853fisher

One more thought re SF taxis, under spoiler tag for those who didn't sign up for a local policy roundtable:

It isn't really a pedestrianized street, at least in the sense I understand that term. Pedestrians are still expected to remain on the sidewalk - Market is still a multi-lane road with heavy traffic, including about a dozen bus and streetcar lines and the other vehicles I mentioned, plus cross traffic of all kinds from the intersecting streets. Renovations had been planned to include much wider sidewalks, some plazas with seating, more sturdily protected bike lanes, etc. Taking private autos off the street, ostensibly to speed up travel times for the remaining modes, was sort of a consolation prize for advocates of the other changes when they were dropped from the plans one by one.

"In 2020 more than 2 miles of this iconic San Francisco street were permanently closed to automobile traffic" gets a raised eyebrow from me. Local government made a big noise about "Car-Free Market Street," but there are plenty of automobiles still there. In addition to lawbreakers, taxis are allowed, as are any vehicles with commercial plates. I would've had no issues with the clue if it had read "private automobile traffic." For most, the clue probably boiled down to "name an important street in San Francisco that begins with an 'M,'" but for this SF local and frequent transit rider or walker along Market, what was presented was incomplete and could be misleading.

I agree with you but I can't really put it into words. Although I think some of his are still a bit too long or stilted (the "facts about Canada" one stands out in particular), his delivery comes across much more natural to me too. Of course, he doesn't have to fake being interested in the game and the trivia. To be honest, nothing I've seen of Mayim makes me think she's a particularly good actress, so maybe that has something to do with it. (Yes, I know she's worked consistently - that doesn't necessarily mean she's good.) She's "playing" a game show host, which would be bad enough, but if she's not very good at it...

I do wish there could be something worked out with the affiliates so that an episode could be posted online if it is preempted. I think the technology exists that would allow it to be geo-blocked outside certain affiliates' coverage zones if required. RE the opening monologues, I understand why it's a good idea to give the season a sort of narrative arc, even if for me personally it is extraneous. I still think those remarks, delivered by either host, are often too long and seem too rehearsed. Yesterday's was a good example of that segment seeming just barely pried off cue cards, fighting Mayim all the way. (I found it a bit condescending too, but I'm self-aware enough to know my problem is with the messenger as well as the content.)

10 of Ken's 75 games (13%) were not runaways, including his very first one! 9 of Ryan's 15 games so far (60%) have not been runaways. 11 of Mattea's 24 games (46%) were not runaways. 4 of James' 33 games (12%) were not runaways. I didn't run everyone's numbers, but I would bet a modest sum that Ryan has the greatest percentage of non-runaway games among those with 10+ or 20+ wins.

RE the idea that the game could be fixed, I share the basic impression that it wouldn’t be worth it for the show to do that. There are significant penalties under federal law for explicit rigging like giving contestants answers. I don’t think those rules would prevent the show from, say, attempting to pick stronger or weaker challengers as desired, and they do have data from their tests. But I don't think the ratings show enough incentive to mess with things that way. It's one of the top few shows regardless of whether there's a superchamp, with roughly the same ebbs and flows for the Olympics, winter vs summer, etc. as its peers. And if even something in the gray area like purposefully putting in ringers or cannon fodder came out, public reaction would likely be extremely negative. Why risk it? Maybe I'm kidding myself - I'd sure like to believe in something these days! But I find the explanations others have put forward perfectly plausible. At least one of the recent superchamps said they had much longer than usual between being selected and playing, plus much more time at home under the circumstances. There are more resources than ever for game theory, prep materials, etc. And I think the incumbency advantage on the pressure cooker that is this show must be sort of exponential. And if nothing else, with Claire McNear in particular poking around and a great deal of publicity around the show, I really think any kind of hanky-panky would have been exposed. All it would take is one unhappy staffer with access to emails or a recorder. So while I'm sure the show is loving the present anomalies, I really think they are naturally occurring.

I smiled at the understated callback to Ken's infamous response about a long-handled gardening tool. It didn't bother me that there was no outward sign that anyone onstage "got" it - the contestants were focused elsewhere and Mayim is what she is (in this case, not anyone who'd followed the show before last year). But I did wonder why they didn't save that for a Ken day instead. You may recall that the wine Jan and Michael serve their guests in The Office's "Dinner Party" is said to have an "oaky afterbirth" - so why I didn't remember that compound word for placenta, I couldn't tell you. Ryan seems to get really lucky when he really needs to. Good for him - he seems to be a genuine and decent guy for whom the money will really be transformative. I'm afraid he'll get blown out in the ToC, but you never know.

I strongly prefer silly puns and "dad jokes" to put-on insults and bravado, so I liked how Buzzy presented himself. No, it doesn't. Or at least it didn't when I last watched it a few years ago, and I don't think it's been added. They're on every weekday, often with a different chaser daily, so everyone has their bit of the action naturally.

Hear hear. I learned recently that someone wrote a biography of him a few years ago. At first I thought it might be a bit dodgy, sort of a vanity project for the author, but it seems to have been thoroughly and lovingly sourced. I'm hoping to get a copy by interlibrary loan one of these days, but it's not exactly the sort of mainstream book every branch has three of. What a crappy thing to say! 😇😇😇

Oh my, I just have. Thank you for the tip. I must say the impression was not...excellent. ;) Hmmmm, I think you could be right. Mayim has seemed so reliant on her earpiece that I gave her the benefit of the doubt this time and assumed this was the judges' fault. Wouldn't it be ironic if she had struck out on her own for once and biffed!

I think you missed two clues and an acknowledgment that Ryan had run the category. "In 2021 the estate of this "Dance With My Father" R&B singer who left us far too soon at 54 made a $40 mil. deal with Primary Wave" "Sony Music made a boss move in 2021, paying more than half a billion for the recordings & music publishing of this Jersey guy"

Today was Ryan’s highest coryat score (betting clues are given their “natural value” on the board instead of the player’s wager) yet. I hope it helps his confidence to have some of these really dominant performances along with the games he seems to get through by the skin of his teeth. (Of course, it doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it.) Was there a particular meaning behind his joking response of Ted Cruz for FJ? I know there are various mock conspiracy theories about him, but I can’t think of one that links to the clue. Accepting “King Lear” raised my eyebrow a bit. The title of James Shapiro’s book is “The Year of Lear,” no “King” in sight. The clue was “…’Year of’ this great tragic play,” and I guess that play is sometimes colloquially called “Lear,” but I really wish I couldn’t find any of these things to even think about poking holes in the writing. I also wish they would briefly explain reversals by the judges. “Earlier we accepted your response of ‘privateering’ to the clue about letters of marque. A privateer has received letters of marque authorizing them to engage in naval operations, but we asked you what those operations would be considered without the authorization. The correct response was ‘piracy,’ so I’m afraid we’ve had to adjust your score.” I know time is not unlimited, but I think it makes sense to offer some kind of clarification without requiring the viewer to do their own research.

This is why I also object to it when used as a noun, usually by men. I find it seems depersonalizing and is almost never used in a positive or neutral sense. You wouldn't hear "I'm glad to see females in leadership at this company" or "I've been dating a while but haven't met the right female for me yet." It would far more likely be "I wonder what these females do to get those jobs" or "there's something wrong with these females I've been meeting." (Both of which I have read or heard recently.) A friend once summed it up by saying that she thought she had never heard anyone use it without it being evident that they really wanted to use a word for a female dog instead.

Bill Cullen isn't half as well remembered as I think he deserves to be, so I was glad Mandy mentioned him, but "Tic Tac Dough" wasn't actually among the well over a dozen shows he hosted. Maybe she misspoke, rather than being misinformed, but it was a bit of a bummer to this big fan of his. Another nitpick: Howard Dietz was inspired by Columbias's mascot to create the mascot for Goldwyn Pictures. The lion was also used by that studio's successor, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but the clue asked specifically about its genesis. Some will think this is splitting hairs, but I thought it was sloppy. Just one more: the sound engineer forgot to mute Mayim's mic as she walked from her opening mark to the podium, in case you wondered what that CLOMP CLOMP was while the categories were revealed. And this isn't a criticism of Mayim - it's not the host's job to take care of that. Maybe I'm just grumpy because I biffed FJ with Desmond Tutu. He died December 26 2021, so I was at least warmer than the two who guessed John Lewis, who died July 17 2020. In retrospect it sounds outlandish to guess that he would've mentored an American talk show host, but I knew he had died quite recently and he didn't strike me as one who would've had hang-ups about engaging with anyone with a large platform that could have helped him spread the values he stood or.

One of Hemingway's cats! (That's great fodder for a J! clue. He was given a cat with extra toes by a sea captain who considered them good luck. Today there are over 50 cats at his home on Key West. Not all have the toes, but all have the genes.) Officially, they're polydactyl, but that's much less fun. Judy has one extra toe on each of her front paws, plus a nub between the extra and main toes, which seems to serve no purpose other than to contain an extra claw with which to enforce her wishes.

How indeed? What I like most about it is the subtlety. That's very well said. I think "I Could Go On Singing," her last film, is one of her most affecting performances because it captures a bit of that dynamic, although she's not playing herself, at least not directly. For a bit of weekend frivolity, and in case anyone's wondering why I seem so deeply invested in Judy, I should fess up: one of my little hellions is named for her. She could not believe it when I told her she was a triple stumper:

The 30s were leading you in the wrong direction, because 1937 was the first one, with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, including the "big four," and won Best Original Story. The one with Judy and James Mason came in 1954, 15 years after Judy made it big in "Wizard of Oz." It was received very favorably but had been cut by almost 20% over the objections of the director, George Cukor. There was a fantastic restoration some years ago for which most of the deleted material was recovered. (I saw it, incidentally, in the theater where Janet Gaynor had been an usher as a young woman) I had forgotten the third one, from 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, but maybe that was also in the players' heads. So I guess perhaps the "get-ability" of this clue hinged on recognizing "Get Happy" and associating it with Judy. Perhaps it's not unlike how Omaha is well-known to football fans and opaque to others. I'm sure the folks I attend "Musical Mondays" bar nights with know it, but for those not interested, I'm not sure. "Summer Stock," in which she did that number, is definitely more obscure than "A Star is Born" today.

Count me in with the club that instinctively followed “wreck of” with “Edmund Fitzgerald.” Aaron in particular, whose specializations in history include pop culture and FILM according to several profiles, should hang his head for not knowing Judy Garland. (Yes, I know your brain does strange things under the lights. Still.)

I think you likely would have been ruled out because the clue called specifically for "this Italian name for a major city." But we would at least have known you knew it. ;) I forgot it was in the "body" of the song! The choral intro in Dean Martin's big hit version goes "In Napoli / where love is king / when boy meets girl / here's what they sing" so I didn't go any further. I would have chipped in an extra $100 or so if any contestant had sung their response. I really like all his old records.

I felt we could see Ryan getting tired in this episode. 4th game of the day, so who can blame him? But I was surprised that, for example, he made the mistake not once but twice of naming a word rather than a consonant in "The Silent Consonant In..." Those kinds of mistakes could really cost him when he comes back for the ToC. I was very surprised not only that nobody knew the name of the Secretary General but also that he was in the $800 box to begin with. Too many stand-and-stares probably had something to do with why we didn't clear the boards in either round. Harrumph.

Me too. It took me a bit to shake "when in the course of human events," which was obviously wrong given the date, but seemed a logical match with "world history." To be honest, when the outcome of the game is not in question, my mind barely stays in the room for FJ. It's an investment of another few minutes overall on just one clue, and I feel I'm already on to the next thing. Oh well!

That's it, thanks. Brilliant! So that was also an informed (if misguided) guess. Me neither. Maybe for 17-year-old Mayim, it took anointment by Mike Myers to qualify as cool? Something tells me she wasn't really on the vanguard of rock at that time.

Lucille Ball was a good guess for a comedienne who passed away in 1989. She died three and a half weeks before Gilda of an aortic aneurysm. Her memoir is "Love, Lucy": I think it was found in her effects after she died, and it only covers her life until about the late 1960s. She was 77 and otherwise in good health. Perhaps she would have written something more complete if she'd had a chance. Any ideas why Ryan guessed Fanny Brice? It could just be a fluke (she died in 1951, after all), but I think there might have been some kind of bell rung by the memoir title, "It's Always Something." But what that is...I can't think!

Thanks for all this discussion. I'm just now watching and was feeling a bit grumpy about so many changes to a favorite childhood book. It was good to be reminded of / learn about the many different ways this story has been adapted. It calmed me down long enough to remember that, of course, page-to-screen always involves some compromise. Now I can approach the rest of the series more openly.