Gimmick Genius

I remember that last game of yours, Scott. I should - I faced Suzanne in the next game, her return as champ. At the end of Double, I had a $4000 lead but none of us got it right, so I ended up third. The category "The European Union" could have been anything. And of the five shows taped that day, any of the other FJs would've made me a winner.😯 Well, you win some and you lose some (or at least, you win some!).

When the Gambler hacked the hackers the show missed the opportunity for another callback (at least as old as NKOTB). When he asked to whom he was speaking and "Chuck" helpfully chimed, "She is Doctor Midnite!" Gambler should have aped Lloyd Bentson to Dan Quayle in the 1988 VP debate: "Doctor Midnight? I knew Doctor Midnite. Doctor Midnight was a foe of mine. And you, Miss, are no Doctor Midnite."

And they're only killing a quarter of the population to do it. They're only HALF as evil as Thanos!

When Idle missed "S is for shilling" it was because the clue said '60s London and he blurted out "Swinging!"

I was working in Canada in '84 so I'm certain I never saw these very earliest shows. I'm a child of the '60s, though, so still remember the Art Fleming days. One thing that is glaring(!) in these shows is how annoyingly reflective were the CRT monitors that displayed the clues! In fact, they very obviously subbed in 'modern' flat screen graphics for many - but not all! - of the clues. (They do a similar thing on MeTV's STAR TREK reruns, updating the special effects of the ships in flight, the weapons, and giving the Gorn Captain blinking eyes!!) But as I say, I also remember the board in the Fleming days with cardboard signs revealed by an out-of-sight stage hand ... after the whole board was revealed by an opening curtain.

((But wasn't there a line in an earlier episode that Firebrand was killed because of the ol' "using the hero's civilian name" mistake? )) I think you're right. That was The Red Bee. How could I mix them up? Must be the color scheme, the R. R. initials of their secret identities - and those see-thru shirts they wore!

Mr. Reilly from Firebrand Chemicals? The Golden Age hero Firebrand was Rod Reilly - and after his death the name was taken on by his sister Danette. But wasn't there a line in an earlier episode that Firebrand was killed because of the ol' "using the hero's civilian name" mistake?

When the FJ category was announced my pre-clue guess of a '50s movie was Touch of Evil - so I guess we were all in Charlton Heston mode!

I eliminated 'Grant' pretty quickly. 1862 was too early for him. But the "no trouble sitting still" MIGHT have suggested him - if you thought Grant was passed out drunk and couldn't move!

Speaking of overshoes, when I was a kid we wore a style my dad called, "Four-buckle Arctics (pronounced 'artics')."

Did I hear "Gull-er-val's Travels"?? That's what it sounded like. Sid's physiognomy makes me think of Buzz Aldrin.

That was my problem. I've never read MOREAU or seen the movies (Laughton or Brando) but the French name led me to think it was by Jules Verne; therefore "not British."😯

You're right, of course. I misremembered. 'Redneck Singers" would not be a strong category for me.

My only second guess for final was - Waylon Jennings? He was in the er, audience - at one of Cash's prison shows!

Nobody's addressed my complaint about this and several other stories of the 13th Doctor: Why do they park the freaking TARDIS so far away!? The Fam had to schlep all that anti-cyber gear at the start some uncomfortable distance. Similarly in the one with the dying birds they parked it a hundred yards down the beach from the lab. In the Villa Diodata ep they left it far out in the woods. The point of the TARDIS (it's smaller on the outside) is that you can bring it into a building or a ship - even a pretty small one. Now, I know this can be a Deus ex Machina answer to problems but it's dumb to ignore it. When all cyber-heck broke loose, they had to flee the planet in two different ships - abandoning the TARDIS! They could have piled all the refugees inside while working out a plan of survival. If all the running around is supposed to be more 'dramatic'....? Bad writing I call it.

I, too, often forget the category during a (Forrest)bouncy game; but what I wish they'd keep on the screen are the "Words from ________" categories where the response must be made up from the letters in some longer word. Much more difficult if I don't have that "long word" in front of me, as the contestants do in the studio. Same with categories like "Past Midnight" - words in the dictionary shortly after 'Midnight.'

Gee, some people probably think Dave Barry looks like Harry Anderson. Barry was interviewed shortly after the DAVE'S WORLD sitcom started and he said, "I don't have to act in it? And I don't have to write it? You just give me money? COOL!" But he did mention the show subtracted one of his dogs and added a second kid ... better opportunities for dialog that way I guess.

I still say " 'Tain't funny, McGee!" from Fibber McGee and Molly and that was WAY before my time. The first rock star marriage that came to my mind was Paulina Porizkova(sp?) and Ric Ocasek.

Terry was an aircraft maintainer(?) from Akron. I had wondered if he worked on Akron's iconic Goodyear Blimps! Six freakin' clues left on the DJ board! 😡😡😡 I wondered if Terry was doing a "Maxwell Smart in the phone booth."

Twenty years too early for 'Victorian'! 😉

My wife (from Kent, OH) and I couldn't believe a guy from Akron didn't know Steubenville from all the hints in the clue. Maybe should've added Dean Martin?

Yes. Coming back from Munich waving a piece of paper. "Peace in our time."

Exactly! And everytime I hear "Freddie Mac" in the economic news I think of him.

The Mrs and I both thought Monday's final was a gimme. We didn't know Queensberry's 'civilian' name but the year and sports/amateur/rules clues made us think it couldn't be anything else. I said "Monument Men in Black" so I'd have been wrong, leaving the s (plural) off the first word. I'll miss "Gor-vi" -- she was a Doll (sorry)...

Christmastime in 1991 we were playing Trivial Pursuit and Mrs Genius got a question asking who the comicbook character Captain Marvel's image was based on. I gave her a hint that it was a celebrity that had died very recently. She laughed and blurted "Freddie Mercury!" I said, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW CLOSE YOU ARE! because the answer was Fred MacMurray. Since then, we've thought the two of them made a particularly amusing mash-up (My Three Queens, anyone?).