All Episodes Discussion: The Daily Double

[teebax]

I felt badly for Josiah. I think he was getting more and more frustrated about Cooper beating him on the buzzer and that led to him being more and more nervous. I usually root against board jumpers, but I couldn't root against that poor kid. 

 

I have no idea why Kat felt the need to bet anything in FJ. I wonder if she wasn't clear about how the tournament works. Her score going in to FJ would almost certainly have been enough to advance. You don't need to win; you just need to make the next level.

[YoureSoUrban]

How cute was Cooper?? Smart, polite and I loved the Don Quixote shoutout. Hope he makes it to the finals.

As much as he and Kat showed how well to play the game, Josiah showed how badly it can be played. Board jumping when he didn't know how the category worked, choosing high $ value clues and guessing incorrectly only gave Cooper and Kat more of a lead that he wouldn't be able to make up, and the buzzer stabbing likely increased his anxiety. I felt badly for him at FJ but i guess he learned that sometimes slow and steady wins the race.

[PaulaO]

I enjoy the Teen Tournament because the kids are so freakin' smart.  I was smart in high school but not as smart as these kids.  The games are easy for me because I'm 57 years old and know old stuff, but I'm a dummy when it comes to pop songs and fashion and technology.  Despite being raised Baptist, I had no clue to Monday's FJ.  I learned something from Cooper!  (and it's obvious now, but I was totally blank).

[proserpina65]

I did what I assume Kat did: got stuck on 'reformation' and couldn't get past that to 'protestant' even though knew the date was wrong for the Reformation, or at least the beginning of it.  (And I took a college class on the Reformation.)

Edited July 22, 2014 by proserpina65

[Biosynth]

Reformation locked into my brain and that was all I was thinking for FJ.  Oh well.  Looking forward to tonight's show.

[Bastet]

Maybe it helped to know next-to-nothing of the religion itself and just go by the wording of the clue?  Because I couldn't tell you anything about Protestantism, so the names and dates were meaningless to me, but the verbiage pointing to "protest" made it a cinch.  It might be one of those FJs were knowing only a little made it easier, like the time they had a clue about dog breeds - I only know a handful, so I couldn't over-think it.

[proserpina65]

Maybe it helped to know next-to-nothing of the religion itself and just go by the wording of the clue?

 

Yeah, sometimes knowing a lot about a subject makes me overthink it rather than concentrating on the clue.  I get stuck on one bit of info and can't work my way past it to the actual answer.

[yeswedo]

My guess was excommunication. Protestantism didn't even cross my mind.

[gwlisa]

Yeah, sometimes knowing a lot about a subject makes me overthink it rather than concentrating on the clue. I get stuck on one bit of info and can't work my way past it to the actual answer.

This. I do terribly on the legal categories. My dad has watched with me when that's come up and questions if I really paid attention in law school! I'm over thinking simple stuff. I am guessing easements or restrictive covenants when the answer is simply a lease, for instance.

This Erin teen tonight made me want to drink. She was wound tight with nerves. It made me feel anxious every time she rang in. I think if it were me I wouldn't start off choosing Katy Perry, just because it looks like that's all the girls know about.

Edited July 22, 2014 by gwlisa

[Bastet]

While it's certainly nice to see teenagers who can string a sentence together and who have stayed awake in school, all three of tonight's teens made me rather glad I don't generally spend time around their age cohort.

 

Marconi was hideously over-valued as a DD in DJ, and then the middle contestant didn't get it.  Even given her age, I was surprised by that - mostly because there didn't seem to be any flash of recognition once the answer was revealed - and there were a couple of TS that surprised me as well. 

 

But, then, I didn't know a single answer in the Katy Perry or YouTube videos categories.  Actually, I take that back - I correctly guessed "twerking."

 

FJ was an instaget for me, but I've been there; I can't say I'd have known that at their age.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Bastet

[ottoDbusdriver]

FJ was an instaget for me, but I've been there; I can't say I'd have known that at their age.

 

Erin's guess of the London Eye was terrible -- did she even read the clue where it said 1889 ?  I realize that she is barely older than the Eye, but come on. Plus I thought Erin came off in the interview as a little pompous with her maturing writing style while revising her novel.

 

Liked Jeff's enthusiasm, even though he didn't win.

 

Marconi was hideously over-valued as a DD in DJ, and then the middle contestant didn't get it.  Even given her age, I was surprised by that - mostly because there didn't seem to be any flash of recognition once the answer was revealed

 

After Alex relayed the correct answer, I was waiting for Selena to blurt out "Who ?".  She didn't seem to recognize the name at all.

Edited July 23, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[gwlisa]

Erin I hope will mature in real life and one day be chagrined about her bragging.

[M. Darcy]

 

FJ was an instaget for me

 

It did take me a second - my first thought was huh then it occurred to me Eiffel Tower!!  I think they do ask about the Eiffel Tower a lot. 

[teebax]

I really enjoyed Jeff tonight. His expressive face was just fun to watch - and I normally don't even pay attention to the contestants. His reaction to his FJ guffaw was pretty great as well. He's got perspective.

I thought that was cute. He tried to grab the pen and write in the missing letter. Too funny. 

 

I don't usually root against kids, but I found Erin to be annoying. She's the kind of kid I'd avoid in real life. I agree that maybe she'll mature and look back on her Jeopardy appearance with a bit of embarrassment. I was probably just as annoying at 16.

[ae2]

Eiffel Tower was an insta-get for me. I knew around what time it was built, and somewhere in the back of my mind knew it was built for a World Fair. But then I questioned it, not knowing that Buffalo Bill toured Europe with his show. (Duh!) I couldn't come up with a U.S. landmark that fit the bill, so I stuck with my gut.

 

But...

 

Erin's guess of the London Eye was terrible -- did she even read the clue where it said 1889 ?  I realize that she is barely older than the Eye, but come on. Plus I thought Erin came off in the interview as a little pompous with her maturing writing style while revising her novel.

 

Let's give her a little break here. What is so terrible with guessing the London Eye? It was built most likely the same year the contestant was born. So it isn't as if she would remember it being built. Nearly any movie or TV show that is set in London features an aerial view of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, and the London Eye, just like those in Paris feature the Eiffel Tower.

 

I could easily see someone thinking it has been around a lot longer than 15 years, especially someone young.

Additionally, the world's first Ferris wheel was built... in 1893... for a world's fair... and intended to rival the Eiffel Tower. It's not too far a stretch to imagine someone mixing up some of these details and thinking the London Eye was built around that time period.

It is also likely that the World's Fair part of the clue spurred the contestant toward thinking of the type of attractions you would see at a fair.

 

While the Eiffel Tower should be on the top of anyone's list when they think of World Landmarks, I don't see the London Eye as a terrible answer.

 

Her interview story did come across as bragging, but the kind of harmless bragging you expect from a teenager. And what would you rather have them talk about, the time they got detention for talking in English class?

 

Her mannerisms and constant interrupting were clearly caused by extreme nerves or anxiety. I found it kind of endearing. Overall the episode was really good for a teen tournament, and Jeff was also fun to watch.

Edited July 23, 2014 by ae2

[M. Darcy]

 

Let's give her a little break here. What is so terrible with guessing the London Eye? It was built most likely the same year the contestant was born.

 

I was thinking that also - the Eye has probably been around most of their lives since its now 14 years old.  Sigh. Now I feel old. 

[sugarbaker design]

Her mannerisms and constant interrupting were clearly caused by extreme nerves or anxiety. I found it kind of endearing.

 

 

Ditto.  I especially loved it when she didn't wait for the ruling and just kept on trucking!

[YoureSoUrban]

 

Liked Jeff's enthusiasm, even though he didn't win.

I liked him a lot too. In addition to the enthusiasm he did really well and was a good sport after his FJ flub.

 

I'm thinking that "as my writing matures" line was fed to Erin by a fawning parent or teacher and that was why she parotted it deadpan. Saying it with a bit of wink would have come over better but I think she's a little young to know that.

Edited July 24, 2014 by YoureSoUrban

[CarpeDiem54]

How cute and smart was little William?  Too many "kid specific" clues tonight.  That's the one thing I dislike about this tournament.

[scriggle]

 

Erin I hope will mature in real life and one day be chagrined about her bragging.

 

When she mentioned her novel, my first thought was she's been posting fanfic to ff.net.

[YoureSoUrban]

Really happy Alan won, and with a ton of money! I wouldn't have minded if Ananya(sp?) won; she was pretty sharp. I loved how she robbed Kevin of those high $ value clues AND the DDs. He aggravated me because of that and, for several of his incorrect answers, he didn't seem to really listen to the clue (like the Sleepy Hollow/Headless Horseman one).

[ottoDbusdriver]

Really happy Alan won, and with a ton of money! I wouldn't have minded if Ananya(sp?) won; she was pretty sharp. I loved how she robbed Kevin of those high $ value clues AND the DDs. He aggravated me because of that and, for several of his incorrect answers, he didn't seem to really listen to the clue (like the Sleepy Hollow/Headless Horseman one).

 

I was disappointed that Futurama was TS.    

[opus]

The clue after that was about Billy West, aka Fry.

[Abstract]

When she mentioned her novel, my first thought was she's been posting fanfic to ff.net.

I figured she probably did NaNoWriMo a couple of years ago.

[Gilmel]

I have no problem with her writing the London Eye. I mean, it was wrong, clearly. But I always feel it's better to write something than nothing. Nothing will never be correct. May as well say something.

 

And, I mean, O'Hare and Midway are not airports in Toronto, so even computers that know everything get obvious answers wrong.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Gilmel

[teebax]

People who like heavy metal are skinheads. As a black woman who loves metal, that made me howl!

[rereader2]

I had no problem with Erin talking about her novel--for one thing, it's a major undertaking even to get that many words down, and more power to her for trying, it's all a learning experience. I say good for her. (And no, I'm not related to her.)

 

And I agree with Gilmel, it's better to guess something on FJ than leaving it blank. (I got it wrong, too, I was stuck in the US!)

[sugarbaker design]

He aggravated me because of that and, for several of his incorrect answers,

 

 

My favorite was apartment number for 3BD, 3BA!

[ottoDbusdriver]

Since the two previous FJs have been a Harry Potter clue and a Hunger Games clue respectively, I hope that tonight isn't a Twilight clue.

 

I know that teens and tweens are the target markets for YA fiction, but how about a history question or a music question or a movie question for FJ -- anything else other than YA fiction, preferably something a little more challenging.

[Trey]

Very good game tonight.  The fellow on the far end made a couple of blunders but pulled it out by the end.  None of the three seemed to know the state capitals very well. 

 

Re FJ, I guessed facebook, it just seemed logical given the clue but I didn't really know it.

[YoureSoUrban]

 

My favorite was apartment number for 3BD, 3BA!

That was pure comedy.

 

Tonight was a good game. Once she got the buzzer down, Sydney killed it. I liked Sam too. Glad they all made it to the next round.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Good to see that all 3 contestants tonight made it to the semi-finals next week -- I wonder if the seeding will produce any rematches (wouldn't it be funny if all 3 of them were in the same match again -- it could happen)?

 

Jeff from earlier in the week made it as a wildcard as well.

Edited July 26, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[opus]

1) Give the kids a $100,000 prize. It looks much better, and the show can certainly afford it.

2) Glad the little guy got the wild card, so I could see him hop off his box.

[Gilmel]

Kat from Monday got a wildcard, too, so that made me happy.

[ae2]

Alex is good with the teenagers, much better than the little kids.  But I cringed last night when he announced that the contestant next to him was the shortest in the whole tournament.  Doesn't he know that teenagers don't like having anything physical pointed out about them?  Did we need to know he was on a 3 ft. box?  He certainly handled it well - didn't seeem to bother him.  I was so glad that all 3 made it - thought that last game was the best of the week.  All these teenagers seemed so personable - made me miss teaching.  Nothing better than teenagers when they're all working with you amicably.....

 

My assumption was that the teenager's fact card was "I play basketball despite being five feet nothing."

[peeayebee]

I wasn't going to watch this tournament, but I decided to watch last night's game. I'm glad I did. I thought all three contestants were great. All were poised and personable, and each one had at least one period where they were on a roll.

 

For the answer to the clue with St. Vladimir's in it, I didn't understand what Sydney said. I thought it was Empire Academy, and I'd never heard of that. I googled St. Vladimir's and came up with Vampire Academy. I hadn't heard of that either.

 

I thought Joe was going to have his points taken away for saying 'student union' instead of just 'union' since the second part of the clue had to do with a teacher's union.

 

So now I'm looking forward to next week's games.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I thought Joe was going to have his points taken away for saying 'student union' instead of just 'union' since the second part of the clue had to do with a teacher's union.

 

So now I'm looking forward to next week's games.

 

They have been rather lenient with some of the answers given by the contestants -- there was one earlier about the pedal in a car used make it go forward (or something along that line), and the contestant answered 'what is accelerate' and they gave it to him because it was similar to accelerator.  I've never heard the brake pedal referred to as a 'bra' or the clutch pedal referred to as a 'clu' -- would either of those have been accepted as correct in a similar situation ?  I doubt it.

[rereader2]

But accelerate IS a real verb, just as brake and clutch are.

[Bastet]

The clue sought the noun, so I, too, thought accepting accelerate in place of accelerator was a stretch.  "Want to go faster?  Step on it!"  The "it" in question = accelerator.  However, in thinking on it some more, I can see accepting his answer on the reasoning that "Step on it!" - especially with the exclamation point - could have been interpreted as an instruction to do this, meaning accelerate, rather than literally seeking the "it" in question.  (The category merely called for words with "cc" in them.)

Edited July 28, 2014 by Bastet

[teebax]

I am enjoying this tournament as well, although it does point out to me how woefully out of touch I am with what teens are listening to and reading. When that Katy Perry category came up, I knew that unless they asked about 'I Kissed a Girl' or 'Roar' I was sunk. Then they asked about a music video and I tried to remember the last time I saw a music video. Other than 'Word Crimes' by Weird Al, which someone sent me a link for (and I highly recommend), I couldn't think of a music video made after the 1990s that I've seen!

 

I read and saw The Hunger Games. I've never read any of the Harry Potter books, although other adult friends of mine recommended I do so. Nor did I know what Vampire Academy is. I don't hate on YA fiction because I'm happy when I see anyone reading anything. If it gets kids away from video games, iPads, cell phones, etc., I'm all for it.

 

One final thought: I was glad all three made it on Friday. I always feel bad during a tournament when the two people who lost the last game have to stand there while they announce the contestants who are moving forward.

[ajsnaves]

On the Jean Valjean, did any one else yell at the TV that he did not get 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread?  It was five years for what he did.  The rest because tried to run.

 

I am enjoying this tournament, although it was a bit depressing to see a triple stumper on my Milwaukee Brewers and Futurama.  I don't think any of the kids who made it to the this week have annoyed me, and would be happy to see any of them win.  Although I think I am rooting for Jeff.  I liked his energy, and his just happy to be there attitude.

[DXD526]

I don't think any of the kids who made it to the this week have annoyed me, and would be happy to see any of them win.

 

Ditto. A nice bunch with no attitudes. Friday's trio was particularly cute, but maybe that's just because they're still fresh in my mind. At the end when she was standing next to Alex, Sydney was smiling so hard I was afraid her face might shatter! There was a lot of that kind of thing last week. It's been a fun watch.

 

And aside from something like the Katy Perry category, which I FF'ed through because I knew I wouldn't know any, I think the caliber of questions (answers?) is tougher than usual. More general-knowledge type stuff and less of the teen-oriented. I don't know as many as I usually do in the Teen Tourney; that may be on me, but it seems a bit more challenging than in the past.

[opus]

If the adults can get a Madonna video category, the kids can have a Katy Perry one.

[gwlisa]

That high school junior in the middle (Asian boy with the suit) was SO. EXCITED. That was really adorable that he couldn't keep a poker face when he realized he was going to win.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Way to go Jeff !!  Pulls out the lead with that DD (the 2nd last question of the DJ round).

 

I thought he was going to bust there as he was waiting for Alex to read his answer.

[ali59]

I was afraid Jeff was going to hyperventilate and pass out!  All three did a great job tonight!

[peeayebee]

I swear, when they showed the statue of Nathan Hale, I thought it was Neil Patrick Harris.

 

I was disappointed that no one knew Hot Pocket and therefore missed the opportunity to say, "HAHHHHT Pockets!"

 

It was cute at the end when Alex was adjusting Jeff's jacket cuffs.

[YoureSoUrban]

Jeff is so genuinely excited to participate in this, and most of the kids have been really sharp -- I think the Teen Tournament has finally won me over!  

However, I thought it was wack for them to take $ away from Sydney because she said "a" instead of "the" for the teenager question, especially since in one of the earlier games some girl got credit for a question about "KBE". She says "knight" and Alex says "That's correct, Knight of the British Empire". She got one word of the answer and it's correct? Shady...

[Tigershark]

I really hope none of my friends who just graduated from law school were watching Jeopardy tonight.  Did Jeopardy really need to include a clue about the bar exam, THE DAY BEFORE the freakin' bar exam?  I would have been freaked out by that.  Then again, I got freaked out anytime there was a press conference at the SD Civic Center and the marque that had the dates for the CA bar exam was visible in the background.  

[proserpina65]

However, I thought it was wack for them to take $ away from Sydney because she said "a" instead of "the" for the teenager question, especially since in one of the earlier games some girl got credit for a question about "KBE". She says "knight" and Alex says "That's correct, Knight of the British Empire". She got one word of the answer and it's correct? Shady

 

I know they're usually quite particular about getting titles of shows, movies, books, etc. correct, so normally I wouldn't have a problem with them dinging Sydney for changing a word EXCEPT that a few weeks ago they gave credit for a correct answer to someone who answered "what's the Monty Python show?"  when the actual title was "Monty Python's Flying Circus"!  The powers that be seemed to have gotten very erratic about this lately.