Gimmick Genius

Speaking of beepers, a few years ago on 30 ROCK Liz Lemon had an obnoxious boyfriend played by Dean Winters. He was "Dennis, the Beeper King" and the joke was that that technology was already obsolete but he was sticking to it. So it amuses me that the two of them are now doing those All State "Mayhem" ads.

I changed my mind; Dennis doesn't look so much like a young Don Rickles as a young Michael Chiklis back in his "Commish" days when he was still doing the combover thing. Mr. Smith had a remake in the '70s; "Billy Jack Goes to Washington" with Tom Laughlin as the kung fu kicking, halfbreed Viet Nam vet!

I, too, was hoping Janelle Mona´e would beat out young Don Rickles - but it was not to be.😯 At least Dennis gave his first category choice of NIAGARA FALLS!!! the correct, stoogian emphasis.

I think Karen looks like a young Gayle Hunnicutt. I'm old.

So is "Mo'Nique" a contraction of the oxymoronic More Unique??? For TV tough guys, the first one that came to my mind was Mike ('Touch') Connors as Mannix!

I said Nick Hornsby, but I would've been wrong. It's Hornby.

And don't forget -- Kenan PLAYED Fat Albert in a movie with Cosby!

Frank Whaley and Steve Buscemi? Yeah, I can see that. My first impression of Eric was a classic ventriloquist's dummy! Medfly was an insta-get -- especially if you watch 1980s Johnny Carson reruns like I do...

Speaking of voices (I wondered who played the pool water!) when 'Coach' had his scene with Dr. Sturgis I realized - it's Bob Parr and his smarmy little boss from THE INCREDIBLES!

I think she resembles deadpan Janeane Garofalo. Jennifer seemed off her game after the first night. I'm glad she pulled out another win.

It makes me sad that no one knew Carol Channing. It makes me angry that the one who thought she was Phyllis Diller is now the champion.

How did the new champ put it? "Faint heart never won fair lady - or TV quiz show...!" before her big bet.

I got Nike of Samothrace (not SamoNthrace) but I fear that's offset by my answer of "SorenstRam" for the Sorenstam sisters a few days ago...

There was another Hammett-related Final Jeopardy recently... Fat Man, the name of the Atomic Bomb, came from The Maltese Falcon. Re: the Great Lakes clue of "Gitchee Gumee" ... that name is also cited for Lake Superior in The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Yes, it was amusing that contestant Nick missed Mr. Charles. In all fairness, both Nick (and Nora) Charles and Sam Spade were created by Dashiell Hammett. When the category 1930s Novel Characters was announced, I pre-guessed Tom Joad and the Mrs. said Sam Spade. I, however, thought The Maltese Falcon was from the '20s (it's from 1930). When the clue was revealed, Nick Charles (with his rich wife) was an insta-get. I was waiting to see if anyone answered "Who is The Thin Man" because that would be WRONG. 'The Thin Man' did NOT refer to Nick, no matter what the subsequent movie titles imply!

Richard Francis Burton did an English translation of that, too. Scandalous! 😮

I was unsure of FJ when the clue said "this work was introduced to Europe around 1700" because the famous translation that I'm aware of was by Sir Richard Francis Burton in the 1880s.

Hannibal was from Carthage in Africa. Did you mean Hammurabi's Code? On Wednesday's game in the This is SU category Kevin correctly answered 'A 5 letter word for smoothly polite' as Suave. I admit my first response was Suck-Up... but that's more than five letters. I thought of Eddie Haskell; he tried to be 'smoothly polite,' but he sure wasn't suave!

As for "Pullman Porters," the union (the most powerful union of black workers through the 20th century) was The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters so it could be argued that Gabe was correct. The dominant "brand" of sleeping car was from the Pullman Company but I'm not sure if it was the only brand. Like 'Kleenex' the brand has become the generic name for the item. So disallowing Gabe's answer should only happen if you're hewing to the exact name of the museum's exhibit. Interesting tidbit: the porters were generally called "George" after George Pullman, the founder of the company. I mean, why bother learning the individual name of the black man who'll be serving you for such a short time?😯

Yay for the new champ, Helen Reddy. Hear her roar!

Chicago Hope even did a few jokes about ER. Both were set in Chicago, so a Hope character made some reference to "that other hospital" being very popular, compared to theirs. And I thought there was a line about Adam Arkin's character (tall, dark-eyed, salt-n-pepper hair) being mistaken for George Clooney.

Not related to Season 35, but ... as I've been reading this thread I'm also half-watching the AFI Life Achievement Award for Denzel Washington on TNT and spotted Alex Trebek in the crowd!

If only Alex, the Man of Many Accents and Impressions 😜 had done an imitation of Henry Fonda I might have gotten (G.A.F.) View Master. I was baffled, and thought, um, What is Television?? I did get both missed Daily Doubles from the second round.

James and John were brothers, but never indicated as twins. The New Testament twin was 'Thomas' ... too many letters.

Maybe her parents liked or were friends with the '60s and beyond actress Salome Jens. Best known now, probably, as a 'changeling' on ST: Deep Space Nine -- but you wouldn't recognize her face in that!