Jeopardy! Season 31 (2014-2015)

[Bastet]

I didn't watch Mad About You either; the tipoff was Alan Brady, Reiner's character from The Dick Van Dyke Show.

 

Jeez, I did completely miss that; I just heard something about sitcom legend.  Or something generic like that; I somehow missed hearing Brady, which would have led me immediately to Reiner.  (I wasn't looking at the TV at the time, only listening.)

Edited June 27, 2015 by Bastet

[peeayebee]

Disappointed they didn't clear the Emmy category, I was cleaning up there (can't believe Reiner and Marguiles were TSs). 

Ditto, ditto, ditto.

 

Final Jeopardy was instaget at "1960 novel."

 

And ditto.

 

And I take notes, forgot to write something down, and now can't remember the ever so witty comment about something I can't remember. A mind is a terrible thing to lose.

 

I take notes, too. I've always felt pretty silly doing it, but now I know I'm in good company.

 

I love math categories when you have to do math (rather than just answer questions about math).  I think these contestants did better than average.  I got them all, but some were hard to do in such a short time.

 

I don't even try when a math category comes up.

 

I must need to clean out my ears, as both the contestant and Alex seemed to me to be saying gerber (daisies) rather than gerbera.

 

They both said 'gerber.' Seems like it's correct either way. I found this: "Gerber daisies are sometimes referred to as "gerberas," in reference to the plant's genus."

[Moose135]

Final Jeopardy was instaget at "1960 novel."

 

I started to second guess myself, because I knew the movie came out around that time, but started thinking the novel was earlier than that.  Not that I could think of another answer in any case.

[NorthstarATL]

I have never read the book nor seen the movie of "To Kill A Mockingbird", but I have never missed any clue involving it either. Sort of the way I manage to run entire "Star Wars" categories without ever having seen a film. The idea of Rex Reed as the Brady Dad amused me.

[saber5055]

I didn't watch Mad About You either; the tipoff was Alan Brady, Reiner's character from The Dick Van Dyke Show.

 

 

My impetuous mouth shouted "Rob Reiner!" before my brain caught up and corrected it to Rob's dad. To be safe, I should have said "Reiner," then I'd have a 50-50 chance Trebek would say BMS.

 

When I saw how easy FJ was, I knew Kat was going home. I got a big kick out of her personality, especially her "Thanks, gentlemen" comment. Sorry to see her go.

[The Wild Sow]

Not a great game. I noticed Desta said entomology instead of etymology.

("Wrong Superhero")

What's the difference between and etymologist and an entomologist?

An etymologist KNOWS the difference!

 

 

I started to second guess myself, because I knew the movie came out around that time, but started thinking the novel was earlier than that.

SET in the 1930s.  But published in 1960.

The movie was 1962.

[pandora spocks]

"The idea of Rex Reed as the Brady Dad amused me."

He could've spent a part of each episode critiquing Carol and the girls' clothes.

[peeayebee]

When I saw how easy FJ was, I knew Kat was going home. I got a big kick out of her personality, especially her "Thanks, gentlemen" comment. Sorry to see her go.

I didn't care for her little comments. She's probably a very nice person, and I wasn't rooting against her, but these kind of asides don't play well with me unless they're self-deprecating.

[Mrs. P.]

I have never read the book nor seen the movie of "To Kill A Mockingbird", but I have never missed any clue involving it either. Sort of the way I manage to run entire "Star Wars" categories without ever having seen a film. The idea of Rex Reed as the Brady Dad amused me.

If you're so inclined, get a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and give it a read. It's a seriously great book. Once you've read it, you can find the movie and watch Gregory Peck give one of the all-time great film performances.

[opus]

I loved Kat addressing the camera to get her comic book heroine made into a movie. So faux-serious!

And Anna Kendrick would make an awesome Gallant Girl.

Edited June 28, 2015 by GaryE

[NorthstarATL]

If you're so inclined, get a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and give it a read. It's a seriously great book. Once you've read it, you can find the movie and watch Gregory Peck give one of the all-time great film performances.

It is actually on my list of "books that everyone has read that I probably should have read", but it's pretty far down as of now. I have a bad habit of re-reading favorites before indulging in something new, especially when the subject matter is yawn-inducing.

[M. Darcy]

 

The idea of Rex Reed as the Brady Dad amused me.

I was sad that no one knew Robert Reed.  Though, Rex was close.

[dcalley]

I don’t think it’s akin to the Ireland/Northern Ireland example, because Northern Island is not a specific part of Ireland (like a double bass is a specific kind of bass), but a separate country.  But I also wouldn’t have given a “be more specific” prompt on that one; the text of the clue so obviously required a specific kind of bass I would not have felt generous towards someone who simply looked at the picture and offered up bass as an answer.

Ah, but the island's name is Ireland, so Northern Ireland is a part of Ireland the island!

[Browncoat]

Oh, Alex, please do not ever again attempt anything approaching a rap-type rhyme -- I barely recognized that as The Fresh Prince the way he said it.

[secnarf]

Oh, Alex, please do not ever again attempt anything approaching a rap-type rhyme -- I barely recognized that as The Fresh Prince the way he said it.

At least that made me laugh. The "whoo" at the end of the Uptown Funk clue  just made me cringe :P

[GreekGeek]

Kind of a weird coincidence that Alex got a coughing fit while reading a clue about a novel with a tubercular heroine (La Dame aux Camelias). I assume it wasn't part of the clue.

 

I too was surprised that the Hudson River School was a TS. I thought FJ was pretty easy, and I'm no expert on British poetry, thanks to spending time in classrooms where students' illustrations of the poem were a bulletin board display.

[ottoDbusdriver]

British poetry isn't my area, so I had no chance on FJ.

 

Me neither but I did know the poem instantly, but couldn't remember the poet's name in time.

[Trey]

 

Shocked that the Hudson River Valley School would be a TS even with the visual cue.

So was I.

 

We have a nice looking new champ who doesn't have any obvious annoying habits.

 

Re FJ, I knew what poem they meant but I thought Browning wrote it, not Coleridge.  Now I know different.

[Driad]

 

I object to the clue in the islands category about a "sweet crop."  The answer was cocoa, but cocoa/cacao as a crop is not sweet at all.  Chocolate only becomes sweet when sugar is added.  Picky, I know, but isn't that part of the game?

[The Wild Sow]

 

 

I object to the clue in the islands category about a "sweet crop."  The answer was cocoa, but cocoa/cacao as a crop is not sweet at all.  Chocolate only becomes sweet when sugar is added.  Picky, I know, but isn't that part of the game?

 

Thanks!  Chocolate/cocoa/cacao is bitter until you add sugar (go in the kitchen and taste your baking cocoa if you don't believe me!)

 

One of my kids did a science fair project on "Do different parts of the tongue perceive sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes?"  Our sample for "bitter" was baking cocoa.

 

Ha, if Amanda hadn't gotten the "Pittsburgh Pickle Guy" I don't think we'd have let her come home!  I was sorry to see a hometown girl not win, but Milton?  Nah, he'd been dead for about 100 years when Coleridge had that (opium-induced, BTW!) dream!

 

New champ is good-looking and smart, though, so I guess I can live with seeing him again.

Edited June 30, 2015 by The Wild Sow

[CarpeDiem54]

I wish Ankoor had stuck around longer. Brandon seems okay, though, except for his DD wagers. It was obvious he wasn't doing well in the categories. He should have wagered $12 (WTF?) on the DDs. How could he miss stationer?

I'm going to have to turn off the sound and watch using closed captioning if Alex is going to keep up with the crap he used for Fresh Prince of Bel Aire.

That "Kids Are Singing This" category made me feel like the oldest geezer alive. The only song I had even heard of, and knew the answer, was Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder which was a TS.

I, too, was surprised by the Hudson River TS.

I called it last week when I was on a roll with FJ and knew my streak would end. I was beyond clueless today.

ETA - Yeah, and cocoa's not sweet. That was annoying.

Edited June 30, 2015 by CarpeDiem54

[YoureSoUrban]

I like the new champ. Not sorry to see Ankoor and his long pauses leave the building. I think Alex jinxed him by starting the game saying he was a "great champ" when he had only won one game.

 

 

That "Kids Are Singing This" category made me feel like the oldest geezer alive. The only song I had even heard of, and knew the answer, was Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder which was a TS.

Same here, and the Sir Duke clue didn't make sense to me because the "kids" haven't sung that song for 30 (maybe 40?) years!

 

 

I object to the clue in the islands category about a "sweet crop."  The answer was cocoa, but cocoa/cacao as a crop is not sweet at all.  Chocolate only becomes sweet when sugar is added.

 That bugged me too.

[Moose135]

The question about the Adriatic was an instaget thanks to Coach on Cheers. Thirty years later, I can still sing this from memory:

 

Me too! I love that scene!

[dcalley]

Kind of a weird coincidence that Alex got a coughing fit while reading a clue about a novel with a tubercular heroine (La Dame aux Camelias). I assume it wasn't part of the clue.

It definitely didn't seem intentional at the time and thus we were confused and unable to pay attention to or answer the clue. I assume the contestants felt the same way since it was a stand-and-stare. But in hindsight, I think it was intentional. The show has had Alex rerecord in post before, so why not redo that one unless they meant for him to cough?

[Moose135]

The show has had Alex rerecord in post before, so why not redo that one unless they meant for him to cough?

 

I assumed it was supposed to be part of the clue.

[Abstract]

Jeopardy round was one of those where I really wish I had been playing. Lots of easy ones.

Has anyone ever lost all 3 DD and still ended up with a runaway? That was impressive in a way, except for the losing 3 DD part.

I hope this champ sticks around awhile for aesthetic purposes.

[Pallida]

I thought Alex's rap sounded like William Shatne and it made me cringe.

Add me to the bitter cocoa train.

[Browncoat]

Oh, yeah, add me to the bitter cocoa train, too.  And the Hudson Valley train, for that matter.

[Prevailing Wind]

I'm sure Alex meant to cough as Camille.  I thought it was stupid, but, for me, it gave me the answer.  "Lady of the Camellias" would have been a guess for me otherwise.

 

Yeah, cocoa's bitter, alright.  I can't even eat those 'candy' bars that are more than 70% cacao due to the bitterness.  Makes you wonder how anyone ever decided "a bunch of sugar would make this taste *really* good!"

[ABay]

For years--since Jewel of the Nile--my friends and I have used the line  "I have [cough] consumption!" delivered in the most melodramatic Victorian novel kind of way.

 

A solitary cough was the tip off to a brewing case of TB the way a single bout of nausea signals pregnancy on TV today.

[peeayebee]

I thought it was obvious that Alex's cough was because the heroine gets TB. I quickly pictured Greta Garbo coughing in 'Camille.' I wonder if I would have answered "Camille" instead of "Camellia."

 

Alex's reading of the Fresh Prince song made me cringe. I wish he could have just read it straight, which would actually have been funnier.

 

I like the new champ. I thought all the DDs were on the difficult side, so I felt bad for him. If I were him, when Alex said that was the last of the DDs, I would have raised my arms and said in a half-hearted way, "Woo-hoo."

 

I was surprised that no one knew capers. That's the first thing I think of when veal or chicken piccata is mentioned.

[Prevailing Wind]

I've cooked with capers.  I can tell you what they look like, what they taste like, what the tall, skinny bottle they come in looks like...but I'll be damned if I could remember their name when Alex read the clue.

[Writing Wrongs]

Kind of a weird coincidence that Alex got a coughing fit while reading a clue about a novel with a tubercular heroine (La Dame aux Camelias). I assume it wasn't part of the clue.

Wait. I thought he did that on purpose. That's how I guessed the answer right.

[GreekGeek]

Wait. I thought he did that on purpose. That's how I guessed the answer right.

I guess it makes sense that it was on purpose, but I'm thinking the contestants were as confused as I was. The words "cough, cough" could have been written into the clue.

[saber5055]

Makes you wonder how anyone ever decided "a bunch of sugar would make this taste *really* good!"

 

 

Because a bunch of sugar makes everything taste good!

 

I've cooked with capers.  I can tell you what they look like, what they taste like, what the tall, skinny bottle they come in looks like...but I'll be damned if I could remember their name when Alex read the clue.

 

 

I know what capers are, I just didn't know where they came from or how they grew, they're just always in that bottle. So this was a stumper for me, too.

 

Got a laugh from the flashback to FJ a few days back, with the clue for Rosie being on The Jetsons. (Not a live-action tv show, even if it is in the future!)

 

The Hawksbill clue being a TS reinforces what I've always said, no one who gets on this show knows anything about animals. No one heard me repeatedly shouting "TURTLE!" when the clue was read. My dream board would be all animal/nature/outdoor categories with no poets/opera/science anywhere.

[dcalley]

It's soccer tonight for some of us.

[pandora spocks]

"If you aren't able to see the show, Jay's recap can be found in the comment section of the daily "What's On Tonight" post on AVC, which goes up at 1:00 a.m. tomorrow. If you sort comments by oldest, it's usually one of the first. (Hope that is okay to mention here - it's just a pretty handy catch-up post.)"

Thanks, Chattygal. This takes the sting out for Jeopardy lovers who have the misfortune of being served by Fox affiliates.

[saber5055]

I've already seen today's episode and don't remember a thing about it. it will happen to you guys, too, when you get old.

[GreekGeek]

I was disappointed that no one tonight knew that Nixon was still president in early 1974, and that no one rang in with him after Ford was ruled incorrect.

Also that no one knew "Doubt."

 

Amy from Ohio must be kicking herself for missing a question on Warren G. Harding, even if he isn't remembered as one of the "greats."

 

Easy FJ, I thought--surprised Adrian missed it.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Easy FJ, I thought--surprised Adrian missed it.

 

It was easy, but Adrian's response was so odd -- Rosie the Riveter wasn't real, and she never appeared on posters until after 1941.  And she certainly wasn't declared legally dead in 1939.

Edited July 1, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Trey]

Yeah, Rosie the Riveter was an odd answer but it was probably all he could come up with right then.  Sometimes the correct answer just doesn't come to you.  I think Amelia Earhart must be one of the most used responses on Jeopardy!.  It was an instaget for me.

 

It was a fairly forgettable game, nothing really stood out.  The only answer I had a quibble with was the acceptance of "Doyle" instead of at least "Conan Doyle". I can overlook him not giving Sir Arthur.

 

The category of decades in the 19th century was really difficult, I thought.

[Miss Chevious]

FJ was pretty much an instaget for me. There weren't many national heroines who needed to be declared dead in that time period.

I like new champ. He seems very personable in a laid back kind of way.

[alias1]

I was disappointed the Doctor Who category wasn't really about Doctor Who.  And it turned out to be a super easy category (Dr Spock, Freud, Atkins, really?).

[M. Darcy]

I thought The Love Boat category was awesome.

[CarpeDiem54]

Shut up Fox Sports! I don't care about the mindless yakking after the soccer game. The show was joined already in progress so I only got to see Double Jeopardy!

Glad Brandon won again. What did Alex mean when he said, "That makes up for yesterday." to Brandon at the end? And why did he refer to the other guy as a prince? Trebec is becoming more and more odd and irritating.

FJ was an instaget.

[Bastet]

These contestants were terrible about repeating the entire category name and adding “please,” “Let’s try,” and such.

 

Dr. Atkins was ridiculously overvalued as a DD.  Naming Blanche DuBois would have been overvalued anywhere.  That whole theatre category was too easy, especially for DJ.  And are they kidding with FJ?  I cannot believe one of them missed it.

 

I really can't believe Nixon was a TS.

 

The dwarfs category was kind of fun, but probably should have been in the first round instead.  The Love Boat category was fun, too.

[peeayebee]

I always remember when Nixon resigned -- August 1974 -- because I was vacationing with my sister and mother in England at the time.

 

I thought the "USA" category was pretty tough. The only one I got was recusal. It was just difficult for me to visualize words with those three consecutive letters in them.

 

I disappointed myself in the Amy Adams category. I couldn't always bring the titles to mind. I did get 'Doubt,' which surprised me because I often mix that title up with 'Proof.'

 

I also said Ziggy instead of Zippy. (I have heard of Zippy the Pinhead.)

 

FJ was stupidly easy, so easy that I thought the answer might be Aimee Semple-McPherson. I can't remember when she lived, but I believe she disappeared for a while and was declared dead.

[pandora spocks]

"Trebec is becoming more and more odd and irritating."

It wasn't until I saw Jeopardy's FB page today that I learned that Trebek did a Fresh Prince impersonation. Either I don't know much about 1980's rap or Alex is as good at rap as he is at doing foreign accents. My guess is the latter.

[YoureSoUrban]

 

I was disappointed that no one tonight knew that Nixon was still president in early 1974, and that no one rang in with him after Ford was ruled incorrect.

I was floored.

 

That 19th century decades category made a complete fool of me, but I'm now curious to do some studying. I love that about Jeopardy.

 

The game felt kind of uneven for me but I'm glad the champ won again.

[Mondrianyone]

FJ was stupidly easy, so easy that I thought the answer might be Aimee Semple-McPherson. I can't remember when she lived, but I believe she disappeared for a while and was declared dead.

McPherson flitted through my mind briefly as well.  Also Agatha Christie.  Because, as you say, Amelia Earhart seemed so obvious.  But she was my answer, because of the year and the "heroine" description.  And then I was inspired to go look up the dates for the other two's disappearances.  Seems as if 1926 was a banner year for famous women faking their own kidnappings or whatever.  I can think of a few celebrities I wish would do that right now.  And stay lost.  ;o)