S01.E11: Quarterfinal #9: B.J. Novak, Brendan Hunt and Cari Champion

[Athena]

Quote

Quarterfinal #9: B.J. Novak, Brendan Hunt and Cari Champion

[Browncoat]

Well, that was an interesting game.  I've only nominally heard of BJ Novak, and the other two were complete strangers.  No idea who they are!  Brendan was a machine, though, and BJ's and Cari's FJ responses cracked me up.  I was surprised Brendan missed FJ.

There were a couple of other surprising misses, but this was not a travesty of a game.  I'm looking forward to seeing Patton Oswalt go up against Brendan.  I missed Michael Cera's game, so I have no idea whether he'll be a contender in the next round.

 

[SoMuchTV]

Now that's how to act goofy on Celebrity Jeopardy!  Save it for the end (mostly).  Glad I didn't tune out before the small talk at the end.

That was a fun game and the SF matchup should be interesting!

[ams1001]

This was a pretty good game. Not all that familiar with the players - never watched The Office or Ted Lasso* (I keep meaning to watch the latter), but I've at least heard of BJ and Brendan (also have read BJ's book), and don't know Cari at all (not a sports fan) - but I liked them all and I don't think there were any egregiously dumb responses (or non-responses**). They were fun without being over the top.

If it weren't for charity I would be annoyed with accepting just "suede shoes" on the Elvis clue. In a normal game it should have gotten a BMS. The ensuing shoe show-and-tell was funny, though. 

My biggest problem with this show is the amount of talking to fill out the hour.

*also never watched any of the shows in the TV character category, except Star Trek. I was a little surprised no one got that one. (It's the only one I got.)

**except for Final Jeopardy...I thought it was so obvious.

Patton vs Brendan might be interesting. They both had high scores.

36 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I missed Michael Cera's game, so I have no idea whether he'll be a contender in the next round.

He might be...he finished with $20,000 (vs 6300 and 2700 for his opponents).

[Bastet]

I like Cari Champion - and love her show with Jemele Hill - like her charity best (among three wonderful options), and am totally unfamiliar with the others, so I was rooting for her.

Alas.  Brendan Hunt annoyed me during the introductions, but not for the rest, and B.J. Novak amused me with his shoe rant, encouraging Hunt to risk it all on the final DD, and his FJ answer, so this was enjoyable despite Champion not winning.

FJ was an instaget and I did well leading up to that; I missed two books in the first round, three in pop culture in the second, and all the TV shows in the third (plus a couple of random others), so pop culture was once again my downfall in these celebrity games in which I might otherwise have a shot at finally achieving the perfect game. 

[Browncoat]

@ams1001, I was so disappointed that none of them knew Bones McCoy!  “I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer!” is one of my favorite TV quotes ever.

[Ailianna]

I amused myself thinking of all the different versions of his name and which they might accept. Was just "Bones" enough? Dr. McCoy? Leonard McCoy? Did it have to include Dr.? Is McCoy alone enough?

Not terrible game but easy on my brain after a very long day.

[Browncoat]

3 hours ago, Ailianna said:

I amused myself thinking of all the different versions of his name and which they might accept. Was just "Bones" enough? Dr. McCoy? Leonard McCoy? Did it have to include Dr.? Is McCoy alone enough?

For Celebrity Jeopardy, I suspect they'd have accepted any of the above.  It's not out of the question that they'd accept any of the above for regular Jeopardy these days.

[MrAtoz]

4 hours ago, Browncoat said:

For Celebrity Jeopardy, I suspect they'd have accepted any of the above.  It's not out of the question that they'd accept any of the above for regular Jeopardy these days.

I would say that regular Jeopardy should accept any of the above, except possibly "Bones," which ought to get a "Be more specific."  All of them are perfectly correct names of the character.

I personally said "Bones McCoy."

[SoMuchTV]

18 hours ago, ams1001 said:

If it weren't for charity I would be annoyed with accepting just "suede shoes" on the Elvis clue. In a normal game it should have gotten a BMS. The ensuing shoe show-and-tell was funny, though. 

I've been stalking the J-Archive site to see how that clue (and category name) was worded, but so far the game's not up.  Was it asking for something with a color and the "blue" was implied?  Or required?  Oh, well, I'm sure it didn't change the outcome.

[SHD]

21 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I was surprised Brendan missed FJ.

I think being from the Chicago area tripped him up. He concentrated on the Capone/Chicago connection and The Green Mill was (at least locally) notorious as a gangster hangout and a place with live music, so it was a good guess!

[ams1001]

3 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I've been stalking the J-Archive site to see how that clue (and category name) was worded, but so far the game's not up.  Was it asking for something with a color and the "blue" was implied?  Or required?  Oh, well, I'm sure it didn't change the outcome.

I don't remember the wording of the clue, but I seem to remember it was implying it wanted the full phrase. I could be wrong, though.

[SilverLake0315]

Category: Shoe Biz

Answer: Like Elvis sang, “Don’t you step on” these shoes that you can get from Brooks Brothers

[shapeshifter]

21 minutes ago, SilverLake0315 said:

Category: Shoe Biz

Answer: Like Elvis sang, “Don’t you step on” these shoes that you can get from Brooks Brothers

Thanks, @SilverLake0315! 
I can only guess leaving off the “blue” of “blue suede shoes” is due to being Gen X or later?!?

[SoMuchTV]

15 hours ago, SHD said:

I think being from the Chicago area tripped him up. He concentrated on the Capone/Chicago connection and The Green Mill was (at least locally) notorious as a gangster hangout and a place with live music, so it was a good guess!

I'm with Brendan here.  Playing banjo in a band at a notorious place had me thinking of a speakeasy or something similar.  Never would have thought there was even such a thing as a prison band, even with the "Rock Island" hint in the clue.

[shapeshifter]

15 hours ago, SHD said:

I think being from the Chicago area tripped him up. He concentrated on the Capone/Chicago connection and The Green Mill was (at least locally) notorious as a gangster hangout and a place with live music, so it was a good guess!

3 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I'm with Brendan here.  Playing banjo in a band at a notorious place had me thinking of a speakeasy or something similar.  Never would have thought there was even such a thing as a prison band, even with the "Rock Island" hint in the clue.

Yeah, I too went with the Chicago connection. I knew it was wrong, but I went with Navy Pier.
I could look up the exact clue on Hulu, but I'm waiting for J-Archive to put it up. Since it's not up yet, I'm guessing not before Monday.

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Yeah, I too went with the Chicago connection. I knew it was wrong, but I went with Navy Pier.
I could look up the exact clue on Hulu, but I'm waiting for J-Archive to put it up. Since it's not up yet, I'm guessing not before Monday.

"Al Capone played banjo in a band called the Rock Islanders at this notorious spot."

That's from a U.S. Sun article about viewers whining about the "non-stop yapping" in this game...they meant during the interview segments and one comment said "I guess they have time to kill"...well, they're basically playing 1.5 games in 2x the normal time, so yeah, duh, they do have time to kill. What do you expect? They weren't "non-stop yapping" during the actual gameplay. Do what I do and go get a snack during the interview bits if you don't like them. (My phone likes to give me Sun articles, basically recapping the repetitive whining that people do on the J! facebook/twitter pages, with ridiculous headlines that make it sound like Ken or Mayim have done something egregious. In most cases if there is even an actual issue, it's on the producers, not the host. Or they accuse Ken of mocking the contestants because he made a joke about their funny story. Because Alex never did anything like that... 🙄)

Another article that came up said they were considering inviting the celebrity winner to the Tournament of Champions. Not sure how I feel about that one. (Given the general caliber of the questions on CJ I'm not sure they would do well on the regular game, even if they did get a high score on here.)

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, ams1001 said:

"Al Capone played banjo in a band called the Rock Islanders at this notorious spot."

Thanks! 
Heh, Navy Pier isn't particularly "notorious," but now I recall thinking perhaps it was in Capone's day.

Edited January 21, 2023 by shapeshifter

[SHD]

I like B.J. Novak a lot, and he tried to be as playful about it as possible, but I really think he assumed he was going to steamroll over the other contestants and seemed kind of mad that didn’t happen. If he had been matched up against most of the other celebrities who have played, he probably WOULD have.

[30 Helens]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:41 PM, ams1001 said:

don't know Cari at all (not a sports fan) - but I liked them all and I don't think there were any egregiously dumb responses (or non-responses**). 

I don’t know, I was willing to give Cari a pass on her response of “career slam” instead of “grand slam” for the tennis question until I learned she has a sports podcast, and then I was done with her. Mayim is quite the fan, though— she was practically gushing.

Speaking of Mayim— I thought her reaction to BJ’s comments about choosing Stand Up to Cancer was bizarre. He even gave her an easy segue to say something about Alex Trebek, but she was only reminded of the fun events she had attended. Those cancer charities sure throw the best parties!

14 hours ago, SHD said:

I like B.J. Novak a lot, and he tried to be as playful about it as possible, but I really think he assumed he was going to steamroll over the other contestants and seemed kind of mad that didn’t happen. If he had been matched up against most of the other celebrities who have played, he probably WOULD have.

I am also a BJ fan, and I agree that he would have done very well in a different game. He’s a really smart guy— Harvard grad, where he wrote for the Lampoon, and was a producer and writer on the Office as well as acting in it.  (I wish he had been playing in the Michale Cera game— he would have wiped the floor with those bozos.) But I don’t believe he was mad about the outcome. That’s just his snarky dry wit.

Last comment: WATCH THE OFFICE, everyone! You can thank me later.

 

[SilverLake0315]

23 hours ago, SHD said:

I like B.J. Novak a lot, and he tried to be as playful about it as possible, but I really think he assumed he was going to steamroll over the other contestants and seemed kind of mad that didn’t happen. If he had been matched up against most of the other celebrities who have played, he probably WOULD have.

I'm glad someone else felt this way. I think he handled it pretty well, but yeah, I felt the aggravation. Hell, *I* assumed he'd have an easy win!

[Bastet]

On 1/22/2023 at 10:22 PM, 30 Helens said:

I don’t know, I was willing to give Cari a pass on her response of “career slam” instead of “grand slam” for the tennis question until I learned she has a sports podcast, and then I was done with her.

She said "grand" and then mentally talked herself out of it for some reason.  It was very early in the game, so maybe she thought it couldn't be that obvious an answer?

Edited January 26, 2023 by Bastet

[shapeshifter]

J-Archive has finally uploaded this games stats:
https://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=7674
Whoo Hoo! 🙌
Hopefully they were just busy and not sick as dogs like I was most of January (okay now).

On 1/19/2023 at 9:41 PM, ams1001 said:

If it weren't for charity I would be annoyed with accepting just "suede shoes" on the Elvis clue. In a normal game it should have gotten a BMS. The ensuing shoe show-and-tell was funny, though. 

On 1/20/2023 at 4:08 PM, SoMuchTV said:

I've been stalking the J-Archive site to see how that clue (and category name) was worded, but so far the game's not up.  Was it asking for something with a color and the "blue" was implied?  Or required?  Oh, well, I'm sure it didn't change the outcome.

The category was: SHOE BIZ
The clue was: Like Elvis sang, "don't you step on" these shoes that you can get from Brooks Brothers
The response was long, but, basically: (blue) suede shoes