its like to be as smart as these kids are. I love watching this!

 

[Sylvia]

So glad there is a better option for streaming. I hope it is kept available after the day is over so I can catch what I missed earlier.

Yes, the livestreams can be replayed - Quarterfinal round (88 competitors started; 48 advanced & received medals starting after the 2-hour-31-min. mark) earlier today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K457KgL-9W0

ETA:

Pandemic has lingering toll on smaller National Spelling Bee

Dev Shah's dream of returning to the Scripps National Spelling Bee ended in a soccer stadium, of all places.

apnews.com

Excerpts:

While the National Spelling Bee is back — fully in person at its usual venue outside Washington for the first time since 2019 — Dev’s experiences illustrate how the pandemic continues to affect kids who’ve spent years preparing to compete for spelling’s top prize. Schools and sponsors have dropped out of the bee pipeline, regions have been consolidated and the bee has fewer than half the spellers it had three years ago.

Another huge change: Cincinnati-based Scripps broke with longtime partner ESPN and will broadcast the competition on its own networks, ION and Bounce. Actor and literacy advocate LeVar Burton was hired as host and will interview spellers and their families backstage, and last year’s champion, Zaila Avant-garde, will be part of the broadcast as an analyst.
Scripps had 245 regional sponsors in 2020 for the bee that was ultimately canceled because of the pandemic. That number is down to 198 for this year’s bee, which runs from Tuesday to Thursday.

“Many of our sponsors who are still with us, even, have expressed the concerns and the challenges brought forth by the pandemic,” said J. Michael Durnil, the bee’s executive director. “Some of our sponsors realigned what their missions were and maybe the bee didn’t fit. Maybe they lost person power and had to rethink their core business and the bee was not part of it. There’s been a great reset in a lot of areas.”
Newspapers historically sponsored most regional bees, but as the print media business cratered, the sponsors became a hodgepodge of companies, nonprofits and government entities. Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing, which sponsored the regional bee that Dev won in 2020 and ’21, was among those that dropped out. That forced Dev to travel two hours from his home in Seminole, Florida, to Orlando, where the open-air competition dragged on as judges shivered.

 

[A.H.Black]

And we're off on the semi-finals. So far Lavar is fine. After two years of covid, I don't know if I will recognize anyone who is in the semi's, however I see that there is one competitor left from my state. I will root for him. The little whispered introduction of each speller is irritating.

Here's the list of semi-finalists - https://spellingbee.com/meet-the-spellers?finalist_type=semi_finalist

 

[A.H.Black]

So they chacked the speller from my state all 3 rounds that were shown on TV. Not happy at all. He went out in the 7th round so I won't get to see him in the finals. I will check the youtube channel to see if he was shown there.

 

[A.H.Black]

Here are the finalists - https://spellingbee.com/meet-the-spellers?finalist_type=champ_finalist

There may an additional finalist as Surya Kapu was reinstated after appealing his final word in round 7 - https://www.npr.org/2022/06/02/1102714379/national-spelling-bee-appeal. He will be given another round 7 word at the beginning of tonight's spelling. If he spells correctly, he will be added to the group of finalists.

 

[Debbie S]

And they just reinstated another speller. Glad they are taking the time to make sure eliminations are correct, but why wouldn't they know the definitions of their own words before they give them to the kids?

These final words are very impressive!

 

[A.H.Black]

And we thought there was a lot of fluff in figure skating broadcasts. Give me a break.

 

[Debbie S]

Arrrghh! Get to the last word already!

My money's on Harini.

 

[A.H.Black]

I was thinking Vihaan. I can go with Harini

 

[Debbie S]

Yay, Harini! I was starting to worry I had jinxed her like I seem to do to U.S. pairs teams.

The spell-off was nervewracking to watch.

 

[A.H.Black]

The article Sylvia referenced earlier talked about the spell-off. I think I have to agree it's not a good thing. It measures how fast someone spells and not how well they spell. The Bee has never been about quickness but rather about knowledge. I think they need to find another way.

I don't know what happened to both of the finalists. It was like they psyched themselves out and couldn't spell anything at the end.

Congratulations to Harini.

 

[ice coverage]

Last night's entire live broadcast of the Finals was posted today on the YouTube channel of WCPO (owned by Scripps):

https://youtu.be/se4ReM8KThY (2:30:13, posted on Jun 3)​

My congratulations to all the spellers. I hope that every single one of them enjoyed the experience.

 

[Vagabond]

America's Top Spelling Searches, by State
I am impressed that Utah's is "boutonniere," but Georgia's, Alaska's, and Rhode Island's .... Really?!

 

[A.H.Black]

America's Top Spelling Searches, by State
I am impressed that Utah's is "boutonniere," but Georgia's, Alaska's, and Rhode Island's .... Really?!

I'm looking at North Dakota, Texas and Louisiana. Fun tweet

 

[tony]

I don't know how anyone can come away from that map not putting West Virginia as #1 most concerning.

 

[A.H.Black]

One more thought before I leave it this year. I have watched the Bee for 30 years or more. When they show the highlight reel, I remember all of those things happening. My favorite is Numnah - the timing is impeccable.

There has always been a certain hypnotic quality to watching the Bee. It's sort of like watching Antiques Roadshow - you think you will watch just one item and before you know it you've watched the whole show. It is that quality I like most about the Bee - relentless, hypnotic spelling. Ever since they started doing the back stage interviews, that quality has gotten less and less apparent. I have found myself liking the early rounds better because they didn't take so many breaks.

This year with the new network and the constant breaks, I found myself not enjoying the Bee very much at all. I believe that the strategy of the interview and playing up of the spellers personalities at the expense of the spelling, not only doesn't bring new viewers to the bee, but harms the particular quality of the Bee that long time viewers have found so captivating.

Why does the Bee have to have new viewers and more money? It was always been a "niche" event for those geeks who loved that sort of thing. I don't think it needs to be any different than what it has always been. Once again we find the addition of more money from broadcast rights changing an event to better fit the needs of the media rather than the other way around. I don't think these changes help the Bee and, in fact, hurt it. I know my opinion won't change anything, but there it is.