Jeopardy! Season 38 (2021-2022)

[Prevailing Wind]

Taking Boomers to Small Talk.

 

[Clanstarling]

19 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Ooo! Right! So my "dark side" would have been wrong?

 

TSs I also knew mostly because I'm old were:

• Gas Station–—ding! ding! followed by a perky attendant to wash the windshield while he pumped your $2 of gas when Dad (born in 1923) took us "out for a Saturday drive"
•  
• warmed over
  –—Mom, born in 1928, often used "look/feel like death warmed over
•  
• mortar & pestle
  –—in the 70s my glass-blower neighbor made me a mortar and pestle to grind my oil paints when we were squatting in our art studios to save money during the recession
  –—didn't have to be old for that one, but it didn't hurt
   
• crucible
  –—not an oldster answer either (I don't think?) and I'm guessing it was a TS because it was $2K and they didn't want to risk it?

Dark side was accepted, so I will take it as correct.

Gas station and warmed over were no brainers for me (definitely a boomer, so I'm old)

My daughter is an artist, so mortar and pestle was easy. 

I got Crucible by way of Miller's play.

 Got Merry Wives because of the date and the fact I didn't know the names of the characters. So it had to be about women and a play I didn't read in my Shakespeare class.

[ams1001]

I didn't notice this, but someone on reddit pointed out that everyone in the Historic Men category was named John.

(Perhaps in part because the players apparently just said the last name for three of them.)

[30 Helens]

I remember full serve gas stations, but I had no idea what a ding dong hose was. Where I grew up, stations had both full serve and self serve pumps. When you pulled up to full serve, the attendant just came over! No hose.

I was very surprised at TS for death warmed over and mortar and pestle. Clearly, these players don’t have to crush any pills.

Elmo is a tough like for me these days, ever since his portrayer (puppeteer/ voice) was charged with pedophilia. I know that had nothing to do with Elmo himself, but for some reason I still find it hard to separate the two.

16 hours ago, dcalley said:

I watched The Chase the other night (I don't usually) and was surprised that Ken got this wrong:

If you were born in 1970 you’d be considered part of which demographic: Gen Z, Gen X or Boomer? (He said Boomer.)

This surprised me, too. I understand not being able to delineate each group, but I would expect him to know the group he belongs to, at least!

[ams1001]

8 minutes ago, 30 Helens said:

I remember full serve gas stations, but I had no idea what a ding dong hose was. Where I grew up, stations had both full serve and self serve pumps. When you pulled up to full serve, the attendant just came over! No hose.

It's all full serve where I am. No ding dongs.

I've never heard the term ding dong hose but I've seen enough movies set in years past to have heard the sound.

[Prevailing Wind]

But all the bells I recall hearing were just ding-ding. There was no dong.

 

[ams1001]

18 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

But all the bells I recall hearing were just ding-ding. There was no dong.

True.

[Prevailing Wind]

And they only went ding-ding if you drove both front and rear wheels over the hose.

[Clanstarling]

14 hours ago, ams1001 said:

It's all full serve where I am. No ding dongs.

I've never heard the term ding dong hose but I've seen enough movies set in years past to have heard the sound.

Here too, but where I get gas, the attendants are always outside.

However, as a child we drove across country many times and I do remember the ding dong (or ding ding, I don't remember, either works for me) I am old.

[HissyFit]

Noooooo!!!!  Betty White a TS!  There's not a person alive who can say she was before or after their time.  I think I just learned what "gobsmacked" feels like.

[ams1001]

83% / 50% / 66%

J!: Ran Ends with Out and missed one each in every other category. Got the DD and the TSes of mosque, Louisiana, odd man out, Betty White,

DJ: Yeah, that wasn't my round. Got one DD and the TSes of President Snow and Uriah Heep.

FJ: I did not get it but of course it was so obvious once it was revealed.

I liked everyone today so I'm good with the new champ. That was a pleasant game (my DJ score aside).

[Katy M]

I got FJ.

I got the missed clues of associative, odd man out, Betty White, Michael Landon, Louisiana, Mariah Carey, and Uriah Heep.

I got the entire categories of Las Vegas hotels, TV, and Hats.

 

[Browncoat]

Almost instaget FJ for me.  I initially focused on the name of the valley, then figured out that maybe "physician" was the more important part of the clue.  Which of course it was.

I also got the TS of odd man out, Betty White, Michael Landon, Fame, President Snow, and Uriah Heep.  (Autocorrect wants to make that Keep.)  I was very very sad, and quite surprised that Betty White was a TS.

 

[ams1001]

5 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Michael Landon

I was so annoyed by that one. As Ken said, I was indeed picturing him (as Pa Ingalls), and saying "Michael....Michael...what is his last name!!?" but it wouldn't come to me.

[kathyk24]

I ram Back me up. Ken should have explained the category. I knew Annie Wilkes because Misery is one of my favorite books. Final Jeopardy was an instaget. I was surprised that no one knew Michael Landon or Betty White.

[ams1001]

6 minutes ago, kathyk24 said:

I ram Back me up. Ken should have explained the category.

I doubt it would have helped me; I only got one (Carly Simon, though Trisha Yearwood was another one that was on the tip of my brain.

4 minutes ago, kathyk24 said:

I knew Annie Wilkes because Misery is one of my favorite books.

I could picture Kathy Bates, but I've never actually read the book or seen the movie so while I've heard the character's name before I couldn't come up with it.

 

[GrannySmith]

As soon as the FJ category came up, Mr. Granny yelled out Medici. 

[tjsmom]

What made me happiest was that Ken pronounced Louisville (CO) correctly!  Although I'm sure he was advised...

[j5cochran]

I got Final Jeopardy because I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan.

In the Discworld novels, in the the city of Ankh Morpork, the head of government is the Patrician, Lord Havelock Vetinari. His name is a play on Medici, but a veterinarian instead!

[Bastet]

Betty White as a TS?!  (And the J! curse strikes again [she died a couple of weeks after this was taped].)  After that, I just knew Michael Landon was going to go unanswered as well.

I surprised myself in the first round; I'm very hit and miss with art, but ran that category, and I generally don't do well with war history, but got all but one in Korean War (and I did know that one, but couldn't get Inchon from my brain to my mouth in time).  I also ran Vegas hotels and TV, and got all but one in the other two.

But, ouch - DJ.  I could not get my brain in gear for the geography category, missing three (all of which I knew but couldn't spit out).  I was even worse in book villains, missing all but one (I should have got two, but - again - couldn't pull Annie Wilkes's name out of my memory, and "the woman Kathy Bates played" would not have counted).  I missed two in symmetry and one each in the rest -- didn't run a single category.

FJ was an instaget, at least.

(And, unlike all three contestants, I knew Betty White.  Nope, still not over that.)

[GreekGeek]

When the first $200 clue of Mosque was a TS, I thought the game would be a dud, but it turned out to be really exciting. I'm happy that Lynde hit those $2000 clues in DJ to make a decent comeback after betting it all on that DD. I guess she never saw the Glenn Close/John Malkovich/Uma Thurman movie (though it did omit the smallpox).

I knew odd man out, Betty White (!!), Michael Landon, Tyrrhenian Sea, President Snow, Uriah Heep, the Dangerous Liaisons DD, and Annie Wilkes. I thought of the Medici family just in time.

[30 Helens]

I got Medici, but just after the music stopped, so… no win for me.

As soon as Lynde took the big gutsy wager, I was rooting for her. For whatever reason, women rarely swing for the fences on this show, so I really appreciate any woman who does. It didn’t work out for her, but the setback also didn’t make her falter, so good on her.

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

As soon as Lynde took the big gutsy wager, I was rooting for her. For whatever reason, women rarely swing for the fences on this show, so I really appreciate any woman who does. It didn’t work out for her, but the setback also didn’t make her falter, so good on her.

Yes, I too was cheering when Lynde made it a TDD, wagering $5,200.
And Ken had coached "this is a real opportunity for you," as he always does when the numbers are like they were:

But at that point, 2 of the three in that category of BAD PEOPLE IN BOOKS had already been TSs in which having extra time had not helped her come up with answers, so this was probably not her category.
 

Had Lynde considered that the DD was not in her category and only wagered, say, $1,000, she would have almost had enough to win, assuming that all 3 still knew Medicis and Henry still wagered just enough to beat the others if they all knew the correct response:

So,
I'm glad it's not a total heartbreaker case where Lynde would have won if she had bet only $1K or even $0 on her DD ($11,200 would still not have beat Henry in this scenario with him not going under double the nearest player's amount and all players getting it right).

But, in the future, when a contestant of any stripe fails to make a TDD wager on a DD that could bring them "within striking distance" of the win, I will no longer be thinking they were just too timid, especially since lately I've been seeing too much wrong guessing in subjects not familiar to the contestant–—mostly on the College Tournament, but here too.

After Lynde's DD loss, Ken encouraged her with "down to zero, but good strategic move," after which she made a recovery that surprised us all, including Ken.
Had those final scores been just a bit different, I wonder if Ken, like me, would vow never again to route for a contestant to bet it all?

 

Anyway, my only TS was Betty White, and I might not have known that correct response if the clue had been on a board before she died, as was the case for these contestants when this was filmed.
So I will cease armchair quarterbacking–—or at least rein in my thoughts when I do. 
Betty White, who spent a lot of time as a contestant on Match Game and Password, probably learned not to second guess players when she was much younger than I am now.  

Edited February 22, 2022 by shapeshifter
reign ≠ rein

[MrAtoz]

I'm not sure how harshly to judge the contestants for not knowing Betty White.  The Golden Girls went off the air 30 years ago (!), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show was even earlier.  I think younger folks might just have a general sense of Betty White as "that lady who loves animals and has been on TV forever," without necessarily knowing the names of her characters.  Heck, even Hot in Cleveland is almost ten years old at this point!

[Mindthinkr]

That was a good game to watch. I came up with Mosque, Betty White, Michael Landon, and as soon as I saw the category FJ I said to my viewing partner: “What do you want to bet that the answer is De Medici?” So that was a early correct pre-guess for me. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by Mindthinkr
Bet, not be

[Clanstarling]

 

13 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I was so annoyed by that one. As Ken said, I was indeed picturing him (as Pa Ingalls), and saying "Michael....Michael...what is his last name!!?" but it wouldn't come to me.

I do that in so many categories - especially tonight. Niel Patrick Harris - I love him and couldn't come up with his name to save my soul. Not to mention Annie Wilkes - having both read the book, seen the movie, and seen the Castle Rock tv series, in which a younger version of her is the main character! I had no excuse at all with her.

10 hours ago, Bastet said:

Betty White as a TS?!  (And the J! curse strikes again [she died a couple of weeks after this was taped].)  After that, I just knew Michael Landon was going to go unanswered as well.

I was wondering when this was taped.

5 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

As soon as Lynde took the big gutsy wager, I was rooting for her. For whatever reason, women rarely swing for the fences on this show, so I really appreciate any woman who does. It didn’t work out for her, but the setback also didn’t make her falter, so good on her.

I was rooting for her too - and I have a serious case of hair envy.

33 minutes ago, MrAtoz said:

I'm not sure how harshly to judge the contestants for not knowing Betty White.  The Golden Girls went off the air 30 years ago (!), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show was even earlier.  I think younger folks might just have a general sense of Betty White as "that lady who loves animals and has been on TV forever," without necessarily knowing the names of her characters.  Heck, even Hot in Cleveland is almost ten years old at this point!

I was going to mention that, but you said it much better than I would. Both of those characters were iconic in my younger days, but these days, not so much. Betty became the icon, and rightly so.

Got FJ at the last second, I was stuck on the Rothschilds and wondering how that fit into the clue until I finally got it. 

It wasn't a stellar game for me, but at least I got FJ.

[Mindthinkr]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

7 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

 

I was rooting for her too - and I have a serious case of hair envy.

Me as well. Her hair had great body. She really was a very pretty lady. 

[proserpina65]

On 2/17/2022 at 8:19 PM, Prevailing Wind said:

I said Elmo.

I knew it wasn't Elmo because I remember when he was introduced and I wasn't a child at the time.  I guessed Big Bird, but it really was a guess.

On 2/17/2022 at 9:28 PM, j5cochran said:

Argh! I'm having painful flashbacks to my time on Jeopardy! My Final Jeopardy had the same solution as the first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy tonight. 

FJ for January 16, 2019: 

The Daily Double tonight:

 

You were on that game?  Cool, although I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.  I have a negative visceral reaction to Alexander Graham Bell as a result of my FJ, so I understand.

I have to confess, the Bounty mutiny could easily be one of my specialty subjects on the old British quiz show Mastermind, so putting Bounty & Christian together gave me Pitcairn Island very quickly.  (Surprisingly, my interest in the Bounty pre-dates my interest in the Royal Navy by about a decade and a half, mainly because Mel Gibson circa 1984 when the movie came out was young and beautiful, and I didn't yet know he was a racist, anti-Semitic asshole.)

On 2/18/2022 at 8:00 PM, Driad said:

The far side of moon is not the dark side. Haven't the judges ever looked at the moon?

It isn't?  Well, it is a lot of the time, so close enough for me.  Because, yes, that's what I answered. ;-)

On 2/18/2022 at 8:07 PM, SoMuchTV said:

I also thought the “ding dong hose” was a dead giveaway for a gas station, then I had to think about when was the last time I actually drove over a ding-dong hose. Okay, I guess I’m old. 

Me too.

 

[proserpina65]

17 hours ago, Katy M said:

I got the missed clues of associative, odd man out, Betty White, Michael Landon, Louisiana, Mariah Carey, and Uriah Heep.

I got Uriah Heep mainly because my brother had one of the 1970s rock band's albums, and the name stuck with me.

15 hours ago, Bastet said:

I should have got two, but - again - couldn't pull Annie Wilkes's name out of my memory, and "the woman Kathy Bates played" would not have counted

I've never known the character's name, so that would've been my answer.

14 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I guess she never saw the Glenn Close/John Malkovich/Uma Thurman movie (though it did omit the smallpox).

I got the actual correct title of the book, Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

[M. Darcy]

No one knew Uriah Heep!!  Heh, that is so Uriah Heep.  

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I was wondering when this was taped.

December 14th.  So in the midst of the "Betty White's 100th birthday celebration is going to be great" hoopla.

[853fisher]

5 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

I'm not sure how harshly to judge the contestants for not knowing Betty White.  The Golden Girls went off the air 30 years ago (!), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show was even earlier.  I think younger folks might just have a general sense of Betty White as "that lady who loves animals and has been on TV forever," without necessarily knowing the names of her characters.  Heck, even Hot in Cleveland is almost ten years old at this point!

They should have seen these shows anyway! ;)  But you make a good point.  I'm glad that all three are reasonably easy to stream, and even seemed to get a bit of promotion after Betty's death.  I hope curious fans of hers who hadn't seen them gave them a try.

I hated the feeling that she was becoming known among younger people as "the old lady who says outrageous things" because I sometimes couldn't tell whether they were laughing at or with her.  Maybe I should have given them a bit more credit.

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

I'm not sure how harshly to judge the contestants for not knowing Betty White.  The Golden Girls went off the air 30 years ago (!),

Yet is still on daily in syndication - on two channels - and gets referenced in pop culture (and, in a surprise victory but speaking to its ongoing popularity, got voted as the GOAT in the Primetimer Awards).

It's not like they picked her Hot in Cleveland role as one of the two; they listed the two iconic roles of a woman who routinely got referred to as a national treasure and whose upcoming 100th birthday celebration was in the news at the time of taping (which meant lots of write-ups like "Betty White, best known as" Rose Nyland and Sue Ann Nivens).  That any one contestant wouldn't get her from the clue, fine.  But all three?  Yeah, I'm surprised.  And I found myself wishing Alex was still around, because I feel like he'd have made a comment.

[Browncoat]

15 minutes ago, Bastet said:

And I found myself wishing Alex was still around, because I feel like he'd have made a comment.

Particularly since hers was the only name he mentioned publicly as a suggestion to replace him.

[The Wild Sow]

3 hours ago, M. Darcy said:

No one knew Uriah Heep!!  Heh, that is so Uriah Heep.

I knew Annie Wilkes but couldn't come up with Uriah Heep (and I've even seen the band in concert!)  I kept getting stuck on Bill Sykes, but he's a bad guy in Oliver Twist.

[ams1001]

63% / 69% / 65%

Ran nothing but I got all three DDs and my TSes were class, cats, and ice.

Ugh, I did the same thing Holly did in FJ. I knew it was the Girl Scouts but I mixed up the names.

[Ailianna]

22 hours ago, kathyk24 said:

I ram Back me up. Ken should have explained the category. I knew Annie Wilkes because Misery is one of my favorite books. Final Jeopardy was an instaget. I was surprised that no one knew Michael Landon or Betty White.

I don't think the category needed an explanation. Lots of categories have themes that you don't see until you start with the clues. Both Tweets categories tonight were that way. Try the category and find out what it's about.

[kathyk24]

5 minutes ago, Ailianna said:

I don't think the category needed an explanation. Lots of categories have themes that you don't see until you start with the clues. Both Tweets categories tonight were that way. Try the category and find out what it's about.

I disagree some category names can apply to more than one subject. It would be helpful for people playing at home.

[GrannySmith]

Who else thought Julia Ward Howe was the founder of the Girl Scouts?  I was so confident, I reminded Mr. Granny that we’d seen her home in Savannah. 

[Katy M]

I said Clara barton, but was pretty sure I was wrong.  As soon as I saw Julia Howe, I was like argh, the girl scouts, but don't know if I would have come up with the right name. It's been along time since I wore that green beret and sash.

I got the missed clues of Apache, class, cats, ice and Rose of Sharon (apparently no Grapes of Wrath fans on the show today). 

I got the entire categories of Febwary and spoken Grammy right and the entire category of tweet (from the first round) wrong.

[SoMuchTV]

So many names running through my head for FJ. Juliette, Gordon, Baden, Powell… amazingly I was able to settle on Lowe. 

And the professor from Richmond had better have gotten W&M!

[Prevailing Wind]

I knew it was Juliette Low - I couldn't think of the "Gordon" to save my life. But I wondered if I would have gotten it if I weren't so fond of the Trefoil cookies.  Love me some shortbread!

[ams1001]

I loved Henry's look of general disbelief as he was being introduced.

[zoey1996]

Instaget on FJ tonight, and an asterisk! 
 

12 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

And the professor from Richmond had better have gotten W&M!

I had the same thought!

[Ailianna]

43 minutes ago, kathyk24 said:

I disagree some category names can apply to more than one subject. It would be helpful for people playing at home.

It's part of the game to not know exactly what some categories are about and have to wade in without having it fed to you. If they wanted you to know the category was about back up singers they would have just called it backup singers. That they didn't means you go in and have to figure it out. It's just one of the punny categories they like, and it's designed to encourage top down clue selection, so you aren't uncovering big money clues (or a DD) when you don't know what the category is about.

[j5cochran]

7 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I have to confess, the Bounty mutiny could easily be one of my specialty subjects on the old British quiz show Mastermind, so putting Bounty & Christian together gave me Pitcairn Island very quickly.  (Surprisingly, my interest in the Bounty pre-dates my interest in the Royal Navy by about a decade and a half, mainly because Mel Gibson circa 1984 when the movie came out was young and beautiful, and I didn't yet know he was a racist, anti-Semitic asshole.)

In my game, I knew it was that island where the Bounty crew ended up after they mutinied and dumped Captain Bligh in his little boat, but I couldn't for the life of me remember Pitcairn!

[Cotypubby]

Knew FJ instantly from the word “trefoil.” Wasn’t entirely certain I had the middle name correct so I would have just said “Lowe.”

And re: yesterday’s Betty White clue, I wasn’t at all surprised that was a TS and I’m certain they all know who she is. I know she was Rose on the Golden Girls but I had no idea what the last name of Nivens was from so that didn’t lead me to think of her.

[Bastet]

The class TS was unexepected; I suspect they forgot the category (since it was the first clue selected in that one).  The baptism TS - which stumped me as well - was rather surprising too.

If it wasn't for Tweets I'd have had a great first round - I ran three categories and almost ran (missed one each) in two - but I missed three in that one.

I ran the Tweets category in DJ, though (which was a pleasant surprise, as I'm not overly strong on birds).  Not so much the rest of that round; I blew 1600s almost entirely, only getting one, missed three in _of_, two each in iconography and books (I should have done better in both of those, but I couldn't get responses from my brain to my mouth), and one in Grammy.

I knew FJ was the Girl Scouts founder, I knew she had three names, and I thought the first one was Julia.  So I floundered around a bit and never spit it out correctly.

2 hours ago, Ailianna said:

It's part of the game to not know exactly what some categories are about and have to wade in without having it fed to you. If they wanted you to know the category was about back up singers they would have just called it backup singers. That they didn't means you go in and have to figure it out.

There wasn't even anything to figure out, as the clues were all self contained -- there was no need to explain in advance "Back Me Up" means that category's clues will be about back-up singers, when all the clues specifically referenced it:
"She sang backup for Garth Brooks ..."
"John Lennon not only co-wrote this Bowie song ... he also sang on it"
"She was a back-up singer for Brenda K. Starr ..."
etc.

[Leeds]

Am I the only one bothered by the pronounciation of Rose of "Sharon"?  To me Sharon will always be one of those girls dancing around their handbags on the floor.

[30 Helens]

I couldn’t decide whether it was Juliette Lowe Howell or Juliette Howell Lowe. In the end, I decided on Lowe. So I would have been correct, because I’d never be silly enough to write all 3 names down. That’s just 2 extra chances to be wrong.

But since I thought Howell and others got stuck on Howe, I’m wondering if there’s a reason. Is there a Juliette/Julia Howe/Howell we’re confusing? Or is it just a coincidence that everyone erred with an H?