Jeopardy! Season 32 (2015-2016)

[Lois Sandborne]

I had to catch up on most of the episodes this weekend because I lead a ridiculous life, but watching three in one go, I did feel that the boards were kind of basic. I also thought all the FJs of the week were on the easy side, which is a thing I never think. Although I guess that weird Venus clue was pretty challenging in its own way.

18 hours ago, Driad said:

Does anyone have data on how much money people win in teachers' tournaments vs. regular weeks?  That might correlate to whether TTs have easier questions.  I think they do, and coming from a family with many teachers I find it a bit insulting,

I don't have any data, and I'm far too lazy to compile any, but it did seem like the Wild Card winners got in with some extremely low totals this go-round, so that's something. 

[Browncoat]

Another easy FJ, but it was great that Jill Biden came out to read the clue. 

I got Jackie Kennedy before they showed the photo of her -- when all we saw was the dress.  They could have left off the picture of Jackie.

So, was that an Italian-type accent Alex attempted when he said "Fiorello LaGuardia"?  He really needs to stop with the accents already.

[ottoDbusdriver]

That Angry Birds clue in the "A" and "B" movies was kind of insultingly simple -- could that video clip have possibly gone on a little longer ?

Edited May 10, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[Browncoat]

I had blocked that memory, otto!  That was ridiculously simple, and far too long.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Why couldn't they just have a World Leaders category -- where all the clues just happened to be about women ?

And that one Women World Leaders clue about Korea talked more about her father than the actual leader herself.

[Trey]

A very easy game, including FJ, but the acoustics sure were good.

[CarpeDiem54]

36 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Another easy FJ, but it was great that Jill Biden came out to read the clue. 

I got Jackie Kennedy before they showed the photo of her -- when all we saw was the dress.  They could have left off the picture of Jackie.

So, was that an Italian-type accent Alex attempted when he said "Fiorello LaGuardia"?  He really needs to stop with the accents already.

All of this.  Alex's "Italian" accent sounded like a cross between Dracula and Howdy Doody.

Another really easy game.  I got almost every answer, including the TS clavicle, and I'm not a damned genius.

I was very impressed with Kaberi's come from behind win and her gutsy wagering.

[ottoDbusdriver]

4 minutes ago, Trey said:

A very easy game, including FJ, but the acoustics sure were good.

And that Current Events category was pretty current -- Zika virus,  blockage of judicial nominations -- anyone know when was this recorded in D.C. ?

[Prevailing Wind]

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I was very impressed with Kaberi's come from behind win and her gutsy wagering.

AND she speaks "cat."

[secnarf]

26 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

And that Current Events category was pretty current -- Zika virus,  blockage of judicial nominations -- anyone know when was this recorded in D.C. ?

I was wondering this as well - one of the dates was April 2016!

[dcalley]

29 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

And that Current Events category was pretty current -- Zika virus,  blockage of judicial nominations -- anyone know when was this recorded in D.C. ?

April 10. I was interested in attending, but you had to log on to TicketBastard at 6:00 a.m. to get tickets. Haha, no.

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, CarpeDiem54 said:

All of this.  Alex's "Italian" accent sounded like a cross between Dracula and Howdy Doody.

I thought his Cowardly Lion was worse. Ugh. But my big complaint about his accents is that they in themselves provide a clue. 

 

Quote

I got almost every answer, including the TS clavicle, and I'm not a damned genius.

I was pissed that I didn't get this. I said ribs. 

[mojoween]

11 hours ago, Trey said:

A very easy game, including FJ, but the acoustics sure were good.

I tuned in just before DJ so wasn't aware at first they were somewhere else but did notice that the echoing was driving me positively mad.  I get very twitchy with noise so that was definitely not my bag.  It's going to be a long week.

[M. Darcy]

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I get very twitchy with noise so that was definitely not my bag.  It's going to be a long week.

Sorry - its going to be two weeks.  They also filmed the power players at Constitution Hall.

As soon as Dr. Biden came out to read the clue, I guessed the answer - her two passions - education and the military. Had to be the GI Bill.

[dcalley]

Haha, this use of "the other one" is OK. "Not Uber, the other one: Lyft."

[mjc570]

That game was disgraceful - I can't believe how easy practically every clue was - especially FJ.  I don't understand why are they dumbing it down for teachers, who are usually good contestants.  To their credit, the contestants did get just about all of them, although there were some surprising TSs - "professorial" ???

[just prin]

Sigh.....

[just prin]

• Spoiler

  1.  

Edited May 11, 2016 by just prin
Damn iPad--how does one delete this???? LOL

[ottoDbusdriver]

That clue about the Chinese New Year was painfully easy -- they gave part of the answer in the clue by saying that monkey was written in Chinese.

FJ was WAY TOO EASY !!!

[Trey]

Quote

That game was disgraceful - I can't believe how easy practically every clue was - especially FJ.

I thought the worst one was the stamp for Chinese New Year - it was okay until the clue mentioned that the year of the rat (or whatever) was written in Chinese.

eta: D'oh!! Pipped by ottoDbusdriver!  I was typing too slowly.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Trey

[mojoween]

I suppose "oh shit what the hell is the name of that damn painting" would have been a no?

[CarpeDiem54]

56 minutes ago, mjc570 said:

That game was disgraceful - I can't believe how easy practically every clue was - especially FJ.  I don't understand why are they dumbing it down for teachers, who are usually good contestants.  To their credit, the contestants did get just about all of them, although there were some surprising TSs - "professorial" ???

This!  No one knew autism either and Bill is supposedly a special ed teacher?

I was rooting for Chris.  Jill's constant "noise making" after every.freaking.clue bugged me.

22 minutes ago, mojoween said:

I suppose "oh shit what the hell is the name of that damn painting" would have been a no?

You'd get credit for Carson and the Pitchfork.  ;-)

[mojoween]

Jill's constant "noise making" after every.freaking.clue bugged me.

Holy cannoli that "mmm" every time Alex said the question was infuriating.  Did she know every answer but just didn't ring in?!?

[CarpeDiem54]

3 minutes ago, mojoween said:

 

Holy cannoli that "mmm" every time Alex said the question was infuriating.  Did she know every answer but just didn't ring in?!?

I don't know, but I wanted to reach through the TV screen and choke her.

[peeayebee]

I didn't notice that.

One TS I got was professorial, but I thought the judges might have gone back given Jill credit for scholarly.

When the FJ category was revealed, I thought it was going to be something about the Wyeth model Helga. I was a little disappointed, but American Gothic came out immediately. 

[Driad]

Considering the "difficulty" of other questions, I expected FJ to be Whistler's "Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1."

I liked Chris, and he's a math teacher.  Sad that he didn't win.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Driad

[secnarf]

I too wanted Chris to win.

I was pretty sure American Gothic has come up in $200 clues before, so I went to j-archive and checked. It has come up numerous times, and the bit about the dentist and/or sister being models has come up as a $300 clue in 1988 and 1997, a $1600 clue in 2003, and $200 in 2010. The painting itself has been the subject of many more clues, obviously. But assuming the $1600 clue is a bit over-valued, it is completely ridiculous to have this clue as FJ in the semi-finals of a tournament WITH A PHOTO TO GO WITH IT.

[ottoDbusdriver]

1 minute ago, secnarf said:

I too wanted Chris to win.

I was pretty sure American Gothic has come up in $200 clues before, so I went to j-archive and checked. It has come up numerous times, and the bit about the dentist and/or sister being models has come up as a $300 clue in 1988 and 1997, a $1600 clue in 2003, and $200 in 2010. The painting itself has been the subject of many more clues, obviously. But assuming the $1600 clue is a bit over-valued, it is completely ridiculous to have this clue as FJ in the semi-finals of a tournament WITH A PHOTO TO GO WITH IT.

It was almost as bad as the photo of the gates at Graceland in the Jeopardy round.

[YoureSoUrban]

3 hours ago, CarpeDiem54 said:

I don't know, but I wanted to reach through the TV screen and choke her.

She bugs me too. I was hoping Chris would win but he blew it with "Grey Mansions". Dude...

Photo clues for Louis Armstrong and The Rosenbergs? Really?

[GreekGeek]

6 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I didn't notice that.

One TS I got was professorial, but I thought the judges might have gone back given Jill credit for scholarly.

When the FJ category was revealed, I thought it was going to be something about the Wyeth model Helga. I was a little disappointed, but American Gothic came out immediately. 

"Scholarly" didn't fit according to the definition, which specified university instructors. All professors are scholarly (I assume), but not all scholarly people are professors.

I too noticed Jill's groaning after clues. I hope someone tells her to cut it out during the last 2 games; I didn't notice if she did it in the quarter final match.

I got quite a few of the TS's already mentioned plus "responsive reading."

I'll also chime in that FJ was teen tournament level at most. Are they so anxious not to make teachers look bad that they make the questions insultingly easy?

[M. Darcy]

It's a good thing that I wasn't able to attend the taping - I might have started screaming in horror when an answer was The Complete Angler.  At least they didn't say that bastard Izaak Walton's name.  Heh, I wasn't paying great attention and all of a sudden I was - wait, did someone just say the Complete Angler?  Shit. 

At least its only three more games and then we are back to difficult games...oh, wait, its power players.  Oh well, I always love see Senator Franken.

[Jesse]

9 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

It was almost as bad as the photo of the gates at Graceland in the Jeopardy round.

But nothing will ever be as bad as the photo of the Kennedys!

[operalover]

Yes the Compleat Angler comes up a lot. I knew it was that they wanted but I couldn't come up with it in time! Something I learned on this show!

[peeayebee]

3 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

"Scholarly" didn't fit according to the definition, which specified university instructors. All professors are scholarly (I assume), but not all scholarly people are professors.

Yes, I didn't think it fit, but I still thought the judges might give it to her.

 

38 minutes ago, M. Darcy said:

It's a good thing that I wasn't able to attend the taping - I might have started screaming in horror when an answer was The Complete Angler.  At least they didn't say that bastard Izaak Walton's name. 

Why scream in horror, and why is Walton a bastard?

[M. Darcy]

Quote

Why scream in horror, and why is Walton a bastard?

I blame him for losing my Jeopardy game.  I got a daily double, I made a big bet because it was the only way to get close to Ken and I blanked on his name.  To add injury, Jeopardy has mentioned him quite a few times since then - someone else actually lost their game because of him. 

Since I'm nuts, when I go to London on vacation, I'll sit in front of his portrait at the National Portrait Gallery and listen to Weird Al's I Lost on Jeopardy and weep silently :-)  But finally last year, they hung the portrait low enough, I was able my picture taken next to his - it used to be up way too high.    

[Scott]

16 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

That clue about the Chinese New Year was painfully easy -- they gave part of the answer in the clue by saying that monkey was written in Chinese.

I just looked at the archive to check something else, and noticed they also said "lunar" in the clue, so maybe they only wanted "new year" as the answer, and that's why they thought mentioning Chinese in the clue was ok.  But still, ridiculously easy, as was the whole game, and the whole tournament so far.  

Alex had a couple moments where he seemed off in both his judging and his judginess.  Why even pause on "Grey Mansions"?  That's a title, so you can't just sub out a word.  And was it really necessary to give "writer" as a synonym for "author"?

I don't care for put-on accents, whether from Alex or the contestants, so after his Elvis bit, I was not rooting for Chris.

[CarpeDiem54]

2 hours ago, M. Darcy said:

I blame him for losing my Jeopardy game.  I got a daily double, I made a big bet because it was the only way to get close to Ken and I blanked on his name.  To add injury, Jeopardy has mentioned him quite a few times since then - someone else actually lost their game because of him. 

Since I'm nuts, when I go to London on vacation, I'll sit in front of his portrait at the National Portrait Gallery and listen to Weird Al's I Lost on Jeopardy and weep silently :-)  But finally last year, they hung the portrait low enough, I was able my picture taken next to his - it used to be up way too high.    

So you're the person I've seen sobbing in the National Portrait Gallery?!  I love a person who can carry a good grudge.  ;-)

[M. Darcy]

Quote

So you're the person I've seen sobbing in the National Portrait Gallery?!  I love a person who can carry a good grudge.  ;-)

Hee, I blame myself such as much but he gets the brunt of my anger.  Though, I'm sure he would be happy that people are still talking about him all these years later.  Someone on the staff does like him - he turns up all the time on the show. 

[vibeology]

You all have done a wonderful job mentioning the painfully easy clues. The Chinese New Year's one was something out of SNL. All you had to do was repeat what Alex had said. I was also screaming at my TV when everyone was struggling to come up with Alexandria for the Lighthouse questions. Isn't that the lighthouse people know? It wasn't the easiest question last night but it certainly wasn't hard.

I love Jeopardy but I think they can do better than who was the president after Ford or fill in the Biblical blank ___ the Baptist.

[Lois Sandborne]

15 hours ago, YoureSoUrban said:

I was hoping Chris would win but he blew it with "Grey Mansions". Dude...

I really liked Chris, so it kind of sucked that his blowing the game made me laugh so hard, but what are you gonna do?

In other news, I was sad that no one could name Jaime Escalante.

[peeayebee]

48 minutes ago, Lois Sandborne said:

In other news, I was sad that no one could name Jaime Escalante.

I could only remember 'Jaime,' and was straining my brain to recall his last name. Jaime James Olmos?

 

16 hours ago, secnarf said:

I was pretty sure American Gothic has come up in $200 clues before, so I went to j-archive and checked. It has come up numerous times, and the bit about the dentist and/or sister being models has come up as a $300 clue in 1988 and 1997, a $1600 clue in 2003, and $200 in 2010. The painting itself has been the subject of many more clues, obviously. But assuming the $1600 clue is a bit over-valued, it is completely ridiculous to have this clue as FJ in the semi-finals of a tournament WITH A PHOTO TO GO WITH IT.

How did you search the j-archive? 

M Darcy, I had forgotten that you posted about Izaak Walton before. He can go jump in a lake.

[Bastet]

Quote

How did you search the j-archive? 

It has a search box (once you go to a season page; it's not on the home page).

I've missed the show so far this week, but now that the archive is updated, I've caught up.  Wow.  I cannot believe how easy last night's clues were.  I even got several of the Bible clues right.  That "Name the painting seen here" FJ clue is just mind blowing.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Bastet

[Mondrianyone]

This probably officially marks me as too damn old, but I remember watching Groucho Marx on You Bet Your Life when I was a little kid, and the consolation question for contestants who didn't win any money was "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?"  I think Jeopardy! is getting very close to that territory in this tournament.

P.S.  As I found out when I went to college in the neighborhood where Grant's Tomb is located, the answer is a little more complicated than just "Grant."  His wife's coffin is there, too, and technically neither one of them is buried, since they don't have dirt over them, so if it's ever a J! question, I think they'd need a BMS.  On second thought, that question is far too hard for the TT.

Blither, blither.

[Moose135]

Exactly - no one is "buried" in Grant's Tomb!

[mojoween]

Look.  I get it.  If you are one of 15 people who make the tournament, that is an accomplishment to be proud of.  But if you are going to act like an asshole, I'm not going to be sorry that I'm happy you lost.

For FJ I said "well New York rhymes with gore" because otherwise I had nothing.

[Browncoat]

I got arc and squall and probably a couple of other TS, but I was driven to distraction by Lauren's starting at the bottoms of the categories, and don't remember any others.  I'm glad she lost.

I was kind of rooting for Cory, though.  Too bad he couldn't come up with his DD.

FJ took me a second, but I got it in time to have written it down.

[SeanC]

I figured the song in Final Jeopardy was probably on the east coast and then thought about what the large cities in that region were to get the answer.

I also knew it was Eugene McCarthy, so that costly miss was painful to watch.

[chessiegal]

As soon as I saw the category for FJ I thought of Maryland because of the current controversy and rewriting of the second verse which refers to "Northern scum". Hee.

[Trey]

I felt badly for Cory that he couldn't come up with the DD answer, both for his own sake and because the game became a runaway.  But then I was annoyed with him for going to the lowest value clues when he really had to make up lost money.  Lauren's going to the highest clues first was extremely annoying.

I wrote down four TS's: Rosetti, Cavalier,  arc and George Strait but I'm pretty sure I had a few others.  I couldn't believe three teachers couldn't come up with a section of a circle that started with A and had two more letters.

I did get FJ, just by thinking of a large(ish) city that rhymed with gore.

[just prin]

Let's hear it for camel!