Jeopardy! Season 38 (2021-2022)

[shapeshifter]

Would NOT QUITE DUCKS IN A ROW have been better than GET YOUR SOMETHINGS IN A ROW?

[chessiegal]

Maybe I'm weird, but I understood what "Get your _____ in a row" meant.

[30 Helens]

11 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Maybe I'm weird, but I understood what "Get your _____ in a row" meant.

Yeah, you’re weird. (Just kidding. Can’t you hear me laughing my socks off?) 

This was a really good game for me. I don’t keep score, but I estimate I got about 80% of the clues. And then my husband, who was silent for the entire game, pipes up and steals FJ from me. Sometimes….

[Clanstarling]

3 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

Yeah, you’re weird. (Just kidding. Can’t you hear me laughing my socks off?) 

This was a really good game for me. I don’t keep score, but I estimate I got about 80% of the clues. And then my husband, who was silent for the entire game, pipes up and steals FJ from me. Sometimes….

Boy, that's almost grounds for divorce! 😆

In our house, we shout out the clues for all other clues - winner takes it. But on FJ we both stay quiet our minds spinning, until the time is almost up and then we answer (having it recorded helps this technique). Just like the contestants. 😉 That way we can both get FJ (or most often, not) without getting irked.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

Boy, that's almost grounds for divorce! 😆

In our house, we shout out the clues for all other clues - winner takes it. But on FJ we both stay quiet our minds spinning, until the time is almost up and then we answer (having it recorded helps this technique). Just like the contestants. 😉 That way we can both get FJ (or most often, not) without getting irked.

Wow. You guys could start "Jeopardy! Zoom Marriage Lessons In Getting Along" and quit your day jobs!

 

11 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Maybe I'm weird, but I understood what "Get your _____ in a row" meant.

When you say you understood what "Get your _____ in a row" meant" do you mean you knew that all of the answers would sound like "ducks"?

I wonder if I would have understood that if I had been in the studio with the category visible the whole time——probably not. I just knew Doc Severinsen from hearing Johnny Carson say his name so many times when my parents watched The Tonight Show.

 

Edited December 12, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Clanstarling]

15 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Wow. You guys could start "Jeopardy! Zoom Marriage Lessons In Getting Along" and quit your day jobs!

One day job down, another down in two weeks. Maybe we will. 😁

On the other hand, I have been known to get (silently) ticked when he beats me on an answer in my best categories, whereas he's impressed when I beat him in his.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Clanstarling

[853fisher]

On 12/11/2021 at 2:38 PM, 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. 

I missed McWhorter on Friday's show and didn't think I had ever heard of him before.  This morning I watched an interview he did for Thursday's NewsHour, which I had failed to watch on that day.  D'oh!  I would say he looked just like the photo shown on Friday, so it is likely current.  We should all be so lucky!

[ams1001]

December 13th:

OK, JP made me laugh with the British accent. And "extreme verticality."

They may not have gotten any wrong answers in the first round, but I sure had plenty. (There were two that no one attempted, though.)

I ran nothing. Got TSes Mathew Arnold and bromine. I was doing so well in Chemistry but I missed the last one. Also only missed one in Professions. Did not get FJ.

44% / 60% / 53%

Happy Monday, I guess. 😐

[853fisher]

Today's gameplay was much more like it than most of last week!  The categories were pretty good for me too.

I had to laugh because I didn't meet my own high hopes for "Gems & Jewels," then on my way back to the kitchen after watching the game knocked over a book I was packing for donation: "Jewelry & Gems: More than Just a Buying Guide."  Alright, universe, you win.  I'll keep it.

I live in San Francisco but don't know very much about USF, so I looked up the ranking mentioned.  US News & World Report has them tied at #1 in student ethnic diversity with three other schools.  When Mayim prompted JP with "your university is #1 in something very specific" and he just said "diversity," I thought that was pretty general, although he did a fine job speaking briefly about the Jesuits' educational philosophy.  I was expecting something trivial or arcane given the setup.

Speaking of Mayim, I am surprised by how strongly I've disliked her since we had Ken back.  I won't keep belaboring the point, but I will say just once more that I am disappointed both that she offers so many clumsy readings and that apparently there is no one on set interested or empowered enough to have her re-record them, which even Alex needed from time to time.

One I noticed today was "'Earth' used to refer to certain oxides, hence this term for samarium and friends."  That was clearly supposed to be "used to" with a soft "s," as in "Mayim used to be on 'Big Bang Theory,’" but she read it with a hard "s," like "gasoline is used to power cars."  Did nobody catch that?  Did nobody care?  Is Mayim reading the clues for the first time on stage? Was she never hooked on phonics? Yes, I know it's hardly the end of the world, but I feel we can reasonably expect better from this show. A bare minimum qualification should be actually understanding the clues you’re reading, and conveying a sense of the same. Ken certainly hasn’t been making these errors.

Edited December 14, 2021 by 853fisher

[SeanC]

I thought Final Jeopardy was way too easy, and then 2 of the 3 missed it completely.

[Katy M]

My stupid pills are clearly still working.

FJ was an instaget so I'll give myself that much.

I got th emissed clues of dint and bromine.

I missed the entire categories of shorthand and silly.

Just now, SeanC said:

I thought Final Jeopardy was way too easy, and then 2 of the 3 missed it completely.

I figured somebody would say Mary Queen of Scots.  If you don't know dates at all it would seem a good guess.

[ams1001]

1 minute ago, Katy M said:

I figured somebody would say Mary Queen of Scots.  If you don't know dates at all it would seem a good guess.

That was my first thought but I knew it was wrong, at least.

[M. Darcy]

I got FJ! I figured it wasn’t Mary Queen of Scouts since her son succeeded her so she wouldn’t be considered last and the year was too late for her so it had to be Anne since under her England and Scotland came together to become Great Britain. 

[Browncoat]

I totally said Mary Queen of Scots. Oops!  I guess I thought that since her son was King of both England and Scotland, that Scotland was no longer independent?  Who knows.  Or it could just be that Mary is my go-to Scottish monarch.

And the only TS I got was dint.

Good game!  It doesn't hurt my feelings that Steve Martin won. 

[zoey1996]

Sort of lucked in to FJ, though I have some knowledge of English monarchs, so a guess based on a smattering of knowledge. 

[PBnJay]

1 hour ago, 853fisher said:

Speaking of Mayim, I am surprised by how strongly I've disliked her since we had Ken back.  I won't keep belaboring the point,

I haven't paid much attention to players or the hosts since Alex died, but Mayim is slowly creeping onto my Irritation List, so it's okay with me to keep belaboring. I'm sensitive to her poor pronunciation, her OTT vocals, her barely contained hilarity, and her lacking interview skills. Plus now I try not to look since when she is shown, she always has a death grip on both sides of the podium and keeps twisting her body like she's standing on an Ab Twister. Plus the head bobbing. I just want this tournament to be over.

[Packerbrewerbadger]

Liked all 3 contestants today, wish they all could have moved on!  Tall guy made me smile and Steve Martin’s voice - he should be in radio!  The girl was cool also.

[BuckeyeLou]

39 minutes ago, Packerbrewerbadger said:

Liked all 3 contestants today, wish they all could have moved on!  Tall guy made me smile and Steve Martin’s voice - he should be in radio!  The girl was cool also.

The Tall Guy made me laugh...he had quite a sense of humor & seemed to be enjoying himself during the game.  The category of "Silly things Professors say" was a fun category too. 

[secnarf]

3 hours ago, Katy M said:

I figured somebody would say Mary Queen of Scots.  If you don't know dates at all it would seem a good guess.

That was me! I am terrible at British royalty, so threw it out as a 'best guess'. Googled her before the music was up and saw I was a couple centuries off, but felt a bit better about my wild guess when two of them also guessed her.

I was sad JP (tall guy) didn't go through, but I did like all of the contestants today.

[Cotypubby]

Same! Also said Mary Queen of Scots cause other than Charles II during the Great Fire and George III during the American Revolution, I have not a clue in regards to British/Scottish/English/whatever monarchs and dates. 

[Bastet]

It was a football night for me, but I didn't have time to check the archive beforehand, so just did so now.

I missed two each in British humor, lit and fossible words, and one in modern shorthand, so I did not have a good first round.

In DJ, I only ran geography, and blew the entire sidekicks category.  I missed seven across the remaining categories. 

To top it off, I had no clue for FJ (I knew it wasn't Mary Queen of Scots, but had no earthly idea who it was).  So I'm not at all off to a good start in the semifinals.  And I was rooting for Katie, so I'm not off to a good start in terms of contestants I favor winning, either.

Oh, well; my football team won and I got my Christmas tree decorated, so I still had a good night.

[SomeTameGazelle]

11 hours ago, Packerbrewerbadger said:

Liked all 3 contestants today, wish they all could have moved on!  Tall guy made me smile and Steve Martin’s voice - he should be in radio!  The girl was cool also.

I was thinking Katie's voice was quite mellifluous. 

[Driad]

FJ:  I said Mary Queen of Scots.  I knew she lived in the 1500s, but the clue sounded to me as if the 1707 legislative action decreed that there would not be another monarch of independent Scotland, leaving her as the last.  I read the explanation at The Jeopardy Fan but I don't understand it.

[MrAtoz]

I think what it means is that, prior to 1707, England and Scotland remained two separate, independent kingdoms that both happened to have the same monarch.  The Acts of Union in 1707 made them into a single nation, Great Britain, so that Scotland was no longer independent.  Anne, who had been both Queen of England and Queen of Scotland, became Queen of Great Britain.

[illdoc]

I knew it wasn't Mary QoS, since I knew she had a son who was James I/VI (Scotland/England), so she couldn't have been the last monarch. After rejecting Mary, Elizabeth I, Victoria (just running a bunch of English queens through my head), Anne popped in (despite the fact the only reason I know that there was a Queen Anne is because of the flower Queen Anne's Lace) so I said that. 

[853fisher]

By my count, 18/58 clues went without a correct answer (16/55 if you exclude Daily Doubles). I took to heart the thoughtful comments about people with specialized knowledge bases and how that might affect performance in a general knowledge quiz, and I trust that the cream will rise to the top in the end. This is still not the kind of tournament semifinal game I want to watch. I have been extremely underwhelmed and I don’t think I want them to try this concept again.

 

I did enjoy the Counties category, and ran it. I have always been fascinated by them, maybe because they seemed to give a bit more local insight than studying whole states, yet more manageably than learning about every city. One of the big fourth grade projects was to visit a different county in our state and make a diorama, but I think my interest predated that. I suppose it might be called a fixation, but it’s come in handy! Mayim might use what seems to be one of her favorite phrases lately and call it “very specific.” ;)

Edited December 15, 2021 by 853fisher

[ams1001]

72% / 67% / 69%

Ran Women Authors. Missed one each in Alliterockers, Succulents, Ad Junked, Arts, and Transportation. Missed two each in Counties, Instructor, Lecturer, Pop Culture, and Differs by a Letter. Missed three in Revolution. Did not get FJ (I also said nano).

My TSes were:
Foo Fighters
Norfolk & Suffolk Counties
Osage County
Evolution (missed DD)
Photoshop
motorcycle
mirror
Zapata

Better than yesterday, at least.

Edited December 15, 2021 by ams1001

[Driad]

FJ (Physics): since the clue said "this adjective," it is interesting that two of the contestants answered with nouns.

[PBnJay]

31 minutes ago, Driad said:

since the clue said "this adjective," it is interesting that two of the contestants answered with nouns.

To be fair, I've heard "strange" used as a noun as well.

[853fisher]

My “I know this isn’t what they wanted, but maybe I could fight for it” of the game was under “a part of speech and an offer made to you.” I came up with “adverb and advert.” Judges, will we 1) accept a Britishism and 2) allow that some advertisements can constitute offers made to the consumer? Pretty please? ;)

[Bastet]

Yikes; as said above, way too many wrong answers and TS for a tournament semi-final match.  The math TS was a real doozy, with physics ruled out.  The Photoshop TS was quite surprising, too.

Enough with the "women authors" crap!

I almost ran the first round, but joined the contestants in being stumped by Humphry Davy and I also couldn't come up with Tolkien's name in time.

In DJ, though, I only ran the vocabulary category.  I missed the first three in pop culture, so I thought I was going to blow the category (as I sometimes do; I'm very hit and miss in my pop culture knowledge), but I got the next two.  I also missed three in authors, but just one each in the rest.

But I got FJ in time (thanks to the "puzzlingly" hint triggering an oh, aren't there strange somethings in physics? memory), so it worked out to a good game for me.

[Bastet]

45 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

Judges, will we 1) accept a Britishism and 2) allow that some advertisements can constitute offers made to the consumer? Pretty please? ;)

There is such a narrow set of circumstances in which an advertisement is considered an offer (in the legal sense of constituting the required offer element of a contract) and the prevailing term in the U.S. is advertisement rather than advert, so my initial response is no, but since this is J! rather than a court, I tip my hat to the logic and say "Eh, why not?"

[Josiemae]

Sigh. So we are still doing "Women Authors"?

Really?

 

[30 Helens]

On 12/13/2021 at 7:07 PM, Browncoat said:

Or it could just be that Mary is my go-to Scottish monarch.

Guilty.

Another good game for me today. I feel extra smartypants when I can TS a panel of professors, which I did at least 3 times.

And it’s a sad day when our nation’s best and brightest do not recognize those who bravely fight Foo.

[Clanstarling]

On 12/13/2021 at 5:50 PM, PBnJay said:

I haven't paid much attention to players or the hosts since Alex died, but Mayim is slowly creeping onto my Irritation List, so it's okay with me to keep belaboring. I'm sensitive to her poor pronunciation, her OTT vocals, her barely contained hilarity, and her lacking interview skills. Plus now I try not to look since when she is shown, she always has a death grip on both sides of the podium and keeps twisting her body like she's standing on an Ab Twister. Plus the head bobbing. I just want this tournament to be over.

Back when I figured Mayim would be the regular host, I was okay with her. And figured she'd loosen up a bit. But after all that time with Ken who did a great job, she does irritate more and more. Even with Ken's performance, I'm still team Buzzy, but I guess he's not being considered since there's no buzz about him at all).

On 12/13/2021 at 7:13 PM, BuckeyeLou said:

The Tall Guy made me laugh...he had quite a sense of humor & seemed to be enjoying himself during the game.  The category of "Silly things Professors say" was a fun category too. 

I liked him so much. He was obviously just enjoying being there - I mean when he missed that last daily double, he just laughed.

22 hours ago, Driad said:

FJ:  I said Mary Queen of Scots.  I knew she lived in the 1500s, but the clue sounded to me as if the 1707 legislative action decreed that there would not be another monarch of independent Scotland, leaving her as the last.  I read the explanation at The Jeopardy Fan but I don't understand it.

This is what I figured as well. Once we get past the Tudor era (and George III), I'm crap when it comes to British royalty. Well, and those on The Crown.

12 hours ago, PBnJay said:

To be fair, I've heard "strange" used as a noun as well.

Me too - but Jeopardy probably wouldn't use it - at least in the context I've heard it used. 😉

[shapeshifter]

About the TS of Mathematics: 
For those of us "playing at home," if I first said/thought "Physics" and then immediately said/thought "Mathematics," but not until after "Physics" was ruled as wrong, do I get to count that as my getting a TS?

• It does count, because:
  If I was on the show and had rung in after the incorrect response, I would have gotten it.
   
• It does not count, because:
  If I had rung in first, I would not have gotten it.

 

20 hours ago, illdoc said:

Anne popped in (despite the fact the only reason I know that there was a Queen Anne is because of the flower Queen Anne's Lace)

Having read all of the responses above, I no longer feel so dumb for guessing Mary Queen of Scotts for FJ.
But having been able to identify by name the wildflower of Queen Anne’s Lace since I was a small child when words were often just sounds matched up to things, I now realize that there is one more origin story on my bucket list of things to Google.

[proserpina65]

On 12/12/2021 at 5:43 PM, shapeshifter said:

When you say you understood what "Get your _____ in a row" meant" do you mean you knew that all of the answers would sound like "ducks"?

That's what I understood after the first clue was revealed.  That every answer would be something that was similar sounding to "ducks".

On 12/13/2021 at 7:59 PM, SeanC said:

I thought Final Jeopardy was way too easy, and then 2 of the 3 missed it completely.

That FJ was pretty much an instaget for me, although I had a weird moment of "Wait, didn't she come after the Georges?".

Last night's FJ, on the other hand, was pretty much "some physics thing I know absolutely nothing about".

13 hours ago, Josiemae said:

Sigh. So we are still doing "Women Authors"?

Really?

 

They could do it until the universe ends and I still wouldn't give a damn.

9 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

And it’s a sad day when our nation’s best and brightest do not recognize those who bravely fight Foo.

I always know them when I hear them on the radio, but I couldn't have told the name of a single one of their songs.

 

[ams1001]

9 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

And it’s a sad day when our nation’s best and brightest do not recognize those who bravely fight Foo.

I love Dave Grohl.

I almost wrote "Fighters of Foo" in my list of TSes just because it amuses me to call them that.

[Browncoat]

Holy moly!  I just caught up with last night's game.  Not the best showing, was it?  I also did not get FJ, bu I got an astounding number of TS.  Those include Suffolk & Norfolk, Osage, mathematics, evolution, photoshop, Jaguar, Henry Fonda, motorcycle, lime, and Zapata.  It made me incredibly sad that Henry Fonda was a TS, especially since one of the movies mentioned was Mr. Roberts.

Can someone enlighten me as to why Alisa bet anything on FJ?  Or actually, why any of them bet anything on FJ?  

[ams1001]

70% / 47% / 58%

Ran Whirled Menu and Nuclear Physics. In the rest of the first round I missed one each in Professor and Prequels, two in 4-Syllable Words and A Cut Above, and three in California history. The rest of my second round…was basically the opposite. No FJ and my only TSes were Shepherd's Pie and Viola Davis.

[Browncoat]

I also said Wyoming for FJ, but wasn't confident.  I don't think the correct state would have come to me if I'd sat here all night.

I didn't get any TS, either, although there were a couple that I should have.  

 

[Katy M]

i said TX.  I would have never guessed ND in a million years.

I got the TS of shepherd's pie and Viola Davis.

I got the entire category of menu right and the entire category of cut above wrong.

Another bad night, but I started off sort of well.

I had a Czech friend.  She moved about 10 years ago. Glad she wasn't watching this with me, because I only got one in that category.

[Prevailing Wind]

I said Idaho.

 

[BuckeyeLou]

The Hubby said South Dakota(thinking of TR on Mt. Rushmore) and I said Colorado.  So, we were in the general area...

[stonehaven]

I said Colorado too...and I also screamed out Viola Davis. "Murder" hasn't been off the air that long for it to already be forgotten?? 

I often wonder what these celebs think when they are triple stumper clues on Jeopardy.

..and I don't mean to be snarky or nasty but this Professors' tournament seems to seriously be lacking in brain power. The people all seemed nice but way, way too many wrong answers or non-answers.

[blueray]

I said Wyoming for FJ, which of course was wrong (but Ed agreed). I was thinking it had to be a state with cowboys. 

Also the show scared me as I thought they were going to spoil it right before FJ. They played a preview for tomorrow's episode but I was to far from the remote. Luckily it just said and tonight's winner. As it was a fairly close game.

[secnarf]

41 minutes ago, stonehaven said:

I said Colorado too...and I also screamed out Viola Davis. "Murder" hasn't been off the air that long for it to already be forgotten?? 

I often wonder what these celebs think when they are triple stumper clues on Jeopardy.

Also there were so many commercials for HTGAWM when it was on, you couldn't help but see that Viola Davis was on it, even if you didn't watch the show (or maybe it's just in my area that in an hour of TV you would see 18 commercials for it).

I always feel bad for the celebrities who are TSs. I feel like I would be embarrassed. But I am also not remotely someone who would engage in any activity that makes me well known and I am easily embarrased. Maybe they are just sitting in their multimillion dollar homes and not caring 🤷‍♀️

[PBnJay]

Once again Mayim doesn't bother to tell the players that, when they find a DD, they can bet up to the highest amount on the board if they don't have a lot of money. It's her job to tell them that. And she never does.

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, stonehaven said:

I said Colorado too...and I also screamed out Viola Davis. "Murder" hasn't been off the air that long for it to already be forgotten?? 

I never even watched and I knew it.

[30 Helens]

I know a lot about Teddy Roosevelt and should have known the answer, but the Rough Riders part had my brain stuck on San Juan Hill and I got confused. A little more time and I would have gotten there.

Anyway… glad Ed won. He seems like a very happy person and I appreciate that. I would sign up for a class from him.