All Episodes Discussion: The Daily Double

[proserpina65]

Well that was unexpected!  And disappointing, as I was looking forward to Julia kicking Arthur Chu's ass.  Oh well, maybe she'll make one of the wild card spots.

 

I did pretty well in the game, but missed the FJ.  I stink at political stuff and knew the Constitution wouldn't be a good one for me.  BUT - I work in the court system, and use "HC" as shorthand for issuing a writ of Habeas Corpus on file copies of court assignment notices all the time.  So I should've know that FJ and felt really stupid when the correct response was revealed.

[proserpina65]

The triple stumpers that surprised me were conjunctiva, HELOC (home equity) and Ten Little Indians (although, given the original even more pejorative rhyme, I'm a bit surprised they used that at all).  Plumeria and AMC somewhat.

 

I knew conjunctivitis was the inflammation in question but couldn't quite come up with the correct name of the body part involved; I was close (conjunctivita) but that was just a guess and wrong of course.  Home equity and AMC did surprise me.  Plumeria not so much, since I also said "hibiscus" despite knowing that wasn't the flower in the picture.  I got 10 Little Indians confused with A Pocketful of Rye, also by Agatha Christie and also based on an old nursery rhyme.  Still, I would've expected fewer TS clues in a TOC.

[peeayebee]

I'm kinda surprised plumeria was a TS, but then again I lived in Hawaii for three years when I was in grade school.  Plumeria leis are ubiquitous there.  The flower is so common and it's very easy to sew them into a lei, plus they smell so good.  This is the third TS in recent memory of a high valued clue that would be extremely easy for someone from Hawaii, but more challenging for someone unfamiliar with Hawaii.

I live in Southern California, and there are lots of plumeria trees here. I love them. They're also called frangipani. 

[alias1]

I'm totally in the minority but I liked Arthur Chu in his original appearances and I liked him even better this time.  I always found Julia kind of smug and never understood all the love for her.  She was just very fast on the buzzer.  I'm glad Arthur will be back.  Maybe Julia will be too, but I'm really glad the guy in the middle won.  (I guess I'll duck now.)

[dcalley]

Will they bring back Julia for a future tournament?

I think she could only come back for a special tournament, something like the Battle of the Decades or the Ultimate Tournament of Champions.

[PaulaO]

I could not stand Arthur in his first go round (me and a bazillion others) but it seems he took the criticism to heart and mellowed.  I still don't like starting categories in the middle, but he wasn't so hell bent competitive and didn't give others the stink eye when they buzzed in before him.  I hope Julia gets a wild card.  A head to head between her and Arthur would be awesome.

[mojoween]

I don't know Alex, would YOU like a bigger beta?

I'm sure Terry is a lovely girl, but that voice. I'm not trying to be mean, but her voice!

Drew said he asked his girlfriend to marry him, but didn't say what the answer was. Now I'm curious.

Julia would have wiped the floor with these kids. There is still hope for her for a wildcard, isn't there?

And is Sandy going to be on tomorrow? It seems like she won enough but maybe not.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Based on today's match, I think Julia may have a shot as a wildcard.

 

Wow -- so many triple stumpers, and Drew crashed and burned out of the FJ round.

 

That Women's lit category was a complete washout for me - I didn't get any of them.

 

ETA: @mojoween is right -- Julia would have wiped the floor with these kids.

Edited November 14, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[Chicken Wing]

Julia would have wiped the floor with these kids. There is still hope for her for a wildcard, isn't there?

 

I think so. A previous poster said she was in 2nd among the non-winners, yes? Today's one non-winner finished below her so she's still in 2nd, so even if tomorrow's two "losers" have more than her she'll be 4th so she would make it in.

[chessiegal]

I was cooking dinner during the show, but I figured there were a lot of TS, because I could hear my husband yelling at the TV. Team Julia. Hope she makes it.

[GreekGeek]

Based on today's match, I think Julia may have a shot as a wildcard.

 

Wow -- so many triple stumpers, and Drew crashed and burned out of the FJ round.

 

That Women's lit category was a complete washout for me - I didn't get any of them.

 

 

I knew "The Women's Room," but I was confused when Wilkie Collins' name turned up next. I thought the category title referred to literature by women, not works with "woman" or "women" in the title.

 

I too was surprised by how many TS's there were. It's tough to hit that middle ground between "That was a ToC question? I'd put it in the kids' tourney!" and making the questions so hard that everyone stands there awkwardly for question after question, or guesses wrong.

[opus]

I think so. A previous poster said she was in 2nd among the non-winners, yes? Today's one non-winner finished below her so she's still in 2nd, so even if tomorrow's two "losers" have more than her she'll be 4th so she would make it in.

Yes. Julia, at 9100, in second place wild card , can do no worse than 4th. She's advancing. Julia-lovers don't have to waste time rooting against anyone tomorrow.

Edited November 14, 2014 by GaryE

[chessiegal]

My husband I are sailors. He told me about the sailing category - no wonder he was yelling at the TV!

[HelenBaby]

Tonight's game was awful. WTH happened to Drew? I thought he was going to wipe the floor with those girls.

[peeayebee]

Drew looked so disgusted with himself.

 

That was a painful game to watch.

 

I didn't understand the audience reaction after Alex said, "Don't you want a bigger betta?"

[proserpina65]

I must've been having some sort of weird brain malfunction last night because, although I did pretty well overall, there was a category which just had my name written all over it - Come Sail Away (I love sailing ships and consider this an excellent subject for me; the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic era is something of an obsession) - and I got exactly 2 answers right, yardarm and ratlines.  I knew jib, bulkhead and tiller, but for some reason  I just couldn't come up with those words.  I blame the government.  Or aliens.

 

And yes, that was a brutal game.  It didn't seem to me that the categories and clues were that hard, but the contestants really struggled with them.  Poor Drew - he just screwed himself over with the Daily Double late in the second round; there was no practical way to recover from that.

Edited November 14, 2014 by proserpina65

[Abstract]

Drew was like a different person this time compared to his original run. I noticed it even before he started playing badly. He acted so serious and his answers were so soft I could barely hear him.

[Roaster]

Julia is in!  Her fan club can rest easy for a few more days.  I wonder how Julia fandom affects the show's ratings.

 

And here's an optimistic bit for Julia fans: both teams in this year's World Series got into the playoffs as wildcards.  Neither finished first in their divisions in the regular season.  Anything can happen in any given game...

[ottoDbusdriver]

You could tell that Mark played for the wildcard by betting such a low amount.  But today's match was the best of the week -- everyone did well despite the amount of wrong answers and TS so all 3 made to the semi-finals.

 

I can't believe that they showed pictures of Stephen King and Don Rickles in the Jeopardy round, and to make matters worse in the Not Pop Group/Pop Group category they literally showed a picture of an arcade and a fire. Though that picture of Duncan Fyfe in the Furniture category in the DJ round didn't help me at all.

[dcalley]

Yay, Mark and Sandie!

[mojoween]

I was out tonight and totally forgot to set the DVR but I am glad to see that Julia is in! I hope she learned from her experience in the last game, heh.

And Sandie too, sorry I missed her.

[YoureSoUrban]

You could tell that Mark played for the wildcard by betting such a low amount.

I actually couldn't but thanks for letting me know! I'm pretty bad at betting strategy other than when they beat someone by $1.

Edited November 15, 2014 by YoureSoUrban

[peeayebee]

I enjoyed that Pop Group category. I wasn't as fast as the contestants, but it was fun.

[Chicken Wing]

You could tell that Mark played for the wildcard by betting such a low amount.

 

I actually couldn't but thanks for letting me know! I'm pretty bad at betting strategy other than when they beat someone by $1.

 

I thought "What'd he bet that silly amount for?" Yeah, I forgot regular game strategy doesn't really apply here. You don't need to win; you just need to win enough.

[rubaco]

I also remember liking Sandie a lot on her first run. She seemed a little discombobulated last night but I'm glad she's in. She'll regroup for the next round. 

 

Rooting for either her or Julia for the ultimate win!

[Mumbles]

Julia's in, maybe we'll learn what the hell a "supply chain specialist" is. She couldn't explain it when she was on the first time. Maybe she's figured it out by now.

Arthur may be an asshole, but at least he owns it. And he doesn't have a dorky bunch of fans in corny t-shirts cheering him on. GAG.

[Tunia]

Sandie greatly reminds me of a very dear long-term friend of mine, so it's been a particular pleasure to watch her compete.  She just seems like such a lovely person all around.  I do think her nerves were showing in the beginning, but she seemed to recover in time, and she was so thrilled to be a Wild Card.

 

I'd be pleased to see either Sandie or Julia win TOC.

 

FJ, tho?  Way too easy!  I'm not great in the Opera category, but Hansel & Gretel was an insta-get for me, just by the "flavor" of the clue.

[Prevailing Wind]

 

George Reeves, Christopher Reeve.  I never can remember which one gets the 's'.

Longer first name, shorter last name.

[Bastet]

I missed the last two episodes, and just read through the clues of Thursday's game on the archive.  Wow.  That must have been painful to watch with all those TS.  I'll admit, many of them stumped me, too, but some surprised me.  That Lawrence Welk = the accordion was probably the biggest, but stole for furry fashion (in the category about words made from the letters found in obsolete), The Women of Brewster Place, Mark Twain, and Marilyn French as the author of The Women's Room also surprised me, as did the giant egg they laid in the sailing category.  My motion sickness ensures I'll never get on a sailboat in my life, yet I somehow knew all those terms.  They only got one between the three of them.

[backgroundnoise]

I'm totally in the minority but I liked Arthur Chu in his original appearances and I liked him even better this time.  I always found Julia kind of smug and never understood all the love for her.

ITA.  And on a shallow note, I find her voice nasal and whiny sounding.

 

I never understood all the Arthur hate.  I remember at least twice during his original run he went for the tie instead of the win.  Did Julia ever do that?

[Mumbles]

 

ITA.  And on a shallow note, I find her voice nasal and whiny sounding.

 

Totally agree on Julia. I found her success run mystifying. When Ken Jennings went on his run, there were times I thought, how the hell did he pull that answer out of his hat? I NEVER felt that way with Julia. It was almost as if she got on a run of shows where the questions were really easy, and she was really fast. And for some reason, the other contestants during that period weren't that good.  The triple stumpers during her run - and even during this last game - I was always like, wtf, she doesn't know that? In her first game, she didn't know Saint Patrick was patron saint of Ireland. I mean, that's a Kids Week question.

 

It helped her that she came after Arthur's run, who was very polarizing. She seemed pretty pleasant in comparison and developed a following. (And she doesn't jump the board, which is the only thing I like about her game.)

 

I think her mediocre performance this week is more indicative of her knowledge level than her run.

 

[Also - Arthur's choice to go for ties was actually strategic, and not charitable. He did so because he knew he could beat the person he was giving the tie to, which meant he only got one contestant the next day whose game would be unknown to him.]

 

Edited November 16, 2014 by Mumbles

[Bastet]

[Also - Arthur's choice to go for ties was actually strategic, and not charitable. He did so because he knew he could beat the person he was giving the tie to, which meant he only got one contestant the next day whose game would be unknown to him.]

 

I thought that was smart strategy -- take less money for that one game, but still add to his winnings, plus stick around to play against one competitor he believed he had a good chance of beating and one whose play and knowledge were unknown, yes, but who would also be new to game conditions.

 

There was something Arthur did the first time around that bugged me, but I can't remember what it was.  Whatever it was, he didn't do it this time.

[DXD526]

I'm not going to dump on a 20-game winner, that's a pretty impressive accomplishment. One thing I did notice was that Julia seemed a little cocky in the first round the other day, like she expected to win. She looked less so in DJ, when she failed to work up a big lead. 

 

Still like her, though, and Sandie. I've read some of Arthur's blog pieces and thought they were very good. Maybe I'd like him as a person, but I can't stand his playing style. Not only do I loathe DD hunting/board jumping, I also find it totally unexciting to finish a round with a bunch of low-denomination questions. So as a fan of the show, I can't root for Arthur. Seems like a nice guy, though.

 

Depressing that Gilda Radner was a TS.

[peeayebee]

 Not only do I loathe DD hunting/board jumping, I also find it totally unexciting to finish a round with a bunch of low-denomination questions.

That's a good point. I feel the same. It's anti-climactic.

[Prevailing Wind]

I agree about ending the round with low-value clues.  And I definitely agree about Gilda.  I miss her.

 

I feel fortunate...I had to go to a condo board meeting on Tuesday & missed Arthur Chu.  hahahaha.  I'm not sure I'd like him any better than I did before.  We'll see this week...

[ByaNose]

Hopefully, Julia recovered between her loss for the semifinal round. I can't recall her total but I think she barely squeezed her way in there. I'm rooting her on. She seems so nice.

[proserpina65]

Bastet, perhaps what bugged you about Arthur in his early run was his constant tapping, drumming on the console - like "hurry up and let's get back to me."  Perhaps it was when anyone else buzzed in and he gave them the sidewise hard look. Perhaps it was just his disdainful look when someone got the right answer.  So much to choose form other than the constant hopping around on the board......

The board hopping was actually the least annoying thing about him to me.  (I am a huge fan of Chuck Forrest who pretty much perfected that technique in the 80s.)  For me, it was the smugness, the disdainful looks and the "it's about me, don't you know?" attitude that I disliked so much that I stopped watching until he was gone.  Hopefully someone will take him out in the semis so that I don't have to watch him for any longer than 1 more game.

[chessiegal]

I refuse to watch any show with Arthur on. Life's too short.

[Bastet]

No, I really didn’t share any of the usual complaints about Arthur; it was something random.  Maybe he was the one who kept looking off to the side, but not in the direction where their monitors are?  Someone did that and I found it distracting.

 

I do remember Arthur’s “damn, someone beat me to the buzzer” stink eye, though; that’s probably something I’d have to consciously suppress.

[proserpina65]

I didn't see Friday's Jeopardy because I was out, but looking at the clue, I would've gotten the FJ, and made a really big bet on it because opera is one of my very best categories.

 

Thursday's FJ was a wash for me.  I realized they were looking for two Japanese islands, but the only Japanese island I know is Honshu.

[backgroundnoise]

Perhaps it was when anyone else buzzed in and he gave them the sidewise hard look.

I just thought this was just looking at the person speaking thing, out of habit or courtesy.  I didn't think it was a "hard" look, or sneering. 

 

The questions in this tournament seem particularly hard to me.  I'm not that surprised at the low scores. 

 

[Bastet]

I just read the clues from Friday's game on the archive since I, too, missed it, and I'm confused as to why Jared was ruled correct in the "College Knowledge" clue -- it was looking for Northwestern and Northeastern ("these two 'directional' colleges"), and he only answered Northwestern, but Alex said, "Okay, we'll give it to you."  Why?  Because the clue read "One of these two 'directional colleges' ..." they let him get away with misreading it and thinking he only needed one of the two?  I'm tired of reading the clue correctly not being part of the game.

 

Gilda Radner was a surprising - and depressing - TS.  (Ayn Rand being a TS is surprising, too, but rather gratifying.)  Magellan was quite surprising, too.  Chiapas less so, but still something I'd have thought at least one of them would know.  No one knowing the president of Venezuela was, unfortunately, not surprising, but even I - having a bit of a thing for knowing world leaders - took a bit to bring the name from my brain to my mouth.  (Yes, I answer aloud even when reading the clues.)

 

And, really - pictures of Don Rickles, Wanda Sykes, and Stephen King?  Or even nesting tables?  I hate clues like that.

 

But, on the other end of the spectrum, I loved the "Not a Pop Group, Yet a Pop Group" category.

 

I stunk at identifying the TV shows by killer characters -- Twin Peaks was the only one I watched.

 

I had already seen reference to Hansel and Gretel here, so I can't accurately judge myself on the FJ, but I don't think I'd have come up with it -- I know it exists, but am not at all familiar with it as a fairy tale or opera, so I don't think their names would have popped into my head.

[Prevailing Wind]

As I recall the directional college thing, Jared responded first with Northwestern.  When Alex prompted him for more, he said Northwestern University.  With Alex still staring at him, not ruling him correct, it dawned on him and he was in the middle of saying Northeastern when the buzzer went off.  It wasn't whether he got the question right or wrong; it was the timing that Alex/Judges forgave.

[Bastet]

Ah, good to know.  On the heels of accepting the mascot when the clue was looking for the team, I was afraid they'd done something like that again.

[Roaster]

Good game today.

 

College champ didn't ring in all that much, but she got it right when she did.

 

Jared took some chances - I suppose that was a good strategy - but they didn't pay off for him.

 

I would never have got FJ.  I guessed Manila.

 

Julia fans can rejoice.  Maybe a Julia-Arthur matchup awaits us on Thursday.

 

[Trey]

I thought of Churchill, NZ but then switched to Manila - maybe I would have come to Wellington if I had thought more about NZ. 

 

Congrats to Julia!

 

ETA:  It was Christchurch, NZ I was thinking of but got confused with Churchill - no wonder I never got to Wellington!

Edited November 18, 2014 by Trey

[gwlisa]

I loved the burst of excitement from the audience when Julia won. She has such a sunny disposition that I love watching her. Even if no one knew that a life preserver is called a Mae West! I was born in the 80s and even knew that. But there was plenty I didn't get so I can't get too upset. The TS lately have been surprising.

[mojoween]

Yay! Sooooo excited. I'm pretty sure she is my favorite Jeopardy! player EVER. Sorry Ken.

[HelenBaby]

I was disappointed that none of them knew The Third Man, but yay Julia!

[ByaNose]

Way to go, Julia! She is awesome & I'm quite smitten. She was soooooo happy & that makes me even happier.