Jeopardy! Season 37 (2020-2021)

[DXD526]

Had to look up FJ on youtube, because my J! affiliate cut away late in the game for a lengthy weather bulletin (it's the Northeast and it's the middle of summer and rain is on the way, so everybody panic!!). I knew Matt must have won, of course, but the two totals going into FJ were amusing: $44,000 and $4,400! 

Matt doesn't really bother me. He's no Austin, or Arthur, or Colby. Like many here, I find his range of knowledge very impressive and fun to watch.

Jon Stewart was immediately recognizable, and was actually quite good looking as a senior. I went to the same high school as him for a couple of years, and have his eighth-grade picture in my freshman yearbook. He was an excessively geeky 13 year-old!

[dbklmt]

Posted this in What is...In the Media? but will also post it here...

Jeopardy champion Matt Amodio is now one of the top 10 highest-winning contestants ever!

https://ew.com/tv/jeopardy-matt-amodio-top-10-highest-winning-contestants-ever/?did=657703-20210730&utm_campaign=ewk-tv_newsletter&utm_source=ew.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=073021&cid=657703&mid=63382813072

Lots of interesting comments that were also made here:

"Of course, as other Jeopardy contestants know, being a successful champion doesn't necessarily make you beloved by the show's fans. Some viewers have called Amodio "the most annoying contestant ever" due to his habit of saying "what's" for every response, rather than "who is" when naming a person. (Per the rules of Jeopardy, responses simply need to be phrased in the form of a question, regardless of the pronoun used.)"

[shapeshifter]

8 minutes ago, dbklmt said:

https://ew.com/tv/jeopardy-matt-amodio-top-10-highest-winning-contestants-ever/?did=657703-20210730 
Lots of interesting comments

From the EW article, I most liked: 

Quote

Asked to pick a highlight of his run in a post-game interview with Jeopardy's Sarah Whitcomb Foss, Amodio chose his first victory on the show. "Once you do it once, that's just such a great accomplishment," he said. "Nobody can ever take that away from you."

He has a nice voice too. His humility seems to come from knowing enough to know that nobody knows everything.

[SHD]

13 hours ago, stonehaven said:

Matt still annoys me....and I think we're stuck with him for awhile...sigh...

But some of his wins were not runaways and he seems to get lucky getting Daily Doubles and betting big. Some day he may not get those DD or he may bet big and lose and that could shift the fortunes.

[PaulaO]

I'm not watching til Matt leaves, not because he bugs (well, just a little because his jackets are too tight and he is a monotone with no facial expression) but because I hate runaway games.

[SyracuseMug]

5 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

I have no opinion on Matt's quirks, one way or the other, but you can't say that he's not doing well in the game.  His $74,000 total yesterday puts him in the upper echelons.  Only 3 people have ever had a higher single-game total, and two of them were Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer.  Matt is well on pace to become one of the game's top money-winners.

I believe he had $44,000 going into FJ. Do you know if that is also a record?

[chitowngirl]

12 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I have definitely heard RA both ways.  I called the only one I ever had in college something else, but never mind.

I can’t help but feel that at least a few of LeVar’s more conspicuous and objective screwups, like “Carnegie…no…uh, yes,” could very easily have been fixed by a quick retake or in post.  I understand this show is generally done live-to-tape, but I’d think they’d want all their guest hosts to look as good as possible, even the ones they’re clearly not really considering for the full-time role.  I wonder why they don’t think that energy and expense is worthwhile, and whether others did get a little more help from the crew to fix errors.

George Stephanopolous said on GMA that some things were reshot, so you would think they would have “cleaned this up” in editing.

[ams1001]

55 minutes ago, SyracuseMug said:

I believe he had $44,000 going into FJ. Do you know if that is also a record?

Oddly enough, google has been unhelpful in finding the highest score ever at the end of the second round. You'd think that'd be out there somewhere.

[853fisher]

1 hour ago, SyracuseMug said:

I believe he had $44,000 going into FJ. Do you know if that is also a record?

It is not.  I paged through a few of James' games and he had at least three higher totals, one as high as $72K, going into Final.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, SyracuseMug said:

I believe he had $44,000 going into FJ. Do you know if that is also a record?

James had 9 games where he won more than $88K so he would have had to have more han $44K going into final.

[shapeshifter]

10 minutes ago, Katy M said:

James had 9 games where he won more than $88K so he would have had to have more han $44K going into final.

Matt does "true daily doubles" (although he's never used that phrase) but just as often he wagers $2000.
Having watched his penchant for economy of thought processes, I surmise that just as he defaults to "What's" and therefore doesn't need to fire any synapses to compute the pronoun, he also seems to leave the DD wagers to a simple either All or $2K decision.

James Holzhauer did more True Daily Doubles.

Edited July 30, 2021 by shapeshifter

[3 is enough]

Matt seems to go for a true Daily Double in the Jeopardy round but bets more conservatively in the Double Jeopardy round.  Of course, in the past few games his lead has been so large he probably didn’t want to gamble as much in the second round. 

[AimingforYoko]

I think Matt's deal with pronouns is affecting the other players. Andrew answered one question today about Lyme disease with "Who are ticks?"

[ams1001]

PhD Student vs PhD Student?

I'm sorry, but LeVar needs to calm down.

[Roaster]

Comedy and Sports - that's a good FJ category.  Let's see that more often.

Levar seemed to think the clue "Black History Month" was funny, but I don't know why.
 

[chessiegal]

16 minutes ago, Roaster said:

Levar seemed to think the clue "Black History Month" was funny, but I don't know why.

I had the same thought - maybe the show was taped in February?

[ams1001]

My only TS tonight was FJ, but there were only two in each round. Had to think about FJ for a bit, too.

23 minutes ago, Roaster said:

Levar seemed to think the clue "Black History Month" was funny, but I don't know why.

Yeah, WTF was that about?

[shlbycindyk]

I like LeVar Burton!  However, I dislike watching games where it seems like there is only one person playing.  The other night I almost forgot there were two other contestants there!  They barely showed the other two, probably because they only gave a few answers, but still they should have gotten a little more screen time if only to remind us there were other people playing. 

The thing I like about LeVar Burton is the fact that he seems so happy and honored to be there.  He's doing a great job too.  Just my own opinion. 

[illdoc]

 

[Browncoat]

I had to think about FJ for a second, but I got it in plenty of time to write it down.  Do you think the other guy misunderstood the clue?  He wrote down the two most obvious ones that are in the routine.

The only TS I got was patent.  There might have been others, but I tend to pay less attention to blowout games.

[AimingforYoko]

12 minutes ago, illdoc said:

 

Who and what are gimmes, but only if you heard the whole thing would you recall the "why" and "because" bit.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

PhD Student vs PhD Student?

I was glad when they announced another PhD student, because it did seem like the Jeopardy! producers brought in the Special Ops team, LOL,
but, after hearing the story of Andrew's TBI, Matt must have felt like he was about to squash a rescued baby bird.😿

And again Matt disarmed me with his Aw Shucks charm.

 

2 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

I think Matt's deal with pronouns is affecting the other players. Andrew answered one question today about Lyme disease with "Who are ticks?"

Hah ha. I noticed that too and figured Andrew did it on purpose. ✋

 

[853fisher]

What was with the extended pause before responding to Rachel's FJ answer?  Did LeVar just forget which two were correct?  Maybe his mind was still on whatever was so funny about Black History Month.  If he hasn't been the worst guest host, in my opinion, he's certainly the one who's disappointed me the most.  Well, at least he gave it a shot.  I think it was very meaningful to him.

I would say that was a tougher FJ.  I imagine most contestants know, or at least know of, the sketch, but you need a little more to give the right answer.  There's really no way to tease it out without having seen and clearly recalled it, although I guess if you know "who's on first, what's on second" you have a 1 in 3 chance of knowing which of the remaining three question words to leave out.  Alas, I was unlucky.

Matt doesn't really inspire strong feelings in me, but I wish him continued success as long as he keeps doing as well as he is.  I find a horse race marginally more exciting to watch, but I still get most of my pleasure from trying to get at the clues myself.  "What's" is a little odd, but not the end of the world.  There will be plenty of interest in the new host already, but I don't think it would be a bad thing for the show if a very successful champ was returning to start the new season too.  We'll see.

Is the ambition to visit all the MLB stadiums a new phenomenon or am I just newly aware of it as I'm getting into my later 20s and have more friends and acquaintances with the resources to pursue it?  I feel I'm hearing about it all the time lately, "in real life" and in he media.  Someone on one of the ABC game shows this week had it as his personal anecdote too.  I'm starting to find it a bit of a cliche among men of certain demographics, but it's harmless, so let them eat Cracker Jack.

[Roaster]

Nah, I remember people trying to visit all MLB parks years ago.  It's structured tourism, I guess - sends you to most of the big cities throughout the country (and Toronto).  Not a bad idea if you have the time and money to travel.

[secnarf]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I had to think about FJ for a second, but I got it in plenty of time to write it down.  Do you think the other guy misunderstood the clue?  He wrote down the two most obvious ones that are in the routine.

Maybe he was like me and hadn't the foggiest idea what routine this was, and arbitrarily picked two Ws?

I am not often irritated by contestants' mannnerisms, but he did a little 🤷‍♀️ movement with his hands every time he answered that started to get on my nerves. I laughed the first couple of times but then it was every single time. I'm not even sure he realized he was doing it, he just didn't seem to be able to phrase anything as a question without including the hand movement.

[possibilities]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Hah ha. I noticed that too and figured Andrew did it on purpose. ✋

 

I really loved Andrew. That was one of the reasons. Whatever his motive for "Who are ticks?"-- I enjoyed it. It made me think of ticks as people for a second. And hey, why not? What's a pronoun?

I liked the movie lover contestant, too, and apologize for not remembering her name. I didn't see her podium often enough to encode it in my brain, but I felt her nerves and wanted to talk movies with her.

I thought maybe Matt laughed about Feb as BHM because it was so obvious? Some people laugh when nervousness is replaced by relief? I don't want to believe it's because he was scoffing at BHM itself. Please, Matt, don't turn out to be an asshole!

Edited July 31, 2021 by possibilities

[Bastet]

56 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

I guess if you know "who's on first, what's on second" you have a 1 in 3 chance of knowing which of the remaining three question words to leave out.  Alas, I was unlucky.

So was I; indeed, that's the only part of it I could remember, so I guessed Why and When.  I couldn't believe when Andrew included Who as one of his guesses, when that one was given away in the clue.

I wonder if Andrew's mom is going to give him any guff about not knowing what month Mother's Day occurs.

I had to be up dreadfully early this morning, so I took a nap around 5:00 and didn't wake up until about ten clues into DJ.  I just checked the archive to catch up.

Clearly, I need still more sleep.  I blew the entire olde music category and missed all but one in books & authors.  I ran legal, fowl balls, and tender, and just missed one in celebrations, so the first round could have been worse, but ouch.

DJ was slightly better, but I only ran CDC.  I missed three in countries, two in poetry, and one each in the rest.

[ams1001]

33 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I thought maybe Matt laughed about Feb as BHM because it was so obvious? Some people laugh when nervousness is replaced by relief? I don't want to believe it's because he was scoffing at BHM itself. Please, Matt, don't turn out to be an asshole!

I thought it was LeVar that laughed..

[secnarf]

19 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I wonder if Andrew's mom is going to give him any guff about not knowing what month Mother's Day occurs.

I considered this, then went on a complete mental tangent - maybe his mother is dead, maybe he doesn't have a mother figure in his life, maybe x, maybe y, maybe z. Regardless, I do find it hard to believe he actually doesn't know what month Mother's Day is - you're exposed to the marketing whether you have a mother or not - unless he spent a good chunk of his life living in a part of the world that celebrates it at a different time of year.

[Cotypubby]

On 7/29/2021 at 4:54 AM, Peghiggie said:

Yes, 1000% to your rule #2.  I've been saying that for years.  

Terrible idea. 

On 7/29/2021 at 7:30 PM, Roaster said:

That didn't know Peter Sellers?

74,000 payday for Matt.  And Reading is Fundamental

I guessed Peter Sellers just because I knew he was famous for playing multiple characters in the same film, but if all I saw was that photo I would have zero clue who it was. 

[Cotypubby]

On 7/29/2021 at 10:31 PM, stonehaven said:

I really am not liking that Matt gets ruled favorably too often. To me, Resident Assistant should NOT have been ruled correct. Advisor was the correct answer. Since when did half answers get credit? If that's the case, they should only get half a point.

No, you are wrong. At my college it was Resident Assistant. 
https://www.nyu.edu/students/student-information-and-resources/housing-and-dining/on-campus-living/staff/student-staff/faqs-and-timeline.html

[LoveIsJoy]

4 hours ago, Browncoat said:

The only TS I got was patent.  There might have been others, but I tend to pay less attention to blowout games.

 

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

DJ was slightly better, but I only ran CDC.  I missed three in countries, two in poetry, and one each in the rest.

 I’ve only been reading this forum for a few days and I’m stumped by some of the abbreviations.  I get that FJ is Final Jeopardy and DD Is Double Jeopardy, but my mind is drawing a blank for TS and CDC. Thanks!

[Cherpumple]

On 7/29/2021 at 11:04 PM, shapeshifter said:

One thing I really appreciate about Matt is his vast amount of knowledge of so many diverse things.

Me too. Before he revealed his area of research (computer science) I was trying to guess what it was based on his strongest areas of knowledge. I thought it was in the history/literature realm and I was clearly way off! I'm always happy to watch a contestant with such an impressive breadth of knowledge, quirks and all.

[Bastet]

16 minutes ago, LoveIsJoy said:

 I’ve only been reading this forum for a few days and I’m stumped by some of the abbreviations.  I get that FJ is Final Jeopardy and DD Is Double Jeopardy, but my mind is drawing a blank for TS and CDC. Thanks!

TS means Triple Stumper, a clue that all three contestants failed to get right.  See the glossary here for commonly-used phrases and abbreviations in discussing the show.

CDC was just a shorthand reference to one of tonight's categories, "The CDC Says So".

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

wonder if Andrew [has a mom who] is going to give him any guff about not knowing what month Mother's Day occurs.

2 hours ago, secnarf said:

I considered this, then went on a complete mental tangent - maybe his mother is dead, maybe he doesn't have a mother figure in his life, maybe x, maybe y, maybe z. Regardless, I do find it hard to believe he actually doesn't know what month Mother's Day is - you're exposed to the marketing whether you have a mother or not - unless he spent a good chunk of his life living in a part of the world that celebrates it at a different time of year.

OMG! I wondered if the “Mother Goose Day” part threw him —like maybe he thought it was a trick question? —even though it was a $200 question, but maybe because it was uncovered late in the round?  
As a mother of 3 adults, I want to make excuses for Andrew, but, at the same time, it was an epic fail. On national TV! Poor guy.  
 

 

Edited July 31, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Gemma Violet]

1 hour ago, secnarf said:

I considered this, then went on a complete mental tangent - maybe his mother is dead, maybe he doesn't have a mother figure in his life, maybe x, maybe y, maybe z. 

That's what I thought.  I've always known when Mother's Day was because it was a big day for us kids to honor my mother.  However, my dad was not involved much in the family, went out bar-hopping every night, and barely acknowledged us growing up.  He was an alcoholic, a compulsive gambler, and a womanizer.  I never in my life have acknowledged Father's Day, and therefore, I never could remember what month it's in.  Through the years, I knew it was either June or July, but I could never remember exactly.  Now that I'm in my 60s, it's kind of settled in my brain that it's June.  So I'll give Andrew a pass on not knowing Mother's Day.  Maybe his situation was similar to mine or maybe his mom died when he was young and he was raised by someone else.  

[Bastet]

Yikes, I initially wrote what got posted - "I wonder if Andrew's mom is going to ..." - but, before hitting Submit, changed it to instead read "I wonder if Andrew has a mom who will ..." because, of course, not everyone starts out with a mom, let alone still has one.  I was embarrassed I had to reconsider that rather than it being my instinctual phrasing.

I don't know what happened in my pre-posting cut and re-type that the original text came through, but it's patently offensive in its heteronormativity and potentially insensitive regardless (maybe he had a mom and she died or abandoned him such that Mother's Day was never part of his life for those reasons) and I apologize for inadvertently publishing it.

[shapeshifter]

45 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Yikes, I initially wrote what got posted - "I wonder if Andrew's mom is going to ..." - but, before hitting Submit, changed it to instead read "I wonder if Andrew has a mom who will ..." because, of course, not everyone starts out with a mom, let alone still has one.  I was embarrassed I had to reconsider that rather than it being my instinctual phrasing.

I don't know what happened in my pre-posting cut and re-type that the original text came through, but it's patently offensive in its heteronormativity and potentially insensitive regardless (maybe he had a mom and she died or abandoned him such that Mother's Day was never part of his life for those reasons) and I apologize for inadvertently publishing it.

I edited my quote above with square brackets to represent and honor your real intent.🙂

Edited July 31, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Browncoat]

It's also possible that Andrew simply couldn't remember due to the TBI.  I suspect his tics might have been related as well.  

[Clanstarling]

On 7/29/2021 at 5:16 PM, Browncoat said:

I got Peter Sellers from the clue rather than from the photo.

It was a picture of a younger Peter Sellers than I remember - I almost didn't recognize him.

On 7/29/2021 at 7:16 PM, Gemma Violet said:

I'm 65 and the main thing I knew him from is Roots.  I knew he was on Star Trek and Reading Rainbow, but I've never seen any episodes of either of those.

Same age, but I watched all the Star Trek, my kids knew and loved him from Reading Rainbow.  I had forgotten Roots - d'oh.

[Clanstarling]

On 7/29/2021 at 4:59 PM, Browncoat said:

I did get the TS of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Peter Sellers.

I would have gotten both, but instead I shouted out "Dr. Pepper!" 🤣

On 7/29/2021 at 5:00 PM, Katy M said:

Petty complaint about the Springfield clue. they did d'oh to clue us in to the Simpsons, and then they chose Oregon and Missouri instead of Vermont and Oregon.

Didn't bother me, but then again, we in Oregon have home field advantage:

D'Oh! Springfield In 'Simpsons' Was Based On Town In Oregon All Along (NPR)

On 7/30/2021 at 5:47 AM, Good Queen Jane said:

I have decided that the only thing better than having an instaget for FJ is to pull an answer out of your a--, uh, the air that is right. I have no idea how I knew Cartagena. The brain is a strange thing.

I love those moments, had one with the Camus clue the other day. But unfortunately, my a-- was unresponsive.

22 hours ago, DXD526 said:

Jon Stewart was immediately recognizable, and was actually quite good looking as a senior.

I think he's still good looking as a "senior" 😉

[GreekGeek]

15 hours ago, ams1001 said:

PhD Student vs PhD Student?

 

I had high hopes for Andrew when I heard the intro, but after learning about his TBI, I predicted that he would be steamrolled by Matt. I cheered when Andrew hit that DD, but then he missed it.🙁

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

Didn't bother me, but then again, we in Oregon have home field advantage:

D'Oh! Springfield In 'Simpsons' Was Based On Town In Oregon All Along (NPR)

But:

www.denverpost.com/2007/07/10/vermonts-springfield-proclaimed-simpsons-hometown/

 

Edited July 31, 2021 by Katy M

[Trey]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

But:

www.denverpost.com/2007/07/10/vermonts-springfield-proclaimed-simpsons-hometown/

 

I remember (but not clearly) a very early Simpsons episode which zoomed in on  Springfield on a map of North America, somewhat south of the Great Lakes, and it was mentioned that Springfield was in either Kentucky or Tennesee. Apparently I am the only one in the world who remembers that.

[Clanstarling]

5 hours ago, Katy M said:

But:

www.denverpost.com/2007/07/10/vermonts-springfield-proclaimed-simpsons-hometown/

 

If I understood the article, that was a contest of a sort.

The NPR article I linked said this:

Quote

Ay Caramba! Simpsons creator Matt Groening has revealed the location of the real Springfield: It's in Oregon.

And then Groenig said:

Quote

The show "took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown," he says. "When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield.' And they do."

Which is a weird thing to say about something he created (and since Springfield isn't exactly next to Portland, but down I-5 a fair bit). But at least he was happy that every town named Springfield could claim it as their own.

So, who knows. Maybe a little bit of both. Creative minds do mess with reality to come up with their stuff.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Clanstarling

[Katy M]

10 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

If I understood the article, that was a contest of a sort.

The NPR article I linked said this:

Yes, there was a contest.  Every Springfield could submit a video and then everyone voted on the winner.

 

[possibilities]

I guess I don't really want to live in the same town as the Simpsons, so I'm surprised people wanted to compete for the honor.

[LoveIsJoy]

23 hours ago, Bastet said:

TS means Triple Stumper, a clue that all three contestants failed to get right.  See the glossary here for commonly-used phrases and abbreviations in discussing the show.

CDC was just a shorthand reference to one of tonight's categories, "The CDC Says So".

Thank you! That’s very helpful!

[LoreliLee]

I really thought I was going to like Levar Burton as host but I surprisingly don’t. Too much up-talk inflections and exclamations. I’m finding it exhausting & distracting. I watch this show to relax.  YMMV. 

[shapeshifter]

13 minutes ago, LoreliLee said:

I really thought I was going to like Levar Burton as host but I surprisingly don’t. Too much up-talk inflections and exclamations. I’m finding it exhausting & distracting. I watch this show to relax.  YMMV. 

Now that you mention it as "up-talk inflections and exclamations," I suppose these do serve to keep me awake, but that doesn't mean I love the alarm on my phone either, LOL.
So, yeah, not a first choice.
But I do admit to doing the same thing when speaking in front of a class of sleepy college students after lunch.

Edited August 1, 2021 by shapeshifter