Jeopardy! Season 39 (2022-2023)

[Kimmmmmm]

Really enjoying watching Cris. I love the players with long runs... except in the case of Mattea and Julia Collins.

[Cotypubby]

12 hours ago, saber5055 said:

It came to me easily as not too long ago there were several entertainment-news tv stories about how it would be the longest-running musical. So three cheers for watching a lot of fluff tv (and TMZ).

I’m not sure what those stories were but it’s nowhere even close to being the longest running musical. It ran for only 732 performances. (Phantom is currently over 13,300!)

Edited November 25, 2022 by Cotypubby

[possibilities]

I think the rush I got when I saw how much Cris won after FJ tonight is similar to how people must feel when bungee jumping or skydiving. Ye Gods. 

I find him quite enjoyable to watch. 

I still have no idea what his "customer success" job is. I almost felt like he was deliberately obfuscating with his answer. But I was more amused than annoyed.

But I feel bad for his competitors, too, because they don't even get to buzz in!

There's no solution. SuperChamps are exciting and the more you get familiar with a personality the easier it is to feel like rooting for them. But at the same time, the rest of the players get shortchanged in competitiveness and memorability.

I really think something is up with all these superchamps we've been having. Is the first position advantaged by a faster buzzer? Does the new management weight things somehow, to generate these kinds of runs? 

I know it's totally forbidden to rig things like that, but it's not like there haven't been scandals before where people do forbidden things.

I enjoy the long runs, but it's awfully strange that we're having so many of them, isn't it?

[shapeshifter]

42 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I enjoy the long runs, but it's awfully strange that we're having so many of them, isn't it?

Not really. The frequency of Super Champs seems like the natural outcome of enabling online applications. With applicants no longer having to physically show up for tryouts, many more can apply. And with a greater pool of applicants for the same limited number of contestant slots, the best candidates are going to be better than in the pre-online application days. The only way around this is to reject the best-scoring applicants. 
Right?

[possibilities]

But I thought there were always a lot of applicants-- more than they could ever use-- and so picking the top scorers out of a huge pool of high scorers, ought to mean everybody's great, not that a few would dominate.

How long have they been taking online applicants? 

[853fisher]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I still have no idea what his "customer success" job is. I almost felt like he was deliberately obfuscating with his answer. But I was more amused than annoyed.

I think it is the person who liaises between the various departments of a vendor and their client. Where I work, our customer success manager for a certain software offers occasional trainings, takes questions that are beyond her to others at her company, is the person I would call if I needed to reach someone about it, etc. It seems to me like more or less what has traditionally been called an account manager, but the people who build hierarchy charts have some justification for why they’re not the same, I’m sure.

I wish they’d asked the woman who worked in film acquisition about her work instead - that sounded a lot more interesting to me!

[GreekGeek]

8 hours ago, 853fisher said:

Of the 10 contestants with the longest streaks, here is how many of their regular season wins were runaways:

1. James Holzhauer - 90.6% (29/32)
2. Ken Jennings - 87.8% (65/74)
3. Amy Schneider - 87.5% (35/40)
4. Cris Panullo - 85.7% (12/14)
5. Matt Amodio - 84.2% (32/38)
6. Jason Zuffranieri - 73.7% (14/19)
7. Julia Collins - 60% (12/20)
8. David Madden - 57.9% (11/19)
9. Mattea Roach - 52.2% (12/23)
10. Ryan Long - 37.5% (6/16)

Interesting! For some reason I thought Matt had many more runaway games than he did. Thank you for the info.

[shapeshifter]

10 hours ago, 853fisher said:

Of the 10 contestants with the longest streaks, here is how many of their regular season wins were runaways:

1. James Holzhauer - 90.6% (29/32)
2. Ken Jennings - 87.8% (65/74)
3. Amy Schneider - 87.5% (35/40)
4. Cris Panullo - 85.7% (12/14)
5. Matt Amodio - 84.2% (32/38)
6. Jason Zuffranieri - 73.7% (14/19)
7. Julia Collins - 60% (12/20)
8. David Madden - 57.9% (11/19)
9. Mattea Roach - 52.2% (12/23)
10. Ryan Long - 37.5% (6/16)

2 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

Interesting! For some reason I thought Matt had many more runaway games than he did. Thank you for the info.

That was my reaction too. 
But these are sorted by percentage of the players' personal wins, which, for instance, places James Holzhauer's 29 runaways above Ken's 65.

Here I've resorted by just number of runaways:

1. Ken Jennings - 87.8% (65/74)
2. Amy Schneider - 87.5% (35/40)
3. Matt Amodio - 84.2% (32/38)
4. James Holzhauer - 90.6% (29/32)
5. Jason Zuffranieri - 73.7% (14/19)
6. Mattea Roach - 52.2% (12/23)
7. Julia Collins - 60% (12/20)
8. Cris Panullo - 85.7% (12/14)
9. David Madden - 57.9% (11/19)
10. Ryan Long - 37.5% (6/16)

Edited November 25, 2022 by shapeshifter
clarity

[shapeshifter]

On 11/25/2022 at 2:42 AM, shapeshifter said:

Not really. The frequency of Super Champs seems like the natural outcome of enabling online applications. With applicants no longer having to physically show up for tryouts, many more can apply. And with a greater pool of applicants for the same limited number of contestant slots, the best candidates are going to be better than in the pre-online application days. The only way around this is to reject the best-scoring applicants. 
Right?

On 11/25/2022 at 3:32 AM, possibilities said:

But I thought there were always a lot of applicants-- more than they could ever use-- and so picking the top scorers out of a huge pool of high scorers, ought to mean everybody's great, not that a few would dominate.

How long have they been taking online applicants? 

Good point. Good question.
First, online tests started in 2006 (abc7ny.com/jeopardy-season-premiere-wabc-alex-trebek/1501063).
But the January 2022 article by Jeopardy! expert Claire McNear points out that the advent of the Anytime Test in early 2020 is possibly a factor behind the Super Champs (theringer.com/tv/2022/1/6/22869689/jeopardy-season-streaks-amy-schneider-matt-amodio).

• ". . . The most obvious factor is that Jeopardy! has seen an explosion of applicants during the past two years, meaning that there are many more buzzer hopefuls—and big, beautiful brains—from which to choose. On February 12, 2020, Jeopardy! introduced the online Anytime Test, which allows aspiring contestants to take the required online contestant exam whenever they want instead of under the annual proctoring of old. Before the Anytime Test, approximately 70,000 people applied to be on Jeopardy! each year. As of Wednesday evening, the test had been taken a whopping 239,089 times, a Jeopardy! spokesperson confirmed to The Ringer. While some of those tests might reflect multiple attempts by the same person, that still comes out to an average of roughly 125,000 applicants per year in the Anytime Test era. . . ."

However, McNear doesn't address your point, @possibilities, that "picking the top scorers out of a huge pool of high scorers, ought to mean everybody's great, not that a few would dominate." 

My only explanation at the moment is:
There are just not that many individuals who have the right combination of (1) knowledge of Jeopardy!-type facts, (2) the ability to draw upon that information from their memories immediately when under pressure,  (3) quick buzzer reflexes, and (4) general physical and psychological stamina necessary to do well on any given day. 
Therefore, out of the pool of great candidates, there will still not be that many who perform at Super Champ level on stage, but the Anytime test does mean there will be more of them than in the past.

See also @853fisher's post below explaining the effect of, increased availability of, and popularity of tools to prep for Jeopardy!

Also down-thread:

On 11/25/2022 at 8:36 PM, kathyk24 said:

I think the pandemic helped cause the super champions. Potential contestants had more free time to watch the show and study for the test. James' run also sparked more interest in Jeopardy. I'm sure some people thought if he could do it I could too.

And finally(?) also down-thread, @30 Helens points out that there could be no super champs if the 5-game rule hadn't been dropped (in 2003, wgbh.org/news/arts/2022/01/20/five-time-jeopardy-champion-bring-back-old-rules-or-retire-the-show):

9 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

Interesting conversation about the evolution of superchamps above. I think the answer is a combination of everything that has been mentioned, but I think it also has a lot to do with dropping the 5-games rule, which allowed the game to transition from that thing your grandma and geeky friends used to watch in the afternoon to a more high stakes, high profile competitive brain sport. Ken had a lot to do with advancing the show’s profile, and also gave a lot of tips on how he did it (“read children’s books!” “It’s all about the buzzer!”), which I’m sure inspired many to follow in his path, and prepare in a way few had before him. So I think we can blame (or thank) Ken for a lot of this.

Edited November 27, 2022 by shapeshifter

[ams1001]

5 hours ago, 853fisher said:

 It seems to me like more or less what has traditionally been called an account manager, 

Ken even said something like "so, an account manager" and Cris seemed to agree.

5 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I wish they’d asked the woman who worked in film acquisition about her work instead - that sounded a lot more interesting to me!

Yeah, I was curious about her job, too.

[possibilities]

The bios have gotten more interesting to me lately, too. I used to find them almost always totally forgettable but now a lot of them strike me as fun or interesting. I don't know if I've changed, or the stories have.

[Trey]

6 minutes ago, possibilities said:

The bios have gotten more interesting to me lately, too.

Me too.

I didn't used to watch the interviews because Alex too often made me cringe.  Now I do watch them and I enjoy them - some of their stories are pretty funny.

[Clanstarling]

14 hours ago, Katy M said:

I said Tuskegee because it was the first southern college I thought of and I had no idea.

I said Tulane for the same reason. My husband (college sports fan) got it right away. We looked up the lyrics, and it was a helluva fun song. 😉

29 minutes ago, possibilities said:

The bios have gotten more interesting to me lately, too. I used to find them almost always totally forgettable but now a lot of them strike me as fun or interesting. I don't know if I've changed, or the stories have.

Maybe it's just that Ken seems to excel at them. I always liked them, myself, but I do think Ken does a great job of making it relatively relaxed and fun.

[chessiegal]

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

I really think something is up with all these superchamps we've been having. Is the first position advantaged by a faster buzzer? Does the new management weight things somehow, to generate these kinds of runs? 

As it has been said before on this thread, why would the showrunners and Sony risk a federal investigation? If they were found guilty, heads would roll. Fines, jail time, the end of J!. I just can't see it.

[saber5055]

24 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

As it has been said before on this thread, why would the showrunners and Sony risk a federal investigation? If they were found guilty, heads would roll. Fines, jail time, the end of J!. I just can't see it.

Exactly. Applicants have just become more professional in their game play. If anyone watches American Ninja Warrior, "back when," no one could make it up the warped wall. Now everyone can, and the show keeps making the wall taller and ninjas are beating that too. Watch old reruns and few if any ninjas can complete the course. Today, that same course is a snap for every single ninja, even the teens make a cake walk out of what used to make every ninja fall back in the day.

Same with Jeopardy. Players are just better at the skills needed. It's just the natural order of things, like the evolution of species.

[Driad]

I wish more of the interviews would mention factors that could affect a contestant's performance in the game.  For example, if one is a teacher, what do they teach? As a viewer I'm more interested in that than in "how you met your spouse."

[PBnJay]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

Maybe it's just that Ken seems to excel at them. I always liked them, myself, but I do think Ken does a great job of making it relatively relaxed and fun.

Word a thousand times to this. Watch Mayim do an interview and her response is always "Awesome!" or something similar. Ken adds to the interview and, IMO, makes every player feel more important and welcome.

[saber5055]

2 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I said Tulane for the same reason. My husband (college sports fan) got it right away.

At least you came up with an answer. :-P

[dgpolo]

2 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

17 hours ago, Katy M said:

I said Tuskegee because it was the first southern college I thought of and I had no idea.

I said Tulane for the same reason. My husband (college sports fan) got it right away. We looked up the lyrics, and it was a helluva fun song. 😉

I didn't know the answer even though I guessed correctly, but after I heard it I realized I knew 'Rambling wreck from Georgia Tech' only in reference to My Sister Eileen (book and movie)

[Browncoat]

3 hours ago, PBnJay said:

Ken adds to the interview and, IMO, makes every player feel more important and welcome.

And doesn't always make it about himself, like Alex did so often.

[853fisher]

My take on the glut of super champs lately is that the availability of resources specifically to prepare for J!, rather than generally to study trivia, is unparalleled. Some will be more inclined and/or successful than others, but I think the ceiling is higher now in terms of what can be “moneyballed.” I think, even relatively recently, few upcoming contestants undertook intense preparation for Jeopardy! any more than they would for other game shows.

Then came a huge online archive of clues from the show, making it easier to gain and share deeper insight into what the show likes to ask and how. From that have been assembled heat maps of where the DDs show up, essays about how best to handle this, thousands of pages of discussion about strategies for that, etc. I’ve even seen things like panels and seminars on “how to succeed at J!” offered at various events, sometimes with the involvement of show staff, and preparation tools like flashcards tailored to the show’s material made available for sale by private individuals. I read an interview in which Amy said spending time among hardcore trivia people made her realize she was good at J! more than at trivia. I’m sure she was in part being characteristically modest, but I’ve heard others express similar sentiments.

Why would people be harnessing these resources so effectively now and not 2 or 3, 5, or 15 years ago? That I can’t quite answer. It would seem that we’re past the cohort that, some have argued, had nothing to do during COVID but prepare. So I think other factors like the changes in testing etc must indeed be relevant too. I think one other last piece could be the increase in posts from contestants about their own games, on Reddit or Twitter. There was never so much on-the-ground info about where the light for this is, where the screen for that is, etc.

Whatever the reasons, I find it all very interesting.

Edited November 25, 2022 by 853fisher

[chessiegal]

We normally watch Jeopardy! at 7 pm on the Baltimore Fox affiliate. Preempted for football today, but they are showing it at 3:05 am tomorrow - I set the DVR to record that. 

We also get the show on the DC ABC affiliate at 7:30 pm. That channel is also showing football but airing today's show tomorrow at 3:05 am.

 

[dgpolo]

33 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Preempted for football today, but they are showing it at 3:05 am tomorrow - I set the DVR to record that. 

Preempted here too, I can't tell if it's going to record at about 2:30 am, it says two different dates (one from July!) and also says I've already watched it! Weird! I tried to look at the Archive but it's on got the Jeopardy round up right now, I'll check again later.

[ams1001]

I went to get the categories from the archive to set up my scorecard and saw they only had one round up (and that wasn't even complete; there were a number of blank boxes and I figured it was unlikely they left that many clues on the board), then looked at the reddit page and the recap thread says just says the recap will be delayed for preemptions, so then I turned on the TV and saw foosball was on, so I watched on youtube.

(You can watch here, for however long it stays up.)

Since people might watch later, I'll hide the details for now and just share my score: 70% / 53% / 62%.
 

Spoiler

In J! I ran Garden Party, missed one Sports and Stayin' Alive, two Brother or Mother and Ah, Ha Ha Ha, and three in Math. In DJ I ran Sellin' It (thanks to a lucky guess on Levi's) and missed 2-3 in everything else. TS were Y=1, Jonas Brothers (who came to mind quicker than they might have thanks to them performing at halftime during the foosball game that was on the TV at my uncle's yesterday), and Levi's.

For FJ I thought Bozeman because it is literally the first Montana place name that ever comes to mind (I blame The Big Bang Theory for that), but then I figured that probably wasn't the county and my mind wandered to Yellowstone with zero confidence whatsoever. I was just thinking "what in that part of the country would attract a lot of tourists?" and figured a national park was the most logical choice. (Bozeman is not in Yellowstone County, in case you were wondering.)

Plus a warning: You're gonna have the BeeGees stuck in your head all night...

[Katy M]

I went t Yellowstone a few years ago, but apparently managed to forget it was in MT.  I said Glacier.  (I didn't even go there and I'm sure it's not a county name).

I got the missed clue of Jonas Brothers (total guess).

And I got the entire category of garden right. I'm having a bad run.  I may need a brain cell infusion.

[kathyk24]

I think the pandemic helped cause the super champions. Potential contestants had more free time to watch the show and study for the test. James' run also sparked more interest in Jeopardy. I'm sure some people thought if he could do it I could too.

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

I said Glacier. 

I also said Glacier, and have no idea if it's a county name or not.  My brain immediately went to Glacier National Park as a draw for tourists in Montana.  Yellowstone Park occupies such a small piece of Montana!  I generally think of Wyoming when I think of Yellowstone.  So much for my perfect week.

I'm still away from home, so I didn't really track missed clues that I got except for Ball Four.  That was mostly a guess, and I reasoned my way to it based on my tiny knowledge of baseball.  Oh, and I did get the Jonas Brothers, too.  No idea how I got that one!

[annzeepark914]

2 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I went to get the categories from the archive to set up my scorecard and saw they only had one round up (and that wasn't even complete; there were a number of blank boxes and I figured it was unlikely they left that many clues on the board), then looked at the reddit page and the recap thread says just says the recap will be delayed for preemptions, so then I turned on the TV and saw foosball was on, so I watched on youtube.

(You can watch here, for however long it stays up.)

Since people might watch later, I'll hide the details for now and just share my score: 70% / 53% / 62%.
 

  Reveal spoiler

In J! I ran Garden Party, missed one Sports and Stayin' Alive, two Brother or Mother and Ah, Ha Ha Ha, and three in Math. In DJ I ran Sellin' It (thanks to a lucky guess on Levi's) and missed 2-3 in everything else. TS were Y=1, Jonas Brothers (who came to mind quicker than they might have thanks to them performing at halftime during the foosball game that was on the TV at my uncle's yesterday), and Levi's.

For FJ I thought Bozeman because it is literally the first Montana place name that ever comes to mind (I blame The Big Bang Theory for that), but then I figured that probably wasn't the county and my mind wandered to Yellowstone with zero confidence whatsoever. I was just thinking "what in that part of the country would attract a lot of tourists?" and figured a national park was the most logical choice. (Bozeman is not in Yellowstone County, in case you were wondering.)

Plus a warning: You're gonna have the BeeGees stuck in your head all night...

Thanks for this link. I just watched a fast version of tonight's Jeopardy (preempted by football). It was fast because there were no commercials 🎉. Maybe I'll watch this way for a while.

[853fisher]

I knew they were hinting at Yellowstone.  Unfortunately I thought I remembered learning the Montana parts are in Butte Co.  Nope - Butte is half a state away and in Silver Bow Co.  No part of the park is actually in Yellowstone Co. - it was previously its own county equivalent subdivision and is now nominally in Gallatin Co. (seat - Bozeman) and Park Co. (seat - Livingston).

I think Glacier Co. is a good guess.  That includes parts of Glacier National Park and the Lewis & Clark National Forest as well as the Blackfeet Reservation.  Sam's guess of Flathead Co. is where Kalispell is.  Holly's guess of Bozeman is warm since, as above, most of Yellowstone Park is in the same county. 

Fun fact: the new population of Yellowstone County is 167K.  Only 10/56 counties have populations over 20K and 12/56 have populations under 2K.

Like and subscribe for more than you ever wanted to learn about Montana counties!

[bad things are bad]

"Jeopardy and The Simpsons will be on until the heat death of the universe" is the kind of quality commentary that makes me adore Ken as host!

[Sokarys]

22 hours ago, PBnJay said:

Word a thousand times to this. Watch Mayim do an interview and her response is always "Awesome!" or something similar. Ken adds to the interview and, IMO, makes every player feel more important and welcome.

Never has a comment so directly spoken to my SOUL.

[saber5055]

I was frustrated with Friday's FJ. Montana is my favorite state, I was sent there by my editor to do two cover stories for our magazine (and to find "a wooly man in chaps" as a bonus). I flew into Bozeman and spent two days on the interviews, then took the rest of the week off as vaca, rented a car, drove to West Yellowstone, spent the night, then drove through Yellowstone to the south gate ... which closed behind me as there was a big-time blizzard on tiny road through the Continental Divide (which was not a problem for this northerner). Mine was the only vehicle on the road past Old Faithful, the park rangers were just waiting for me!

I spent the night in Jackson, Wyoming, and the Yellowstone south gate remained locked for the season. So I drove back to Bozeman via Idaho. Stopped to see Butte on the way back (not an attractive town). When it was time to fly home, I almost started crying in the Bozeman airport, I did not want to leave. Best vacation EVER. I've never felt more at home anywhere.

I spent all my FJ time trying to come up with Gallatin County. And it turned out to be Yellowstone. Just shoot me.

I take that vacation trip several times a year, in my mind.

[853fisher]

Going back a little while, I was surprised that the ToC did not have a named sponsor the way Second Chance did with Moderna.  I guess it could just be that there was always a budget for the ToC and Second Chance, planned later, required a top-up.

It's not important, just made me take notice.  I don't recall whether previous TOCs have had a special sponsor, but if they could ever sell a year, it would have been this one.

Even if a sponsor was only wanted for one or the other, if I were in pharmaceuticals, I'd probably prefer to be associated with the "got it right the first time" group!

[30 Helens]

Interesting conversation about the evolution of superchamps above. I think the answer is a combination of everything that has been mentioned, but I think it also has a lot to do with dropping the 5-games rule, which allowed the game to transition from that thing your grandma and geeky friends used to watch in the afternoon to a more high stakes, high profile competitive brain sport. Ken had a lot to do with advancing the show’s profile, and also gave a lot of tips on how he did it (“read children’s books!” “It’s all about the buzzer!”), which I’m sure inspired many to follow in his path, and prepare in a way few had before him. So I think we can blame (or thank) Ken for a lot of this.

I argued with my husband about today’s FJ. He said Yellowstone, I insisted Yellowstone is not in Montana (“It is not! I’ve been to Yellowstone, and I’ve never been to Montana!”) and… we all know how that argument ended up. But without me, he wouldn’t have known the name of Lincoln’s final play earlier in the week, so there’s that?

[proserpina65]

On 11/24/2022 at 11:38 AM, SomeTameGazelle said:

I am digging his very quiet, very dry sense of humour. But I am taking it day by day deciding whom to root for. 

I love Cris.  He's definitely an exception to my not liking runaway games and long-term champs: he's damned cute.  I always make exceptions for contestants I think are cute.  (See: last year's TOC winner Sam Kavanaugh.)

On 11/24/2022 at 11:44 AM, saber5055 said:

I guess I am the only one who totally forgot Thanksgiving and, therefore, the Clue Crew would use that as a FJ reference. Instead, I was thinking of shiploads of convicts being unloaded in Australia with no food to feed the prisoners already there. The pilgrims were nowhere in my thinking. I was 100-percent in the Land of Oz.

I thought of Australia but then realized it had to be Plymouth since it was the day before Thanksgiving.

On 11/24/2022 at 8:00 PM, Katy M said:

I said Tuskegee because it was the first southern college I thought of and I had no idea.

I used to be a big fan of ACC basketball when Maryland was still in the ACC.  I knew Georgia Tech's fight song started "I'm a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer" because I heard it during many, many conference games between the two.  Otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue.

[saber5055]

The missed DD of Ball Four was an instaget for me. A baseball fan, I remember when the book came out, it got a ton of press and was all over the news, plus I bought a copy even though I was a hard-core White Sox fan back then. Just goes to show how Jeopardy rocks it with easy if you know it, and total stumpers if you do not. It also helps if one is old enough to remember Jim Bouton being on all the talk and new shows to promo his book.

p.s. The book is excellent, BTW.

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

I love Cris.  He's definitely an exception to my not liking runaway games and long-term champs: he's damned cute.  I always make exceptions for contestants I think are cute. 

Maybe it's just me, but I came across a clip today where Matt Berry strongly reminded me of Cris.

[853fisher]

Dollars to donuts Xanni will be invited back if they do Second Chance again.  I don't dislike Cris, but I don't feel especially attached to him either.  I was willing those last few clues to go the other way for a little more suspense.

Anne of GG crossed my mind too, but those are some of my mother's favorite books, so I knew the author was L.M. Montgomery.  I don't think PEI is one of the prairie provinces either.  Who else could it have been?  I knew it wasn't Little House... or Wizard of Oz, which come to mind when prairie is invoked  I have no idea where I pulled Sarah P&T from at the last second, since while I recall having heard of it when I was young, I don't think I ever read it.  Oh well - correct is correct!

[ams1001]

67% / 67% / 67%

Another consistent game...I got 20 right in each round. In J! I ran Slang and missed two in everything else, in DJ missed one each in TV and Around the Globe and two in everything else. Got two DDs but no TSes. FJ was an instaget (though if they had asked for the author instead of the character I would have been screwed).

7 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I love Cris.  He's definitely an exception to my not liking runaway games and long-term champs: he's damned cute.  I always make exceptions for contestants I think are cute.  (See: last year's TOC winner Sam Kavanaugh.)

Agreed. He's adorable and I like his quiet demeanor. Add in that he's a fellow New Jerseyan and I have to root for him!
 

[dgpolo]

53 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

Dollars to donuts Xanni will be invited back if they do Second Chance again.

That was my first thought too, so close!

FJ was an instaget the TS of Henry Fonda! was a surprise. Also got Sûreté and House of Lords.

[Katy M]

I had no idea on FJ.  All I could think of was Laura Ingalls and Iknew that wasn't right and i ended up not saying anything.

I got the missed clues of Henry Fonda and House of Lords.

I got the entire categories of TV, movies and British history right.

I broke my losing streak.  I had a great night tonight.

[SoMuchTV]

So… would they have accepted “Sarah, plain and tall”?  If so, I’m the smartest (or luckiest guesser)!  Otherwise, oh well. 

[853fisher]

4 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

So… would they have accepted “Sarah, plain and tall”?  If so, I’m the smartest (or luckiest guesser)!  Otherwise, oh well. 

I say yes.  Source: that was all I had too. ;)

But seriously, I think there's a case to be made that it's a valid way to express the character's name.  No incorrect information added, unique identifying information given.

On the other hand, if they ruled it wrong, I don't think I'd feel I could complain.  It's hard to say without having read all the fine print that's only furnished to contestants.

Edited November 29, 2022 by 853fisher

[Browncoat]

I had no idea for FJ tonight.  

And the only TS I got was Henry Fonda.

We are not off to a great start this week!

[annzeepark914]

A ts? Henry Fonda was born to play Tom Joad. OK...I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but during these last few games, when Cris's opponents (one or both) gather $team with their correct responses, I now believe he holds back to make the game look better (i.e., he's not running over his opponents).  Because he comes roaring back in DJ. That's my UO & I'm stickin' to it 😎.

[chessiegal]

2 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

A ts? Henry Fonda was born to play Tom Joad. OK...I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but during these last few games, when Cris's opponents (one or both) gather $team with their correct responses, I now believe he holds back to make the game look better (i.e., he's not running over his opponents).  Because he comes roaring back in DJ. That's my UO & I'm stickin' to it 😎.

If you're playing to win, you'd be crazy to do that.

[annzeepark914]

2 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

If you're playing to win, you'd be crazy to do that.

That's what I thought for a while. But this guy knows the most arcane bits of information...&  then is quiet for a while during (single 😉) Jeopardy. 

[ams1001]

12 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

So… would they have accepted “Sarah, plain and tall”?  If so, I’m the smartest (or luckiest guesser)!  Otherwise, oh well. 

I think so. (That's what I said, too.)

The J! Archive shows the correct response as "Sarah (Wheaton)" so going by that, just the first name would have been fine.

[chessiegal]

5 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

That's what I thought for a while. But this guy knows the most arcane bits of information...&  then is quiet for a while during (single 😉) Jeopardy. 

He had a formidable opponent tonight in Xanni. She was out buzzing him. Plain and simple.

[ams1001]

In honor of the Pachelbel Canon in D clue from tonight's game: