Jeopardy! Season 37 (2020-2021)

[SoMuchTV]

17 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I think he would have come off better if he had his own style, rather than being so Trebekian.

Well, things are still very early on.  I’m okay with staying the course before branching off into a whole new style. 
 

eta. This should have gone in the guest host category. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by SoMuchTV
Didn’t pay attention to the category

[ams1001]

Tonight's conversation seemed extra awkward...

Yay for the Jersey boy.

I got all the Gloves and Japanese words and none of the Fairs or Pulitzer Prize winners.

The last two days I did better in the second round than the first; today....not even close. Bleh.

[Katy M]

Just now, icemiser69 said:

Perhaps it is just my imagination, but this game doesn't seem to be as tightly run as it used to be, when it comes to holding contestants to the first answer given as the only one they are allowed.

It's because Ken takes longer ruling. I think he's unsure of himself when it comes to telling someone they're wrong.

FJ was an instaget.

I got the ts of Young Sheldon and caucus.

I got the entire category of country facts right.  

I had a good game.

[Browncoat]

I could have sat here for decades and never have even had the remotest clue for FJ.  I am so bad at history-type clues!  

I did get Young Sheldon, midway, and Asti, though, so there's that.

Genre!

 

 

[shapeshifter]

Were all of us yelling "Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon!"?

[opus]

8 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Were all of us yelling "Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon!"?

I’ve never watched it, but yes.

[ams1001]

11 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Were all of us yelling "Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon!"?

Yes!

2 minutes ago, opus said:

I’ve never watched it, but yes.

I'm watching it right now!

[Prevailing Wind]

I agree with opus.  Never watched it, but know about due to relentless promotion with that smarmy kid reading clues on J!

Edited February 19, 2021 by Prevailing Wind

[Browncoat]

Just now, ams1001 said:

I'm watching it right now!

Same!

[ams1001]

18 minutes ago, Katy M said:

It's because Ken takes longer ruling. I think he's unsure of himself when it comes to telling someone they're wrong.

 

I agree. When he says "no" it always sounds like a question. I think he's doing a good job but that's definitely something he needs to work on (if he comes back after the stunt hosts, as someone called them, are done).

[chitowngirl]

2 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Well, things are still very early on.  I’m okay with staying the course before branching off into a whole new style. 
 

Drew Carey was very Bob Barker-ish, but then came into his own on The Price is Right.

[SHD]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

I agree. When he says "no" it always sounds like a question. 

That always stands out to me, but feel like it’s more sympathetic sounding that a harsh “No” or a dismissive sounding “Nope!” I AM waiting for a contestant to counter with a “Yes?” in response, though. LOL

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Were all of us yelling "Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon!"?

Nope, that one stumped me just as it did the contestants.  I only got The Conners, Living Single, and The Office (that last one through cultural osmosis, as I've never seen it).

In addition to the two sitcoms, I missed two in fairs, and three or four in wars (I hate war history, so that wasn't surprising) in the first round, but ran the gloves, Japanese words, and narrative categories.

In DJ, I didn't write them down, but only missed four or five.  I didn't even have a guess for FJ, though, so I didn't finish strong.

Caucus surprised me a bit as a TS, but that was a good game.  Especially since I was rooting for Alan.

[dcalley]

[853fisher]

Poor Leah needed to simmer down a little at the end and stop ringing in if she wasn't sure.  I always feel bad for contestants who go out that way.  I also felt thirsty after answering "Spumante" for the sparkling wine question.  And I felt annoyed that another contestant was allowed to give two answers.  I know what the rulebook says, you have until the host tells you you're wrong to say something else, but I don't like it and I think perhaps it should be changed.  Because the clue asked for a specific Pulitzer category, and "Political Cartoon" is not that one, there should have been no dillydallying on ruling Andy wrong anyway.  That moment just struck me as sloppy all around.

I really enjoy history but haven't retained as much as I would like from the nineteenth century.  Bryan and his "cross of gold" speech were rattling around in the recesses of my mind.  I couldn't've told you what I recall now that I looked it up, that he argued in favor of making both gold and silver legal tender rather than adopting the gold standard alone as the country did after McKinley beat him, but I knew it somehow.  "The first campaign" also made me think of someone who ran a few times, which checked out.  Someone more clever than I am pointed out that the added "t" that cost Andy the win might look an awful lot like what Bryan said we ought not crucify mankind on.  Ouch.

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Were all of us yelling "Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon! Young Sheldon!"?

Not me!  I really, really don't care for "Big Bang Theory" so I have never tried the spinoff, although I have read bits about it enough that I might have been able to respond correctly had I been really on form.  Out of curiosity, would any of the "Young Sheldon" fans here recommend I try it despite my opinion of the parent show?  I know they might be different from one another but I've never been able to convince myself to see, the delightful Annie Potts notwithstanding.

Edited February 19, 2021 by 853fisher

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, 853fisher said:

Poor Leah needed to simmer down a little at the end and stop ringing in if she wasn't sure.  I always feel bad for contestants who go out that way

I really appreciated the cool calmness of the winner. That is a quality common to many winners in many contests of skill and/or intellect. 

 

1 hour ago, 853fisher said:

 Out of curiosity, would any of the "Young Sheldon" fans here recommend I try it despite my opinion of the parent show?  I know they might be different from one another but I've never been ale to convince myself to see, the delightful Annie Potts notwithstanding.

Annie Potts is delightful in Young Sheldon, which is probably why she is in most, if not all episodes. I have not seen every episode, but have been able to understand what’s going on whenever I do start watching again.
 

 

[ams1001]

4 hours ago, 853fisher said:

And I felt annoyed that another contestant was allowed to give two answers.  I know what the rulebook says, you have until the host tells you you're wrong to say something else, but I don't like it and I think perhaps it should be changed.  Because the clue asked for a specific Pulitzer category, and "Political Cartoon" is not that one, there should have been no dillydallying on ruling Andy wrong anyway.  That moment just struck me as sloppy all around.

Yeah, it's one thing when they catch and correct themselves immediately, but when they give a wrong (not even questionable in this case, imo) answer, followed by a long pause from the host before ruling, then change their answer...that shouldn't be allowed. He needs to give the ruling a lot quicker. (Personally I think it's better to occasionally incorrectly rule wrong and let them challenge it than look like they're giving some players time to change their answers. I'm sure Ken knows what answer they're going for, and if there are obvious possible alternate answers, so it shouldn't take him so long to say yes or no. If the answer given is not on the list then rule it wrong and move on. He shouldn't have even needed a yay or nay from the judges on that one.)

[zoey1996]

6 hours ago, 853fisher said:

Not me!  I really, really don't care for "Big Bang Theory" so I have never tried the spinoff, although I have read bits about it enough that I might have been able to respond correctly had I been really on form.  Out of curiosity, would any of the "Young Sheldon" fans here recommend I try it despite my opinion of the parent show?  I know they might be different from one another but I've never been ale to convince myself to see, the delightful Annie Potts notwithstanding.

I watched maybe 3 full episodes of TBBT (including the wedding), but after The Middle ended, I was looking for another family sitcom to watch, and Young Sheldon filled the bill.  I really enjoy YS.  Give it a try, and if it doesn't work for you, you'll have wasted an hour or two figuring that out.  Not only Annie Potts, but also Wallace Shawn, and Sheldon's mom is played by Laurie Metcalf's daughter.  Cast overall is pretty good, IMHO.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I know what the rulebook says, you have until the host tells you you're wrong to say something else, but I don't like it and I think perhaps it should be changed.  Because the clue asked for a specific Pulitzer category, and "Political Cartoon" is not that one, there should have been no dillydallying on ruling Andy wrong anyway.  That moment just struck me as sloppy all around.

I haven't watched Jeopardy as consistently as most of you, but the accepted switcheroo from "Political" to "Editorial" was a WTH? moment for me.
Is there a definitive way Alex would have responded? 
For instance, would he have quickly said "No, I'm sorry" as soon as "Political" was out of the contestant's mouth? 

I wonder if KJ was given a different rubric to follow? 
A lot of the old quiz shows had "judges" off screen who the hosts could defer to, which also served to keep the hosts blameless
--kind of like when I would tell a daughter if she didn't want to go somewhere with her friends that she could just tell them mean old mom wouldn't let her go when I was actually agnostic about it.
I wonder if any of the "stunt" guest hosts will pretend to have an earpiece with a voice telling them of a "judge's" ruling. 😉

Since KJ has been hosting, there have been a few instances where they have come back from a break and either deducted or added to a contestant's score because of a ruling somewhere off camera. 
That happened with Alex too, right? 

Sorry for digressing a bit from the in-episode discussion of political editorial cartoon.

[Mindthinkr]

Never watched the Big Bang or Young Sheldon so there was silence in my house on that clue (save the cat snoring).  I never even heard the answer to the first DD because it sounded mumbled to me. There were a few times I questioned the rulings of an answer being correct because the contestants were allowed to add or change on their answers. I got Asti, which I will be drinking a lot of if I’m at the table for 1 or none. Obviously no FJ. I better get it tonight. Seriously, I’m beginning to wonder what has happened to my brain. 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Mindthinkr
I added a word for better understanding.

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, zoey1996 said:

I watched maybe 3 full episodes of TBBT (including the wedding), but after The Middle ended, I was looking for another family sitcom to watch, and Young Sheldon filled the bill.  I really enjoy YS.  Give it a try, and if it doesn't work for you, you'll have wasted an hour or two figuring that out.  Not only Annie Potts, but also Wallace Shawn, and Sheldon's mom is played by Laurie Metcalf's daughter.  Cast overall is pretty good, IMHO.

I did not know she was Metcalf's daughter. Here I was, watching the show, being amazed at how well they cast the role! LOL. Not to dismiss the actress, she's quite good.

I ran the Japanese category, which surprised me.  Got everything in Narrative Literature except for the fan fiction clue. I'm aware of it, but to me it's not a type of narrative literature (well, from my old school English Lit major days anyway). Particularly E.L. James (not a fan...)

FJ continues to elude me. I could say it's because I'm tired and sleepy at that point - but although it's true, it's never stopped me before. These are just tough clues for me these days. I fake cried when the category came up, making my husband laughed. That's his domain of knowledge, and he got it right. Though I made him slightly question it with my own "Teddy Roosevelt" answer.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Clanstarling

[DrSpaceman73]

Wiiliam jennings bryant......tough way to lose

I didn't know though.   Thought it was teddy roosevelt.   Just because I knew he was young when he was president.  

[DrSpaceman73]

14 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I agree. When he says "no" it always sounds like a question. I think he's doing a good job but that's definitely something he needs to work on (if he comes back after the stunt hosts, as someone called them, are done).

That just comes with doing the show a long time I think.   He is still learning, if he continues will get better...

Did anybody you watch vanna trying to host the wheel last year?  That show is much easier to make a ruling, I mean it's obvious and they only have to determine it like 7 or 8 times a game and she was AWFUL at it.  

[ams1001]

1 minute ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Did anybody you watch vanna trying to host the wheel last year?  That show is much easier to make a ruling, I mean it's obvious and they only have to determine it like 7 or 8 times a game and she was AWFUL at it.  

Not a Wheel fan to begin with, but I did watch a few minutes of one of her episodes. Only a few.

[Browncoat]

I feel like political cartoons are a subset of editorial cartoons, and that was part of the hesitation.  Ken might have looked to the judges for a ruling, and in that second, the contestant changed his answer before time ran out.  

And yes, the reversal of rulings happened a lot with Alex -- both in the contestant's favor and not.

[853fisher]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Did anybody you watch vanna trying to host the wheel last year?  That show is much easier to make a ruling, I mean it's obvious and they only have to determine it like 7 or 8 times a game and she was AWFUL at it.  

I seem to be the only one on the face of the Earth who liked the job she did, although I only watched one or two.  I find Pat's onscreen persona intolerably smug, before I even consider what I think of him off the show, so maybe I was just grateful for a change.  But even I noticed that she seemed to need to check her card pretty much every single time someone guessed.  They're usually not more than five or six words, my goodness!  Ken is a good bit smoother than that, and I guess they can only fit so much information on whatever is at his podium.

[Trey]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Since KJ has been hosting, there have been a few instances where they have come back from a break and either deducted or added to a contestant's score because of a ruling somewhere off camera. 
That happened with Alex too, right? 

Frequently.

[opus]

2 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Never watched the Big Bang or Young Sheldon

Me either (although I did know the answer). And I have no plans to watch Teenage Sheldon, Middle Aged Sheldon, Old Age Sheldon, or Hey, He’s Finally Dead Sheldon.

[Prevailing Wind]

5 hours ago, opus said:

Me either (although I did know the answer). And I have no plans to watch Teenage Sheldon, Middle Aged Sheldon, Old Age Sheldon, or Hey, He’s Finally Dead Sheldon.

Don't forget "My Sheldon, the Car."  (Wasn't that the premise - that Mother reincarnated as the guy's car?)

 

[ams1001]

I wonder if the "Thank You, Alex" is a Ken thing or of the other guest hosts will say it, too.

Not such a good night. I got all the Doctors (Not MDs); only one book and it was the one that just required you to know what stadium is in LA.

[illdoc]

FJ: I knew it was a Scandinavian country and I kept going "Norway. Sweden. Norway. Sweden. Norway...." in my head before settling on Sweden. Sigh. At least it wasn't Norway!

[Katy M]

I didn't get FJ. No idea.

Only ts I got was Moyes.

Not  a good night.

[Browncoat]

Instaget FJ for me tonight, then I waffled between it and Norway, before settling on the correct response.  

I wonder if they would have accepted Catholic schools for parochial schools?  Because I said Catholic schools.  I did get the TS of Eleven, bun, and Jojo Moyes.

[Katy M]

56 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Don't forget "My Sheldon, the Car."  (Wasn't that the premise - that Mother reincarnated as the guy's car?)

 

Fun fact: Jerry Van Dyke turned down Gilligans Island to do My Mother the Car.

[Prevailing Wind]

I got Samuel Barber.  In 1981, the Atlanta Symphony was scheduled to perform a piece of his.  My neighbor and I had season tickets. Both of us knew we didn't particularly care for music written by someone who was still alive.  Barber died the day before the performance and we realized that the composer not only had to be dead for us to like the music, he had to be buried, too.

 

[shapeshifter]

Again, I must ask, were we all yelling: "Bun! Bun! Bun!"?

[kathyk24]

7 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I seem to be the only one on the face of the Earth who liked the job she did, although I only watched one or two.  I find Pat's onscreen persona intolerably smug, before I even consider what I think of him off the show, so maybe I was just grateful for a change.  But even I noticed that she seemed to need to check her card pretty much every single time someone guessed.  They're usually not more than five or six words, my goodness!  Ken is a good bit smoother than that, and I guess they can only fit so much information on whatever is at his podium.

I was fine with Vanna hosting especially since it was on short notice. Pat can be really corny. I got parochial school and had no clue for final Jeopardy I guessed Russia.

[Mindthinkr]

   First I would like to say that Ken really upped his suit game over his hosting gig. Mind you he is on two other game shows so I guess he needed to increase his wardrobe, but he has come a long way to include pocket squares. 
   All the winners from Wednesday, Thursday and today (Friday) came from the middle position. 
  I began well. I got Parochial Schools, high cry, bun, Gods and Monsters, and then fizzled out. No FJ this week. That’s a first in my many years of playing (unless I’ve blocked it out from my memory).  

Edited February 20, 2021 by Mindthinkr

[Katy M]

10 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Again, I must ask, were we all yelling: "Bun! Bun! Bun!"?

 I wasn't.  I didn't really know what a chignon was. I did know bob wasn't right.

[ams1001]

Had to look up Barber's Adagio for Strings (it is the piece I thought it was), and to make it extra relevant, the first link that came up was the Iceland Symphony Orchestra!

 

 

[DrSpaceman73]

1 hour ago, illdoc said:

FJ: I knew it was a Scandinavian country and I kept going "Norway. Sweden. Norway. Sweden. Norway...." in my head before settling on Sweden. Sigh. At least it wasn't Norway!

I did the same. Knew it was Scandinavia and not finland. 

So did the former champ win more in second place tonight than he did in his win?  It happens sometimes.  

[GreekGeek]

 

 

 

Quote

So did the former champ win more in second place tonight than he did in his win?  It happens sometimes.  

You’re thinking of Andy, who won $1999 and became champ on Wednesday, but was defeated Thursday by Alan, who won with $14,800. 

I was feeling smug about knowing William Jennings Bryan (not Bryant) last night, only to feel like a fool when everyone knew Iceland tonight. I guessed Israel for some reason. But I did get parochial school, bun, and Gods and Monsters.

[DrSpaceman73]

William jennings bryant.....could talk a great game but couldn't hit a jumper.  

 

[Bastet]

The parochial schools TS was surprising, in that no one even guessed some sort of religious school.  Bun surprised me, too.  But it was a good game.  I just wish Alan had wagered enough in FJ to win.

In the first round, I ran the precedents category, along with the roads, hair and rhymes categories, but missed two in Baltimore and three in pop culture.

In DJ, I ran "kon"fusion, geography, and doctors, but missed two each in madrigals and movies and three in literature. 

So a good performance, and then FJ was an instaget, so I ended strong.

[Cotypubby]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Again, I must ask, were we all yelling: "Bun! Bun! Bun!"?

Not me, I totally misread the clue. For some reason I thought it was asking for a word that was one letter different from chignon. Don’t know why I saw “3-letter word” as “1-letter off.” 😂 

But I was yelling “Barber! Barber” for the Adagio for Strings clue. That’s one of those pieces of music that is so famous and appears everywhere. It’s always like during sad climactic emotional scenes showing something of great importance.

Instaget FJ for me, Iceland was the only country I could think of that famously has gendered last names.

 

[shapeshifter]

14 minutes ago, Cotypubby said:

the only country I could think of that famously has gendered last names.

The only country/language I know that has gendered last names is Russia. I knew that was likely wrong, but figured if I was actually on the show (like if the apocalypses keep coming until I'm the best they've got for a Jeopardy contestant) that I would rather guess "Russia?" than leave it blank. 

[Cotypubby]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

The only country/language I know that has gendered last names is Russia.

They do? Huh wow I never knew that. How does that work? I just knew Iceland has -dottir for female names and -son for male names.

[3 is enough]

I liked Alan.  Sorry to see him go.

My first thought for FJ was Russia, except they aren’t progressive enough to have gender neutral suffixes.

Edited February 20, 2021 by 3 is enough

[Cherpumple]

1 hour ago, Cotypubby said:

They do? Huh wow I never knew that. How does that work?

Basically, most Russian surnames differ slightly from male to female with the addition of an "a" for female versions. For instance: Ivan Pavlov / Olga Pavlova; Alexei Karenin / Anna Karenina. Some names require a few more changes to make the switch: Tolstoy/Tolstaya; Tchaikovsky/Tchaikovskaya.

It gets confusing because women don't always use the Russian version of their name outside of Russia, so we often see people in one family using the same surname. For instance, Mikhail Gorbachev's wife was known in the west as Raisa Gorbachev, but in Russia she was called Raisa Gorbacheva.

[Clanstarling]

14 hours ago, Katy M said:

 I wasn't.  I didn't really know what a chignon was. I did know bob wasn't right.

I had no idea that a chignon was a specific type of bun. I ran the hair category, thanks to an assist from a Doctor Who episode with Madame Pompadour. Which is funny because I'm a wash and comb and forget about it kind of person. My father gave my teenage brother a bowl cut the night before school started because he didn't get a hair cut when my father told him to. I did feel bad for my brother, who was generally a hit with the teenage girls at his school because he was cute and liked them back)

The boards were pretty decent for me. But I was stressed going into FJ since I had not answered a single one correctly this week.

Thankfully, I have been fascinated by Iceland's naming conventions. So I got FJ. I would never have thought of Russia, though @Cherpumple's examples made me thankful I didn't remember Russian names or I might have been deflected.

I thought Ken might say something at the end of his (hopefully first and not last) run. So I was surprised he didn't. I think he'd be a perfect replacement. And I actually like his interactions with the contestants better than Alex's.

I thought Dr. Oz was on next week, but I saw something that said it was someone else (I think the sports guy? I'm not familiar with him.)

Edited February 20, 2021 by Clanstarling