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Jeopardy! Season 31 (2014-2015)


Athena
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I nearly threw something at my TV and refused the watch the rest of the episode with the $400 clue in Broadway musicals by song.  I've seen Les Miserables a half a dozen times, and there are no songs called "The People's Song" or "Paris."  That was really terrible.  If you are going to put a clue about Les Miserables, it should have said "I Dreamed a Dream" and "Bring Him Home."  If I were a contestant, I would have thrown a hissy fit during the commercial break because of that clue.  Did the writers even bother to do any research on that question?  It takes 20 seconds on google to get a list of songs from Les Miserables.

Edited by Tigershark
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Thank you, Tigershark! I thought I'd lost my mind. I, too, have seen Les Miserables several times and had never heard of those songs. I assume they were referencing "Do you hear the people sing" but I have no idea which song would be called Paris. What was odd, was that Eric correctly answered the clue.

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I was so annoyed with Alex when he did that Pygmalion clue in a cockney accent like Eliza Doolittle would have used.  I know the answer was obvious but it felt like cheating.  And he thinks he's so cute when he does stuff like that.

He also did Mae West (badly) that I think aided in the answer.  Why do some people get imitations while others don't?  Is it based on whether Alex thinks he can do a (bad) impression?  It is unfair.  If a contestant can figure out Alex's impression, they get an easy answer without needing to know the clue.  Just bugs.

 

My biggest peeve is his "you are too young" to know the answer. It is so patronizing.  I'll estimate that about 80% of the questions on the show refer to subjects from before any contestants are born.  He would never say "you are too young" about a missed Shakespeare clue.  Why are semi-recent events, usually pop culture, the only area where he thinks people are "too young" to know and age is an excuse for not knowing the answer?  If a contestant only knew things that occurred during their lifetime, they would not do well on this show.  It's all pretty much history!!!!

 

I also think the Clue Crew add nothing worthwhile to the show.  I don't need the visuals and think the long winded clues, preceded by Alex's introduction, slow down the game.

Edited by Bazinga
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Why are semi-recent events, usually pop culture, the only area where he thinks people are "too young" to know and age is an excuse for not knowing the answer?

First off, generally I agree with your point of view. I know lots of things I'm "too young" to know. But I will say that with pop culture, I think there might be a little bit of a difference, and here's why: my husband is 9 years younger than I am. He knows essentially nothing about The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, and other '60s and '70s tv that I watched because they were on reruns in the afternoon when I came home from school. By the time he was that age, cable tv existed and he had many more channel choices, including kids' stations. Nick at Nite and those things were around, so I'm not saying kids couldn't see those shows if they wanted to, but my generation didn't have to seek them out; we were stuck with them!

Edited by Etta Place
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kept choosing clues by saying the full name of the category, which drives me bananas!

 

It's even more annoying when there's only one category left and all they have to do is specify the value but they still read the whole category.

Edited by Trey
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At the in-person auditions for Jeopardy, we were told to say the name of the category once, if we chose, to help the viewers who may have forgotten, and to say "please" once if we wanted to show we had manners, but other than that, to go as quickly as we could and try to clear the board.

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During the pre-show orientation, they tell the contestants to say the full name of the category once, and then after that to shorten it.  TPTB want the boards cleared as well.  

 

They also strongly discouraged picking the higher value clues first for two reasons: 1. negbait answers to higher value clues are sometimes eliminated with the easier clues and 2. because sometimes there will be a pattern to a category, and a higher value clue will be much easier if you've figured out the pattern.  I saw an example of this in my game.  The highest value clue was "The innermost of the Galilean moons of Jupiter."  While I can name a few moons of Jupiter, no way do I get that clue correct without recognizing the pattern.  All of the previous answers had been two letter words ending in "o."  Since that was the last clue in the category, it essentially was name a moon of Jupiter that's two letters and ends in "o," which is a much easier question.    

 

The exception to the start with the lower valued clues and work your way down is when it's near the end of the round, and you're behind and need to catch up.  Then go for the higher value clues.

Edited by Tigershark
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The exception to the start with the lower valued clues and work your way down is when it's near the end of the round, and you're behind and need to catch up.  Then go for the higher value clues.

Though tournament quarterfinal games always clear the entire board so the wildcard slots can be awarded on a level playing field.

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I was really surprised that only one of them got FJ. I don't think I've ever got an FJ answer so fast before.

I was annoyed they accepted the answer of "St Francis". Alex should have asked for her to be more specific.
Nice that they cleared the board with time to spare.

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In that sound category, the audio clue for the tennis answer was just terrible -- you could barely hear anything until the end of the clip. 

 

That simple algebra problem was a TS -- and Jennifer guessed 24.  Yikes !!

 

St. Christopher was a $2000 clue in the Saints category -- seriously ?

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Yay, Jennifer! She's from my neck of the woods so I was hoping she'd do well.

The other two players buzzer flailing (Mary) and dancing around (Chris) were distracting.

In that "What are you hearing category", it should have been dial-up modem, not just modem. And I didn't understand the tornado answer. I thought it was a siren.

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In that "What are you hearing category", it should have been dial-up modem, not just modem. And I didn't understand the tornado answer. I thought it was a siren.

 

Agreed -- that should have only accepted a dial-up modem.  Because pretty much anyone today with a home Internet connection uses a modem of some type -- and they don't make any noise any more.

 

That "What is tornado?" clue was just badly worded -- I also thought it was an air raid siren of some sort, there was nothing to really distinguish it as a tornado siren.

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I like when clues require contestants to do math, rather than just answer questions about it, because frighteningly few know how.

 

I missed chunks of clues throughout the episode thanks to having to fuss with my satellite receiver, including the entire category about identifying sounds.

 

FJ was an instaget for me; say UNESCO, and my mind automatically adds World Heritage Sites to it. 

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1. negbait answers to higher value clues are sometimes eliminated with the easier clues 

What does 'negbait' mean?

 

 

In that sound category, the audio clue for the tennis answer was just terrible -- you could barely hear anything until the end of the clip. 

 

I know! It sounded like a scratchy phonograph to me, but that didn't fit the clue.

 

That "What is tornado?" clue was just badly worded -- I also thought it was an air raid siren of some sort, there was nothing to really distinguish it as a tornado siren.

 

Here's the clue:

You've been warned---The alert for one of these, from the Spanish for "thunder", is heard here.

 

I think it's worded fine and makes sense. 

 

I could not come up with World Heritage Sites. I knew it but just couldn't bring it to mind.

Edited by peeayebee
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FJ was an instaget for me; say UNESCO, and my mind automatically adds World Heritage Sites to it. 

 

That was the only thing I could think of, so I was glad I was correct.  And I'll count one of the clues in the Saints category as a personal shout out - my name is John, and my birthday is June 24 - the feast of St. John the Baptist. I was seriously disappointed that no one got it...

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Though tournament quarterfinal games always clear the entire board so the wildcard slots can be awarded on a level playing field.

 

This was something I wondered about last night.  Although it didn't work out that way, if the second place person going into FJ last night had bet it all and gotten it right and the leader had her $400 bet and missed, they would have been tied.  I wonder what they would have done then?

 

a) Sent both to the finals and dropped one wild card or

b) Gone to a sudden death question.  I've heard these mentioned as a possibility but don't remember ever having seen one.

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Offering the tie was a very weird choice, because I am pretty sure they would have been subjected to the tiebreaker question. Here are all the tiebreakers as of a year ago (when regular play still allowed co-champions).

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That simple algebra problem was a TS -- and Jennifer guessed 24.  Yikes !!

 

Simple algebra? Talk about an oxymoron (at least for me!)

 

There are some people, myself included, who totally freeze up when given a math problem. Since they saved this category for last, I assume these three contestants are not good at math and probably, like me, have math anxiety.

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Simple algebra? Talk about an oxymoron (at least for me!)

 

There are some people, myself included, who totally freeze up when given a math problem. Since they saved this category for last, I assume these three contestants are not good at math and probably, like me, have math anxiety.

I surprised myself by getting the first two clues in that category correct, but tank on the last three.  Math is not my friend.

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I can do math just fine in the comfort of my home with no anxiety of a time constraint of how long? plus being on TV. Even though I knew I could do it with enough time, I'd pick the category last.

 

One thing I was taught when I had training on being an expert witness was to never try and do math in my head on the witness stand. During one trial, I was asked to calculate the volume of a certain size cylinder. I started to do it, speaking out loud, realized it was a bad idea, and turned to the judge and said "Your Honor, I would be doing the Court a disservice to try and do this in my head." His response - "Good - you're already off by a factor of 2." Never made that mistake again!

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Shakes my head ... I can't believe they showed a picture of Rudy Giuliani in that Americana category and asked to identify him.
And then again in the DJ round with a painting of a crossbow.  What else could it have been -- an espresso machine ? No, no, it's a water heater ? </TrueLies>

 

My first remark after that $1000 Book to Film category was: There was a 3rd Exorcist movie ?  I had to look it up -- it was released in 1990 and only ran for 4 weeks, so I guess it kind of sucked.

 

FJ was ridiculously easy -- it could only be Italy.  What the hell was Jay thinking when England was in the clue ?  I'm kind of glad Alex reminded him of that mistake (not that it mattered).

 

The guy on the right (forget the name already) would have been a wild card, right?

 

Yep -- he would have had $17,200 since he bet it all.

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Shakes my head ... I can't believe they showed a picture of Rudy Giuliani in that Americana category and asked to identify him.

 

 

Didn't they recently do the same with a pic of Ed Koch? 

 

There are times when I have to remind myself that Jeopardy! is out of California, and the writers sometimes seem to be of the opinion that anything east of the Mississippi is a great mystery.  Of course, that can work wonders when the contestants are from the east coast!  Some of those young un's in CA don't get around much...When I lived in CA, I worked with a 25 year old who lived in Huntington Beach and had never been further away than Disneyland in Anaheim, about 15 minutes away.  She was totally unaware that there was this huge country out there if she'd just take a right turn.

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Didn't they recently do the same with a pic of Ed Koch?

 

Yep.

 

It's not like Giuliani was some non-descript mayor who never did much -- cleaned up Times Square, made the tabloids because he cheated on his wife while in office, had his face plastered all over TV in the aftermath of 9/11, was referred to by Oprah as 'America's Mayor' and was named Time Person of the Year for 2001. And unsuccessfully ran for President in 2008.  Other than all that, he didn't do much. </snark>

Edited by ottoDbusdriver
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I'm really surprised the middle contestant couldn't figure out the Tennyson clue; poetry is one of my weak areas, but I thought The Charge of The Light Brigade was one of those poems just about everyone knows.  Of course, I don't have a lot of room to talk -- between 600 and blunder'd, I knew immediately what poem the clue was referring to, but had a total brain fart on who wrote it and barely spit it out in time.

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Yep -- he would have had $17,200 since he bet it all.

So, writing the correct answer, then crossing it out for one they gave in the clue....I'm calling this guy the Pete Carroll of Jeopardy.

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WTH was up with the wildly cheering crowd?

Yesterday had some cheering as well, so I'm guessing it was the accumulation of competing teachers over the course of time, trickling in by 3's as they finished their games and were thus allowed to watch the remaining matches.

 

Is anyone else unable to access the archives and the jboard forum this afternoon?  I don't know if it's them or me....

They're both working for me. I know I went to the Archive in the afternoon, but I only went to JBoard just now.

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I'm really surprised the middle contestant couldn't figure out the Tennyson clue; poetry is one of my weak areas, but I thought The Charge of The Light Brigade was one of those poems just about everyone knows.  

Sadly, I don't think there's such a thing as a poem just about everyone knows nowadays. My impression--purely subjective--is that Tennyson is one of those poets who was popular back in the day but is considered uncool nowadays. Ditto for Longfellow when it comes to American poets.

Is it my imagination or has Titus Andronicus been mentioned at least twice in the past few weeks?

 

 

I haven't kept track, but I know that one of the teachers brought it up on one occasion, and it turned up as a clue shortly before or after. It's one of those lesser-known Shakespeare plays that are go-to's for higher-value clues.

So, writing the correct answer, then crossing it out for one they gave in the clue....I'm calling this guy the Pete Carroll of Jeopardy.

 

I could not believe he did that! There's a brain fart he'll never hear the end of. I wish he had made it into one of the wild card spots instead of the woman in the middle; I remember finding her a bit annoying.

Edited by GreekGeek
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It also surprised me when he gave ampersand as an answer when it should have been asterisk. Which was right there in the clue. Sheesh.

 

No one knew Grandma Moses? *sigh*

 

Oh, and I had no idea that Die Hard came from a book.

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No one knew Grandma Moses? *sigh*

 

Especially since on Jeopardy! Grandma is to American Folk Art as Robert Burns (or "Robbie Bairns" in Alex's trademark bad accent) is to Scottish Poetry.  That is, the default answer which is hardly ever wrong.

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Especially since on Jeopardy! Grandma is to American Folk Art as Robert Burns (or "Robbie Bairns" in Alex's trademark bad accent) is to Scottish Poetry.  That is, the default answer which is hardly ever wrong.

 

That's why it surprised me, too.  I'll admit I didn't look at that painting and know for certain that it was a Grandma Moses work; American folk art is not generally my style, and I don't know a lot about it.  But I looked at the painting and the clue and immediately said Grandma Moses based on J! history.

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There's probably a list somewhere of default Jeopardy answers: Scottish Poetry--Robert Burns; American folk art--Grandma Moses...

 

It reminds of years ago when my friends and I used to play Trivial Pursuit and realized that if you knew the James Bond movies you could win Silver Screen edition without knowing much else.

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No, I think I first saw it on JBoard. It seems to be in use in the quiz bowl world (of which I've never been a part). I think the term sort of makes more sense in games where you're allowed to ring in before the clue finishes, but it works for Jeopardy, too.
 
"This Beatles drummer--" *ding* "Ringo Starr!" "No. This Beatles drummer left the group in 1962." (The answer is Pete Best.)

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That was a pretty easy semi-final match -- Johnny Appleseed, the Queen Mary -- even FJ with Lord Byron.

 

Wasn't a big fan of the all the 2nd answer opportunities s that the winner was the recipient of -- particularly .... the ..... long ..... drawn ... out ..... answer ...... of ..... 'What .... is .... King ... George .... the .... VI ?' in the Daily Double.

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It seemed to be like Lydia had a couple of dumb guesses, but this short time later I can't remember any examples, so I shouldn't talk.

 

I like how we didn't know what the parts of a plant, roots, buds, and leaves categories were about until the first clue.

 

Shop floor was a surprising TS, as was Hearts of Darkness since once the one contestant screwed up all someone had to do was add the S. 

 

The East Timor clue seemed over valued, and knowing that Sarah Ferguson was the Duchess of York should have been worth about $400. 

 

When there was only one category left on the board, the contestant who picked first recited the entire category name instead of just stating the dollar value of the clue he wanted.  That bugged me!

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...as was Hearts of Darkness since once the one contestant screwed up all someone had to do was add the S. 

 

I thought that was the correct response, so when she was ruled incorrect, I assumed I was wrong as well. I didn't pick up on the missing "S".

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Wasn't a big fan of the all the 2nd answer opportunities s that the winner was the recipient of -- particularly .... the ..... long ..... drawn ... out ..... answer ...... of ..... 'What .... is .... King ... George .... the .... VI ?' in the Daily Double.

I remember there was another one that he got lucky on, but with this one, it's true that Alex didn't prompt him between George and VI, but all that would have happened differently is that in the long pause Alex would have asked him to be more specific. He wasn't wrong until he spit out a number, and there is a lot of leeway given on the time contestants take to answer a DD.

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I remember there was another one that he got lucky on,

 

He had to change "What are reins?" to "What is rein?" in the horsey vocabulary clue about "keeping a tight this," and there couldn't have been more than a second elapsed before he did so, but for some reason I was annoyed Alex hadn't said anything before he had a chance to fix it.

 

I thought that was the correct response, so when she was ruled incorrect, I assumed I was wrong as well. I didn't pick up on the missing "S".

 

I didn't notice it initially, either, but I knew the title for sure (as opposed to a more "Hmm, that's what I thought, too," type of reaction when she answered with what sounded like the title), so I knew she had to have said something wrong, and forgetting the S seemed like the only thing possible.

Edited by Bastet
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