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nything a tad educational may appear like an endangered species on TV amid the overkill of cheesy local sinetron (soaps). However, education-themed programs always manage to gain an audience looking for something to challenge their smarts.

For example, state-owned channel TVRI has Cerdas Cermat (Smart and Meticulous) or Cepat Tepat (Quick and Correct), a quiz show for high school students. The show, testing the general knowledge of three teams of three students, has been on the airwaves for many years.

The most happening quiz show nowadays is Ranking 1 (Top Ranked), aired on TransTV every weekday morning from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Featuring 80 participants on each show, Ranking 1 has been on air since 2010, with hosts Sarah Sechan and Ruben Onsu.

“I’m quite satisfied with the program for it allows me to get up early in the morning and ask questions. In the end, it was not a television channel that gave me an award, but the education and culture minister himself who told me that it was the most educative program,” Ruben told entertainment news portal Kapanlagi.com about his satisfaction in hosting the show.

The presenters read general knowledge questions, with participants giving the wrong answers eliminated from selection until only one winner remains. There is also a lab session with comedians Soji and Tarno as demonstrators.

The questions are mostly about general knowledge, but there are still participants who did not know the date of Youth Pledge Day (Oct. 28), the location of the Red Bridge (Surabaya, East Java) or the composer of
Bengawan Solo (Gesang).

The show offers a cash prize of Rp 50 million (US$5,400) if the finalist can answer all questions. No finalist has been able to break the TV station’s bank by claiming the big money.

Quiz shows have long been popular on the airwaves, and there have even been several quiz shows experiencing new leases on life with an updated format. Between 1999 and 2003, SCTV had a quiz show named Indosat Galileo with singer Ronni Waluya and model-turned-editor Susan Bachtiar as its hosts.

The format consisted of three parts: an indoor demo, an outdoor demo and “animal behavior”, with participants competing for the cash prize of Rp 1 million, which was a huge amount of money at that time. In 2004, SCTV relaunched the quiz under a new name, Indofood Galileo, due to a change in sponsor.

Indosiar had Siapa Berani? (Who Dares?), a quiz show that offered cash prizes of Rp 10 million to Rp 30 million. Aired from 2000 to 2005, the show was hosted by presenter Helmy Yahya and former beauty queen Alya Rohali.

The show won Panasonic Awards in 2001 and 2002 as the favorite quiz and game show. It also made it into the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI) for featuring 750,000 participants in more than 750 episodes.

The show was continued by RCTI in 2009 under the title Siapa Lebih Berani? (Who Has More Guts?) and by ANTV in 2011 as Siapa Paling Berani? (Who Is The Bravest?).

Between 2001 and 2006, RCTI had Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, an adaptation of the British quiz show, with Tantowi Yahya, brother of Helmy, as the host. Like its foreign predecessor, it followed the formula of a single contestant who sat in the “hot seat” and had to answer 15 questions to win Rp 1 billion.

No participant ever came home with Rp 1 billion, and only two participants ever won Rp 500 million.

In September 2006, ANTV took over the show and changed the title to Super Milyarder 3 Miliar (Super Billionaire 3 Billion) with actress Dian Sastrowardoyo as host. Between September and October 2010, RCTI resumed the show under the title Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Hot Seat, with host Ferdi Hassan.

— Tifa Asrianti