Jeopardy! Season 37 (2020-2021)

[possibilities]

I watched LeVar B's first guest hosting this afternoon, and you could feel his nerves, but I still was glad to see him. 

I felt bad for

Patrick

. It's rare that a contestant annoys me, but I do often feel bad for the ones who

struggle and wind up in the red

. 

Looking forward to the rest of the week.

[PaulaO]

 

Spoiler

Talk about an epic flame out

 

[Roaster]

It's past 7 PM Eastern...

Stephen Hawking - an avowed atheist whose ashes are interred at a church (Westminster Abbey).  Nevertheless. that was a pretty easy FJ.  (How many famous scientists died in 2018?)

More impressive - Patrick finished Double Jeopardy with an astonishing score of -7400.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone close to being that much in the hole.  If you're going to lose, might as well flame out.
 

[ams1001]

TSes I got... Ivan (picked a random Russian-sounding name...), Met Life (which is my dental insurance). FJ was an instaget.

LeVar did fine; too many pauses but it wasn't just him.

13 minutes ago, Roaster said:

More impressive - Patrick finished Double Jeopardy with an astonishing score of -7400.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone close to being that much in the hole.  If you're going to lose, might as well flame out.

I just googled and according to a Slate article from January 2020, the lowest score was -6800 in 2015.

[ABay]

Jesus. That poor guy! It reminded me of a woman a while ago who essentially babbled when she rang in. It was like she was having a stroke, poor woman.

[Trey]

So now Patrick is the lowest of all time.  He got lots of correct answers but he also frequently rang in when he seemed to have no clue at all, so that really worked against him.

Instaget FJ.  Who else could it be?

[Katy M]

FJ was easy peasy.

I got the missed clues of Ivan and sic.

I got the entire category of party right and the entire partial category of government building wrong.  I wonder what would have happened if there'd been a question about a party in a government building?

i did fairly well in the first round, but totally tanked in the second.

[Browncoat]

Instaget FJ for me tonight.  That individual was the only person who made sense.

I also got the TS of Met Life, sic, Olympia Dukakis, and col.  I'd have to move to another state if I'd missed sic.

Poor Patrick!  

[shapeshifter]

I was so busy yelling “Noriega!” at Matt that I was baffled when it wasn’t accepted until LeVar explained after the break that he was supposed to have called time.

Poor Patrick, sure, but also poor LeVar having a difficult first time out between Matt’s idiosyncrasies and Patrick’s itchy buzzer finger.   
ETA: And now I know that LeVar was probably correctly waiting for a timeout buzzer while Kathleen was buzzing in with a random not-Noriega answer. 

And, yes, like everyone else, I got Hawking. Looking at this list of notable deaths in science from that year, I guess the clue writers were aiming for the most notable because the others were —sadly— not.

And I instagot Met Life. 
What? Isn’t the past tense of instaget “instagot”?

Edited July 27, 2021 by shapeshifter

[DrScottie]

1 hour ago, Roaster said:

- Patrick finished Double Jeopardy with an astonishing score of -7400

I read that in Will Farrell's Alex Trebek voice because that seems like a score from SNL Celebrity Jeopardy, Patrick at least still gets the $1,000 for third place and LeVar Burton gets the money for Reading Is Fundamental. 

2 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Poor Patrick, sure, but also poor LeVar having a difficult first time out between Matt’s idiosyncrasies and Patrick’s itchy buzzer finger.

LeVar even said it was rough in the beginning, but it was better with more episodes. Nonetheless, I've always been a fan of his so I'm looking forward to more from him. I watched Reading Rainbow and started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation after seeing the Reading Rainbow episode on the making of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Eventually, I saw Roots when I was a little older. 

On 7/24/2021 at 8:56 AM, Clanstarling said:

On 7/23/2021 at 1:24 PM, ErinV said:

Ugh driving me crazy, and he says "What's" instead of "What is"

In our house, we're enjoying it. It's a perfectly good contraction (or should I say it is) and fits the rules.

In general, "What's" is not a problem for me either. The issue I have is Matt using "What's" when referring to people, That bothers me. 

[ams1001]

21 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

What? Isn’t the past tense of instaget “instagot”?

I'll accept it.

[853fisher]

I thought LeVar did fine. Definitely a strong base but not much room to improve in a single tape day. I wonder whether one of the hosts who has done more live / live-to-tape work would have handled the Noriega moment more smoothly. I would hope they run a few “sticky moments” with dummy contestants in rehearsals. But now didn’t there used to be a “time’s up” sound? That would have helped.

Admittedly I’m feeling very Monday-esque and that’s not his fault, but I couldn’t help but think “this is the guy who thinks he was made to host Jeopardy?” I didn’t really see any extra special spark, and he didn’t seem terribly in command of things, but I still think very highly of him and wish him well. I did read that he said his wife had a come-to-Jesus talk with him before the next episode taped, and he thinks it was much better. I hope so.

I said Hawking because I couldn’t think of any other big name scientists who had passed away in the last several years, but I wasn’t totally sure. 2020, as we know, lasted for about 39 months, so my vague memory of Hawking’s death seemed indefinably longer ago than 2018.

Edited July 27, 2021 by 853fisher

[853fisher]

7 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

Oops, I reposted quoting myself when I meant to edit the last post. Thank goodness I wasn’t too terribly hard on LeVar for being a human. ;)

Edited July 27, 2021 by 853fisher

[Bastet]

Yikes, poor Patrick.  That is not how you want your one and only J! appearance to go.

The Met Life TS surprised me a bit.

Other than the Noriega clue mix-up, LeVar Burton did well; another solid guest host, and another well-rated charity for a good cause.  I know he's said he struggled his first game and then settled in, and with that Noriega clue being early in the game I can understand why he was thrown off.  But the game came off just fine in post.

I missed two each in TV Workplaces (not bad, since the only one of the shows I've ever seen is ER) and wild things, and one in business, but got everything else in the first round.

In DJ, I only ran Arabia and Oscars.  I blew the Popes category (shocking, I know) -- if canonization is the same thing (or close enough for J!) as bestowing sainthood, I got one, if not, I missed all of them.  I only missed one each in the rest, though.

And FJ was pretty much an instaget, so I'm off to a good start for the week.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Bastet

[ams1001]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

if canonization is the same thing (or close enough for J!) as bestowing sainthood, I got one, if not, I missed all of them.

You got one.

• (in the Roman Catholic Church) the official admission of a dead person into sainthood.

(Definitions from Oxford Languages)

[Bastet]

6 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

You got one.

Yay.  I figured, but, being a heathen, knew there could be some distinction I was missing that made my understanding of the term too simplistic.  I was going to take a look later tonight, but you've saved me the trouble; thank you.

[ams1001]

4 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Yay.  I figured, but, being a heathen, knew there could be some distinction I was missing that made my understanding of the term too simplistic.  I was going to take a look later tonight, but you've saved me the trouble; thank you.

You're welcome! I also said canonization, so I was partially double-checking myself. 😉 (Though I was pretty confident on that; also a heathen and I wasn't raised Catholic, but I've had Catholic friends and have done a fair bit of reading on the subject of religion (mostly from a sociological perspective) over the years.)

Edited July 27, 2021 by ams1001

[possibilities]

I was shouting NORIEGA!!! over and over again, and then realized my windows are open and my neighbors probably now think I'm crazy.

I knew the problem was that time ran out, because I saw the lights go out before dude said it, but it was confusing just the same.

 

[Driad]

11 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I was shouting NORIEGA!!! over and over again, and then realized my windows are open and my neighbors probably now think I'm crazy.

You're lucky you could have windows open.  Some of us (even in the east) are getting enough smoke from the forest fires to cause serious air quality problems. 

[Prevailing Wind]

It's too hot to have the windows open.

[laredhead]

It was a shame that Patrick ended the game in a deep hole.  The woman (I've already forgotten her name), seemed to be having trouble with the buzzer, and several times you could see her waving it around trying to buzz in.    

[possibilities]

23 minutes ago, Driad said:

You're lucky you could have windows open.  Some of us (even in the east) are getting enough smoke from the forest fires to cause serious air quality problems. 

We had officially Bad Air in MA today, but I was living dangerously-- mostly because I forgot to close the windows. I closed most of them....

I want to see a rematch/tournament with the "biggest losers" who ended in the red. You know they are good players, because they got past the screening process. I think a lot of them have buzzer issues. 

 

[Bastet]

58 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I knew the problem was that time ran out, because I saw the lights go out before dude said it, but it was confusing just the same

The "time's up" sound didn't seem to beep at times tonight, necessitating Burton saying time had run out.

[Cherpumple]

Between Levar's first-time nerves and all three contestants having some kind of issue (bad timing, weird phrasing, buzzer trouble, etc.), that was the most awkward game I've seen in a while. I really hope the rest of the week is better.

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

I want to see a rematch/tournament with the "biggest losers" who ended in the red.

That's exactly what I said at the end of this episode! I always feel bad when people end up in the red, and watching Patrick was particularly brutal. I remember that "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" did at least one second-chance episode featuring people who originally bombed out on their first question, and I would love to see Jeopardy try it out.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, Bastet said:

The "time's up" sound didn't seem to beep at times tonight, necessitating Burton saying time had run out.

Wow. And on his first time out? So LeVar was probably correctly waiting for a timeout buzzer while Kathleen was buzzing in with a random not-Noriega answer. 

Okay. 
Not only does Poor Patrick get a Booby Prize, but how do I turn off my conspiracy theories of a buzzer hacker sabotaging LeVar?   
(Hiding my full-blown conspiracy theory in a spoiler tag so I don’t completely embarrass myself or bother anyone more than normal.)

Spoiler

So if not only did someone smear peanut butter on the timeout buzzer (hoping squirrels would chew up the wires so it failed completely) Patrick’s buzzer was set to go off with a feather’s pressure, while Kathleen’s buzzer required a lot of luck, do they get to come back on another show later next season like they used to do on Steve Harvey’s Family Feud due to “technical difficulties,” which was usually a bad call by the judges, but in last night’s case on Jeopardy!, would be due to a crazy saboteur troll?

Okay. I’m telling myself it was just a thunderstorm causing intermittent and very specific but randomly targeted Jeopardy! buzzer brownouts.

Edited July 27, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Mindthinkr]

Last night was a weird game, but I’ll just be grateful that it wasn’t preempted by the Olympics. Levar was not what I thought he would be, but I chalk a lot of that up to first time nerves and a handful of contestant issues. My only TS was Ivan and FJ was an instaget. 

[Clanstarling]

11 hours ago, DrScottie said:

In general, "What's" is not a problem for me either. The issue I have is Matt using "What's" when referring to people, That bothers me. 

It's too early for me to come up with an example, but I've heard plenty of contestants using the wrong word for the clue. It annoys me when that happens, but for some reason it doesn't bother me with Matt - maybe because it's over so quickly. 😉

9 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

It's too hot to have the windows open.

Here too.

9 hours ago, Driad said:

You're lucky you could have windows open.  Some of us (even in the east) are getting enough smoke from the forest fires to cause serious air quality problems. 

I apologize for the smoke from our fires.

FJ was pretty much an instaget - a nearinstaget, if you will. I could only think of one scientist who was enough of a star to be in such good company. Fortunately, I didn't say Hawkings - which is often how I refer to him.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Clanstarling

[MrAtoz]

Had to watch the episode on YouTube due to the Olympics (our local affiliate claims that Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune will be shown on MeTV while the Olympics are on; this claim is a lie).  It would have been difficult for LeVar Burton to live up to the hype in the best of circumstances, and this game definitely was not the best of circumstances.  He seemed very nervous, and the way that he kept saying "Time!" was distracting.

I'm sure he will improve over the next few games.  I feel sorry for Patrick, who now has the dubious distinction of holding the record for lowest score ever.  That surely must be the nightmare scenario for every contestant.

[laredhead]

Saw this on a news feed this morning regarding Patrick's record setting lowest score ever.  Count me as one of the fans of Jeopardy having a match between low scoring contestants.

https://news.yahoo.com/le-var-burtons-debut-as-jeopardy-guest-host-overshadowed-by-record-for-lowest-score-ever-051913626.html

 

[Prevailing Wind]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

  Hide contents

Spoiler

So if not only did someone smear peanut butter on the timeout buzzer (hoping squirrels would chew up the wires so it failed completely) Patrick’s buzzer was set to go off with a feather’s pressure, while Kathleen’s buzzer required a lot of luck, do they get to come back on another show later next season like they used to do on Steve Harvey’s Family Feud due to “technical difficulties,” which was usually a bad call by the judges, but in last night’s case on Jeopardy!, would be due to a crazy saboteur troll?

 

I blame the Ferengi.

MrAtoz, there's also a MYtv. Ours is MyAtlTV and that's the sister-station of the NBC affliate here in Atlanta that's taking up the airing of Wheel & J!.  Check again - perhaps that's where you'll find the show.

[853fisher]

I think a "tournament of losers" is a great idea, but I know some folks feel strongly that, because there are so few slots for players each year, no one should have a second bite at the apple.  Perhaps a good compromise could be a few golden tickets to "The Chase," since they're sort of in the family?  I do know the production teams etc are entirely different, but they could collaborate.  On the other hand, perhaps a show where you have so many chances to go away with nothing again would undercut the premise.  Hmm, I seem to have talked myself out of this over the course of this post.

Edited July 27, 2021 by 853fisher

[The Wild Sow]

34 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

I think a "tournament of losers" is a great idea, but I know some folks feel strongly that, because there are so few slots for players each year, no one should have a second bite at the apple.  Perhaps a good compromise could be a few golden tickets to "The Chase," since they're sort of in the family?  I do know the production teams etc are entirely different, but they could collaborate.  On the other hand, perhaps a show where you have so many chances to go away with nothing again would undercut the premise.  Hmm, I seem to have talked myself out of this over the course of this post.

On Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, they did the “Return of the Zero-Dollar Winners” back in the day. We called it the Llama-Rama in honor (?) of the contestant who flamed out by answering that Hannibal crossed the Alps on Llamas!

[possibilities]

5 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I apologize for the smoke from our fires.

That's very generous of you. I'm sorry you're on fire, and trying to count my blessings that we're getting only some of the smoke and none of the flames! I wish we could send you some of the shocking volume of rain we've been having here!

If they can have a tournament of champions, they can spare the slots for a tournament of losers. Of course, if you flame out once, come back, and flame out again, it would make the humiliation worse, but I'd still like to give them all a shot at redemption.

 

5 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I apologize for the smoke from our fires.

That's very generous of you. I'm sorry you're on fire, and trying to count my blessings that we're getting only some of the smoke and none of the flames! I wish we could send you some of the shocking volume of rain we've been having here!

If they can have a tournament of champions, they can spare the slots for a tournament of losers. Of course, if you flame out once, come back, and flame out again, it would make the humiliation worse, but I'd still like to give them all a shot at redemption.

They could make it that they all play for charity, not personal winnings, if that salves the envy of those who think the opportunities for playing are too few to spare.

[marypat57]

On 7/21/2021 at 11:24 PM, Gravity Check said:

I cannot imagine. I grew up in Manhattan and the escalators at some of those stations freaked me out a bit, and I'm not escalator-phobic (profile pic to the contrary). 53rd and Third, I'm talking about you!

I used the 53rd and 3rd E train station for quite a few years when I worked in the area.  The cool part about that train was that I would get on my LIRR commuter train, get off at PennStation, get on the E train, ride that escalator to the top, and my office building had an entrance right there .  You could buy coffee at one of the shops, and walk right into the building without ever having to go outside.  Great for bad weather days!
 

That escalator is frightening.  If I remember correctly, when you are standing at the bottom, you cannot see the top..

Although, now I think that the 53rd street station has been eclipsed by the “new” Hudson Yards/34st station on the #7 Flushing Line.

[Mystery Author]

Quote

I think a lot of them have buzzer issues. 

Patrick did not have a buzzer issue. Patrick did not have a clue, pun intended.

Another not-an-Austin fan here, but Jeopardy! loves her, along with LM Alcott and EA Poe.

Oh, how I heart Lavar Burton.

PS- I'm almost finished writing the novel I'm dedicating to the J! Forum. For the record, it's genre, a history-mystery, not even CLOSE to P&P or Emma. Or Wuthering Heights :)

PPS- I wrote "genre" in an AT voice. 

[heatherchandler]

3 minutes ago, Mystery Author said:

 

Oh, how I heart Lavar Burton.

 

PPS- I wrote "genre" in an AT voice. 

Really loving Lavar.  He's so enthusiastic, I feel his good energy.

 

And I read it in his voice!

 

[Mystery Author]

Quote

The champ is so dull, but he's good.  

So has anyone else been wondering the last several days how to count in base 60 using your knuckles?

 I like the champ (sorry - not sorry), but then I liked Austin Rogers <ducking>

Me. Me. Waving hand in air. Yes, on wondering how to use my knuckles to count in base 60, LOL.

But then, I use my fingers to count things like, oh, say, the days of the week.

[ams1001]

6 minutes ago, Mystery Author said:

 I like the champ (sorry - not sorry), but then I liked Austin Rogers <ducking>

I like Austin, too. But I'll admit he had to grow on me a bit. 

[ams1001]

I disagree with accepting "land" for "landfall."

My only TS were Farmer and Flo-Jo. No FJ.

I was laughing at the fact that LeVar seemed to get more excited by each correct response the closer it got to the end of the game.

50 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

I like Austin, too. But I'll admit he had to grow on me a bit. 

I think Matt is growing on me a bit, too.

[Caoimhe]

1 hour ago, Mystery Author said:

 I like the champ (sorry - not sorry), but then I liked Austin Rogers <ducking>

I really liked Austin!  But the current champ’s idiosyncrasies are annoying me so badly I can’t watch any more. I wish I could see a LeVar game without Matt but know there’s a very good chance that won’t happen (unless LeVar turns out to be the new host).

[illdoc]

26 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

I disagree with accepting "land" for "landfall."

I'm uneasy with "stars" for "suns". Granted, suns are stars (and stars suns), but still.....

[3 is enough]

Maybe instead of “Tournament of Losers” they could call it the “Second Chance Tournament”. 
I noticed a few former champions defending Patrick on Twitter today.  They pointed out how difficult it is to get on the show, and how he could probably do better than 99% of viewers.  I do love how former contestants always stick up for each other.

[Katy M]

FJ was an instaget

I got the missed clues of France and Flo Jo

I got the entire categories of By and Minnesota right.

I'm never a fan of the next alphabetically categories.

I was glad they didn't accept Mary Tyler Moore. They usually do.

And I know there's a red cross on the Templar but I had no idea what they were going for with more specific.

[853fisher]

Did Barb say Mary Richard or Richards?  I heard the former, which is wrong.

"Listen Up" and "Alphabetically Next" were fun.  I wish we'd gotten the last "World Jobs" too.  I seldom like the local newscasters, and this time was no exception.  They just seem so very unctuous, and are often not great readers.  I guess I'll skip KARE's broadcasts when I'm in town. ;)

I'm sorry to say that I didn't think LeVar improved the things I disliked yesterday very much today.  There were still some awkward pauses, staring at Barb rather than acknowledging her until her time was half gone on "Uzbekistan," etc.  He just did not seem in control of proceedings.

I also didn't care for his reading cadence at times and, especially near the end, his enthusiasm sounded quite forced.  The darn thing about it is, I know he is authentic!  He's just, as I feared, not living up (at least in my opinion) to the expectations he chose to set for himself.  He's not bad, he certainly has all the ingredients, the recipe is just not coming together for me.

Edited July 28, 2021 by 853fisher

[LennieBriscoe]

2 hours ago, Mystery Author said:

Patrick did not have a buzzer issue. Patrick did not have a clue, pun intended.

Another not-an-Austin fan here, but Jeopardy! loves her, along with LM Alcott and EA Poe.

Oh, how I heart Lavar Burton.

PS- I'm almost finished writing the novel I'm dedicating to the J! Forum. For the record, it's genre, a history-mystery, not even CLOSE to P&P or Emma. Or Wuthering Heights :)

PPS- I wrote "genre" in an AT voice. 

Please don't put the stunningly wild-natured "Wuthering Heights" in the same insipid company as the others! 😁

But no "Jeopardy!" contestant should miss a "Mr. Darcy" clue.

[stonehaven]

I was really pulling for Barb...ran the Minnesota category. Of course, I should...Levar seemed a bit better but his shouts of "YES!" might annoy me over time. At least he didn't yell "WRONG".

[LennieBriscoe]

On 7/24/2021 at 4:45 PM, 853fisher said:

Robin really seemed to want the contestants to say "true daily double."  If anyone went all-in but didn't utter the magic words, she made sure to do it for them.  She certainly seemed like a genuine fan of the show to me.

I will tell on myself.  I didn't have a clue for FJ.  With so many things to read and learn, that genre of literature just has never appealed to me.  I'm sure I will one day get to these novels, but until then, I'm afraid I'm clueless.

I'm looking forward to LeVar with some trepidation.  I like him and wish him well but I think he's put himself in an impossible position with all the self-ballyhoo.  Even if he does pretty well, I'm sure we'll hear from everyone he didn't please even more vociferously than usual (not in this pleasant corner of the Internet, of course).

Fun fact: The movie "Clueless" is based on the Jane Austin novel "Emma." 😇

[Prevailing Wind]

I can't wait for Matt to bet big & lose it all. I'm more tired of him than I am of the Olympics.  Yeah, I've got ennui.

[shapeshifter]

What was up with the FJ wagering? 
I'm referring to the object being to win, presuming that displaying meaningful numbers is secondary at best.
Maybe when LeVar said Matt had a "commanding" lead it threw them off...? 

To make it easier for someone to explain it to me: 

Matt had $24,400 and wagered $1,000 which netted him $25,400 but would have been $23,400 if he didn't get it right.
Barb had $12,400 and wagered $12,210 (?) which netter her $24,610
 but if she had wagered at least $12,201, and Matt had not known FJ, she would have won. 
Hmmm, maybe it was a moment of dyslexia and she inverted the 1 and the 0?
Even if Barb had just wanted to be sure to get $2,000, with Jon going in with $7,200,
          she just needed to wager $2001.

*******************************

I took LeVar's increasing excitement at the end to be in hopes that they would clear the board. 

*******************************

About Matt's idiosyncrasies: When he mentioned that his father was a "collector" of "everything," I took that to mean Matt's father was a hoarder. Matt said he rebelled by being a minimalist. Matt's style of answering "What's" for everything is a minimalist approach --as well as not wasting time and mental energy parsing the pronouns and/or verb.

But, yes, it is irritating.

Kudos to Matt for pulling off the True Daily Double in DJ. 
I read Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" about 15 years ago; I could not have come up with "Rama."

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by shapeshifter

[LennieBriscoe]

On 7/23/2021 at 8:02 PM, SoMuchTV said:

 

Hey, tonight we got a “who” for FJ!

Because during the commercial, the finalists are instructed to write down, as a head start, the correct beginning words of the question. In this case, "Who is..."

Yes, I was. 😉