Jeopardy! Season 38 (2021-2022)

[Mindthinkr]

   Okay @ProudMary You won me over in the Clark versus Reilly debate after scrutinizing the photos on your post. 
   Not a great night for me, but good enough. I only got chandelier, bladder and grate. For FJ I guessed McMillan. The person I was watching with said Harper so he got a good for you from me. 

[Clanstarling]

15 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Regarding being spoiled - I got spoiled from this very site, but it was my own stupid fault.  I got a notification that someone had reacted to one of my posts, before I'd seen the show but after the "magic" hour of 7pm ET.  I figured I'd just go to the link and see what post they reacted to, and not read any further, but the next post after mine started with "Well dangitall...".  As much as I wanted that to be a comment  about Mayim's wardrobe or their local scheduling or something, I couldn't get it out of my head.  And to be clear, the member who posted that was totally within the rules, legally and ethically.  I just have to resist the urge to click on the show thread in the hour or so before it airs for me.

I've done that before. I don't look at the forum these days from noon until after I watch. I can be an exceedingly cautious person. Overcautious, one might say.

13 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I really liked the linear play in the first round, starting at the beginning and going down each category one by one and would be happy to see more of that.

I can't recall the last time a contestant was as visibly nervous as Robinson-Gisette, but good for them for sticking with it and coming up with some responses from the bottom.

After all these years of contestants marching around the board, I've come to find linear boring. I don't know why. But I was all "what? you're not selecting the 1,000 questions first. How timid of you!" LOL.

I felt so sorry for Robinson-Gisette. They were so nervous and when they finally got out of the red I was happy.

13 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Is it just me or did this game feel extremely slooowwwww?

Not just you.

13 hours ago, saber5055 said:

This from Andy at TJF: "Today ends a 23-game streak where we saw all 61 clues; the longest since 2002. The last time a clue went unplayed was August 11."

Meanwhile, I WAS pissy about how Mayim pronounced "sing-ger." Such a pet peeve of mine.

I don't say it that way, but I've come to accept it as a regional or cultural pronunciation. I've heard it a lot on various programs.

11 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Actually, that I DID know. (I'm better with animals than people.)

I'd heard of it because it's been a plot point in more than one mystery I've read, and it's pretty fascinating.

9 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I work in books so I had too many options pop into my head. I couldn't connect any of them to magazines, though now Harper's Bazaar occurs to me.... I said Putnam just to pick one.

I said Doubleday. I couldn't for the life of me come up with another publishing house - my brain froze.

I did enjoy saying the names using the last name Penguin.

Edited October 13, 2021 by Clanstarling

[Good Queen Jane]

9 hours ago, ams1001 said:

"Matt is getting his PhD with a focus in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Ah, no wonder Matt did so well. He's probably in cahoots with Watson, our computer overlord!

[Clanstarling]

Just now, Good Queen Jane said:

Ah, no wonder Matt did so well. He's probably in cahoots with Watson, our computer overlord!

If Matt's instrumental in bringing on the singularity, I'll be so disappointed in my fantasy son-in-law.

[M. Darcy]

It’s nice having the show back to normal with people starting at the top of the board and answering in full sentences. 

I also said Harpers for FJ. 

[zoey1996]

4 minutes ago, M. Darcy said:

It’s nice having the show back to normal with people starting at the top of the board and answering in full sentences. 

I know! I was struck by how much I appreciated hearing, "Who is (first name, last name)!

[ams1001]

13 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

After all these years of contestants marching around the board, I've come to find linear boring. I don't know why. But I was all "what? you're not selecting the 1,000 questions first. How timid of you!" LOL.

I like linear play mostly for score-keeping purposes. When they jump around I sometimes get lost; sometimes I can figure out which clue it was when they show the board but if I'm not quick enough I just give up and check the archive after the round.

2 minutes ago, zoey1996 said:

I know! I was struck by how much I appreciated hearing, "Who is (first name, last name)!

lol...I didn't even notice how they phrased anything!

[shapeshifter]

4 minutes ago, zoey1996 said:

I know! I was struck by how much I appreciated hearing, "Who is (first name, last name)!

1 minute ago, ams1001 said:

lol...I didn't even notice how they phrased anything!

I didn't notice the "Who's" vs. "What's," but I'm pretty distracted and sleep deprived lately (moving for the second time this year).

But Matt's "What's" for everything is a valid strategy, just as was Holzhauer's order of clue selection (which Matt applied in his own fashion). It will be interesting to see whether a future long-run Champion uses "What's." 
Even though "What's?" did make me twitch, I had gotten used to "What's" and was beginning to mentally rationalize it's use grammatically, considering, for example, that for a clue describing a person, Matt was asking: "Is it this name?"

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

Robinson-Gissette Cruz had no problem coming up with the correct response to a $2K DD when given more time. Perhaps accommodation could have been made by offering Cruz (and others with similar differences) practice sessions on stage off camera. 

 

[Mean Machine]

Robinson-Gissette reminded me of the actor that played a meek gang member in The Warriors.  

 

 

[ams1001]

Matt has boring plans for his 1.5 mil

 

[SHD]

12 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I was one of the posters complaining about all the Matt runaways, but I'm not going to gripe unless Jonathan does it repeatedly--like, say, 19 out of 20 games. If Jonathan had been a one-and-done, somebody would grumble about that.

I totally understand your point of view. I just thought it was funny that the first one out of the gate after Matt was yet another runaway. 

And yes, no matter WHAT happened there'd be something for someone to gripe about! LOL

[bankerchick]

I was just happy that Matt didn't lose to a one-and-done.  At least we know he was taken down by a skilled competitor (actually 2 skilled competitors as the woman also beat him) and not a lucky punch.

[GreekGeek]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Robinson-Gissette Cruz had no problem coming up with the correct response to a $2K DD when given more time. Perhaps accommodation could have been made by offering Cruz (and others with similar differences) practice sessions on stage off camera. 

 

Contestants are given opportunities to practice onstage before the actual game, or at least they were when I was on. One of the contestant coordinators even came over to me during the first commercial break to help me when I was having trouble ringing in. I didn't think there was anything about Robinson-Gissette that required special accommodation. Sometimes nerves just get the better of you no matter how much you practice.

[blueray]

My husband and I were wondering if it was the length of his name. It changed the flow off the game so that it was slower in an awkward way. 

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Matt has boring plans for his 1.5 mil 
https://youtu.be/ACGp5ucwM0A

Interesting that Matt's entire Jeopardy! career to-date of 38 games took place during just 9 days--albeit not 9 consecutive days.

[853fisher]

What an odd damp squib of a first round.  Fortunately things picked up a little.

I think Mayim has found cause to mention outside the interview that Jonathan is an actor at least once each episode.  I think she's genuinely interested in someone from her field, but it's enough already for me.

I loved the clue about lighting fires on the Sabbath.  I read a fascinating article about different devices observant Jews can use to comply with the rules without being too inconvenienced.  I wish I could find it!

I don't know how any of them get triple rhyme time that quickly.  In FJ, I would have bet low since I know little about sports, but Yogi Berra transcends that field.  I had to laugh because, if I hadn't known it was Yogi Berra, that quote might have read perfectly normally as "until it was broken, I expected my record to stand [indefinitely.]"

There was a witty line in there somewhere about Mayim's green-on-green outfit when she asked Jonathan to speak in Irish dialect, but if I couldn't distill it at home, it's no wonder he couldn't under the lights.

[Quickbeam]

Finally, a category I know! I grew up a Seventh Day Adventist….so Sabbath questions are in my weave. How can people not know LDS folks do missions? 

[ams1001]

61% / 57% / 59%

How long before we stop referring to Matt at the start of every game?

Got the missed DD of missionary and TSes of  China, Taurus, and 2/3 of Sheared Beard Revered.

The only category I ran was Names in Fashion but they only got to four of them so I don't know if that counts as running it. Missed one each in Nod, 80s TV, and Stars & Stones. Other than that...I think my score speaks for itself. (It should go to its room and think about what it's done.)

I accidentally saw the comment above and spoiled FJ for myself but I'm 99.9% sure I would have gotten it; I know Johnny Bench is baseball and I know Yogi is known for his funny lines like that. So I gave it to me.

Sorry, but glad Mary didn't win. She was driving me nuts.

30 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

There was a witty line in there somewhere about Mayim's green-on-green outfit when she asked Jonathan to speak in Irish dialect, but if I couldn't distill it at home, it's no wonder he couldn't under the lights.

Don't know if that's the same green blouse she wore a couple weeks ago, but I like it much better with the solid jacket. I would have been super impressed if he had done the Irish accent for even a few clues. 

[DrSpaceman73]

My god could Mary have been any slower! Enough with the skeptical facial expressions and spit it out!!!  And now a new category.....have you watched this show? 

Knew FJ right away.  Knew the record broken too, thiugh I didnt realize it was Yogi Berra who had it before Johnny bench.  

[Blakeston]

I've really liked Mayim as a host since she started, but I could have done without her jokey "how do you not know this?" reaction to the cauliflower pizza dough question.

Also, I don't buy that she found the Who Shot JR? saga riveting, being as she was four years old when it happened.

[Katy M]

I got FJ.  I could be wrong, but I think Yogi Berra is more famous for his crazy sayings than baseball.

I got the missed cluees of 7th Day Adventist, China and 3-2-1 Contact.

I got the entire category of 80s tv right.

[SoMuchTV]

28 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

How long before we stop referring to Matt at the start of every game?

I dunno. How long did it take to stop hearing about “Jeopardy James“?

[Katy M]

2 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

Also, I don't buy that she found the Who Shot JR? saga riveting, being as she was four years old when it happened.

And 5 when Laura married her rapist.

[Prevailing Wind]

Nobody's mentioned it yet, so it was probably just in Metro Atlanta.  In the Blinken category, Mayim starts reading "After he became Secretary of State..." and there's a Checkers cheeseburger ad. We never DID see all of the first round.  They did a bunch of commercials and when we got back to the show, it was the beginning of DJ.

I've already sent them an angry email.

I got FJ solely on the goofiness of the quote.

[Browncoat]

Catching up on Tuesday's show -- I said Wiley for FJ.  I guess scientific journals don't really count as magazines, though.  I got the TS of chandelier, straight line, and Rocket Boys. And yes, the game was very slow.

Tonight, FJ was an instaget, and I got the TS of Norman, missionary, sheared beard revered, and Taurus.  

[shapeshifter]

30 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

How long before we stop referring to Matt at the start of every game?

I assume Jonathan is doomed to be forever known as the contestant who beat Matt Amodio (although Jessica Stephens did too), so I guess we will hear Matt's name until Jonathan is gone? 

 

34 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

61% / 57% / 59%...
I think my score speaks for itself. (It should go to its room and think about what it's done.)

😆🤣

 

I got the TSs of Lighting a fire and China.

[SoMuchTV]

So would they accept “Yogi Bear-a”?  Too soon?

[saber5055]

My god, that was the most horrible drug-out painful episode EVER. It was so bad I went back to work instead of watching. Did none of these players ever watch this show before? They are smart enough to get on the show then lose all confidence in themselves. And FJ ... WTH was with those stupid bets. Don't they know that the FJ category nine times out of 10 has nothing to do with the clue? Didn't they see "Southern Hemisphere" category was about an ANIMAL? The category Opera could have this clue: "TV westerns were called this kind of opera, named after this four-legged hooved animal ridden by cowboys."

If you hadn't been so chickensh*t with your FJ bet Mary, you would be standing in the champion podium tomorrow. What a loser.

Yeah, I've been cranky since my tv boyfriend left me, putting this show back in the Mediocre Dumpster.

[opus]

27 minutes ago, Katy M said:

 I could be wrong, but I think Yogi Berra is more famous for his crazy sayings than baseball

Yogi’s a Hall of Famer , a 15 time All Star , won 10 World Series, and was American League MVP 3 times. He’s pretty famous just for baseball.
 

 

 

[ams1001]

17 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

I've really liked Mayim as a host since she started, but I could have done without her jokey "how do you not know this?" reaction to the cauliflower pizza dough question.

I hate that; took me back to her giggly first stint and I know she's trying to come off as lighthearted but it just strikes me as condescending. She's vegan so maybe she's more likely to know about such products (though it doesn't look like the company is actually vegan); while I've heard of it (as a concept, not the particular brand), cauliflower pizza crust feels like kind of a niche trend to me.

17 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

Also, I don't buy that she found the Who Shot JR? saga riveting, being as she was four years old when it happened.

I was going to say that can't be right, because I'm a couple months older than Mayim and I remember my mom watching Dallas when I was a kid so it had to be later than that, right? But the episode was March 1980 so I was have been about 4 and a half. But it ran until 1991 so I certainly remember the show; I guess that episode is just the reference everyone knows.

[possibilities]

S  L  O  W          G  A  M  E    .  .  .   

Two in a row, now. I wonder if our brains have just gotten habituated to Matt's speed, and all the games will seem slow now, until we re-calibrate.

[Katy M]

38 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

If you hadn't been so chickensh*t with your FJ bet Mary, you would be standing in the champion podium tomorrow. What a loser.

that was actually a smart bet.  She bet just enough so that if she was right and Jonathan was wrong and bet nothing she would win.  She assumed he would bet it all, or close to, and most people would have assumed the same.

[bad things are bad]

I'm just gobsmacked that the pastor apparently had little knowledge of other religions.  And she was soooo slow

[saber5055]

3 minutes ago, Katy M said:

She assumed he would bet it all, or close to, and most people would have assumed the same.

You know what happens when one ass-u-mes. And it happened to Mary. It was nowhere near a "smart" bet, it was very much a "chicken me has no confidence in anything I might know" bet. She deserved to lose.

Hoping for another all-in James or bet-it-all Matt to show up STAT and save this dreck show.

[SHD]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

Yeah, I've been cranky since my tv boyfriend left me, putting this show back in the Mediocre Dumpster.

I thought that even by mediocre standards, this was a slow game. I’m not used to so many TS blank stares/wrong guesses, clues left on the board, first rounds where everyone was only around $2K. Was this the norm before? I no longer remember. Do not like!

[ams1001]

1 minute ago, SHD said:

I thought that even by mediocre standards, this was a slow game. I’m not used to so many TS blank stares/wrong guesses, clues left on the board, first rounds where everyone was only around $2K. Was this the norm before? I no longer remember. Do not like!

There were six TSes just in the first round (plus she missed the DD), and four in the second round.

[Quickbeam]

1 hour ago, bad things are bad said:

I'm just gobsmacked that the pastor apparently had little knowledge of other religions.  And she was soooo slow

That really bugged me. I did a ton of yelling. 

[Bastet]

The China TS surprised me; Asian country for which a new Secretary of State would have tough words in early 2021?

I was terrible in the first round, only running fashion.  To the surprise of no one, I did not do well in the sabbath category, missing three, but one of the two I got was missionary; I thought that was too easy for a DD clue.

I was also totally inept in wrestling, missing four (including tag team, which I cannot believe I couldn't figure out in time).  I missed the two clues about Lincoln and another two in Hodgepodge (but got the Norman TS since I have a lot of family in Oklahoma), plus the flying "nod" creature I'd never heard of.

I was much better in DJ, even though I only ran geography and triple rhyme time (I loved that one, and was glad sheared beard revered was a TS as that gave me time to come up with it).  I missed two constellations, including Taurus, which really should not have stumped all four of us given the "bovine" hint, another two each in Shakespeare and food, and the 3-2-1 Contact TS.

FJ was an instaget, so I ended a lot better than I began!

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

I hate that; took me back to her giggly first stint and I know she's trying to come off as lighthearted but it just strikes me as condescending. She's vegan so maybe she's more likely to know about such products (though it doesn't look like the company is actually vegan); while I've heard of it (as a concept, not the particular brand), cauliflower pizza crust feels like kind of a niche trend to me.

I guessed pizza crust out of the things cauliflower is used as a replacement ingredient in these days because the clue noted the founder was the mother of two kids (and pizza is the most kid-friendly food of the things I was thinking of).  I thought it was properly valued at only $400, but I didn't react like she did when no one figured it out/guessed it correctly.

[Cotypubby]

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

You know what happens when one ass-u-mes. And it happened to Mary. It was nowhere near a "smart" bet, it was very much a "chicken me has no confidence in anything I might know" bet. She deserved to lose.

No. It actually was a smart bet, and the Jeopardy Wagering Calculator agrees:

https://www.j-archive.com/wageringcalculator.php?a=15800&b=12600&c=5400&player_a=Jonathan&player_b=Mary&player_c=Bilal

[ErinV]

20 hours ago, Mean Machine said:

Robinson-Gissette reminded me of the actor that played a meek gang member in The Warriors.  

 

 

He reminded me a little of early Prince!

 

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, saber5055 said:

You know what happens when one ass-u-mes. And it happened to Mary. It was nowhere near a "smart" bet, it was very much a "chicken me has no confidence in anything I might know" bet. She deserved to lose.

Hoping for another all-in James or bet-it-all Matt to show up STAT and save this dreck show.

You have to make certain assumptions.  You were assuming she was going to get it right.  I actually think Jonathan's wager was the stupid one.  It worked out for him, but he should have bet as much as it took for him to win if she bet it all and got it right.

[JudyObscure]

On 10/12/2021 at 7:43 PM, saber5055 said:

Meanwhile, I WAS pissy about how Mayim pronounced "sing-ger." Such a pet peeve of mine.

Me, too.  I thought, really Mayim? You're a neuroscientist and you say singer like Forrest Gump?

[Mindthinkr]

Ho hum game for me. In the first round I got all of the 80’s tv and Foods. I got the missed clues of: lightning a fire, the missed DD of Missionary, charity, pizza crust, and Taurus. I don’t so well in baseball and sadly missed Berra. Yawn. 

[Clanstarling]

 

14 hours ago, Quickbeam said:

Finally, a category I know! I grew up a Seventh Day Adventist….so Sabbath questions are in my weave. How can people not know LDS folks do missions? 

That did seem an odd miss. I don't know about anyone else, but before I even knew any LDS folks, I knew about that - especially since the missionaries would come to our door now and then.

13 hours ago, Katy M said:

I got FJ.  I could be wrong, but I think Yogi Berra is more famous for his crazy sayings than baseball.

For those of us who don't take an interest in baseball, anyway.

13 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I dunno. How long did it take to stop hearing about “Jeopardy James“?

Sadly, I think it was until Alex passed.

13 hours ago, Katy M said:

And 5 when Laura married her rapist.

Thank you! I hated that retcon of the Luke and Laura story.

12 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

So would they accept “Yogi Bear-a”?  Too soon?

I could NOT get it - said Casey Stengel once, and then Mr. Starling said to me "hey boo boo" - but I still didn't get it! Even though it was obvious.

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

S  L  O  W          G  A  M  E    .  .  .   

Two in a row, now. I wonder if our brains have just gotten habituated to Matt's speed, and all the games will seem slow now, until we re-calibrate.

I think it will take time to re-calibrate. We're not even a week into Matt-less Jeopardy, so we need to give ourselves time.

[ams1001]

5 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I think it will take time to re-calibrate. We're not even a week into Matt-less Jeopardy, so we need to give ourselves time.

I agree, but also the last two games were slow even by normal standards, I think. They both had a player who was slow to speak and slow to pick their next clue. Whether that was nerves on their part or something else, it's just frustrating watch.

[Cementhead]

21 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I think it will take time to re-calibrate. We're not even a week into Matt-less Jeopardy, so we need to give ourselves time.

I'm not emotionally ready to accept a Matt-less Jeopardy yet.  Winning Actor Guy is referred to as Not-Matt in my house and I'm going to have to come up with a sarcastic name for the one on the other end soon if we are saddled with yet another s-l-o-w-p-o-k-e tonight because yelling "spit it out!" at the tv is getting tiring.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

I think it will take time to re-calibrate. We're not even a week into Matt-less Jeopardy, so we need to give ourselves time.

I agree, but also the last two games were slow even by normal standards, I think. They both had a player who was slow to speak and slow to pick their next clue. Whether that was nerves on their part or something else, it's just frustrating watch

Jonathan is a Quick Draw McGraw, but I think Matt more frequently rang in when the slower players missed?

[possibilities]

Until now, I never realized how much the rhythm of the game affects both my enjoyment and my ability to access info.

[graybrown bird]

I was stunned and saddened that none of these three players knew "with malice toward none, with charity for all..."  It's bedrock American prose by Abraham Lincoln.