S01.E09: Quarterfinal #7: Michael Cera, Brianne Howey, Zoe Chao

[Athena]

Quote

Quarterfinal #7: Michael Cera, Brianne Howey, Zoe Chao

[ams1001]

The only one I know tonight is Michael Cera (but not from Arrested Development).

 

 

[secnarf]

I was not expecting a show tonight - it's too much Jeopardy to watch in one day, so my brain was really tuning out at the end. I toyed with Einstein vs Hawking, but went with the wrong one :(

[ams1001]

10 minutes ago, secnarf said:

I was not expecting a show tonight - it's too much Jeopardy to watch in one day, so my brain was really tuning out at the end. I toyed with Einstein vs Hawking, but went with the wrong one :(

Me, too, except I didn't even consider Einstein...

[Madding crowd]

This episode was awful. The three of them could barely answer any questions. They need celebrities who have some basic level of intelligence. 

[SHD]

Yeesh, tonight’s show was rough. I appreciated the balance of them trying to play/being casually entertaining without being over the top, but all the blank staring! I did think this celebrity game had at least a few more harder questions thrown in than in previous celebrity games. So there was that.

[Bastet]

Now that this is no longer on against football, I can get back in the groove of watching.

Michael Cera is the only one I recognized (from Juno), but I was rooting for Zoë because her "I'm a bad Chinese person" refrain kept cracking me up and I liked her charity best (and laughed at her map story).  She reminded me of someone - not visually, but how she spoke - but I can't figure out who.  Brianne reminded me of Julia Roberts (visually) a little.

"I had some today" by Michael after the Botox clue made me laugh, as did Brianne's reaction when she was finally able to ring in after many clues in a row of trying.  I also liked Mayim's "I'm not sure, but, yes, that's correct" to "Who is God?" and Michael's perfectly-delivered "What?" response to one of his DDs.

I continue to love this show for how much I kick ass on the clues.  I got all but two in the first round (and those were both in the myth category, where I'd have missed probably four or five in a regular game; I utterly suck at religion/mythology) and, while I missed the first half of DJ due to a phone call, I got everything in the second half of that round, everything in Triple Jeopardy, and FJ.  As readers of the regular show's forum know, I'm on a quest for a perfect game, which will likely never be realized, but these celebrity games get me close to it!

 

[30 Helens]

I appreciated that nobody was being an attention hog, but that’s about the only positive thing I can say about this game. Just embarrassing all around.

[Browncoat]

I didn’t know this was on last night!  I watched Young Sheldon and Ghosts.  Sounds like I didn’t miss much of a game, though, and I guess I should set my DVR.  I liked it better on Sundays.

[chitowngirl]

This really suffered with such a long break AND a change of day. They should have wrapped up this season before the holidays.

Edited January 6, 2023 by chitowngirl

[shapeshifter]

I watched on Hulu.
I wondered if the contestants were either selected for being more low key, or if they were advised to be more low key. 
 

17 hours ago, Bastet said:

I was rooting for Zoë because her "I'm a bad Chinese person" refrain kept cracking me up and I liked her charity best (and laughed at her map story). 

Same. Zoë was very relatable. 
As someone who did not grow up around or with my family's ethnic practices, I kept silently saying "and I am a bad [my ethnicity] person."

 

17 hours ago, Bastet said:

I continue to love this show for how much I kick ass on the clues. 

Same, but since I am not in your league, I did as well as most home viewers do on regular Jeopardy!
 

I now realize there is "instaget" and really instaget. 
FJ was completely obvious to me.
Same with TSs of Whistler's Mother and Golda Meir (j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=7635, j-archive.com/showgameresponses.php?game_id=7635).
And I am currently sick with some sort of horrible daycare center-generated disease for which there is no vaccine, so who knows how I would've done if I wasn't so fog brained.
Or maybe it doesn't matter?

[SoMuchTV]

19 hours ago, Bastet said:

I continue to love this show for how much I kick ass on the clues. 

I was trying to keep track of things like “name a luxuriant tropical region that starts with R” and “this is the root of all evil” and “think of the first 5 letters of the alphabet” but I lost count. But seriously all the contestants seemed personable and respectful of the game, so I can cut them some slack. Big tv stars don’t have time to pay attention to stuff like Abbott Elementary, right?

oh and full disclosure- missed FJ. My instant response was Einstein, then I overthought and went with Hawking. 

Edited January 7, 2023 by SoMuchTV

[meowmommy]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I wondered if the contestants were either selected for being more low key, or if they were advised to be more low key.

I have no problem with them being low-key.  I have a problem with them being low-prepared for even the simplest Jeopardy board.  (I was going to say 'low intellect,' but figured that might be too mean.)

Is it that hard to find people who draw large paychecks yet have a reasonably broad base of knowledge?  Nobody expects to find the next Amy Schneider among D-list celebrities, but getting picked for the show should require slightly more than having somebody's agent beg for the gig.

I know who Michael Cera is, but never heard of the other two.  Likely never will again.  I vaguely remember watching that Ginny & Georgia for ten minutes before turning it off, forever.

Mayim continues to bug.  That little pause before she rules; is she waiting for a producer in her ear to tell her the response was correct? 

[ramurphy2005]

The Jeopardy writers really screwed up. Elaine Chao was Secretary of Transportation, not Secretary of Labor. 

[Bastet]

39 minutes ago, ramurphy2005 said:

The Jeopardy writers really screwed up. Elaine Chao was Secretary of Transportation, not Secretary of Labor. 

She was both - at different times, obviously - and Labor was the only one that fit the clue:  "For 8 years Elaine Chao was secretary of this Cabinet department that oversees issues like workers' health & benefits".

The Transportation gig was much more recent (Labor was for George W. Bush, Transportation was for Trump), so the contestants may have gotten confused, knowing "oversees issues like workers' health & benefits" = Labor, but only remembering her as Secretary of Transportation.  Then again, with how they played, maybe they didn't.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Bastet

[ramurphy2005]

9 minutes ago, Bastet said:

She was both - at different times, obviously - and Labor position was the only one that fit the clue:  "For 8 years Elaine Chao was secretary of this Cabinet department that oversees issues like workers' health & benefits".

The Transportation gig was more recent, so they may have gotten confused, knowing "oversees issues like workers' health & benefits" = Labor, but only remembering her as Secretary of Transportation.  Then again, with how they played, maybe they didn't.

Yeah, I went back and realized I heard the clue wrong the first time, and that I clearly had forgotten that she had been Secretary of Labor. I was still in high school for part of her time as Secretary of Labor, and I didn't pay as much attention to these things as I do now.  

Edited January 8, 2023 by ramurphy2005

[Ciarrai]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

She was both - at different times, obviously - and Labor was the only one that fit the clue:  "For 8 years Elaine Chao was secretary of this Cabinet department that oversees issues like workers' health & benefits".

The Transportation gig was much more recent (Labor was for George W. Bush, Transportation was for Trump), so the contestants may have gotten confused, knowing "oversees issues like workers' health & benefits" = Labor, but only remembering her as Secretary of Transportation.  Then again, with how they played, maybe they didn't.

Plus Trump was only in office 4 years while Bush was 8 so it had to be that one.

[Bastet]

1 minute ago, Ciarrai said:

Plus Trump was only in office 4 years while Bush was 8 so it had to be that one.

Yes, as I said, Labor is the only one that fit the clue; the "for 8 years" and the description of the cabinet's purpose both made clear it had to be her Labor, not Transportation, post.

[Ciarrai]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Yes, as I said, Labor is the only one that fit the clue; the "for 8 years" and the description of the cabinet's purpose both made clear it had to be her Labor, not Transportation, post.

Sorry, I didn't mean my post to be critical of yours; I was trying to back you up 😊

[Clanstarling]

On 1/5/2023 at 6:00 PM, secnarf said:

I was not expecting a show tonight - it's too much Jeopardy to watch in one day, so my brain was really tuning out at the end. I toyed with Einstein vs Hawking, but went with the wrong one :(

I waffled between the two, but ultimately went with Einstein. There are reasons, but I've forgotten them.

On 1/6/2023 at 3:46 PM, SoMuchTV said:

 Big tv stars don’t have time to pay attention to stuff like Abbott Elementary, right?

I would have missed it if we hadn't just seen the actress/producer on Colbert the other night.

I thought it was a fairly dull game. I actually like it when they're goofing and enjoying themselves. But I would have been happy with quieter if the game play was better. I've only heard of Cera (who seems a lot like the characters he plays). But I did like Zoe's "I'm a bad Chinese" comments (which I do when I miss anything in my cultural backgrounds).

[possibilities]

I give the people who show up on this show some credit even when they're not great at the game. They are risking public humiliation for charity, and the Jeopardy audience isn't really all that sympathetic to them when they flop. I don't think it's raising anybody's public profile all that much. You get more "Who the hell is that?" than "Cool person-- will have to check out their work".

I love Ginny and Georgia, so I'd heard of two out of three of the players (Michael Cera being the other one). But I don't care much about whether I know them or not before the game. I thought everybody came off likable and not obnoxious. I don't like it when they are too over the top, but there was enough joking around that I did get some laughs-- like the "Michael Cera" answer for FJ-- that got me genuinely cracking up.

I think I just prefer the self-deprecating humor to the desperate "I'm better than this! It's the buzzer! Damn it! I knew that!" panic reactions.

Edited January 8, 2023 by possibilities

[Bastet]

14 hours ago, Ciarrai said:

Sorry, I didn't mean my post to be critical of yours; I was trying to back you up 😊

No, that's entirely on me; I originally wrote it in a way that talked about the "eight years" part and then the description, but wound up erasing that and just quoting the actual clue.  So my reaction to your post was based on my tired brain - erroneously believing I'd posted it the original way - thinking Duh, that's what I said.  Sorry! 

[SomeTameGazelle]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I give the people who show up on this show some credit even when they're not great at the game. They are risking public humiliation for charity, and the Jeopardy audience isn't really all that sympathetic to them when they flop. I don't think it's raising anybody's public profile all that much. You get more "Who the hell is that?" than "Cool person-- will have to check out their work".

I know Zoe Chao from both Love Life (Anna Kendrick's season) and The Afterparty and I liked her because the two characters felt quite distinct from each other. And here I enjoyed her story about how her father tried to discourage her because he was afraid she wouldn't do well because I thought it showed she had a clear understanding of why she had decided to do it regardless: minimum 30k for her charity and the experience. Brianne seemed to have a similar awareness and I would hate to think that either of them might be made to feel embarrassed or humiliated for appearing.

I would have preferred more wrong guesses and/or more joking around over the silence of no one ringing in. It's just for fun, or it should be. It's more karaoke than Carnegie Hall.

16 hours ago, Bastet said:

Yes, as I said, Labor is the only one that fit the clue; the "for 8 years" and the description of the cabinet's purpose both made clear it had to be her Labor, not Transportation, post.

I was unable to reconcile my vague idea that her post had something to do with boats with the clue description. Thanks for filling in the background and clearing that up.

Edited January 8, 2023 by SomeTameGazelle
Combat with aggressive Autocorrect

[shapeshifter]

♥️Love♥️ this: 

1 hour ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

It's more karaoke than Carnegie Hall

Maybe we should ask the Mod to add “It's more karaoke than Carnegie Hall” as a subtitle to the Celebrity Jeopardy! main page?

[Bastet]

7 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Maybe we should ask the Mod to add “It's more karaoke than Carnegie Hall” as a subtitle to the Celebrity Jeopardy! main page?

The forum main pages don't get cutesy subtitles, but that would be a good one for a contestants thread within the forum if someone wanted to create one.