Jeopardy! Season 38 (2021-2022)

[ams1001]

77% / 63% / 69%

In the J! round I ran All On Your Head Now, missed one each in Prof Talk, What Does it Prevent?, and Lit Characters' Bad Choices, and two each in the others. The Lit Character I missed was Bella Swan and I am not ashamed that I didn't know it (I did think it was probably from Twilight, though; it was also only one of two TS in the round).

In the second round I ran nothing but got four each in Yiddish Theater, Recent Years, and P-H-D, three in Science and State Songs, but TV Drama dragged me down; I only got one.

Got the missed clues of Bingley, Bridgerton, drive, equilibrium, columbines. (Upanishads and precession were on the tip of my brain and I couldn't quite get them out.)

Mayim should have done Amy Farrah Fowler's line...

 

29 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

I didn’t think Mayim did well today. Just what is it that she doesn’t understand about including humanities courses in the curriculum of a college focused on science and technology?

Yeah, I don't know what she was confused about. They want their students to take some humanities classes but don't actually offer majors in them. What's confusing?

 

[853fisher]

I will say, since I realize I’ve had very little nice to say this week, that I was glad Ed did so well. I think he is the only professor this week representing a community college. Nothing against anyone else, including “fancy” private schools like the one my degree comes from, but I think community colleges are so important. I was glad the show included at least one of them when people often seem to forget to consider these institutions when it comes to higher learning.

[Katy M]

I had no idea the St Lawrence Seaway wasn't natural.  My answer was "some underground pipeline thing?"

i got the missed clue of Tripoli. I feel like this came up recently in another clue.

In a bizarre twist, I got the entire category of Mediterranean right and the entire category of TV wrong.

[Prevailing Wind]

I need to read up on the Seaway. I vaguely remember a big deal being made about it, but I don't understand how a canal connects Minnesota to Montreal.  In any case, I pre-guessed the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System.

I was amused by the responses of Hester Prynne and Captain Ahab, considering our discussion earlier this week. LOL.

AND...as much TV as I watch, I'm watching the wrong channels - I didn't get a single one.

[Browncoat]

Big nope on FJ tonight.  I've heard of the St. Lawrence Seaway, but either didn't know or didn't remember where it is.  Oh well.  At least I got the asterisk yesterday.

The only TS I got were Bingley and columbines.  I thought of you, @M. Darcy when the Bingley clue came up.

37 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Mayim should have done Amy Farrah Fowler's line...

I had the same thought!  

[shapeshifter]

On 12/9/2021 at 7:24 PM, Bastet said:

And, boy, do I feel like a dunce over FJ, because I didn't even know the St. Lawrence Seaway exists.  (St. Lawrence River, yes, but I had no idea there was a whole canal thing going on up there.)

Thank you. Now my FJ response of "Eerie Canal" doesn't seem quite so dumb——even though I knew it didn't go that far.

I got the TS of Upanishads.

If Matt Amodio was playing, there would not be nearly the number of TSs we've been seeing.
I guess there is no way that he would be eligible to come back for a Professors Tournament after he completes his PhD and (presumably) gets a teaching position.

Edited December 11, 2021 by shapeshifter

[853fisher]

14 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

AND...as much TV as I watch, I'm watching the wrong channels - I didn't get a single one.

I noticed that only one was from a broadcast network (Hannibal on NBC).  The others were on AMC, Netflix, Hulu, and HBO.  It did strike me as a bit...none of the words I'm thinking of are right exactly.  "Pinky-in-the-air" shows makes me sound like I'm 12, but that's the best was I can think to describe what I mean using an economy of words.

[Caoimhe]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

Mayim should have done Amy Farrah Fowler's line...

 

THIS!  I was hearing/seeing it in my head as soon as the tiara came up on the screen.

[30 Helens]

6 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I didn’t think Mayim did well today. Just what is it that she doesn’t understand about including humanities courses in the curriculum of a college focused on science and technology?

She seemed to take it as a slight against humanities, as if the college doesn’t find this field of study important enough to offer as a major.  I had the opposite reaction: I think the college finds these courses essential to a well rounded education, and wants its students to have that exposure, even if they are focusing on something else.

Makes perfect sense to me.

On 12/8/2021 at 12:13 PM, M. Darcy said:

Jeopardy just announced that the current hosts will stay the same for the rest of the season. 

Hooray, and phew. No more sitting through terrible guest hosts, or skipping those I couldn’t bear to watch. <cough> Dr. Oz <cough>

On 12/8/2021 at 7:18 PM, Irlandesa said:

And if Mayim is their choice, she wouldn't be able to do all the episodes since production on Call Me Kat goes from Oct. to March 2022.

And this is why I think they’re keeping Ken around for the rest of the season. They’re just biding their time until Mayim is free to commit full time. I’m just hoping Ken gains enough support in the meantime to make them reconsider. I like him so much better in this role, and I’ve been missing him this week.

[Mindthinkr]

I enjoyed watching Ed tonight. He was not fast, but he was methodical and got the job done. I got columbine, and Bridgerton. I was stumped on FJ. 

[Clanstarling]

23 hours ago, Trey said:

After all the attention I paid to this story over the last couple of years, I still could not pull Huawei from my brain in time.  I was very embarrassed for myself. I think the story was probably bigger in Canada than in the US.

I could not have come up with that answer, nor pronounced the name. I did recognize it, but that's as much as my brain databank had on the subject.

[Toothbrush]

I’ve never heard of the St. Lawrence Seaway. I guessed American-Canadian Highway which I am sure doesn’t exist. Overall it was a good game for me, the sports, TV, & P-H-D categories were my weak points. 
I love the idea of including humanities in STEM related curricula. I always went for the “easy A” electives regardless of my interest/non-interest in them. 
I liked Ed. Methodical and efficient with a smile on his face. Ramon looked like he was maybe having buzzer issues. 
Mayim looked pretty with her hair up. She is very personable and seems to be settling into the role, but she lacks a certain gravitas that I want in my Jeopardy host. 

 

[ams1001]

1 minute ago, Toothbrush said:

I love the idea of including humanities in STEM related curricula. I always went for the “easy A” electives regardless of my interest/non-interest in them. 

lol...I went to a liberal arts school and majored in English Literature. We had to take a certain number of classes in, well, everything, to fulfill the "core curriculum" requirements...for one of my science classes I took Principles of Biology, which was affectionately known at the school as "Baby Bio." (I also took the bare minimum of math; I always say math is the reason I majored in English. I now work as a data analyst in the finance department. 🙃)

 

6 minutes ago, Toothbrush said:

She is very personable and seems to be settling into the role, but she lacks a certain gravitas that I want in my Jeopardy host. 

I hated her as host in her first "guest" run (but she was still not my least favorite). After she came back officially she settled down but the best I can say most days is that she's fine. Still too much giggling sometimes but it's not nearly as bad.

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, Bastet said:

And, boy, do I feel like a dunce over FJ, because I didn't even know the St. Lawrence Seaway exists.  (St. Lawrence River, yes, but I had no idea there was a whole canal thing going on up there.)

I knew it existed but thought it was much older so I dismissed it as my answer for FJ.  Oh well.

I did it for her.

"I'm a princess and this is my tiara!"

Edited to note that I really want that emerald tiara.

Edited December 10, 2021 by proserpina65

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

lol...I went to a liberal arts school and majored in English Literature. We had to take a certain number of classes in, well, everything, to fulfill the "core curriculum" requirements...for one of my science classes I took Principles of Biology, which was affectionately known at the school as "Baby Bio." (I also took the bare minimum of math; I always say math is the reason I majored in English. I now work as a data analyst in the finance department. 🙃)

I took Chemistry for Non-Scientists to fulfill my science requirement.

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

I hated her as host in her first "guest" run (but she was still not my least favorite). After she came back officially she settled down but the best I can say most days is that she's fine. Still too much giggling sometimes but it's not nearly as bad.

I didn't hate her but I didn't particularly like her as host either.  Still don't.

[ams1001]

3 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I took Chemistry for Non-Scientists to fulfill my science requirement.

I took "Math for Liberal Studies"; it started with algebra and geometry and ended with probabilities and statistics. My other science class (we had to take two) was a 100-level cosmology class that sounded interesting but apparently the professor forgot that we weren't all physics majors. I barely passed with a D+; called the registrar when my grades came to make sure it still counted (since it wasn't for my major, it did). I would have taken geology ("Rocks for Jocks") or something if they had said no.

5 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I didn't hate her but I didn't particularly like her as host either.  Still don't.

I don't particularly like her in general, so that doesn't help. Some of that is various views that have been discussed in the past, some is just...her. I listened to her podcast for a while but she was so obnoxious sometimes I gave it up.

[graybrown bird]

Knew St. Lawrence Seaway right away because of a great book I read recently: "The Death and Life of the Great Lakes."  The Seaway was built to allow ocean-going vessels to navigate from Atlantic Ocean ports to the Great Lakes, thus opening up trade without needing to ship goods over land.  BUT quite soon most ships got too gigantic to use the Seaway - and those that did (and do) brought unwanted "gifts" to the Lakes (e.g., sea lampreys, quagga mussels). It's a fascinating read.

[zapper]

in science undergrad I took a liberal arts "history of science" course that fascinated me. the people and times behind 5 major scientific achievements. great course and completely an option above the required options of  a social science and a statistical science. 

[Prevailing Wind]

6 hours ago, Toothbrush said:

I guessed American-Canadian Highway which I am sure doesn’t exist.

It's the Can-Am Highway... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CanAm_Highway

[Browncoat]

I was a science major, and took the bare minimum of Humanities-type classes.

[PBnJay]

22 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Now my FJ response of "Eerie Canal" doesn't seem quite so dumb

Well, unless you want to count the spelling.

[illdoc]

That was pathetic! $9800 and you qualify?!!! I thought having only $12K and qualifying was unbelievable, but less than $10K???? And, had she bet it all, $4800 would have qualified!!!

[ams1001]

67% / 67% / 66%

JP is way too chipper (and loud) for me tonight (I wonder how tall he is). I don't know if it's booster side effects (got it Wednesday afternoon) or just not enough sleep, but I was just drained all day.

Ran Winter Holidays and Texting Shorthand, got four each in Going Medieval, Movie on Campus, and EXam Time. Yacht Rock was not my friend tonight (I knew most of the songs, too, which makes it that much more annoying that I only got one).

My only TSes were Benedictines, John McWhorter (but I got him from the picture!). 

No FJ, though I should have known it. Oh, well, a perfect 0 for the FJ contest…

$9800? So I wonder what the lowest score ever to get a wild card spot is..? (I couldn't find an answer just now but I admittedly didn't look that hard.)
 

7 hours ago, zapper said:

in science undergrad I took a liberal arts "history of science" course that fascinated me. the people and times behind 5 major scientific achievements. great course and completely an option above the required options of  a social science and a statistical science. 

I would totally have taken a class like that if I'd had the option. I read a lot of that sort of thing.

Edited December 11, 2021 by ams1001
I no grammer and punctuashun, I sware.

[M. Darcy]

I said Mary Shelley even though I couldn’t think of any other novels she wrote other than Frankenstein. But she had the two literary parents. 

[SoMuchTV]

31 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

JP is way too chipper (and loud) for me tonight (I wonder how tall he is).

Was that the guy at the far left podium?  I was thinking he smiled a lot!  But to be fair, if I somehow ever found myself on Jeopardy!, I’m sure I’d be smiling uncontrollably. 

[Browncoat]

Another bust on FJ tonight.  I just couldn't come up with anyone.

The only TS I got were Richard III and Docs.

JP needs to learn to use his inside voice.  

 

[ams1001]

30 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

Was that the guy at the far left podium?

Yup.

[Toothbrush]

$9800 to advance? And the clues haven’t been all that difficult (FJs aside) - I have COVID & have been doing well in the first 2 rounds. 
 

[shapeshifter]

So all of us bb users ran TEXTING SHORTHAND, amirite? 😁

 

6 hours ago, M. Darcy said:

I said Mary Shelley even though I couldn’t think of any other novels she wrote other than Frankenstein. But she had the two literary parents. 

Yes, the "the daughter of two persons of distinguished literary celebrity" was what twigged me just in time to "Mary Shelley" for FJ. I think I read her Wikipedia page recently.

I got the TS of Docs because I knew "Doc Severinsen" from the Tonight Show when I was a kid with a brain like a sponge that absorbed and held everything.

Ken may have a long list of distasteful media gaffs (e.g., saying that Jeopardy! "is a man's game"), but he sure is better at the interviews. Mayim seems to suck all the joy and mirth out of them.

 

7 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I don't know if it's booster side effects (got it Wednesday afternoon) or just not enough sleep, but I was just drained all day. . . . No FJ, though I should have known it.

I had the same effect. You'll feel peppier soon!

Edited December 11, 2021 by shapeshifter

[ams1001]

33 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I had the same effect. You'll feel peppier soon!

Thanks. The first time my arm hurt like hell the next day but I felt okay otherwise; the second time it hurt next day but much less, and I was dragging a bit in the afternoon but that only lasted a few hours. This time it was even less sore and the fatigue came two days later but lasted most of the day. 

But I was also up too late the last couple nights. Hopefully I get some sleep and do better at next week's games.

[ATS]

20 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

And this is why I think they’re keeping Ken around for the rest of the season. They’re just biding their time until Mayim is free to commit full time. I’m just hoping Ken gains enough support in the meantime to make them reconsider. I like him so much better in this role, and I’ve been missing him this week.

I don't have a problem with keeping two hosts 

I prefer Ken and I think he has found a good rhythm and he brings a bit of personality, but still lets the contestants shine.  I also think Mayim does a good job and as a woman in a STEM field I like the optics of having a female host.

The original plan was to have one host for the daily show and one for tournaments and special events.  I'm good with keeping that plan with Mayim for the tournaments and special events and Ken for the daily show.  Both of them also have interests outside of Jeopardy and having two hosts allows one of them to take time off when opportunities arise (acting for Mayim or things like The Chase for Ken).  

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

So all of us bb users ran TEXTING SHORTHAND, amirite?

I think I got all of them except socks, but I am fairly sure I have never seen any of those abbreviations in the wild and I suspected J! of making them up. 

[ams1001]

17 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I think I got all of them except socks, but I am fairly sure I have never seen any of those abbreviations in the wild and I suspected J! of making them up. 

I had the same thought. I've heard of TMI but not WTMI. 

[853fisher]

Could anyone help me with what Blossom said after the dyke clue?  I played it back several times and couldn't hear anything other than "those are dykes, so all of those sounded like ducks."  Am I mishearing "Dutch"?  I can't imagine it was really "ducks," but just yesterday she admitted she doesn't understand gen ed requirements, so who knows?

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Mayim seems to suck all the joy and mirth out of [the interviews].

This is exactly how I felt at the end of Alisa's story about her father's avocado farm and how she later got hooked on botany, when Mayim responded with " * tongue click * alright, and J.P.  Allen, a professor of..."  She needs to take some of the energy from her unearthly cackle at the end of today's show and apply it to the stories she isn't very interested in.

22 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

She seemed to take it as a slight against humanities, as if the college doesn’t find this field of study important enough to offer as a major.

Interesting that's what you perceived!  Someone else interpreted it as disdain toward the idea that STEM students would benefit from an infusion of the humanities.  I just thought it was such a bizarre reaction that I didn't know what the hell to think.

 

Not sure if anyone can tell, but Ms. Bialik is just not doing it for me.  At least all three contestants today seemed worthy of being within sniffing distance of a ToC slot for a change.

Edited December 11, 2021 by 853fisher

[dankesean]

1 hour ago, 853fisher said:

Could anyone help me with what Blossom said after the dyke clue?  I played it back several times and couldn't hear anything other than "those are dykes, so all of those sounded like ducks."  Am I mishearing "Dutch"?  I can't imagine it was really "ducks," but just yesterday she admitted she doesn't understand gen ed requirements, so who knows?

She was explaining the 'secret' of how the category worked; 'Get Your Somethings in a Row' is adapted from the phrase, 'get your ducks in a row'. So, once the category was done, Mayim was explaining that every answer in the category sounded vaguely like 'ducks'. Docs, desks, decks, dukes, and dikes.

[Prevailing Wind]

Thank you. I didn't understand the ducks thing, either.

 

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, dankesean said:

She was explaining the 'secret' of how the category worked; 'Get Your Somethings in a Row' is adapted from the phrase, 'get your ducks in a row'. So, once the category was done, Mayim was explaining that every answer in the category sounded vaguely like 'ducks'. Docs, desks, decks, dukes, and dikes.

Was she supposed to explain that at the beginning? 
Mayim initially read for the category: 
     GET YOUR SOMETHINGS IN A ROW (You'll tell us what that something is.)
Maybe she should have at least included something like: "...and it's not ducks in a row!"
Would Alex or Ken have mentioned that at the start? 
I noticed Alex would just say "and you know what that means" for words in quotes, but would he have mentioned ducks in this instance?
And/or would Alex have rejected the category? 

 

10 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

12 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

So all of us bb users ran TEXTING SHORTHAND, amirite?

I think I got all of them except socks, but I am fairly sure I have never seen any of those abbreviations in the wild and I suspected J! of making them up. 

10 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I had the same thought. I've heard of TMI but not WTMI. 

Yes. Which is why I guess Mayim had to give the first word of each when she read it? 

Does Ken get there earlier and run through it so the clue people can fix their errors? It seems like they should be able to do that on their own. Maybe Ken used to see Alex doing that?

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by shapeshifter

[SomeTameGazelle]

43 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Was she supposed to explain that at the beginning? 
Mayim initially read for the category: 
     GET YOUR SOMETHINGS IN A ROW (You'll tell us what that something is.)
Maybe she should have at least included something like: "...and it's not ducks in a row!"

No, I think it was intended to be something that was for the contestants to piece together the pattern (such as it was). Sometimes they do that kind of thing -- whenever my mother and I discuss the pros and cons of sedately proceeding from top to bottom in each category vs bouncing around the board she recalls the time the answers in one category were mango/Mingo/Mungo etc. The category didn't give it away and Alex didn't draw attention to it in advance.

[ABay]

nm

Edited December 11, 2021 by ABay

[Clanstarling]

 

15 hours ago, ams1001 said:

JP is way too chipper (and loud) for me tonight (I wonder how tall he is). I don't know if it's booster side effects (got it Wednesday afternoon) or just not enough sleep, but I was just drained all day.

I enjoyed J.P.'s enthusiasm, he was having fun even when he was wrong.

14 hours ago, M. Darcy said:

I said Mary Shelley even though I couldn’t think of any other novels she wrote other than Frankenstein. But she had the two literary parents. 

I didn't really know Shelley's background, but guessed her because of the category.  I think I had a vague knowledge of it because my youngest child's elementary school project was about Shelley. They had to do a bio and then dress like their subjects and talk, in character, to the parents who came around. M

12 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I think I got all of them except socks, but I am fairly sure I have never seen any of those abbreviations in the wild and I suspected J! of making them up. 

LMAO is the usual abbreviation, I think they cleaned it up. Or maybe there is a "clean" version I don't know about.

8 hours ago, dankesean said:

She was explaining the 'secret' of how the category worked; 'Get Your Somethings in a Row' is adapted from the phrase, 'get your ducks in a row'. So, once the category was done, Mayim was explaining that every answer in the category sounded vaguely like 'ducks'. Docs, desks, decks, dukes, and dikes.

Thank you, we even ran it back and listened again, we had no clue what she was talking about.

I was an English Lit major, and the only science or math class I remember in college was the basic biology course. Which I got through entirely on what I learned in my junior year of high school. That and siting up front wearing mini-skirts. 😉 I learned nothing new at all.

I might have gotten a math credit for Symbolic Logic. I'd been told all my life that women weren't logical, so I took it get learn to be logical. It turned out I've always been logical, I just didn't realize it and that was just chauvinist hoohah.

 

 

 

[ams1001]

8 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Thank you. I didn't understand the ducks thing, either.

I didn't get it until I went to the archive to check for TSes and saw all the answers in, well, a row. 🦆🦆 🦆 🦆 🦆

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

I enjoyed J.P.'s enthusiasm, he was having fun even when he was wrong.

I would have, too, on another day when I had more energy. I did like him (maybe he grew on me a little through the game) and I'm glad he made it to the next round.

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

LMAO is the usual abbreviation, I think they cleaned it up. Or maybe there is a "clean" version I don't know about.

I've seen LMBO - Laughing My Butt Off - as the cleaner version, but I don't know if that's Jeopardy-worthy.

FWIW, Urban Dictionary has LMSO listed as Laughing My Socks Off and the entry is from 2010. 🧦

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

I was an English Lit major, and the only science or math class I remember in college was the basic biology course. Which I got through entirely on what I learned in my junior year of high school. That and siting up front wearing mini-skirts. 😉 I learned nothing new at all.

Most of what I remember from college bio was my goofy (in a good way) lab partner, and our frog, whose name was Jamal (he named him). The pair we shared our lab table with named theirs Bubba, until they opened her up and discovered she was a girl; they changed it to Bubbette. 🐸

[possibilities]

I got the TS of John McWhorter, but only because we went to school together in the early 1980s. He looks EXACTLY THE SAME. Either that's an old pic, or he hasn't aged in 40 years. 

[ams1001]

16 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I got the TS of John McWhorter, but only because we went to school together in the early 1980s. He looks EXACTLY THE SAME. Either that's an old pic, or he hasn't aged in 40 years. 

That's cool! I've seen him in an interview or two, so I recognized him, but if not I would have gotten it from Lexicon Valley (which I have listened to a little in the past). But I answered before she finished reading the clue.

[Bastet]

I was watching while decorating the house for Christmas, so I didn't write anything down last night, but I had a very good game.  I thought a lot of the DJ clues were better suited to a first round.

I object to reading the Festivus clue without saying "I got a lot of problems with you people" in Frank Costanza's voice.

I hardly ever text, and when I do I use actual words, but that category was a breeze to figure out.  Like another poster upthread, I figured J! was making them up.

It's a good thing the game moves quickly, otherwise most of those yacht rock songs would have tried getting stuck in my head.

It took me until the decks clue to figure out the "rhymes with duck" pattern in the Somethings category; I said cards, and then when it was decks instead the light bulb went on.  Which made the next clue, dukes, an instaget, when otherwise I'd have probably guessed heirs to the throne like the contestant did.  And I wouldn't even have had a guess for dikes without having twigged to the pattern.  I enjoy categories like that, where there's an unstated pattern that serves as an additional hint if/when you pick up on it.  I know Alex liked them too, and cited missing out on them as one of the risks of jumping around the board.

[Ailianna]

The jumping around meant I didn't get the pattern until I read it here. I was honestly expecting two reversals from cards and heirs since they were correct information and I thought the category was just...things in order. Nothing in the category name indicated it had to sound like ducks, and this still seems like it's too clever for its own good. 

What is the rule on this, where the writers intended the answers to follow a pattern, but don't tell the contestants in advance and the clues on their faces have multiple correct questions?

[Prevailing Wind]

52 minutes ago, Ailianna said:

The jumping around meant I didn't get the pattern until I read it here. I was honestly expecting two reversals from cards and heirs since they were correct information and I thought the category was just...things in order. Nothing in the category name indicated it had to sound like ducks, and this still seems like it's too clever for its own good. 

What is the rule on this, where the writers intended the answers to follow a pattern, but don't tell the contestants in advance and the clues on their faces have multiple correct questions?

But the category was "Get your somethings in a row" - Heirs in a row? Cards in a row? I don't think those answers fit the category, whether or not they fit the clue.

[Ailianna]

38 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

But the category was "Get your somethings in a row" - Heirs in a row? Cards in a row? I don't think those answers fit the category, whether or not they fit the clue.

But noone gets their dikes in a row, dukes in a row, decks, so on. I just think the category was so so clever that it didn't set out the rules. So much so that they felt they needed to explain it after all the clues were read. To me, that's bad writing and not fair to contestants. Clearly, if there were any challenges, they were denied. But I also wonder if there were challenges, and they explained the rule off tape, since they finished the category ok afterward. Or the others were just clearer. Opinions will vary, but I think it was poorly done, especially since wild card spots are involved. It didn't change those either, but it could have.

[shapeshifter]

52 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

But the category was "Get your somethings in a row" - Heirs in a row? Cards in a row? I don't think those answers fit the category, whether or not they fit the clue.

9 minutes ago, Ailianna said:

But noone gets their dikes in a row, dukes in a row, decks, so on.

*Le sigh* 
All is not well in Jeopardy! clue land. 

 

8 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I enjoyed J.P.'s enthusiasm, he was having fun even when he was wrong.

J.P. of the "wingspan" capable of launching nukes had a charmingly upbeat demeanor, so I was able to celebrate his win.
Plus, I was a little annoyed at Alisa and Deborah for not going for true Daily Doubles——or was their strategy correct for the Professors Tournament?? 

[SomeTameGazelle]

3 hours ago, Ailianna said:

The jumping around meant I didn't get the pattern until I read it here. I was honestly expecting two reversals from cards and heirs since they were correct information and I thought the category was just...things in order. Nothing in the category name indicated it had to sound like ducks, and this still seems like it's too clever for its own good. 

I had an unfair advantage because before I watched the episode I had called my parents who had just got to the dike clue. So when I watched the episode, knowing dikes was coming, after Docs and desks I was primed for the rest to be d**k* responses. 

I don't think heirs to the throne should have been accepted regardless of the pattern because the clue already specified the set was a subset of the line of succession and it didn't include e.g. George, Charlotte, and Louis between Cambridge and Sussex. 

For cards I would argue that there is no such thing as pinochle cards but a pinochle deck requires specific cards (9s, 10s, face cards, and aces) from 2 standard decks of cards. 

 

[dcalley]

I thought I could blame the selection order for my not noticing the "ducks" theme, but according to j-archive, the GET YOUR SOMETHINGS IN A ROW clues were selected top to bottom with a one-clue break to another category. $200 was selected 25th, $400 was 26th, then $600-$1000 were 28th-30th.