most popular primetime TV programs from 2001 to 2011

[harpreetsinghbajaj]

According to an analysis of the ten most popular primetime TV programs from 2001 to 2011, the popularity of the reality television genre has fallen considerably from its peak in 2007, while the general drama category has reclaimed much of its lost ground. This analysis, however, must clearly be unfounded since both the current number one and number three shows are reality programs.

The answer to which one of the following questions would contribute most to an evaluation of the argument?

Ⓐ To what extent are the number one and number three reality programs representative of their genre as a whole?

Ⓑ What was the statistical norm in popularity of the reality genre prior to its peak in 2007?

Ⓒ How many new reality television programs have been released since 2007?

Ⓓ What proportion of reality television programs that were once unpopular have seen a resurgence in popularity?

Ⓔ Of the reality programs that are still popular, how many are profitable?
Source: EMPowerGMAT
Before going to analysis of question, i would like to know whether these type of questions correspond to real GMAT question may be somewhere near to real GMAT
Analysis:
Premises: Analysis show that popularity of type A has fallen and Type B regained.
Counter: Rank 1 and Rank3 are still of type A
Conclusion: The Analysis is unfounded
I am confused between A & C

[RonPurewal]

i presume the correct answer here is A.
(forum rule: you MUST provide the official answer with the original question. please obey this rule going forward; thank you.)

this particular item is be a better fit for the 'assumption' task.
in the passage there's a shaky connection between the speaker's evidence (the #1 and #3 shows) and his/her conclusion (the other analysis must be wrong). choice A would patch up that connection, so it's presumably the correct answer here.

this isn't the way 'evaluate' problems normally work on the exam, though. the official problems don't usually point directly to an assumption; rather, they normally present new evidence that bears on the validity of the assumption.
functionally, though, this problem is still valid.

[RonPurewal]

it's also worth noting that the problem suffers from sloppy writing.

choice A contains "the number one and number three reality programs". technically, this wording doesn't have to refer to the same programs mentioned in the passage.

* the passage refers to "the #1 and #3 programs", without any qualifiers—implying that we're talking about the problems that are #1 and #3 overall.

* this choice, on the other hand, refers to "the #1 and #3 reality programs". taken literally, this phrase would refer to whichever programs are first and third within the reality category.

the gmat does not play tricky games with words, so i'm not implying that you should learn to watch out for this sort of thing.
(quite the opposite, in fact. because you can trust that GMAC won't play games with words, you don't have to burden yourself with the task of nitpicking every last nuance of the words in the official problems.) rather, you should just note that the GMAC problems are worded with more precision.

[harpreetsinghbajaj]

Thanks a Lot Ron!
OA : A

[RonPurewal]

sure.