Jeopardy! Season 37 (2020-2021)

[PaulaO]

Argentina for me also. I know I’m behind in geography,,but how can Australia be both a country and a continent?

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, SoMuchTV said:

Well, at least no one said Asia or Africa.  At least nobody outside my house.

A country that my kitchen has never been in.

[chessiegal]

48 minutes ago, PaulaO said:

I know I’m behind in geography,,but how can Australia be both a country and a continent?

Since the country of Australia occupies the entire continent, what else would you call the continent?

[nokat]

4 hours ago, nokat said:

It would normally be starting for those on the east coast.

 

Fudge, I looked and may have spoiled myself. I'm thankful to the people who did not say it, but I know it's not Argentina.
 

[Cotypubby]

I was debating between Antarctica and Australia and picked the wrong one. I knew Antarctica is bigger but wasn’t sure if it was a country as well as a continent. 

[853fisher]

I wasn't trying very hard, but I didn't get far past "Aruba," which at least I knew was nonsense.

I thought Ken sounded much more natural this time! His void still looks strange, though, and for all Alex’s excitement about clearing the board, I think one reason they didn’t in the first round was that Ken’s clues, and even the intro to the category, were so long. There’s something there but it needs fine tuning.

Edited October 7, 2020 by 853fisher
There's always something to edit with me. ;)

[nokat]

1 hour ago, 853fisher said:

I wasn't trying very hard, but I didn't get far past "Aruba," which at least I knew was nonsense.

I thought Ken sounded much more natural this time! His void still looks strange, though, and for all Alex’s excitement about clearing the board, I think one reason they didn’t in the first round was that Ken’s clues, and even the intro to the category, were so long. There’s something there but it needs fine tuning.

Ken just doesn't have the charm needed. He is getting better though.

I did get Australia but I don't count it as a smug. I surprised myself by getting a couple of the baseball ones. I always like the word games.
 

[Mario500]

On 10/3/2020 at 10:58 AM, Cotypubby said:

A building from the 1100s that is famous for an architectural mistake, WECIB?

That was a $200 level clue. 

Why the words "toddler" and "level"? 

[MrAtoz]

Argentina's not a bad guess.  It's number 8 on the list of largest countries (Australia is 6th).  Algeria, at number 10, wasn't a bad guess either.

I idly wondered what would have happened if someone had said "America."

[Mario500]

I had believed some confusion about a certain clue for what I had believed to had been a new edition of this program ("Jeopardy!") broadcast this past Tuesday could had been avoided if the clue had been written this way: "IT'S THE LARGEST NATIONALIZED COUNTRY IN AREA THAT BEGINS & ENDS WITH THE SAME LETTER". 

Edited October 7, 2020 by Mario500

[chessiegal]

18 minutes ago, MrAtoz said:

I idly wondered what would have happened if someone had said "America."

They would have been ruled incorrect. It's not the official name of the country.

[Trey]

I did not do well last night - so many questions I got wrong or had no answer at all.

I did get the ts's of Mt. Logan, Wyatt Earp, and sharia.

Instaget FJ.

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, Katy M said:

I got FJ.  I was afraid it was too easy, so kept going over large countires, and i'm like no, nothing bigger that fits the clue.

I got the TS of Mount Logan, sharia, and messenger.

I got the entire partial category of vowels right and he eniere category of corporate lingo wrong.

Didn't have a particularly good night, but thanks to FJ ended up in the black.

I briefly considered Antarctica but then realized the clue said "country".  Australia was so obvious it seemed like a trick question.

15 hours ago, Katy M said:

I got the entire partial category of vowels right and he eniere category of corporate lingo wrong

I did get touch base, but that was it.

I did the same thing with the Sudanese capital clue that I did with the Somalia one earlier in the week, got the two countries confused for some reason.  According to me, there's a book called "The Dash for Mogadishu".

[proserpina65]

14 hours ago, dgpolo said:

Hunh, I never doubted it was A, don't really know why. I do remember having the passing thought of a game that I played a few times long ago where you are supposed to name a country that starts with the letter of the last country named and how you can get caught in a loop of A-a countries.

When I was a contestant, the game before mine had a FJ that related to this - it wanted the only two countries which started with A but did not end with it.  None of the three people in that game got the answer (Azerbaijan & Afghanistan) but several of us in the audience did.  If only that had been my FJ instead of Fucking-Alex Fucking-Xander Fucking Graham Fucking Bell and his Fucking Ear!

9 hours ago, 853fisher said:

for all Alex’s excitement about clearing the board, I think one reason they didn’t in the first round was that Ken’s clues, and even the intro to the category, were so long.

They didn't clear the board in Double Jeopardy either, so that's on the contestants, not Ken.  Who was better this time, but he still doesn't have the natural charm to be a good host.  He's okay, but he has to work for it, and you can see the effort.

 

[saber5055]

2 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

I idly wondered what would have happened if someone had said "America."

I checked that out since I was pondering America, wondering what the official name is of the country in which I live. It's really the United States, so if anyone had said America, it'd be a no go. Amazingly, I immediately said Australia so had some extra time to fly around the globe and see if any other countries fit.

I haven't been keeping track of TSs but I did get Wyatt Earp. Big fan of Tombstone. Doc Holliday wasn't a bad guess. "Who's your huckleberry?"

The fact that I read Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend yet couldn't come up with Cedar Bend, and even when Cedar Bend was said it didn't seem correct, gives one an idea of what I thought about that book.

When Trebek said he was looking over his shoulder at Ken taking his job, I was all oh, GREAT, now we have to read all that Ken hate and Ken spec on the boards. I don't know why no one is talking about Sarah or Jimmy from the Clue Crew taking Alex's job. Or some person who is actually a professional host. We saw what misery a show can be when Vanna took over for Pat. She's been on Wheel since forever, but man, that was painful.

[Driad]

More geography fun, in case they ever ask:  Two of the four largest countries are named C______A.

[M. Darcy]

I got Australia but only after frantically going through all the A countries in my mind. 

[853fisher]

25 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

When Trebek said he was looking over his shoulder at Ken taking his job, I was all oh, GREAT, now we have to read all that Ken hate and Ken spec on the boards. I don't know why no one is talking about Sarah or Jimmy from the Clue Crew taking Alex's job. Or some person who is actually a professional host. We saw what misery a show can be when Vanna took over for Pat. She's been on Wheel since forever, but man, that was painful.

I thought Vanna did fine and don't particularly care for Pat's style myself.  I guess there's no accounting for taste!  I admit that years of warm feeling for her may have influenced my impression.  Anyway, I was surprised that Alex put so fine a point on it.  The Clue Crew do fine but I think they will pick someone higher-profile when the time comes.  I agree that someone with hosting experience would be wise, but I'm not sure who.  I thought the consensus a few years ago was that Ken wasn't really on the shortlist, but I'm definitely getting a different vibe now.  I don't entirely like to think about it.

[M. Darcy]

21 hours ago, Bastet said:

If I was on the show, I'd probably force myself to spit out Reagan, but here at home it's still just good ol' National.

Heh i could have argued for hours if I was on the show about that answer. 

[saber5055]

25 minutes ago, Driad said:

More geography fun, in case they ever ask:  Two of the four largest countries are named C______A.

I actually know the answers. Yeay me! (Because I thought of both while waiting to see if Australia was correct.)

[Lois Sandborne]

I'm pretty sure this category thing is a warm-up for Ken. That's what it feels like to me.

I suck mightily at geography, but I knew Australia right away. When Claire-Marie guessed Algeria, that seemed totally out of the blue, but then I started trying to picture North Africa and it made more sense. And now I've learned here that it's our 10th largest country. I hope I remember that, but I won't.

They got me with mitochondrial RNA just like the champ. I knew Unforgiven though. My father loves that movie.

I think I've gone my whole life without seeing an actual picture of Edmund Hillary, and that was my mistake.

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, Lois Sandborne said:

I think I've gone my whole life without seeing an actual picture of Edmund Hillary, and that was my mistake.

Good-looking guy!

[ams1001]

2 hours ago, Lois Sandborne said:

They got me with mitochondrial RNA just like the champ.

I knew that one!

I didn't even get one full category, though I did get all four of the clues that were revealed in three categories they didn't finish (Add a Vowel, Speed Reading, and Enzymes & Amino Acids). (My percentage is based on the actual number of clues read.)

[Tabasco Cat]

4 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I thought Vanna did fine and don't particularly care for Pat's style myself.  I guess there's no accounting for taste!  ... I thought the consensus a few years ago was that Ken wasn't really on the shortlist, but I'm definitely getting a different vibe now.  I don't entirely like to think about it.

I can't stand Ken Jennings for all the reasons typically heard around here. I hope they don't go there. I blame him for the contestants not clearing the board in the first round the other (last?) night. He was useless. I have low confidence overall that the executive producers will make a good choice.

But I'll disagree that Vanna did job good filling in for Pat on WoF a few months ago. I thought she was awkward, unpolished, unprepared, and seemed super uncomfortable.

[peeayebee]

I'm kicking myself (still) for not getting Australia. I settled on Argentina.

I got no TSs, but I did get Unforgiven.

I felt bad for Alex that no one knew the highest mountain in Canada. (I didn't know it either.)

[blueray]

On 10/6/2020 at 5:14 PM, nokat said:

I'm happy if I get a lot of categories even if I don't get the final. I did pretty well. The NBA is on again so I hope the show records after.  There tends to a lot of blather after games.
 

Where I live didn't even air Monday's episode as it was football instead. I watched yesterdays episode hoping it'll be it. Only to see different people and Alex talking about them all getting a category right which I didn't see :(.  

Edited October 7, 2020 by blueray

[SoMuchTV]

Any “welcome to nightvale” listeners who wanted to say “what is Mitch-i-gan”?  Just me?

Oh and “time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana”. Is my mind wandering too much?

Edited October 7, 2020 by SoMuchTV

[Katy M]

FJ was an instaget.

 

I got the TS of Goldwater, ore, Geneva, cubit, Hayes, French Revolution, Barcelona, and the Netherlands.

I got the entire category of history right.

I said Bath, Bed and Beyond isteand of Bed, Bath and Beyond. Gave myself a bit of a chuckle.  Oh well, still had a great night.

[M. Darcy]

I got FJ immediately- it helps that I heard that story from the Torah every year at the High Holidays.  But I would have known anyway. I wonder if that’s a story more well known to Jewish people. 

i loved the Wordsworth category! I’m taking an Great Courses class on the Romantic poets and I’m in the Wordsworth section now. Ran the category!  Aw, no one knew Sandman. 

[dgpolo]

I did much better today, cubit, Barcelona, Sandman, and the categories of Latin and Librarians. Also got FJ, finally!

[PaulaO]

Instaget FJ! here.  I dunno, I can’t get into the show this season.  It hasn’t been the same since James.

P.S.  I was raised Methodist and went to Sunday school.  Learned all the stories/ parables.

Edited October 8, 2020 by PaulaO

[chessiegal]

20 minutes ago, M. Darcy said:

I wonder if that’s a story more well known to Jewish people. 

Two protestants in this house - decades of mandatory church help with the Bible categories. I think the story of Abraham and Isaac is widely known.

ETA: But not for these contestants.

Edited October 8, 2020 by chessiegal

[Browncoat]

Raised Methodist here, with preachers all through the family, and forced to go to Sunday School AND church every week.  And Vacation Bible School usually more than once in any given summer.  And I missed FJ.  I should have known it, but the name just wouldn't come to me.  Oh well.  

But I did get ore, cubit*, Barcelona, and Bed, Bath and Beyond, so there's that.

*I almost don't want to admit it, but "What's a cubit?" was in my head in Bill Cosby's voice.  I hate that he turned out to be a heinous criminal.  "Noah" was comedy gold.

[Grundoon59]

The FJ category would probably appear in my nightmare version of Jeopardy since I am a lapsed Unitarian but I was stunned to land on the correct answer immediately.  However I freely admit if I were on camera I might very well have talked myself out of it.

Rutherford B. Hayes is one of my favorite presidential names to say (no idea why) and I got him, Goldwater and Barcelona in the TSs.

[SoMuchTV]

Abraham was the first response that came to mind. But I kept second-, third-, fourth- guessing myself. Was he the father or the son? Wait, are they asking for the father or the son? Which one was he again?

[SHD]

I got FJ from that Dylan lyric about God talking to Abraham. It doesn’t even relate to the question asked in FJ, but it mentioned a son, so that’s what popped into my head. Ridiculous, really.

 

 

[zoey1996]

I got FJ; years of Presbyterian Sunday School served me well there.  I went with Malaga, Spain for Picasso museum.  I went to the Picasso Museum in Malaga last summer.

Hayes is one of Mr. Zoey’s favorite Presidents, but I didn’t get that one.

Edited October 8, 2020 by zoey1996

[saber5055]

I saw the FJ category and said, "Well, I'm screwed." And I was, and this after going to church/Sunday school every week from toddler to adult, Bible school in summer, teaching Sunday school as I got older, singing in the church choir, belonging to church youth groups, yada yada yada. Job was the only name I could come up with. I still don't know who Abraham was or his kids.

And that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Episcopalian, baby!

However, I did know what a cubit is. So there's that.

I also knew Geneva, Margaret Bourke White (that Life cover is uber famous) and LifeLock.

I just knew WAT-son had to be somewhere in that category, either Bell's or Jennings'.

Turdsworth made me laugh. Who knew dudes were so funny back then. It's like Sean Connery was playing Celebrity Jeopardy on SNL.

[ams1001]

I got the final (non-religious but raised Methodist, here) but I felt like it was too obvious so a little part of me was afraid I was wrong.

[dgpolo]

2 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

I saw the FJ category and said, "Well, I'm screwed."

It's the opposite for me, I usually do well in Bible categories and without most of what you had in the way of learning. Some years of church going/Sunday School but not loads, I have read the King James bible through. There was a Bible question recently that I did not get but I've already forgotten what it was, I did get cubit. Got the groups in the Bible the other day also including the TS of Levites, that's one of the things that has stuck in my brain Levites = Priests. I've often thought if I was ever on the show and a Bible related category came up for FJ I would bet everything, it would have worked today anyway.

 

8 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

I just knew WAT-son had to be somewhere in that category, either Bell's or Jennings'.

Or Sherlock's?

[secnarf]

Watched tonight with my mom and sister, as I am visiting them for the week. When FJ category came up, I said "great, I don't have a chance", earning myself the Look from my mother, who put me through 13 years of Catholic school. I also taught Sunday school for three years. Despite this, my atheism and disdain for the religion in which I was raised has resulted in me failing at nearly every Bible question that comes up on Jeopardy.

So imagine everyone's utter surprise when I confidently and immediately said Abraham. My mother actually initially insisted I was wrong 😛

Otherwise, not a bad game, but I am really frustrated with them continually not clearing the board. Did they increase the time allotted for commercials, or are the contestants just slower this season?

Edited October 8, 2020 by secnarf

[Bastet]

Another archive night for me, due to the debate.

Curry as a "mouth-cooling" dish.  Okey-dokey.

Add me to the list whose mind wandered down the Bill Cosby path at the cubit clue (he's probably the only reason I knew the answer!); retroactively ruining his comedy for me is the least of that asshole's crimes, but damn him for it anyway.

I knew the meaning of "tempus fugit" because of an episode of The X-Files.

The Geneva TS surprised me only in that no one even guessed a Swiss city.  The Netherlands was a little bit surprising, but it shouldn't be since contestants are so bad at geography.

The Animated Films category sunk me in the first round; I only got Missing Link, and only as a guess based on the "evolutionary" part of the clue.  I also joined the contestants in being stumped by Hayes and the Oder, but got the rest.

In DJ, I was as stumped as the contestants by Wat Tyler and Sandman (I've never heard of either, so could have sat here until I died and not come up with them), and also missed two each of the Latin and Wordsworth clues, but got the rest so I did well.

I had no idea on FJ, though.

[theartandsound]

Yay for Abraham!!!! Finally broke my "Wednesday is when my FJ Contest week falls apart" trend!!! 😜

[nokat]

3 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Two protestants in this house - decades of mandatory church help with the Bible categories. I think the story of Abraham and Isaac is widely known.

ETA: But not for these contestants.

I usually don't do well at the Bible categories. I'll get a couple but never a category.
 

[bybrandy]

I did not get Abraham.  I didn't go to sunday school/church growing up which made it weird when Abraham popped up as the answer and I immediately sang "Duh, Father Abraham had many sons and many sons had father Abraham....."   Where did I pick that up?   

I got Australia right off but kept trying to come up with other contenders while I waited for the think music to end.  There are a lot of AA countries.   But none of them made me doubt Australia.   

[Cherpumple]

4 hours ago, Bastet said:

In DJ, I was as stumped as the contestants by Wat Tyler and Sandman

I'm a medieval history nerd, so I got Wat Tyler right away, but I definitely did a double take at how obscure it was. I doubt many history classes in the US cover the 1381 Peasants' Revolt under Richard II, so I'm not surprised it was a TS.

I'm not liking the rapid turn over of contestants so far. I was sad to see Phillip go on Wednesday (he reminded me of a young Desi Arnaz), and definitely wanted to see more of the goofy lego tie guy from last week. Oh well.

[GreekGeek]

Interesting to hear from all the religious and non-religious folks here who knew FJ. I said "What an easy question!" when I saw it and I was amazed it turned out to be a TS.

[MrAtoz]

5 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

I'm a medieval history nerd, so I got Wat Tyler right away, but I definitely did a double take at how obscure it was. I doubt many history classes in the US cover the 1381 Peasants' Revolt under Richard II, so I'm not surprised it was a TS.

I knew Wat Tyler, because he is the subject of the most obscure joke in the world.

Ready? Ready?  Here it is:

Q: Who led the Pedants' Revolt?

A: Which Tyler.

I told you it was obscure.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, MrAtoz said:

I knew Wat Tyler, because he is the subject of the most obscure joke in the world.

Ready? Ready?  Here it is:

Q: Who led the Pedants' Revolt?

A: Which Tyler.

I told you it was obscure.

Actually that sounds like it could be more of an Abbott and Costello Route.  Wat Tyler led the Pedants' Revolt?  Which Tyler?  No Wat Tyler? That's what I asked.  Which Tyler?  No Wat Tyler.  What is his first name?  Exactly. Wat is his first name.  That's what I asked.  OK, it's no Who's on first, but it's a start.

[ams1001]

12 hours ago, Bastet said:

The Animated Films category sunk me in the first round; I only got Missing Link

That's the only one I didn't get.

6 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

I'm not liking the rapid turn over of contestants so far. I was sad to see Phillip go on Wednesday (he reminded me of a young Desi Arnaz), and definitely wanted to see more of the goofy lego tie guy from last week. Oh well.

Yeah, I wanna see someone get a good streak going (preferably someone I like but I'll take anyone at this point). 

I'm wondering when the champ from the end of last season comes back, will he go against another returning champ or did they have a game where everyone flamed out in the end after which they could slot him back in as the returning champ. On the season premiere I remember Alex saying he'd be back in a few weeks but I wonder what "a few" means...