The Chase (2021) - General Discussion

[SoMuchTV]

29 minutes ago, Ailianna said:

10 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Brad didn't know "Alice in Wonderland"?! 

 

He doesn't have kids. I know Ken and James both do. I don't know about the new guy whose name hasn't lodged in my head yet. So both Disney movies and Disneyland are not probably his wheelhouse.

I’m way older than Brad or any of them, but that was from my childhood. The only thing that made me hesitate was, is it “Alice in Wonderland” (the movie title) or “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (the book title)?

[Cherpumple]

9 hours ago, saber5055 said:

On a more shallow note, I couldn't stop looking at her dress, which looked like it had Scotties all over it, except they weren't Scotties. I show Scotties and I would love to have that dress, everyone at the dog show would want one too.

I thought that too, but on closer inspection I think the pattern was big red poppies, with the black spaces between them resembling dog shapes.

I loved Natasha and was so happy for her win. She was certainly calm under pressure and it seemed that she knew most of those answers cold, with very little hesitation or guessing. Congrats to her!

[SHD]

9 hours ago, saber5055 said:

On a more shallow note, I couldn't stop looking at her dress, which looked like it had Scotties all over it, except they weren't Scotties. I show Scotties and I would love to have that dress, everyone at the dog show would want one too.

We are the same person! I thought the same until I realized I was looking at the negative spaces on the print and they were just really giant flowers!

[Driad]

Where did Natasha say she works?

They showed her making some strange faces at Orange Hair Woman's wrong answers.  (OK, so did I, but I wasn't on camera.)  Once it was Natasha's turn, I liked her. 

[853fisher]

3 hours ago, Ailianna said:

[Brad] doesn't have kids. I know Ken and James both do. I don't know about the new guy whose name hasn't lodged in my head yet. So both Disney movies and Disneyland are not probably his wheelhouse.

Mark, or "the Beast," is quite private, but I know he has a son who is, I think, about 3 or 4 years old.

[Iseut]

Marmee March in "Little THINGS?!?"

Dang, Brad! Self-inflicted wound, indeed. 

[Snow Apple]

I'm surprised Brad missed so many questions in the final round, especially the Alice in Wonderland question. I guess everyone has a brain fart now and then.

[seacliffsal]

I'm sure it's just me (and this is going to sound SO shallow), but the glistening on Sara's skin really distracts me.  I'm sure it's purposeful and meant to show her muscle tone, but it looks like sweat to me and I end up looking at it/trying to figure it out when I should be paying attention to other things.

I liked Natasha and was glad she won.  I wonder if she would have still won if she had gone for the higher amount he offered or if the additional pressure would have made her more nervous and more likely to make mistakes.  Generally I do root for the Chasers.  I really don't care if contestants win money or not-and for those who say they are on a show to provide a better life for their families I'm inclined to mutter "then focus on your career..."  Would I love to win some money?  Absolutely!  Do I base my whole financial planning on it?  Absolutely not.

[saber5055]

12 hours ago, SHD said:

We are the same person! I thought the same until I realized I was looking at the negative spaces on the print and they were just really giant flowers!

Oh, wow, you and @Cherpumple  are correct, the dress was poppies, not Scotties. I was tricked like in that old faces-or-vases illusion. Thanks for posting that photo, the dress is so CLEARLY poppies! I was even seeing the inside of the flowers as being paw prints. Duh! (I still love the dress though.)

Edited June 29, 2021 by saber5055

[Fellaway]

18 hours ago, Ailianna said:

What I find amazing is that last week with James having all those push backs in the final round, people immediately jumped on to the " did James throw the game?" nonsense. With Brad, who--as Ken noted--had at least one self-inflicted wound, not one person brings that up. Yet for a really long time, Brad was the guy who was never beaten by any human at Jeopardy!, who routinely clobbered Ken at tournaments, and had all kinds of records for amount of money won.

After Brad's performance in the GOAT Jeopardy tournament, I can believe he'd give the contestants opportunities with pushbacks. He did not shine in that tournament, though, admittedly, he wasn't as fast on the buzzer as Ken and James. Still, he really flubbed on some Daily Doubles.

That said, I still think he ranks as one of the best and has earned his seat here. But! Missing the Alice and the Little Women questions? Self-inflicted wounds, indeed!

[LennieBriscoe]

On 6/28/2021 at 8:44 PM, Ailianna said:

He doesn't have kids. I know Ken and James both do. I don't know about the new guy whose name hasn't lodged in my head yet. So both Disney movies and Disneyland are not probably his wheelhouse.

What I find amazing is that last week with James having all those push backs in the final round, people immediately jumped on to the " did James throw the game?" nonsense. With Brad, who--as Ken noted--had at least one self-inflicted wound, not one person brings that up. Yet for a really long time, Brad was the guy who was never beaten by any human at Jeopardy!, who routinely clobbered Ken at tournaments, and had all kinds of records for amount of money won. He just wasn't originally playing when you could go beyond five games (part of why he'd never lost to a human being), or during the current raging social media culture.

If James played the exact games he played a couple years ago in the era when Brad did, probably only the real Jeopardy! fans would know him. Since the show used James for publicity and pushed him so hard on social media, apparently a lot of people think he's the greatest great who ever greated and can answer any question. He's very smart and very quick and good at trivia. Meaning he's a lot like the other chasers on this show but still just human. 

I have no children. "Alice in Wonderland," the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat, et al. are literary classics and should certainly be known by alleged fonts of cultural information. The watching Chasers expressed amazement  at Brad. 

Edited June 30, 2021 by LennieBriscoe

[Alice Mudgarden]

FWIW, Brad is from where I currently live and he had done an interview with the newspaper before the show started. In it, he mentioned that he's noticed that as he gets older, his recall has become slightly slower. You can see it in the game, too; in the one on one chases, he's pretty solid and gets most of the answers right. It's when he has to do the super fast Final Chase answering that he stumbles on stuff he probably does actually know.

[Rickster]

13 hours ago, Alice Mudgarden said:

FWIW, Brad is from where I currently live and he had done an interview with the newspaper before the show started. In it, he mentioned that he's noticed that as he gets older, his recall has become slightly slower. You can see it in the game, too; in the one on one chases, he's pretty solid and gets most of the answers right. It's when he has to do the super fast Final Chase answering that he stumbles on stuff he probably does actually know.

As someone who is even older than Brad, I’ve noticed that while I am generally good at Jeopardy and the multiple choice part of The Chase, I have problems with processing the rapid, entirely aural, parts of the cash builder and final chase rounds on the show. For me it seems to be both processing the question (which is easier visually) and the speed of recall under time pressure.

[Madding crowd]

On this show, Brad had missed more questions than James and Ken. I saw at least one episode where James didn’t miss a single question. Keep in mind this show is different than Jeopardy where you can choose your categories and The Chase also seems to contain more random trivia versus general knowledge questions. 

[opus]

On 6/28/2021 at 3:15 PM, SoMuchTV said:

Maybe if the chasers had a charity that benefited if they won, I could feel a little better about rooting for the chaser.

I had thought of that to, but that would seemingly predispose someone to root against the contestants, as they'd be taking money away from charities

[iMonrey]

Quote

He doesn't have kids. I know Ken and James both do. I don't know about the new guy whose name hasn't lodged in my head yet. So both Disney movies and Disneyland are not probably his wheelhouse.

I don't have kids either but I was a kid, once. And I don't even think you need to have been to Disneyland to know the Tea Cup ride is from Alice in Wonderland. But whatevs. I think he realized his mistake the instant he said it. 

[saber5055]

On 6/29/2021 at 8:21 PM, Alice Mudgarden said:

FWIW, Brad is from where I currently live and he had done an interview with the newspaper before the show started. In it, he mentioned that he's noticed that as he gets older, his recall has become slightly slower.

True this. And when Brad gets to my age, the answers will come to him the next day or next week, or maybe in the middle of some random night. I can't even remember names of my best friends some days. I cut Brad and everyone else on this show slack on missing what we viewers, reclining at home on our couches, consider "easy."

[proserpina65]

On 11/23/2020 at 9:34 AM, Kromm said:

also had Labbett, who is genuinely fun to watch

I cannot stand him, so adding him to this version of the show made me even less likely to watch it, and I already only watch when Brad is on it.

 

[saber5055]

On 7/6/2021 at 12:22 PM, proserpina65 said:

I already only watch when Brad is on it.

Brad and proser, sittin' in a tree ...

[Cherpumple]

On 7/6/2021 at 1:22 PM, proserpina65 said:

I cannot stand him, so adding him to this version of the show made me even less likely to watch it, and I already only watch when Brad is on it.

I go back and forth on Labett and think he's better in small doses (I got pretty sick of him as the only chaser on the GSN version). He has a huge body of knowledge and his performances in the final chase are genuinely impressive, but most of his bluster is pretty cringey and too full of dad-joke level humor for me. And I can't take him seriously after watching his old episode on the UK's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" where he looked SUPER dorky with a bad haircut and wonky teeth (he's definitely had his teeth capped at some point). He was the opposite of his big scary Beast persona, and just a normal, quiet, slightly awkward guy.

I was mainly afraid that he would upset the well-established dynamic of the Jeopardy Trio, but he seems to fit in well so far, and I'm happy to still watch him on a few episodes.

[GenerationX]

Another good team.  They bombed in their final chase, but played well otherwise.

The Beast did not have a particularly good outing in the final chase, either.  Answering part-way through the question burned him on the Queen's Gambit.

I noticed what looked like tremors in the first Beast appearance this season, and I noticed them again tonight.  I hope it's nothing.

[Arkay]

The first guy was brilliant, crazy suit and all, and is solely responsible for them each getting over $100,000. The woman was great also but she didn’t choose the big bet. The guy who bragged about Mensa won the least amount of money.

The Chaser made so many mistakes that he gave the contestants time to make up for their own mistakes in the final round.

I was glad to see the contestants win, since I really liked two of them.

I still don’t really see the need for the Chasers who aren’t playing to sit around in some lounge and make needless comments. That must be a great gig to have.

[saber5055]

Wow, what a bad episode. This is the first time I've seen The Beast, and after reading about him here, what a BEAST he is, so smart, snarky, mean to the players, and all-around genius, let me say I was sorely SORELY disappointed. Dude did not live up to his reputation.

Got a laugh that Mensa Guy missed so many easy peasy questions. Although as they say, things are only easy if you know them. But when I knew every single answer he didn't know, that tells me maybe getting into Mensa is more about being able to pay the admission fee than actually knowing anything. Because folks, I ain't no Mensa.

Anyway ... The Lounge Lizards figured the three players would get 20-21 questions and that's what I thought too. Then they got what, 13, with 3 freebees thrown in. Geesh. What a cinch for The Beast to beat that. Then WTHeck! He couldn't even do that? And as for him being so mean to players, the Lounge Lizards threw more shade than he did the entire show.

Like I said, what a disappointing episode.

I did like the woman player and thought she had the more difficult questions. The second guy had questions so easy it was cringe worthy. But then again, questions are easy if you know them.

If every week is like this one I might have to find something else to do on Sunday nights. All my favorite shows are letting me down lately.

[Ailianna]

Mark really suffered from a number of self-inflicted wounds this game, the chess answer being the most obvious. The team suffered from not cohessing and giving long pauses between question and answer or calling pass. They didn't seem to have a plan for figuring out when to move on and it limited the number of questions that were read.

I like @saber5055calling the other chasers Lounge Lizards and they are often a highlight. This game they were my favorite part of all.

I made time for this before work even though I have over a week of Jeopardy! to catch up on due to a couple crazy weeks. I'm not sure if I feel smart or like I wasted the time.

[LennieBriscoe]

On 7/9/2021 at 3:48 PM, saber5055 said:

Brad and proser, sittin' in a tree ...

"...c-h-a-s-i-n-g!"

[DougJones]

I’m thinking they may need harder questions. Seems the teams have won a lot more often than not at this point. 
 

I did like the jab about how People in MENSA always have to mention that they are part of it lol.  Kind of like many vegans I know. 

[iMonrey]

This was a shocking win for the team. I have never seen The Beast lose the final chase with only 16 steps to beat. And the players did so well individually it was surprising how poorly they performed in the final chase. 

[DB in CMH]

Wow. A brilliant team that totally choked. The got extremely lucky that the Beast choked worse. How did they miss some of those questions?

 

[lynxfx]

On 7/18/2021 at 7:13 PM, GenerationX said:

noticed what looked like tremors in the first Beast appearance this season, and I noticed them again tonight.  I hope it's nothing.

We noticed that too. He has lost weight but I wonder if something else has manifested. Hopefully he is ok.

I always liked the Beast (loved his reaction to the president's limo) but he really had a bad night. I think that was a record number of pushbacks. The final chase had a lot of mess ups from everyone including reading the questions. 

There have been some good players lately. So glad so many have gone for the higher amount. Makes it more interesting. 

I'm surprised how many questions I know only because of video games. Assassin's Creed for instance is full of great historical trivia.

[illdoc]

On 7/6/2021 at 12:22 PM, proserpina65 said:

I already only watch when Brad is on it.

According to my TV listings, Brad will be on this Sunday (July 25).

[saber5055]

21 hours ago, illdoc said:

According to my TV listings, Brad will be on this Sunday (July 25).

Yes! Hoping he can make up for the fiasco that was The Beast last week. That, plus looking forward to seeing @proserpina65 here afterward!

[Snow Apple]

It's strange hearing Sara call the guys by their nicknames instead of their real names. I don't remember that last season, unless I recall wrong.

[Fellaway]

12 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

It's strange hearing Sara call the guys by their nicknames instead of their real names. I don't remember that last season, unless I recall wrong.

I don't remember her calling them by those nicknames last season either. With ML's addition this season, I have no problem with her calling him "Beast". (Though I think I would if she called him "Beastie". That's Brooke's thing.) It's what we're used to with him. But with the other three, we're not and it seems so manufactured. And awkward. Really awkward. We know how good these guys are. We've seen it. We don't need to be told via silly nicknames.

Looking at my cable guide, it shows repeats the next two weeks. What's up with the spotty schedule this season? COVID restrictions making things harder, or something else?

[SHD]

Awww...I was actually kind of rooting for the contestant this week. He did a good job on his own in the last round.

[saber5055]

Wow, thank you Brad for saving this show after the debacle that was "The Beast" last week. The less said about that big loser person, the better.

I very much enjoyed this episode. Both Brad and the player were on their games, which made this a great hour of entertainment. While I'm one who keeps saying tough luck that players who get caught leave with nothing, I felt bad for last night's lone player. He was smart and seemed like such a nice guy, I did wish he got a parting prize, like a thousand bucks or something. I pretty much always root for the chaser, but I sort of was hoping he'd beat Brad. Kudos to Brad for acknowledging how good the guy was. I hope he gets on Jeopardy some day. He played a great game.

Thanks for redeeming yourself show, and keeping THAT person off the chaser chair this week.

[Snow Apple]

I like the Beast because I have fond memories of the version with Brooke. He’s a bit off in this version but he seems more relaxed backstage with the other guys.

Like others said, I hope nothing is really wrong except maybe getting older. 

[iMonrey]

Disappointing episode. The first two contestants just weren't very good. I wonder how hard it is to find good players for this show. You've really got to know your trivia. But they've managed to find good players on Jeopardy for years and years so how hard can it be? Some of these people seem like randos they pulled in off the street.

[Madding crowd]

Jeopardy has more general knowledge and to an extent you can choose your categories. The Chase is more random trivia and I do much better on Jeopardy than this show. I also think it sounds awkward to call the guys buzzsaw or high roller. 

[Rickster]

10 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Disappointing episode. The first two contestants just weren't very good. I wonder how hard it is to find good players for this show. You've really got to know your trivia. But they've managed to find good players on Jeopardy for years and years so how hard can it be? Some of these people seem like randos they pulled in off the street.

You should watch the daytime version to see randos pulled off the street (at least in some episodes)

[LennieBriscoe]

Waited all dang day for this show.

Nobody expected the Taliban Inquisition. 

ETA: It's  ba-a-ack! 

Edited August 16, 2021 by LennieBriscoe

[Arkay]

1 hour ago, LennieBriscoe said:

 

ETA: It's  ba-a-ack! 

I don’t have it back...after about a half hour on Afghanistan, I have a rerun. Not sure if it will be shown in my market at all

[LennieBriscoe]

3 hours ago, Arkay said:

I don’t have it back...after about a half hour on Afghanistan, I have a rerun. Not sure if it will be shown in my market at all

Yeah, I realized later it was a re-run (the "Beast" question). 😒

[saber5055]

19 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Nobody expected the Taliban Inquisition. 

LOL, even though it's not funny IRL. I, too, was waiting all day for Ken as The Chaser on a new ep. Instead, we got that horrible rerun of how dreck The Beast was. I didn't need to see that again. Why they chose that one to air again is beyond me, except maybe TPTB wanted us to see competitors win some cash.

Then To Tell The Truth was preempted too. Way to ruin my Sunday night ABC.

[Fellaway]

Sara is an attractive woman, but jeezalou... How can ABC's stylist, with all their money, do so very badly for her, week after week, when penny-pinching GSN's did so much better for Brooke? I still contend the lighting on this iteration's set is not flattering to Sara, but... Jeezalou. Maybe the stylist hates her. 

On either iteration, I've never understood why a contestant goes for the bottom offer. If you wanna go for that level of money, go on Wheel of Fortune. At least go for what you earned! How many shots are you gonna have in life at big money?

Ken is full of himself tonight. He's rather beastly. Did love him offering the first contestant $150,001.

[Fellaway]

Okay, Sara deserves an Emmy for having to say that Lake name! Yikes!

[LennieBriscoe]

1 hour ago, Fellaway said:

Sara is an attractive woman, but jeezalou... How can ABC's stylist, with all their money, do so very badly for her, week after week, when penny-pinching GSN's did so much better for Brooke? I still contend the lighting on this iteration's set is not flattering to Sara, but... Jeezalou. Maybe the stylist hates her. 

On either iteration, I've never understood why a contestant goes for the bottom offer. If you wanna go for that level of money, go on Wheel of Fortune. At least go for what you earned! How many shots are you gonna have in life at big money?

Ken is full of himself tonight. He's rather beastly. Did love him offering the first contestant $150,001.

VERY disappointed in that young guy's crazy choice of the measly $5,000---divided amongst three! 

VERY pleased to see Ken get his comeuppance!

[Driad]

Lake Chaubunagungamaug

[alexa]

Maybe they have just played the series in a different order, or it is strange that we have had a couple episodes in a row where the chaser would have normally easily won, but didn't.  I kind of don't like when the chaser has a bad day as it seems like a giveaway to the contestants.  

[iMonrey]

Such a strange episode. Such a small pot of money to play for and they actually won it. I can't believe how often Ken got stumped in the final chase. 

What on earth was Sara wearing?

[saber5055]

Wow, this was a painful episode. The first contestant answering two questions. The middle guy taking the low-ball offer. The third contestant did okay I guess, and if it weren't for that person the team would have answered maybe two questions.

Then Ken, holy cats, talk about tanking on some easy questions. Pinball! This whole episode was like they grabbed four random people off the street to play, and that includes the chaser. The only bright spot was James and the other lounge chasers saying how easily they would have beaten the team. I usually root for the chaser but last night I wasn't rooting for anyone, they all stunk.

Edited August 23, 2021 by saber5055