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I missed McWhorter on Friday's show and didn't think I had ever heard of him before. This morning I watched an interview he did for Thursday's NewsHour, which I had failed to watch on that day. D'oh! I would say he looked just like the photo shown on Friday, so it is likely current. We should all be so lucky!

Could anyone help me with what Blossom said after the dyke clue? I played it back several times and couldn't hear anything other than "those are dykes, so all of those sounded like ducks." Am I mishearing "Dutch"? I can't imagine it was really "ducks," but just yesterday she admitted she doesn't understand gen ed requirements, so who knows? This is exactly how I felt at the end of Alisa's story about her father's avocado farm and how she later got hooked on botany, when Mayim responded with " * tongue click * alright, and J.P. Allen, a professor of..." She needs to take some of the energy from her unearthly cackle at the end of today's show and apply it to the stories she isn't very interested in. Interesting that's what you perceived! Someone else interpreted it as disdain toward the idea that STEM students would benefit from an infusion of the humanities. I just thought it was such a bizarre reaction that I didn't know what the hell to think. Not sure if anyone can tell, but Ms. Bialik is just not doing it for me. At least all three contestants today seemed worthy of being within sniffing distance of a ToC slot for a change.

I noticed that only one was from a broadcast network (Hannibal on NBC). The others were on AMC, Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. It did strike me as a bit...none of the words I'm thinking of are right exactly. "Pinky-in-the-air" shows makes me sound like I'm 12, but that's the best was I can think to describe what I mean using an economy of words.

I will say, since I realize I’ve had very little nice to say this week, that I was glad Ed did so well. I think he is the only professor this week representing a community college. Nothing against anyone else, including “fancy” private schools like the one my degree comes from, but I think community colleges are so important. I was glad the show included at least one of them when people often seem to forget to consider these institutions when it comes to higher learning.

I didn’t think Mayim did well today. Just what is it that she doesn’t understand about including humanities courses in the curriculum of a college focused on science and technology? Beyond the interviews, I think she remains an average clue reader. The IUD is pronounced “RAY-nuh,” not “REE-nuh,” and it was also clear that she missed the intended hint in “On, this big ten school! Coached by…” “On, Wisconsin!” is their fight song, with a meaning like “Forward!” or “Go!” But she read it like "on this big ten school coached by Mark Johnson, the women's hockey team won the title," whatever it would mean to win a title "on" a big ten school. In fairness, she's not a team of one, and someone else on set should've had her re-record those during the break. "Mirena" was simply wrong, but the other is a bit more subtle. I think Mayim misses those beats too often.

I know it’s tough under the lights and so on, but I'm pretty underwhelmed by this tournament so far. I know it's a joke because they're college professors, you get degrees in college, ha ha ha, but if your promo spots promise "competition in the highest degree," I'm going to expect a little more. Without a Matt or Amy juggernaut, everyone should be able to show us their best. The last few days have left me wondering, is that it? We had a special tournament for this? Feh!

I'm sick of the back and forth. Make a decision already!

I did think McKinley was a respectable guess for "he was mayor of Buffalo," by which I mean it was also my guess. ;) Actually, McKinley was one of the many Ohioan presidents. The association between him and Buffalo, which I bet both Katie and I had in the back of our minds, is that it was the location of his assassination at the Pan-American Exposition there in 1901. Trivia: Cleveland is one of four former New York governors to have become president. The others are Martin Van Buren and both Roosevelts.

I said the Maghreb. I had really talked myself into believing there was such a thing as a "Maghreb ape" by the end of the think music. I wonder where I ever got that from! "Name the Musical" would be a dream for me if I was on the show, and I did get all 5! Here, for something a little different, is Lawrence Welk's orchestra doing "I Could Have Danced All Night" with a lovely ballroom routine. Lord knows his style was dated when it was new, but for all the corny setups and so on, his instrumentalists were top drawer. I find it can just hit the spot for a bit of old-fashioned charm. Anyway, back to the musicals, the first thing I saw on Facebook was a "think piece" alleging that "Casablanca" no longer resonates with, so it was nice to see on the show tonight that some of the works I consider "classics" are still celebrated in some venues, even if they did all let me down on "Annie Get Your Gun."

Now, I trust it wasn't just me whose first thought about "Old Geographic Names" was that the clue might not be anybody's business but the Turks.

While I'm in a critical mood, apparently... I also was unsure about the clue that mentioned "Thandie Newton." She announced nearly a year ago that she would like to go by Thandiwe, the original spelling of her name (which she unhappily simplified for Hollywood). I suppose the credit in the movie discussed would have been under Thandie, but I thought it would have been respectful to use the name she has indicated she wants to use. Sources like the New York Times now write "Thandiwe," in reference to her current and past work. Hey, it's the little things! I'm also not particularly convinced that "neuveau" would be phonetically correct for "nouveau," since such a point was made of that. In French it would be pronounced quite differently. In English, yeah, I guess "neu-" is sometimes prunounced "new," as in "neutrino" or "neuter." But, meh.

I wondered why Mayim seemed to go out of her way to avoid mentioning Amy's name, instead commenting on "the impressive run of our current champion." Perhaps this self-contained tournament was not filmed in sequence with the regular games as I had always assumed. But then why mention an "impressive run"? What if on Friday there had been a new champion eke out a fairly average win? I found that odd. Right. It's about that simple for me.

Professor Blum spoke so passionately about "Moby Dick" that she almost made me want to read it. Almost, but maybe not quite! I wonder whether I cited her in a paper once or something, or it's just one of those names that seems familiar. In other news, I wondered whether they would've taken just "Vatican" on the DD? I was worried about how exactly to describe "Vatican II" to make it match the clue. I also have to ask, isn't the Persian language better known as Farsi everywhere, not just Iran? That's how I know it. "It's a Wonderful Life" seemed made for me, and it was a cakewalk, except for the "Home Alone" clue. Something about the phrasing was just difficult for me to parse. I got hung up on "...wasn't his name Macaulay...was his brother in that movie...what does it mean to catch life...oh...1 and 2..." and it was all over by that point. Put a little more straightforwardly, I'm sure I could've answered correctly. How that was supposed to be easier than "name Donna Reed from this photo" and "name the very well known director whose masterwork this very well known movie is" is beyond me. But probably I'm just being a crank because I really wanted to run that category! Anyway, here is a little article that tells a bit more about how it went in and out of the public domain, for anyone curious. I thought "Paramount got the rights back in the 90s" was at best an extremely blunt summation of what happened. I'm sorry I'll be missing my own annual viewing again this year. It's usually one of my favorite holiday outings at an amazing theater near me that plays movies from "Hollywood's Golden Age" with trappings that were common in theatres then, like an organ prelude, but they won't reopen until at least next summer. When they saw how things were going with COVID, they decided to initiate some HVAC and earthquake work rather than try to swim upstream. Quite sensible, but disappointing! Of course I could watch it at home ,but for me it's just not the same. Now maybe things will heat up tomorrow. I wasn't terribly impressed with gameplay today. On a petty note, I absolutely hate those little globes on the sides of the lecterns. I think they look awful the way they wrap around so you can see maybe half of each of them, but they don't visually connect to make a whole. It’s like they just put the same graphics they would have if the lecterns were still a single unit without noticing that they’re separate now. But of course they didn't ask me. ;)

Yes, the professors are in the usual syndicated slot. A college students’ tournament is on ABC prime time in February. Not sure there is much info about how that will be structured.

I wish I had focused on "fulfills a word" and thought, what do you fulfill? Instead I was just trying to name nonprofits and think which included something discrete that could be accomplished many times (so not "Eradicate Polio" or "Save the Rainforest" or similar). I also thought 1980 was supposed to be an important clue and was wondering about HIV/AIDS. That was an interesting one. I'm not particularly excited for this tournament. Ken is far superior to Mayim for what's important to me in a host, and I've also been enjoying watching Amy's streak. I'm happy to celebrate professors, of course. I'm sure the result will be fine. I don't find it unbearable when Mayim's hosting. I've just found it so much better with Ken.

It's funny you say this, because I was thinking that Beverly's other two usual girlfriends were conspicuously missing. It would have been funny to find all three of them at the club together. And I couldn't figure out why a friend of Beverly's would make a party for Erica, but if they were going to use that idea, surely Mrs. Schwartz would have been involved too. It felt like they only wanted to pay one of them so they flipped a coin and Essie lost.

Pretty weak game for me overall. The in-their-style writing category in particular was just too much for me to cut through quickly. I was surprised to learn the Supersonics no longer exist, which tells you how much I follow basketball. I had Ottawa for FJ. At least I was in the Commonwealth. I wonder if giving them a shoutout would have qualified me for one of these trips I hear they're giving away recently. ;)

They were a birthday gift from her girlfriend, whose mother always said that every lady needs a string of pearls. The girlfriend hasn't been able to attend tapings, so it's Amy's way of keeping her nearby. I got it because it was featured on my Hulu home screen for a while. I've heard a lot of good things about it, but I just can't start something else while midway through five books, three shows, and a partridge in a pear tree. The beyhive, some of her more ardent fans would surely correct us. ;)

Pam was really intense! I wasn't surprised to learn she is an accomplished athlete. I really like Amy but would've been excited to see what Pam did in future episodes. Goodnessdidn'tshetalkawfulfastthough? I recently saw "Dirty Harry" for the first time and, while I enjoyed the movie and it certainly prompted topical conversation afterward, I found "do ya feel lucky, punk?" extremely underwhelming as Eastwood delivered it. So yes, Ken, I do agree that it was much better done by Johnny! I thought "chicken skin" was just Amy trying to parse the skin-related "cutis" and the "fowl" clue, or that it could perhaps be a regional term, but it turns out it's a condition by which too much keratin causes acne-like bumps to appear. I didn't know that! Pam reported on another board that there was a brief stop while the judges researched it and confirmed it was not related to cold or fear as required by the clue. I found FJ quite difficult. I knew they wanted either "twin" or "sister" cities. "Jumeaux" are twins in French, so I inferred correctly that "jumelées" meant twinned, and made the wrong choice. Upon reflection, "sister" definitely seems more common in US English. I think "X twinned with Y" is common in the UK, and I might also have thought "twin cities" sounded right because of Minneapolis / St Paul. So, they got me! I think so too. Ken said, "Stella's husband in 'Streetcar,' Stanley. Stanley Kowalski." The last name sounded like a parenthetical to me.

It's the final scene of "8½," a surrealist film by Fellini. I would say the reference was more an aesthetic Easter egg than a plot-based connection. The music is by Nino Rota, best known today for scoring the first two "Godfather" films. The movie is well regarded among "film people," but I would call it a pretty deep cut for us. A new restoration made the art house rounds this summer, so I assume someone who works on the show goes to the Film Forum or Nuart or what have you.

Thanks all for the feedback re Watership Down. It had been on that never-ending list of things to read and I'm glad this came up before I could write it off. I never recalled it coming up when I was a fairly interested student reader. I suppose "beloved by children" doesn't necessarily exclude "...but wasn't written particularly for them."

I was glad Ken put me out of my misery and told me who Chris reminded me of. I thought it was really uncanny. I know a few basic facts about "Watershed Down" exclusively because of mentions on game shows. However, I hadn't realized it is a novel for children. In retrospect, I suppose "anthropomorphic rabbits" should have been a clue.

I definitely got the impression that Nancy missed or forgot about them. In the past when a similar point has come up, my gut reaction has been that they all have the same chance to notice them and keep them in mind, or not. The more I think about it, the more I think that perhaps the host should mention them all the time or not at all. It's not tough to say "notice the quotations" like the hosts seem to do far more often than not. Everybody gets the initial clue that way, including the viewer.

I think even if I had remembered Royal Society, I would have worried that I was missing something. Royal Society of...? That might have really thrown me off. Good thing I didn't know it at all so I didn't need to worry! It seems the organization's original name was the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. Not half as embarrassing as what Agnew did to be removed from office. He's doubly reviled in our family home, since we were all raised in Maryland and are Greek on our father's side. He really let us down! Compared to that, an error of recollection is a bagatelle. :)

I don't know who to blame, but I couldn't get past Bing Crosby! I guess I was thinking of "Going My Way." Nebraska, New York, Bing, Spencer, what's the difference? They're all priests in movies. ;)