What is Ma Rainey's Black Bottom's IQ Score?

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom has an IQ Score of 166/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Masterclass tier. The score breaks down to 42/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 41/50 Educational Value, and 41/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Ma Rainey's Black Bottom educational?

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is strong on educational value, 41/50 on TVI's rubric, which covers academic content, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, life skills, and knowledge transfer.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's IQ Score is calculated as round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers: Masterclass (≥160), Stimulating (≥130), Competent (≥100), Passive (≥70), and Numbing (<70). The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , IQ Score 166/200

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom has an IQ Score of 166/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Masterclass tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-06-17·Methodology

dramamusic

166/ 200

Masterclass

Measurably increases domain knowledge or cognitive capacity

Score Breakdown

Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.2

Formula

round(C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4

Database scale

2,338 titles, version-controlled

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The TVI Take

George C. Wolfe's 2020 August Wilson adaptation anchored by Viola Davis's Oscar-nominated performance as 1920s blues singer Ma Rainey and Chadwick Boseman's final film performance.

The structural commitment to letting Wilson's stage-language register operate at intimate Chicago-recording-studio scale is canonical 2020s August-Wilson-adaptation work.

Where to Watch

Stream