What is...In the Media?

[saber5055]

Thanks @opus. I don't get Millionaire, it's on a network my rural antenna won't bring in. Great find.

[ProudMary]

New statement from Alex Trebek on his condition.

"Alex Trebek says his cancer treatment is going well and that he plans to return to Jeopardy" https://twitter.com/i/events/1118652322974846977

[suebee12]

Here is a full article about the last taping day for Season 35.

https://www.thewrap.com/alex-trebek-says-hes-feeling-good-as-jeopardy-wraps-production-on-season-video/

[MrAtoz]

Here's an article about James and his effect on the game, written by a former contestant:

https://bookandfilmglobe.com/television/james-holzhauers-reign-of-terror/

He seems to feel that James is ushering in a new era of Jeopardy!, having demonstrated the correct way to win big money.

[saber5055]

5 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

He seems to feel that James is ushering in a new era of Jeopardy!, having demonstrated the correct way to win big money.

Would it change your game play, @MrAtoz, if you were on after James' run?

[MrAtoz]

25 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Would it change your game play, @MrAtoz, if you were on after James' run?

That's a good question.  Truthfully, I'm not sure.  I generally went top to bottom in categories, even though the Forrest Bounce was already well-established by the time I was on, and I knew how much Arthur Chu had won using it.  I don't think that I was ever really tempted to emulate that approach.  On the other hand, even Arthur didn't have anything like the success James has been having.

One thing I have been thinking about is Daily Doubles.  I think that it's generally true that most people (including me) don't bet as much on Daily Doubles as they probably should.  Hitting the Daily Double can be a true game changer.  I just looked up my games on the TheJeopardyFan to refresh my memory.  Over the course of 4 games, I found the Daily Double 7 times.  I got all but one of them right.  But my wagers were always pretty timid, ranging between $1,000 and $5,000.  The most common was $3,000.  If I had bet more aggressively, I would have ended up with quite a bit more money.  But it's hard to do that in the moment, unless you've got true nerves of steel! 🙂

[saber5055]

18 minutes ago, MrAtoz said:

But it's hard to do that in the moment, unless you've got true nerves of steel!

Thanks for your interesting insight. And yes to that "nerves of steel" thing. (I don't have them either.)

[junemeatcleaver]

Just as I figured.  J! would never change the rules or try to thwart a dominant player by making Daily Doubles "harder", buzzed about players like James draw viewers and get people talking about the show. 

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, junemeatcleaver said:

J! would never change the rules or try to thwart a dominant player by making Daily Doubles "harder",

Not to mention it would be illegal. This is a FCC regulated game show.

[hendersonrocks]

Really good story about James and the science of the buzzer.

[opus]

4 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Thanks for your interesting insight. And yes to that "nerves of steel" thing. (I don't have them either.)

But you do have a “heart of gold”, which is more important.

[ProudMary]

The Atlantic is speculating that James is earning more than Alex per episode right now. 😅 Also wondering if the prize budget can outlast James.  Edited to add: My goodness, the length of the URL is insane!

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/james-holzhauer-vs-jeopardys-prize-budget-game-show/587668/?utm_term=2019-04-20T14%3A49%3A32&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR31zwW26FEJX6u7O9VmtvW4e6hW1jWUiJ8ZO1Wt2Ez7R4Et6ciopUH1Fks&fbclid=IwAR3T8sQpIhRdodk3OEGlTflPCwPpeO1xJeP9jJ0c5q86nsYyGj4UnLwGnzs&fbclid=IwAR0qlkU9SvNDRIm-dWar-rGfNpaxjm5fds_tcbHb06usuGbsRwpZWTXtG0c

Edited April 22, 2019 by ProudMary

[suebee12]

Just found this article comparing Ken and James....and lots of the article is input by Ken himself.

https://www.wired.com/story/ken-jennings-james-holzhauer-jeopardy/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[saber5055]

14 hours ago, ProudMary said:

My goodness, the length of the URL is insane!

Let me introduce you to https://tinyurl.com

[peeayebee]

I didn't know about tinyurl. Cool.

Of course here you can use the 'link' doohickey to create a name for the url.

[crashdown]

Most of the length of that URL is the extraneous Facebook crap, because apparently you accessed it from Facebook. If you simply searched for the article title and encountered it natively in your browser, it would have been a much shorter URL:

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/james-holzhauer-vs-jeopardys-prize-budget-game-show/587668/

[saber5055]

50 minutes ago, crashdown said:

Most of the length of that URL is the extraneous Facebook crap, because apparently you accessed it from Facebook. If you simply searched for the article title and encountered it natively in your browser, it would have been a much shorter URL:

Your pasted-in url is still two lines and still too long. Creating a tiny url is this long: https://tinyurl.com/y43cdprt

Or, as @peeayebee says, just use the url link provided in this edit box. Even easier.

Welcome back, to anyone who clicked on either or both links. I use tinyurl when I'm sending a link via email or inserting into a document. It's very handy.

In any case, thanks for the link, @ProudMary. That was a good article.

[Abstract]

I wonder if they allow observers? If so, I've found a new item for my bucket list.

Secret society of Jeopardy champs

[suebee12]

A friend of my son's sent me this link about James. The friend knows what a Jeopardy fan I am! This link is from the Wall Street Journal so if a "subscription" page comes up, just "x" it out and you will be able to read the article.

Thanks Saber 5055 for the tiny link info!

https://tinyurl.com/y4cnf47g

[Prevailing Wind]

Thanks for WSJ article. My favorite part is near the end: "Besides, it should make us happy to see The “Jeopardy!” Guy become a topic of national conversation. I’m probably not the only one who’s worried America has given up on celebrating intellect."

[dcalley]

On 4/21/2019 at 8:13 PM, ProudMary said:

My goodness, the length of the URL is insane!

You can usually get rid of a lot of length by looking for the /? and deleting that and everything after. Tinyurl is nice but does not let you know at a glance where the link leads, and some people don't like that.

‘Jeopardy!’ winner James Holzhauer keeps dominating. Does it matter if he broke the game?

[suebee12]

Just found a really interesting interview with James!

https://www.newsweek.com/jeopardy-leader-james-holzhauer-interview-1402652

.....and an article about is James bad for Jeopardy.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/columns/james-holzhauer-jeopardy-contestant-column-1203195487/

Edited April 23, 2019 by suebee12

[zoey1996]

ABC had a brief segment on James tonight.  He attributed some of his success to his buzzer skills, which takes some practice.

[Mario500]

Interview related to "Jeopardy!":

https://wgnradio.com/2019/04/22/jeopardy-record-breakers-brother-and-attorney-ian-holzhauer-my-brother-has-always-been-the-smarter-one/

[ProudMary]

The Jeopardy! website now has an official James Holzhauer tracker showing various statistics about his run updated daily.

https://www.jeopardy.com/contestant-zone/james-holzhauer-tracker

[zoey1996]

@Mario500 Thanks for the interview link!  James has been quietly contributing some children's charit(ies)y, LV food bank, according to his brother.

Edited April 24, 2019 by zoey1996

[suebee12]

And yet another article...this one with comments from "The Beast"! Very interesting read.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/james-holzhauer-jeopardy-1-million-win-or-lose/587878/

[saber5055]

Thanks, @Mario500 for the WGN link of Ian Holzhauer's interview with King John. Ian was on Steve Cochran's WGN show this morning; I'll see if I can find the podcast link. Ian is a lawyer in Naperville (soon to be a partner, he revealed!). He said James as a kid knew every line in Dumb and Dumber, and all of the Simpson's episodes. He memorized all of the Cubs stats and is a baseball fanatic. Cochran tried to get James a job with the Cubs but that was strongly overruled by the WGN sports guys. But it seems a job with a major league team would be a dream job for James. (Nickname: Jamie)

Ian did say their dad won't do any interviews and is getting tired of being asked or harassed about it. Oh, James is 1-1/2 years younger than Ian. He was a great baseball player and very athletic growing up. Ian did not know James was going to LA to be on the show, and said he covered his tracks so well, no one knew what was going on except James' wife.

He said James has been donating to food banks and those dedicated to feeding kids. He also said when James was in Naperville he took Ian's kids to Culver's (a great Midwestern burger/food chain). On the counter was a collection box for a food pantry for kids, a non-profit that one of the nephews was enthusiastic about. When James got back to LV, he send a donation to that charity.

I don't see Cochran's podcast of the interview up yet.

Andy noted on TheJeopardyFan some days back that James might be trolling his brother as he has never been mentioned in the FJ extras.

[Mario500]

Hyperlink to another interview related to "Jeopardy!" (possibly involving the same being questioned for the interview to which I had posted a hyperlink earlier on this page)*:

https://wgnradio.com/2019/04/25/brother-of-the-naperville-jeopardy-champ-james-holzhauer-explains-what-is-was-like-growing-up-with-a-trivia-whiz/

(*note: I had found some of the language in the recording of this interview to had been vulgar and had found my self surprised, saddened, and disappointed by whom I had believed to have had been this being using the word "hell" in a vulgar way, especially after having enjoyed the other interview I had mentioned on this page)

Edited April 26, 2019 by Mario500

[saber5055]

15 hours ago, Mario500 said:

Hyperlink to another interview related to "Jeopardy!" (possibly involving the same being questioned for the interview to which I had posted a hyperlink earlier on this page)*: 

That's the podcast from the Steve Cochran radio show I detailed right above your post, @Mario500. Cochran has named a new segment to his show, "Interviews With Brothers of Famous People." A clip with Ian is now being played as a promo for Steve's show. I heard it multiple times yesterday, last night and this morning.

James' hometown is a far west Chicago suburb so Chicago radio/tv is all about him at the moment.

Edited April 27, 2019 by saber5055

[Mario500]

38 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

That's the podcast from the Steve Cochran radio show I detailed right above your post, @Mario500. If you are offended by the use of the words "more on," you are not listening to the Cochran show

Wrong.

41 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Bottom line: If someone thinks they will be offended listening to @Mario500 's link, just read my recap directly above. It details everything that was said, I posted it after I heard the interview live. (I don't think Mario read it though.) 

I had actually read it before posting my previous message.

[suebee12]

One thing I noticed when I clicked on the WGN podcast was that there was a photo of Ian. You can definitely tell he has a Japanese relative...James to me, only has the Asian look a tiny bit and because I already know it! I really enjoyed both interviews and will probably listen again in the future. Thanks for the recap @saber5055

[dcalley]

Quote

What it’s like to lose to unstoppable ‘Jeopardy!’ champion James Holzhauer

We spoke to more than 10 unlucky — but good-humored — contestants who have faced off against Holzhauer, who has won $1.2 million so far. Are they amazed? Annoyed? Dejected?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/04/26/what-its-like-lose-unstoppable-jeopardy-champ-james-holzhauer-it-was-almost-comical/

Quote

Anderson: My mother said the whole thing was rigged.

I hope she doesn't really think that!

[peeayebee]

Hannah Pierson-Compeau, game 10: I kept thinking, “Come on, somebody beat him, somebody beat this guy so I can play somebody else!” 😄

[Abstract]

Thanks for posting that article. I really enjoyed reading the perspective of the victims, thought it was hilarious when the woman pulled out her calculator and figured out his daily average!

I wonder if the person who finally beats him will be loved or hated. (That was the part I left out of my dream - I was afraid that even if I pulled off the impossible, the world would hate me for slaying the giant.)

[saber5055]

Gah, a WaPo post. I keep exceeding my read limit for WaPo. I know, I need to actually pay for a sub. I follow several WaPo reporters on Twitter so have to conserve my clicks.

I did hear on the radio this morning that James is back in LV, but then Season 35 finished taping a while back. So ... never mind I guess!

3 minutes ago, Abstract said:

I wonder if the person who finally beats him will be loved or hated.

Or disappear into obscurity, like Nancy Zerg.

Edited April 26, 2019 by saber5055

[Abstract]

35 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Gah, a WaPo post. I keep exceeding my read limit for WaPo. I know, I need to actually pay for a sub. I follow several WaPo reporters on Twitter so have to conserve my clicks.

I did hear on the radio this morning that James is back in LV, but then Season 35 finished taping a while back. So ... never mind I guess!

Or disappear into obscurity, like Nancy Zerg.

Bookmark this link for when your read limit resets. It's a good one. (Or maybe I'm slightly obsessed. Between Jeopardy, Endgame, and new Taylor Swift music dropping, I'm in a pop culture maelstrom right now.)

[lb60]

4 hours ago, Abstract said:

I wonder if the person who finally beats him will be loved or hated. 

Loved!!

JMO (ha-ha)! I don't even care if they are the most annoying person to set foot on the Jeopardy stage. I can not wait to be rid of James.

[biakbiak]

8 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Or disappear into obscurity, like Nancy Zerg.

Exactly unless they go on to do something of note they won’t be remembered by most Jeopardy fans.

[Abstract]

I can't believe this exists and wish I could see more of it.

James competes with Pam and Brad in Kno'dgeball

[ProudMary]

Five Thirty Eight has a piece up about James and his strategies.  Not surprisingly, it's heavy on statistics.  I'm posting my favorite chart, which shows the board locations of DDs from 2001 through the end of last season.
The Man Who Solved ‘Jeopardy!’

[saber5055]

3 hours ago, Abstract said:

I can't believe this exists and wish I could see more of it.

From the Trivia Conference of North America 2014! This year's will be in August.

http://qnatrivia.com/trivia-championships-of-north-america/

It would be wonderful to just go and watch.

[suebee12]

Just found the link to the ABC piece on James. I'll post it for those who missed it!

[Abstract]

Thank you so much @suebee12!

[GreekGeek]

Another James interview, this one focusing on the numbers players are banned from wagering:

Quote

Holzhauer also confirmed $69’s demise, adding that four other numeric wagers aren’t allowed: “Actually, there are five banned wagers. This is probably the most innocuous one.”

Now I'm wondering what those other four forbidden numbers are, The best I can come up with is 3003, which can look like "BOOB." Does anyone know?

[peeayebee]

I'm guessing 666 is one. Maybe also 8645.

[illdoc]

7734 (Hell upside down)?

[24k Kate]

The every popular (with frat boys on TPIR) 420, perhaps?

[GreekGeek]

8 hours ago, peeayebee said:

6 hours ago, 24k Kate said:

The every popular (with frat boys on TPIR) 420, perhaps?

Maybe also 8645.

Live and learn! I had no idea what the hidden meaning of these numbers was until I googled them!

[suebee12]

Google is your friend...found this article about banned numbers.

https://mashable.com/article/jeopardy-banned-wagers/