MrAtoz

I said, for no really good reason, Mercer Mayer for Final Jeopardy (anybody remember him?). He hasn't won a Caldecott either, and his first book also came out in 1967, so a bit too late to fit the clue. I think what made Jason's story particularly charming was the way he told it. Not just, "They thought I looked like Nicholas Cage," but actually saying "Ay! Dios mio! Nicholas Cage." There was just something endearing about that.

My first thought for FJ was Angel Falls, probably because of the word "angels" in the clue. Then I remembered in time that Angel Falls are in South America, and Livingstone was in Africa. After that, Victoria Falls was obvious. I was a bit surprised that none of the contestants got it.

I enjoyed J.J.'s enthusiasm as well, but I didn't think she should have gotten credit for giving last names only in the "Follow the Leader" category. I'm not usually a stickler for giving full names (in fact, I think it's rarely a good idea to do so), but when the clue actually gives you initials, it seems like you ought to be required to provide both names that go with those initials. I knew, based on the date, that FJ had to have something to do with the former Yugoslavia, but I couldn't come up with the correct answer. I guess I hadn't heard of the change to "North" Macedonia, although I was vaguely aware that Greece had been disputing Macedonia's use of the name.

Exactly. I thought that was a very easy Daily Double, if you understood what the category was about. And if you know classical music, I suppose. Schubert is probably the name most closely associated with Leider, and "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel" is one of his better known songs. I would have rocked that category.

The thing is, they skipped several 4-game winners to get to Emma, including Jackie Fuchs, Dave Leffler, Jonathan Dinerstein, and a few others. I imagine those are the "everyone who could have qualified" that are mentioned at the end of the announcement video. I'm not sure there are any laws specifically about the Tournament of Champions. The fine print at jeopardy.com says "final selection is up to the producers' sole discretion."

Yep, it was Every Good Boy Does Fine. Which is also how I learned it, and therefore Obviously Correct. Never heard of this "Deserves Fudge" business, which is Clearly Wrong and was probably invented by Those Damn Millennials. 🙂 Edited to add: On the other hand, I have also heard "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour." I think that's mostly a British usage (hence the spelling of "Favour").

It's happened occasionally, but usually when there aren't enough 4 and 5 game winners in a year. I'm intrigued by Jimmy's last sentence in that video--everyone else who would have qualified will be held over for the next tournament. I wonder just who that includes?

I thought Kevin might win--he was doing very well early on. It was Ryan finding the Daily Double that turned the tide. I don't really "know" Kevin personally, but his wife (Ruth) was one of my opponents during my time on the show. She was the one who would have beaten me if she hadn't changed her Final Jeopardy answer. Ruth was very nice, and I assume Kevin is as well, so I was kind of rooting for him for that reason. It's cool when both members of a couple can get to do the show. I had no idea on Final Jeopardy. After Alex mentioned Thermopylae, I knew who they meant, but still couldn't remember his name. I would have had to say "That guy that Gerard Butler played in 300."

The clue didn't actually say "not skinny." It just mentioned not looking like a typical model. Which is why I guessed Twiggy. 😕

Oh, I've seen some of those! GSN used to show older B&W games shows on Sunday evenings ("Sunday night in Black and White!"). Lots of fun.

I got it quickly, too, but it brought back painful flashbacks for me! Final Jeopardy in my third game was about Mozart, which I completely blanked on (fortunately, so did both of my opponents), despite the clue giving me "Vienna" and "1791." Edited to add: Was I a weird kid in loving mythology, and reading everything about it I could get my hands on? I know everything is easy when you know it, but I'm always a little surprised by how much trouble people seem to have with mythology questions that I think of as fairly straightforward.

I've also been watching the old games on Netflix. Specifically, so far I've seen Season 1, Episode 1, and Season 2, Episode 1. Fascinating to see the way the show was presented early on. The most obvious difference, apart from Alex's appearance, is that he did a lot more explaining of how the game worked in the early days. Today they just take it for granted that everybody understands the game, but back then he started off by going through how the game was played in case anybody wasn't familiar. Also, the "end of round" sound effect was a lot more obnoxious! And in the first season, you could ring in as soon as you knew the answer! They didn't go to the "wait until Alex finishes reading the clue" rule until the start of Season 2. Alex specifically announced the change in the rules, and said it was to make it easier for viewers at home to play along. A couple of curiosities: You'd think that Season 1, Episode 1 would be the first episode ever aired. And yet it had a returning champion who had somehow already won 2 games. Wha?? Season 2, Episode 1 featured a misspoken contestant response. Someone said "What is The Hounds of the Baskervilles" (rather than the correct "Hound"), and Alex accepted it. These days that would get corrected later, and the contestant would have had some money deducted. But they let it pass, and never corrected it. Shocking! And even then, there was the occasional contestant who started in the middle of a category! It's fun to see the way the game was played in the early days.

According to wikipedia, there are a couple of theories about how "jury" came to mean "makeshift" or "temporary." One is that it comes the French jour, meaning "day," as in a repair that will only last for a day or so. The other is that it comes from the Old French ajurie, meaning "help" or "relief," from the Latin adjutare ("to aid").

There were a lot more one-term presidents during Victoria's reign--not to mention the month-long presidency of William Henry Harrison. That seems to be what made the difference. That was how I got it. One of those little bits of trivia that I've picked up over the years is the fact that Lincoln was the first president to be re-elected in over 30 years. Prior to him, the last president to serve two terms was Andrew Jackson. Everybody between them was either a one-term guy or died in office. I don't often watch the Teen Tournaments, but I've been at least glancing at this one for some reason.

That's what I remember as well. Lunch break comes after the Wednesday game, and that's when they switch out audiences.