The Weakest Link (2020) - General Discussion

[ams1001]

1 minute ago, opus said:

That this episode was recorded before Juneteenth became a federal holiday.

Thanks; I was guessing it was something like that.

That happened on June 17, 2021. All these summer game shows seem to tape so far in advance...are the players expected to keep quiet like on Jeopardy?

[iMonrey]

Something I just realized watching this episode is that after a player is voted off, as they are walking off the stage we see their exit interview, and the remaining team members seem to see it too, because they react to it. Which means they must stop taping so the exiting player can record their goodbye message, then restart the taping so the team can see/hear it before the game starts again. It must be tedious to keep stopping like that after every round.

[ByaNose]

I kept thinking they should do an episode of former Jeopardy winners. Meanwhile, I kept trying to figure out who Kelly was. I thought she was an actress from a soap opera or something. Then I thought she’s really smart and will get booted off just before the end and still trying to figure out why I know her. And, then it was revealed she was part of Jeopardy Clues Crew. I don’t remember when they dropped that part. I know it had to be before Alex died. Anyway, the pot was a decent amount and thought the guy would win. 

[MrAtoz]

8 hours ago, ByaNose said:

And, then it was revealed she was part of Jeopardy Clues Crew. I don’t remember when they dropped that part.

The Clue Crew still exists, although Kelly Miyahara left in 2019.  The "Crew" currently consists of just Sarah Whitcomb Foss and Jimmy Maguire.  I suspect that we see fewer Clue Crew clues now because it often involved traveling to various exotic locations to deliver clues, and Covid may have forced them to cut down on international travel.

[dmeets]

JD got on my nerves with the commentary he gave with each reveal: "Sorry Izzy but it's your turn to go" (turns out it wasn't). And a couple of similar instances (I forgot what he said before his Kelly vote at F4) where he gave some cocky one-liner yet his pick almost never got the most votes. Who did he think he was, Richard Hatch? At least Richard actually successfully voted people out.

The judge was bitter that she thought she got voted out because she was a judge, yet said she voted for Izzy because she dislikes magicians. Okay then, Judge Judgy.

Edited June 8, 2022 by dmeets

[ams1001]

20 hours ago, ByaNose said:

And, then it was revealed she was part of Jeopardy Clues Crew. 

I thought she looked familiar! (Did not catch that reveal though...)

[ams1001]

Asking to have the question repeated, not once but twice, should get you voted off. 

[absnow54]

I wonder if after the Dawson's Creek question last night, if Jane Lynch remembered that she played Pacey's mom on it.

[853fisher]

You leave RC Cola alone, Jane Lynch!  😛

[iMonrey]

Not to be mean, but when Jane asked "which one of you is about to walk past an A-List celebrity in about 90 seconds?" I thought "A-List celebrities don't host game shows, Jane." She's a B-lister at best.

I thought this group of contestants was particularly dim. They really do pluck people right off the street. Even Dan, the strongest, could only answer 2 questions in the final round. Sheesh.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Not to be mean, but when Jane asked "which one of you is about to walk past an A-List celebrity in about 90 seconds?" I thought "A-List celebrities don't host game shows, Jane." She's a B-lister at best.

I always thought of Dick Clark as an A-lister. Everybody knew who he was and he was all over the place.

[Trey]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not to be mean, but when Jane asked "which one of you is about to walk past an A-List celebrity in about 90 seconds?" I thought "A-List celebrities don't host game shows, Jane." She's a B-lister at best.

I am pretty sure she was  speaking with tongue in cheek.

[opus]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not to be mean

On this show? You must be mean.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I always thought of Dick Clark as an A-lister. Everybody knew who he was and he was all over the place.

Dick Clark > Jane Lynch.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jane Lynch and think she's a great host. And yes, it was probably a tongue-in-cheek comment, but I thought it would have been funny if one of the contestants had smarted that back to her.

Edited June 16, 2022 by iMonrey

[TheGreenKnight]

Several people this episode were openly rude to Ricky, and it really rubbed me the wrong way. So bizarre. What do the contestants even know about each other before they're standing beside each other? One woman called him a creep as she exited, and then Tony couldn't even explain why he voted for him to go in one of the earlier rounds, just said, "He's creepy." I was hoping Ricky would at least outlast Tony for that reason. And, tbh, Lindsey was making faces towards him at the end, too, knowing he was most likely about to go and smirking--which is why I rooted against her in the final two and was glad when she lost (and on a Mariah Carey question at that!).

That aside, it was one of the better episodes, imo. It was nice seeing the worst one every round actually get booted for once.

[iMonrey]

What rock did that woman grow up under not to know The Great Pumpkin? I mean, I can see it if you grew up in another country, but she was clearly an American. 

There is no visible audience and yet we hear laughter; is it canned?

[Madding crowd]

I didn’t like them being so rude to Ricky and who doesn’t know that Peanuts is the name of the comic strip not a character. Then she said something about knowing Snoopy was imaginary. They are all imaginary, they’re cartoons!

[Diana Berry]

Quote

Poor Ricky.  Anyone know any of the books he has written?

[TAG42481]

Only partway through last week's episode, so I'm trying to avoid seeing what others wrote ...

But after the FIRST ROUND, the narrator said the first girl "had gotten all 3 questions right, but hadn't banked any money."  Well, if you get the question right, YOU DON'T WANT TO BANK MONEY.  BUILD THE CHAIN.  So I thought that was pretty stupid commentary.  Shouldn't the people running the show understand good strategy???

[MrAtoz]

This always seems to be the case.  The disembodied voice-over always mentions "Didn't bank any money for the team" as a negative, even as Jane berates them for not accumulating as much money as they might have.  You can't have it both ways!  Is it good to bank, or isn't it?

[Katy M]

24 minutes ago, MrAtoz said:

This always seems to be the case.  The disembodied voice-over always mentions "Didn't bank any money for the team" as a negative, even as Jane berates them for not accumulating as much money as they might have.  You can't have it both ways!  Is it good to bank, or isn't it?

It's good if someone would later get a question wrong before anyone banks, bad if they don't.  Psychic abilities are very important in this game.

[Taeolas]

I think the main criteria for being the strongest link is to get questions right. But if two players got the same number right, then whether one ACTUALLY added money to the pot (as opposed to risking getting a question wrong and killing the chain) is the deciding factor. 

Personally, I'd probably count how long it takes them to answer the question (right or wrong) and use THAT as the decider. Or maybe make some rating based on how risky the chain is when they answer and have them lose more rating if they get it wrong and lose a higher amount vs a lower amount. 

[ams1001]

"We call ourselves hillwilliams." 😄

I was rooting for Curtis the Hillbilly Drag Queen from the start. He was smart, funny and cute and I'm pretty sure he didn't give any egregiously dumb answers. (Did anyone even vote for him to go before the last round? I was distracted a couple times in between rounds so I didn't catch all the voting.)

[TheGreenKnight]

Wow, what a show! I suppose it was good in the sense that I got to laugh at so many horrible answers, but, still--what a bunch of dud contestants. Hard to say which wrong answer was the funniest: "Eggs," "Cat," or "Prince." That last one, even Jane couldn't hold back her reaction. "Thesaurus "and "Democratic Party" were both pretty funny, too, though.

[iMonrey]

What really shocked me was that 18-year old Stanford prodigy missing some really easy questions. It makes me wonder what the hell they teach in school nowadays. (Now get offa my lawn ya damn whippersnappers.)

[opus]

Renewed for season 3, with more episodes then season 2........

‘Weakest Link’ Renewed For Supersized Season 3 At NBC

https://deadline.com/2022/08/the-weakest-link-renewed-for-supersized-season-3-at-nbc-1235082426/

Edited August 1, 2022 by opus

[TVMovieBuff]

I spotted an error in a question recently. It was something like Oscar winning actor who directed the movie The Shape Of Water. The "correct" answer was Benicio del Toro. 

The truth is, the director of TSOW was Guillermo del Toro, no relation to Benicio. Flatly a mistake of a question & answer. I am surprised that if I caught it, no one at the show did. I don't know if it affected game play at all. They probably have a clause in the contestants contracts which says in case of an error, tough noogies. 

I wonder if anyone cares?

[lambertman]

@TVMovieBuff

I found this fan-made transcript (https://bobbymgsk.wordpress.com/2022/04/11/weakest-link-4-10/) that states the question thusly:

"Guillermo del Toro won 2 OSCARS for what ’17 film in which a woman hooked up w/ a fishy guy?"

then found the episode on Peacock (s2 e6) and Jane clearly says Guillermo (it's also on-screen).

Edited October 18, 2022 by lambertman
tagging person I’m replying to

[Katy M]

On 6/27/2022 at 10:43 AM, Taeolas said:

Personally, I'd probably count how long it takes them to answer the question (right or wrong) and use THAT as the decider. Or maybe make some rating based on how risky the chain is when they answer and have them lose more rating if they get it wrong and lose a higher amount vs a lower amount. 

Then I guess that would partially go back to banking because if you've just banked then there is nothing there.  It kind of isn't fair that the tie breaking part will lose you "points" if the person ahead of you is a bonehead who keeps getting the questions wrong, or just banks every time so you can't.

[TVMovieBuff]

On 10/18/2022 at 8:57 AM, lambertman said:

@TVMovieBuff

I found this fan-made transcript (https://bobbymgsk.wordpress.com/2022/04/11/weakest-link-4-10/) that states the question thusly:

"Guillermo del Toro won 2 OSCARS for what ’17 film in which a woman hooked up w/ a fishy guy?"

then found the episode on Peacock (s2 e6) and Jane clearly says Guillermo (it's also on-screen).

All right, I guess I was not paying attention properly and made a mistake. I am sorry.

[Trey]

Returning Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at 10 pm, per the following link:

Weakest Link Season 3

[Cloud9Shopper]

That episode with the twins was like an hour straight of listening to nails on a chalkboard, especially with the blondes who looked like they walked out of Dallas Cowboys cheerleader tryouts with the white boots and the guys on the end who work together and dress alike all the time. 

Looking  forward to individual contestants again next week. 

[DB in CMH]

That was fucking awful. Holy Christ.

Edited April 13, 2023 by DB in CMH

[CrystalBlue]

Peacock is charging to watch this show and the NBC app doesn't have current episodes, so I guess I'm out for Season 3.  Too many other streaming sites to pay for and to me it's not worth it.

[iMonrey]

Yeah, the twins thing was an annoying gimmick because it took too long for them to answer. The twins from Chicago looked like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and almost always spoke in unison, it was downright freaky.

I couldn't figure out what the deal was with Josh and Jacob. They were clearly the only twins who weren't identical, if they were twins at all. At one point I thought they were actually a couple rather than brothers, because Jane referred to one as "your other half," and the tall one kept putting his hand on the small of the other one's back, like you do with a romantic partner. Not a brother. It was very odd.

These questions were embarrassingly easy, they really seem to have dumbed them down.

[Diana Berry]

I liked the twins show.  But overall just glad the show is back since it’s one of my favorites 

[Stats Queen]

So the new episode, the first person voted off, a crime scene investigator (cool) was bashing another contestant because she was an NFL cheerleader and watched the real housewives. 

Watching housewives has nothing to do with intelligence- I have a PhD and it used to be my guilty pleasure. Also, many former NFL cheerleaders are highly intelligent with advanced degrees.

 

[ams1001]

3 minutes ago, Stats Queen said:

So the new episode, the first person voted off, a crime scene investigator (cool) was bashing another contestant because she was an NFL cheerleader and watched the real housewives. 

Watching housewives has nothing to do with intelligence- I have a PhD and it used to be my guilty pleasure. Also, many former NFL cheerleaders are highly intelligent with advanced degrees.

Hell, I knew that question, and the Kim Cattrall one, and I've never watched either show. And it ain't because I'm too smart or whatever.

I would have voted off the guy who thought Mars was the second planet from the sun.

[Meedis]

LOL I like that Nickey called herself the "Beyonce" of the three ladies that were the final three after being voted out...and then one of the questions in the final round pertained to Beyonce.

[iMonrey]

Quote

So the new episode, the first person voted off, a crime scene investigator (cool) was bashing another contestant because she was an NFL cheerleader and watched the real housewives. 

You know, the cheerleader was being nice, it was the CSI gal who threw the first punch with her jab at watching "intelligent" programming. Unfortunately the cheerleader took the bait and turned around and made her own snide comment on the other gal's way out. She had the high ground and threw it away.

I have never seen the final bank over five figures on this show, I don't think. They did best in round one then just started panic banking after that.

[Taeolas]

IIRC In the Second round they had an 8 streak (I think it was a 10 streak) that was broken by banks. So in Round 3 I think they tried to NOT bank, but they missed a lot more questions and couldn't get any chains going, and thus barely banked anything in that round. 

[iMonrey]

Wow this last group was a bunch of dummies. I don't know how Rhona managed to stick around as long as she did without answering one single question correctly. Yeah she kept banking money but that was her one move. And they are all banking prematurely. The whole point is to form a chain, not hit "bank" every single time someone next to you gets a question right. These tiny incremental banks aren't going to build the pot to anything significant.

[opus]

On 5/4/2023 at 11:30 AM, iMonrey said:

Wow this last group was a bunch of dummies.

Too busy with skull collecting and selling their heads (those two should hook up), playing with the robot dog, and chopping up the husband.

Edited May 5, 2023 by opus

[ams1001]

These drag queens might be fabulous but trivia queens they are not.

[iMonrey]

I enjoyed the drag queen episode more than I thought I would. They were pretty bad during the first couple of rounds, but they got better as they went along. And they were entertaining. I wouldn't want to see a lot of "theme" episodes though. We didn't get the brightest bunch when they did the twin episode either.

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I enjoyed the drag queen episode more than I thought I would. They were pretty bad during the first couple of rounds, but they got better as they went along. And they were entertaining. I wouldn't want to see a lot of "theme" episodes though. We didn't get the brightest bunch when they did the twin episode either.

I loved Olivia's look. I thought it was great that "Woo Woo" was a sheriff in real life and took her drag name from the childhood dog.

[candall]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I enjoyed the drag queen episode more than I thought I would. They were pretty bad during the first couple of rounds, but they got better as they went along. And they were entertaining. I wouldn't want to see a lot of "theme" episodes though. We didn't get the brightest bunch when they did the twin episode either.

Exactly.  I thought it might turn out to be a wasted hour of double-entendres and goofy "Chaka Khan" answers.  But things tightened up once they all got over their nerves.

I loved the elegant, understated Hilly--how long did she say she'd been in the industry?  But I also enjoyed Woo Woo and Olivia. 

I hoped that Woo Woo would get to stay for the final round.  Woo Woo vs. Hilly is probably the best chance there will ever be to see the two best players in the final.

[Meedis]

This was definitely one of the more enjoyable "theme" episodes.   Everyone gave back to Jane as much as she was giving.   I LOL'ed at Chiara and Jane going back and forth 'Yes we shall see how the voting goes'.   I was rooting for Olivia to pull it off but it was a fun watch.

[ams1001]

Holy crap...they had 11 seconds left before anyone actually banked any money.

"Who wishes they had signed up for Squid Game instead?" 😄

I'm rooting for Jakob; he's funny. (Also he looks a bit like Jon Cryer.)

Edited June 20, 2023 by ams1001

[iMonrey]

Wow, it's like they went out and picked the dumbest people they could find. I was shocked at some of the easy questions they missed. Who hasn't heard of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp? It's like not knowing Cinderella had glass slippers, or that Snow White lived with Seven Dwarfs.

The fact that they missed questions about Mitt Romney and gerrymandering just points to how disengaged that generation is and that civics is apparently no longer taught in school.

I admit I was thrown by the question about face cards. Are Jokers not considered face cards?

Interesting they all went after the smartest players first. Apparently they have the opportunity to team up and strategize before the game starts.