Jeopardy! Season 40 (2023-2024)

[secnarf]

I finally got FJ! Been on a run of losses...but although the CIA was the first thing I thought of, I knew the Cuban missile crisis was in October, not November. NASA came to me at the last second - I wouldn't have had time to write it down, but I am counting it.

Sad to see Amy go. Bad luck that the DD in ologies wasn't a medical ology.

[possibilities]

I love the idea of a cookbook club. 

[shapeshifter]

NASA was an instaget — probably because I was already 8 years old in 1961 and more into astronomy than Barbies.

I also got the TS of New York, NY, thanks to the "10005's city & state" portion of the clue, having addressed countless envelopes to the 10002 and 10003 zips and having filled out countless forms requiring addresses of my dependents, beneficiaries, etc. since a daughter moved there in 2001. 

[Browncoat]

Instaget FJ for me, and hand me that asterisk, too!  I never even considered another agency, and was surprised at the contestants' answers.

I also got the TS of Longfellow, Pynchon, The Tunnel, Hall & Oates, Madama Butterfly (total guess), and metrology (also a guess, but I logic'ed my way to that guess).

I was rooting for Nils or Amy.

[Driad]

Amy's childhood hypochondria reminded me of a joke. Three students were leaving their last classes of the day. The law student said, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have coffee." The engineering student said, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have beer." The medical student said, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes."

[Bastet]

Ouch; tough DJ for Amy, but nice job by the new champ and at least Amy knows she's in the ToC.

I'm surprised FJ was a TS.

I dreaded the Batman category (I've never seen any of the films), and indeed it was a blight on my first round; I missed three.  I ran "all" and got all but one each in the rest.

In DJ, authors was my terrible category - I only knew Emerson (but, hey, none of the contestants did, so at least I have that).  Unfortunately, it was not my only bad one, as I missed three in redone.  I ran Britspeak, and got all but one each in the rest.

FJ was an instaget.

[Prevailing Wind]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm stumped. All my Google-fu only came up with this: 

 

Obscure reference to E. Fitzgerald.

[ABay]

Thanks for fielding that, @Prevailing Wind. I refuse to type the words; it's like invoking Beetlejuice for me.

[MrAtoz]

9 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Obscure reference to E. Fitzgerald.

Don't bring Ella Fitzgerald into this! 😀

[Clanstarling]

15 hours ago, possibilities said:

I love the idea of a cookbook club. 

Me too!

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

NASA was an instaget — probably because I was already 8 years old in 1961 and more into astronomy than Barbies.

It was for me too - I'm a touch younger (not by much) but the space program was always a big deal to me.

I was astonished that no one got it. Not that the answers were terrible, but I would have expected someone to get it. It was as insta a get as I've ever had.

[PaulaO]

I said NASA, changed it to CIA, then went back to NASA because I erroneously thought the A in NASA stood for agency, and CIA would be too obvious.

I’ve noticed Ken now says “last clue on the board.”  Perhaps to stave off “bring it.”

[Driad]

Some article said that Ken wears a different tie every day. He certainly appears to have a lot of them. What happens to them after he wears them? I doubt he would want to keep that many at home. Is there a site for "I want to buy the tie Ken wore today"?

[Prevailing Wind]

Ken's a Dad. I bet he's gotten LOTS of ties as presents.  And I'm sure all his show wardrobe is kept at the studio.

Maybe he'll have a charity auction some day.

[Bastet]

Unless he put it in his contract that he gets to keep his wardrobe, Ken doesn't own the ties.  It's not clear if Alex owned his wardrobe, as when much of it was donated - to an organization serving those previously incarcerated or homeless, so the clothes could be worn on job interviews - the announcement was made by producers on behalf of the show and his family.

(Rue McClanahan famously negotiated this into her contract on The Golden Girls - which is not the norm, which is why actors notoriously steal a favorite piece when their shows end -  allowing her estate to auction off Blanche's clothes to raise a nice chunk of change for charity.)

Edited May 2 by Bastet

[possibilities]

I could swear he's repeated a particular tie because I love it and look for it and have seen it (or thought I did) a few times. It's purple with a pattern on it. I don't know why I like it, but it really catches my eye.

[Katy M]

I got FJ.  I didn't think it could be that easy, though.

I got the missed clues of Lewis Carroll and hypocrites.

I got the entire categories of city views and the 1950s right.

I had a much better first round than second.  Much much better.

[Grizzly]

Just when I was feeling that I couldn't pull anything out of my brain, I knew FJ. Everyone else did too so I guess not a hard one. I loved the Asterix books. 

[ams1001]

May 2:

77% / 38% / 58%

Pretty good in J. Ran You Gotta Have Heart and 1950s Talk, missed one in Stock Symbols, and two each in the rest.

We can just pretend DJ did not happen. My best category was Fast &/or Furious and I only got three.

But FJ was an instaget!

TSes: (J had only the DD; DJ had 7 + 1DD) I got absolutely nothing. Didn't get any DDs, either..
 

So last night I was wondering about Weckiai's name but didn't go searching, so tonight I googled during the first commercial. Found this exchange in the reddit thread for the episode:

Here are the links in the post:

• Weckeah
• Quanah Parker
• Jesse Pinkman's apartment; she's mentioned in the second-to-last paragraph.

[Browncoat]

Instaget FJ for me tonight, but I only got two TS -- Lewis Carroll and focal length.

 

[ProudMary]

I've been meaning to post about this since Laura Bligh told her Merv Griffin story on Tuesday evening's episode. I have a Merv Griffin story of my own that I always thought I'd tell if I ever made my way onto Jeopardy!, but that's not happening,  so I thought I'd share it with you all.

I grew up in northeastern NJ, just across the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan. When I was 6 or 7 years old, the Merv Griffin Show was still filming in New York. In our house, we watched Merv every night, so I was well acquainted with who he was. One day my parents took me (I'm an only child) into the city for the day, as we sometimes would. In the evening, we were walking in the Times Square area (very different in the 1960s!) heading to the terminal to catch the bus back to NJ.

My Mom, who had lived and worked in Manhattan for many years in the '40s and '50s, looked down one of the side streets and saw a few dozen people standing outside a side entrance to one of the theaters. Much to the chagrin of my Dad, my Mom cries out, "Ooh, autograph hounds," grabs my hand and starts hustling down the street. "I wonder who they're waiting for?" Almost as soon as we joined the group, a door opened and out walked Merv Griffin! Merv began signing autographs. My Mom pulled a shopping list out of her purse, handed it to me and my father somehow found a way to get me all the way to the front, where I found myself looking up at Merv Griffin. I heard my Dad call out, "One for the little girl, Merv!" Mr. Griffin looked down at me and said, "Hello little girl." I said "Hi Merv." He signed the back of my Mom's shopping list, smiled at me and patted me on the head. 

And that's my childhood story about "meeting" the creator of Jeopardy!

[Bastet]

That's two wins in a row without landing on a single DD for Weckiai.  Of course, they doomed Amy and Angelus in those two games, so it can go either way.

I laughed when Ken asked Angelus to clarify how much that meant when he said he would "shoot the moon" on his first DD.  James's "all the chips" gesture became accepted, but in general they make you explicitly say you're betting it all/making it a true DD.

I had no idea a cube for a super square was an existing saying; I heard a character on Cold Case say it -- Stillman was asked if he was a square back in the time period of the old case they were investigating, and he said oh, he was a cube -- and thought it was a really cute way of saying he was beyond square, not knowing the writer hadn't come up with it.  I know a lot of "before my time" vernacular, but had never come across (or at least never registered) that one before.

I ran cities, stock symbols, and 1950s and got all but the missed DD in diaries, but missed two each in siblings and heart, so it wasn't my best first round but it wasn't bad.  Certainly better than either of my first rounds in last night's Masters games.

But I was way off my game in DJ; I didn't run anything.  I got all but the TS in Fast &/Or Furious, but missed two in word origins and three each in all the rest.

I got FJ, but had no idea Asterix was a French comic hero, or a French anything, I was just concentrating on the year and France seemed right; I knew the Soviet Union and U.S. had already done it, and was pretty sure it was a western European country rather than one of the Asian countries that came next.  Then my brain finally incorporated the name, which is decidedly non-Asian, so, yep, I was in the right part of the world -- it had to be France or the U.K.  I was pretty sure France was the first of those two, so that was my response.  If I knew anything about French comic books (I know very little about American comic books, so that's definitely outside my wheelhouse), there would have been a lot less thought required.

[ams1001]

21 minutes ago, Bastet said:

but had no idea Asterix was a French comic hero

I couldn't remember what kind in the moment, but I knew it was a French character, and that was enough. (After having time to think about it, I do remember seeing some of the books when I worked in the bookstore.)

[30 Helens]

7 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Ken's a Dad. I bet he's gotten LOTS of ties as presents.  And I'm sure all his show wardrobe is kept at the studio.

Reminds me of a story about how David Letterman gifted his ties to Jimmy Kimmel when he retired. Maybe Ken inherited some of Alex's ties? Not directly from Alex, of course, but maybe from the studio? Or Jean Trebek? (I know she gave him a pair of Alex's cuff links.) In any case, I'm sure Ken has plenty of J!$ to buy as many ties as he wants.

I had no idea for today's FJ. I've never heard of Asterix, aside from the one on my keyboard.  At least I know about ninja turtles, so I won't end up with a zero week.

[Driad]

1 hour ago, 30 Helens said:

I've never heard of Asterix, aside from the one on my keyboard.

As for the one on your keyboard: if you say "I only regret that I have but one * for my country" and it doesn't make sense, you're mispronouncing it.

[ABay]

Tanks for sharing the Merv story, @ProudMary! Merv was a daily view at my house growing up, too. As a result, I know far more about the Gabors than anyone should have to.  Merv and Eva's friendship was lovely, though.

[MrAtoz]

Angelus is from Muncie, Indiana, which is where I live. Sorry that he didn't do better. He was playing well, but missing those Daily Doubles did him in.

I haven't seen any local publicity about him being on the show, which is a little puzzling. Back when I was on the show, the local newspaper called me and did an interview even before my shows had aired. I also occasionally see stories about local people who are going to be on Wheel of Fortune, or other game shows.

I even did a search on the local paper's website for Angelus's name, but all I found were a few stories in the Crime section about court cases he's been involved with (he's a lawyer, remember). I know that print journalism is having troubles, but do they really have no one to cover this kind of local interest story anymore?

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, ams1001 said:

May 2:

So last night I was wondering about Weckiai's name but didn't go searching, so tonight I googled during the first commercial. Found this exchange in the reddit thread for the episode:

Here are the links in the post:

• Weckeah
• Quanah Parker
• Jesse Pinkman's apartment; she's mentioned in the second-to-last paragraph.

I think it's a terribly unfortunate name, but at least it's family related rather than something she made up for herself.  I didn't like her on her first ep but the Dungeon Master thing made me warm up to her a bit.  Still, hope she's not here long.

11 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I couldn't remember what kind in the moment, but I knew it was a French character, and that was enough. (After having time to think about it, I do remember seeing some of the books when I worked in the bookstore.)

I knew he was a French character because my high school French teacher had us read some of the comics.  And somehow I still remember it despite that being when dinosaurs walked the earth.

 

[Clanstarling]

18 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Just when I was feeling that I couldn't pull anything out of my brain, I knew FJ. Everyone else did too so I guess not a hard one. I loved the Asterix books. 

I remember them from my childhood, but for some reason in my memory they  moved from France to one of the Scandinavian countries. I picked Sweden....sigh....

15 hours ago, ProudMary said:

I've been meaning to post about this since Laura Bligh told her Merv Griffin story on Tuesday evening's episode. I have a Merv Griffin story of my own that I always thought I'd tell if I ever made my way onto Jeopardy!, but that's not happening,  so I thought I'd share it with you all.

I grew up in northeastern NJ, just across the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan. When I was 6 or 7 years old, the Merv Griffin Show was still filming in New York. In our house, we watched Merv every night, so I was well acquainted with who he was. One day my parents took me (I'm an only child) into the city for the day, as we sometimes would. In the evening, we were walking in the Times Square area (very different in the 1960s!) heading to the terminal to catch the bus back to NJ.

My Mom, who had lived and worked in Manhattan for many years in the '40s and '50s, looked down one of the side streets and saw a few dozen people standing outside a side entrance to one of the theaters. Much to the chagrin of my Dad, my Mom cries out, "Ooh, autograph hounds," grabs my hand and starts hustling down the street. "I wonder who they're waiting for?" Almost as soon as we joined the group, a door opened and out walked Merv Griffin! Merv began signing autographs. My Mom pulled a shopping list out of her purse, handed it to me and my father somehow found a way to get me all the way to the front, where I found myself looking up at Merv Griffin. I heard my Dad call out, "One for the little girl, Merv!" Mr. Griffin looked down at me and said, "Hello little girl." I said "Hi Merv." He signed the back of my Mom's shopping list, smiled at me and patted me on the head. 

And that's my childhood story about "meeting" the creator of Jeopardy!

That's cool! I have a sort of second hand Merv Griffin story that's not so pleasant (in my mind anyway). When I was a young teen, my cousin was on his talk show because he'd released a record with Motown (my cousin was quite white, btw) Merv treated him like a southern hick (which to be fair, he was from the deep south - about which his sister used to say in a deep southern drawl "There are only 3 southern states - Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia") 😂 Anyway, being the teen I was, I held a grudge against Griffin for a long time. I got over it. Growing up changes things. Still don't love him, though.

15 hours ago, Bastet said:

I had no idea a cube for a super square was an existing saying; I heard a character on Cold Case say it -- Stillman was asked if he was a square back in the time period of the old case they were investigating, and he said oh, he was a cube -- and thought it was a really cute way of saying he was beyond square, not knowing the writer hadn't come up with it.  I know a lot of "before my time" vernacular, but had never come across (or at least never registered) that one before.

It wasn't before my husband's time, and a little bit of my time, and neither of us had ever heard that before. Square I remember quite well.

It was kind of a crap game for me. I had a lot of cognitive paralysis (tm @ProudMary)

Edited May 3 by Clanstarling

[Clanstarling]

18 hours ago, ams1001 said:

May 2:

77% / 38% / 58%

Pretty good in J. Ran You Gotta Have Heart and 1950s Talk, missed one in Stock Symbols, and two each in the rest.

We can just pretend DJ did not happen. My best category was Fast &/or Furious and I only got three.

But FJ was an instaget!

TSes: (J had only the DD; DJ had 7 + 1DD) I got absolutely nothing. Didn't get any DDs, either..
 

So last night I was wondering about Weckiai's name but didn't go searching, so tonight I googled during the first commercial. Found this exchange in the reddit thread for the episode:

Here are the links in the post:

• Weckeah
• Quanah Parker
• Jesse Pinkman's apartment; she's mentioned in the second-to-last paragraph.

Thanks, that's very interesting. I like that it's a name connected with her family, even if it's difficult for me to pronounce (from the spelling, anyway).

[ProudMary]

17 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

It was kind of a crap game for me. I had a lot of cognitive paralysis (tm @ProudMary)

While I love the "cognitive paralysis" expression, I'm not the one who should be credited for it. The tm on that belongs to @30 Helens who coined it a few days back in the FJ Contest thread. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I knew he was a French character because my high school French teacher had us read some of the comics. 

When I visited Paris we decided to spend a day at Parc Astérix even though we are not theme park people.

https://www.parcasterix.fr/

My favourite translation was that the dog, called Idéfix in French, is Dogmatix in English.

[Grizzly]

Darn it, I'm not liking her. She has been taking buzzer lessons from Yogesh. I prefer Henry's approach.

[ams1001]

May 3:

57% / 50% / 52%

Ugh, today was terrible. In J I ran Non-Cat & Dog Pets, missed one in Number from 1-10, two in Big Sir, three in Presidential Homes and "HR", and four in World Series MVPs. In DJ I missed one in Poetry, two in When I Die and Delete My History, three in Starts with an Animal and Geography, and four in Cinema.

Had no clue for FJ. 

TSes: (J had 5 + the DD; DJ had 9 + 1 DD) I got doggerel, bedspread, and Robert Frost (DD).
 

Edited May 3 by ams1001

[Kimmmmmm]

Yayyyy!!!

[EtheltoTillie]

I got 4 TSs today:  Second line, Riefenstahl, ewer and bedspread.  I got Hermitage (visited it once).  Did not get the baseball TS.  I never get sports.  Poor Waikiki (I know) said "Leftovers"!

Forget FJ.  I never know music.  This was discussed earlier in the Chit Chat thread by coincidence.

[Browncoat]

I never in a million years would have figured out FJ.  I had no idea there were any other lyrics besides, "Hey, Macarena!"  I actively avoid that ear worm -- I'd rather have Edmund Fitgerald haunting my brain.

I did get some TS, though, including Hermitage, ewer, John Donne, Robert Frost, and bedspread.

[SoMuchTV]

I remember my daughter, born in 1991, doing the Macarena as a toddler. So 1996 seemed way too late, but because I didn’t have a better alternative, I lucked into the right answer!

[SomeTameGazelle]

25 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

 I had no idea there were any other lyrics besides, "Hey, Macarena!"

I assumed that the Macarena was the name of a dance and did not realise there was a plot or a woman. In my defense, when the Macarena was ubiquitous, the dance moves were the main feature and I don't speak Spanish so I assumed the lyrics must be describing the moves, like some kind of Latin hokey-pokey.

[secnarf]

1 hour ago, SoMuchTV said:

I remember my daughter, born in 1991, doing the Macarena as a toddler. So 1996 seemed way too late, but because I didn’t have a better alternative, I lucked into the right answer!

I am similarly aged to your daughter, and "won" a copy of Macarena as a young child. It was a dance contest to the song, and I'm pretty sure I won because I was the cutest (read: youngest).

After FJ tonight I was asking my mom about it, thinking I was maybe 5 or so, and she commented that the clue said 1996 - so I would have had to be older than that. I googled, and it was initially released in 1993, but the version with some English lyrics was released in 1996. Not sure exactly how old I was at the time of the contest, then.

[dgpolo]

On 5/2/2024 at 5:01 PM, possibilities said:

I could swear he's repeated a particular tie because I love it and look for it and have seen it (or thought I did) a few times. It's purple with a pattern on it. I don't know why I like it, but it really catches my eye.

https://twitter.com/OneEclecticMom?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

She used to keep track of Ken's ties and put up a collage of a month's worth. He does repeat ties, which she used to note and also makes note if he wears a new one. I say 'used' because since the takeover my TL over there is very hit or miss on the people I follow plus a lot left for other pastures.

Speaking of odd glitches on SM, does anyone else have a hit or miss here with notifications? I used to get them almost simultaneously but now a few trickle in during the day then I'm slammed with 20 or more in the evenings all at once. Very strange.

[possibilities]

I like the champ. I want her to stick around at least long enough to qualify for the TOC.

Thanks for the tie validation!

I gave up on getting notifications for this site. They used to come regularly, then stopped for no reason I could figure out, and nothing I did got them back. Now I check my "followed content" page to see what's new. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Something is up with notifications today.  I got notifications on this site itself, but none in email.  Then at 11 PM I got a batch of backed up notifications in email. 

Edited May 4 by EtheltoTillie

[bad things are bad]

"Macarena" is sometimes part of my Zumba class music,  and Vittorino rang a bell. I was very pessimistic about the category so I was surprised that I got it 

[The Wild Sow]

15 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I remember my daughter, born in 1991, doing the Macarena as a toddler. So 1996 seemed way too late,

Al Gore did the Macarena at the 1996 Democratic Convention!  I still didn't get FJ though.

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, The Wild Sow said:

Al Gore did the Macarena at the 1996 Democratic Convention!  I still didn't get FJ though.

Bob Dole came to my college during the 1996 campaign. I remember doing the Macarena in that same gym he spoke in. But not at the same event. ;)

[Clanstarling]

23 hours ago, ProudMary said:

While I love the "cognitive paralysis" expression, I'm not the one who should be credited for it. The tm on that belongs to @30 Helens who coined it a few days back in the FJ Contest thread. 

Damn! I thought I checked out the right post. So sorry @30Helens

[Clanstarling]

17 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I never in a million years would have figured out FJ.  I had no idea there were any other lyrics besides, "Hey, Macarena!"  I actively avoid that ear worm -- I'd rather have Edmund Fitgerald haunting my brain.

I got it solely on the idea that "Vittorio" sounded latin, and the Macarena was in Spanish (which I didn't understand but did recognize). I never once did the dance - I hated it with a passion (I just don't like silly dances - or rather, doing silly dances)

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

I gave up on getting notifications for this site. They used to come regularly, then stopped for no reason I could figure out, and nothing I did got them back. Now I check my "followed content" page to see what's new. 

My only real problem with notifications (site only - I don't get them in email) has been that they'll show up again even when I've cleared the list.

1 hour ago, The Wild Sow said:

Al Gore did the Macarena at the 1996 Democratic Convention!

Now that's a visual I don't want to have in my head! To be fair to Al, I can't think of any politician I'd like to watch doing the Macarena. Even ones I hate.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

I was very pessimistic about the category so I was surprised that I got it 

I watched with friends, and we were all the exact opposite -- confident as all get out based on the category, and then not a single one of us got it.  Because not a single one of us knew any of the words to the song (even those of us who understand Spanish; we just never listened to them in the seconds it took to change the station away from that annoying song), so didn't even know Macarena was the name of a person, not the name of a stupid dance done at wedding receptions, let alone what she was up to with her man and his homies.

[EtheltoTillie]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

I watched with friends, and we were all the exact opposite -- confident as all get out based on the category, and then not a single one of us got it.  Because not a single one of us knew any of the words to the song (even those of us who understand Spanish; we just never listened to them in the seconds it took to change the station away from that annoying song), so didn't even know Macarena was the name of a person, not the name of a stupid dance done at wedding receptions, let alone what she was up to with her man and his homies.

Hey, Bastet, I was waiting to see if you got it.  You had earlier posted you hoped for songs from earlier than the 2000s LOL.  I didn't want to spoil it for you as you watch three hours later.  Sorry you didn't get it. 

[Bastet]

3 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Hey, Bastet, I was waiting to see if you got it.  You had earlier posted you hoped for songs from earlier than the 2000s LOL.  I didn't want to spoil it for you as you watch three hours later.  Sorry you didn't get it. 

Ha -- yes, I mentioned to my friends that I'd just been discussing that online a little earlier.  We all (age range about 50-60) were I got this about the category, noting it was the last decade we could be that confident about.  Alas, it was a QS -- Quintuple Stumper.