Jeopardy! Season 34 (2017-2018)

[DrSpaceman73]

Apparently Nero built quite a few things in Rome during his time as emperor.  In fact the old fable of "fiddling while Rome burned" , while not likely true, he wasn't even in Rome at the time, was more based on the fact he may have tried to burn old stuff that was in the way so he could build stuff he wanted. 

I knew the answer though based on the year.  It seemed about the time he was emperor.  Far too late in the first century to be Augustus 

[bad things are bad]

Quote

I think I need to get around to watching Gone with the Wind.

Definitely see it. So many iconic scenes and despite hand-painted scenery (I can't unsee that in The Wizard of Oz!) it's beautiful in many ways. Also an interesting perspective on attitudes at the time with the glorification of the KKK and hatred of the Yankees, the belief that slaves were happier as slaves.  

Plus Goddess knows it will come up in Jeopardy again :)

[proserpina65]

47 minutes ago, bad things are bad said:

Definitely see it. So many iconic scenes and despite hand-painted scenery (I can't unsee that in The Wizard of Oz!) it's beautiful in many ways. Also an interesting perspective on attitudes at the time with the glorification of the KKK and hatred of the Yankees, the belief that slaves were happier as slaves.  

Plus Goddess knows it will come up in Jeopardy again :)

It helps if you realize that you're not really supposed to like Scarlett O'Hara.  Maybe admire her strength and resolve, but not like her as a person.

[teebax]

The former champ reminds me of Jack's mom on Will & Grace. 

I was rooting for Alice for selfish reasons. I think she's gorgeous. 

Anyway, my gets were Catherine, calm before the storm, quarterback, running back, Rosie O'Donnell, Chuck Yeager, and TWA. I got Fj immediately. 

Too bad they're not football fans. I'd have liked to see that whole category. 

[Conotocarious]

Boy, is it tiresome to see Jeopardy contestants know nothing about sports. Totally cliche. The categories are always the ones that aren’t finished and it’s one of my strongest. Get a clue, contestants.

[mojoween]

FJ was an instaget.

I blame that girl in the middle for asking for the entire category name plus saying “please Alex” every freaking time for not getting to all the NFL clues.  Which apparently only we would have known the answers to.

Chuck Yeager came to me at the very last minute.

[Conotocarious]

I’m still so annoyed at the NFLers category. I’m guessing the 200 answer was kicker and the 1000 was linebacker.

[mojoween]

7 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

Goddess knows it will come up in Jeopardy again :)

Like tonight, for instance!

Okay so I don’t know anything about classical music so why did that lady say she “had” to say Mozart?  And then she said Brahms, so why couldn’t she just say that in the first place?

I’m going to pretend she and Alex were not speaking in terrible German accents.

Edited December 5, 2017 by mojoween

[Driad]

Q:  If April flowers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

A:  Pilgrims.

[DrScottie]

36 minutes ago, mojoween said:

FJ was an instaget.

I blame that girl in the middle for asking for the entire category name plus saying “please Alex” every freaking time for not getting to all the NFL clues.  Which apparently only we would have known the answers to.

Chuck Yeager came to me at the very last minute.

I had a few of the "Where's Waldo?" books growing up so instaget for me too. 

Chuck Yeager is on those famous firsts listings for breaking the sound barrier. Like first person in Space, on the Moon, circumnavigate the globe, run the 4 minute mile, etc. Those often comes up. 

51 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

Boy, is it tiresome to see Jeopardy contestants know nothing about sports. Totally cliche. The categories are always the ones that aren’t finished and it’s one of my strongest. Get a clue, contestants.

It seemed all of them knew they'd suck at the NFL positions category leaving it until the end.  It's not like trivia knowledge and sports should be mutually exclusive. Sports Jeopardy! is a show by itself so there's clearly overlap. 

18 minutes ago, Driad said:

Q:  If April flowers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

A:  Pilgrims.

Being from Massachusetts, I have heard that one quite a bit. 

Edited December 5, 2017 by DrScottie

[YoureSoUrban]

Good for Kyle. I think he’s adorably nerdy plus I was super annoyed Lisa and Alice left all those damn clues on the board with their "I’ll take+full category name + please" nonsense. Lisa knew better because she stopped doing it toward the end of DJ. I liked her in previous games but if that was a delay tactic on her part, that's shady.

For TS I got Calm before the storm, quarterback, running back, The Russians are Coming!, Chuck Yeager (whenever a clue is about speed, I default to him), and TWA. FJ was an instaguess but I felt unsure because for some reason I thought it was a TV show rather than a series of books. Think I was mixing that up with Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego...

[ClareWalks]

53 minutes ago, mojoween said:

 

I blame that girl in the middle for asking for the entire category name plus saying “please Alex” every freaking time for not getting to all the NFL clues.  Which apparently only we would have known the answers to.

Amen! I was like "abbreviate, ya damn Girl Scout!"

[saber5055]

With all the discussion here about writing the "what is" "who is" for FJ, this FJ was a question in itself. Plus it was stupidly easy. If anyone missed that, take away their ticket to living. As for GWTW, I highly recommend seeing it in a theater if possible. It was made in the 30s for heavens sake, CGI hadn't been invented yet, and, as we like to say, "times were different." Watch, learn and create your own takeaway.

[Grundoon59]

"Emergency! Emergency! Everyone to get from streets!"

Russians is one of my all time favorite movies.  So bummed it was a TS.  It made it hard to root for anyone.  

[PaulaO]

1 hour ago, Driad said:

Q:  If April flowers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

A:  Pilgrims.

An oldie but goodie.  I said the same riddle when the clue was revealed.  And finally, someone knew Gone With The Wind!

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Okay so I don’t know anything about classical music so why did that lady say she “had” to say Mozart?  And then she said Brahms, so why couldn’t she just say that in the first place?

I suspect it was because she ran the Mozart category in her first game.

I was sad that Russians! was a TS, too!  And surprised that new champ missed Chuck Yeager.  Not so surprised that TWA was a TS, though.  It's been gone for a while.

As with most of y'all, FJ was an instaget.

[DrScottie]

54 minutes ago, YoureSoUrban said:

FJ was an instaguess but I felt unsure because for some reason I thought it was a TV show rather than a series of books. Think I was mixing that up with Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego...

Waldo did have a cartoon with his girlfriend Wenda and his nemesis Odlaw (Waldo spelled backwards), but the books came first. Maybe you were thinking of that. 

Also, Carmen Sandiego had a PBS game show and a cartoon that was quite excellent. 

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, Grundoon59 said:

"Emergency! Emergency! Everyone to get from streets!"

Russians is one of my all time favorite movies.  So bummed it was a TS.  It made it hard to root for anyone.  

I saw that movie in a theater when it came out originally. Yes, I'm that old. (I was very young at the time, however.) I haven't seen it since. Honestly, the biggest thing I remember from it was a scene where the hunky Russian guy smiled with chocolate cake in his mouth.

FJ was super easy. I also got the calm before the storm, The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, TWA, and the DD of Chuck Yeager. (I believe there was a scene in The Right Stuff where he falls off his horse.) 

I couldn't remember James Ellroy's name. The closet I got was James... while gripping my head in my hands.

I was happy to see Kyle win since he was behind at the beginning. A nice comeback. 

[Fex]

3 hours ago, teebax said:

Too bad they're not football fans. I'd have liked to see that whole category. 

I know nothing about sports, and I would really liked to have seen the whole category. I play a lot of trivia, and do crossword puzzles, so I need to absorb at least some sport info! Crosswords are how I knew TWA.

1 hour ago, YoureSoUrban said:

Good for Kyle. I think he’s adorably nerdy plus I was super annoyed Lisa and Alice left all those damn clues on the board with their "I’ll take+full category name + please" nonsense. Lisa knew better because she stopped doing it toward the end of DJ. I liked her in previous games but if that was a delay tactic on her part, that's shady.

Especially Alice with the QE II category. It was like it was a meaningless series of symbols to her.

[GenerationX]

I get tired of Sports questions left on the board.

My wife, son #1 (who has decided to play with us everyday), and I all swept the Geography Begins with Letter category and FJ.

I got Mickey.

[biakbiak]

My grandfather loved The Russians are Coming, The Russians are coming so it being one of the few videos that existed in their house when they got a VCR, I have probably seen it more than any other human being ever.

[DrSpaceman73]

So upset they didn't get to the NFL questions.  Easy money for me. 

My wife typically has no interest in jeopardy and just watches because she like to see WOF after it, she got FJ and said "That must be an easy one if I know it".  She is smart, but just not into trivia. 

And ANOTHER Gone with the Wind question?  The writers are obsessed with that movie/book. 

I am beginning to think if one had the time to do so and desire, you could write down all the questions over say 6 months, study them and come up with a core set of knowledge and topics that would cover a majority of the questions they ask.  I have been tempted to do this for the last year, I just don't have the time

[biakbiak]

6 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

am beginning to think if one had the time to do so and desire, you could write down all the questions over say 6 months, study them and come up with a core set of knowledge and topics that would cover a majority of the questions they ask.  I have been tempted to do this for the last year, I just don't have the time

Definitely. We get the previous year recorded on our TiVo and so will sometimes watch because we don’t remember the questions but several questions/answers come up very close together in the repeats even though aired a year ago. 

[DrScottie]

12 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

So upset they didn't get to the NFL questions.  Easy money for me. 

My wife typically has no interest in jeopardy and just watches because she like to see WOF after it, she got FJ and said "That must be an easy one if I know it".  She is smart, but just not into trivia. 

And ANOTHER Gone with the Wind question?  The writers are obsessed with that movie/book. 

I am beginning to think if one had the time to do so and desire, you could write down all the questions over say 6 months, study them and come up with a core set of knowledge and topics that would cover a majority of the questions they ask.  I have been tempted to do this for the last year, I just don't have the time

It's a good strategy. In fact, that's precisely the tactic Roger Craig used to win. You don't have to write them down yourself though.

The Jeopardy! fan archive has done a wonderful job at compiling all of that info. He mined that Jeopardy! archive and figured out what categories and clues are most frequently asked and studied all the gaps in his knowledge set.  

[Clanstarling]

13 hours ago, mojoween said:

Chuck Yeager came to me at the very last minute.

I said "Shepard" - to which my husband said, "No, he played Yeager in the Right Stuff" LOL

13 hours ago, Conotocarious said:

I’m still so annoyed at the NFLers category. I’m guessing the 200 answer was kicker and the 1000 was linebacker.

When the board came up I said, well except for quarterback, the only player whose position I can name is Fred Bilitnikoff. I laughed when it came up. I haven't followed football since his days on the field.

[Good Queen Jane]

I also saw The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming when it first came out and it is still one of my favorite movies. The scenes when the townspeople and the Russians work together to rescue the little boy and then help the Russians escape have messages we could really use in the current climate. Not only that, I have the soundtrack on a vinyl record. Yes, I am very old. Now get off my lawn!

[Prevailing Wind]

14 hours ago, Grundoon59 said:

"Emergency! Emergency! Everyone to get from streets!"

Russians is one of my all time favorite movies.  So bummed it was a TS.  It made it hard to root for anyone.  

That's exactly what I yelled when the clue came up. (Except I pronounced it "strits.") And, yeah, John Phillip Law with a chocolate-cake-smile is unforgettable. (And, apparently, unavailable in Google images.)(Lots of pics of him as the angel in Barbarella, though.)

I always get James Ellroy & Elmore Leonard confused...it's the "El" that befuddles me. I said "Chuck" but it took a little while longer for "Yeager" to pop into my head.

[bad things are bad]

All three contestants looked like they weren't football people, and they weren't

Chuck Yeager was stationed for a while at the AF Base we lived at in Germany. I heard an airman comment that once he got there, it was amazing that all of a sudden everybody who worked on the flight line acquired a Southern accent so they'd sound more like him!

[proserpina65]

17 hours ago, mojoween said:

Like tonight, for instance!

Okay so I don’t know anything about classical music so why did that lady say she “had” to say Mozart?  And then she said Brahms, so why couldn’t she just say that in the first place?

I’m going to pretend she and Alex were not speaking in terrible German accents.

Probably because she ran the Mozart category during her first game.

17 hours ago, Driad said:

Q:  If April flowers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

A:  Pilgrims.

Or the Colts.  Although that's not a joke to tell in Baltimore.

[Toothbrush]

Lisa was a good champion, but Kyle seems good too. He had a great DJ round. 

TS I got were Catherine de Medici, the calm before the storm, QB, The Russians are Coming (x2), key (although the clue about a doctored drink squicked me out), Prince Charles, Chuck Yeager (missed DD), TWA. FJ was an instaget for Dr. Toothbrush, but I had no idea until he said, sarcastically, "your favorite". I hate Where's Waldo! Although mini-Toothbrush #1 dressed as him for Halloween when he was 3 & was adorable!

I like the Countries by First Letter category. I am usually horrible at geography, but ran it. I hope they bring it back. 

18 hours ago, teebax said:

I was rooting for Alice for selfish reasons. I think she's gorgeous. 

She is beautiful. But she gave the entire category name when choosing clues., so I could not root for her 100%.

18 hours ago, mojoween said:

Okay so I don’t know anything about classical music so why did that lady say she “had” to say Mozart?  And then she said Brahms, so why couldn’t she just say that in the first place?

I’m going to pretend she and Alex were not speaking in terrible German accents.

I agree with those upthread who said Lisa 'had' to say Mozart because she ran the Mozart category last week, which was possibly that same day in J! game playing time. Also agree that the German accents were terrible. 

2 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I always get James Ellroy & Elmore Leonard confused...it's the "El" that befuddles me. 

I said Elmore Leonard. 

[Writing Wrongs]

20 hours ago, Driad said:

Q:  If April flowers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

A:  Pilgrims.

[Spunkygal]

7 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I said "Shepard" - to which my husband said, "No, he played Yeager in the Right Stuff" LOL

When the board came up I said, well except for quarterback, the only player whose position I can name is Fred Bilitnikoff. I laughed when it came up. I haven't followed football since his days on the field.

For those who haven't seen The Right Stuff, it is being shown on TCM tomorrow night. I thought it was pretty good.

[GalvDuck]

8 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

I am beginning to think if one had the time to do so and desire, you could write down all the questions over say 6 months, study them and come up with a core set of knowledge and topics that would cover a majority of the questions they ask.  I have been tempted to do this for the last year, I just don't have the time

 

8 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Definitely. We get the previous year recorded on our TiVo and so will sometimes watch because we don’t remember the questions but several questions/answers come up very close together in the repeats even though aired a year ago. 

 

8 hours ago, DrScottie said:

It's a good strategy. In fact, that's precisely the tactic Roger Craig used to win. You don't have to write them down yourself though.

The Jeopardy! fan archive has done a wonderful job at compiling all of that info. He mined that Jeopardy! archive and figured out what categories and clues are most frequently asked and studied all the gaps in his knowledge set.  

Didn't Austin mention that  it was part of his strategy as well -- studying the questions, looking for patterns, looking for specific clues as to how questions were asked?  That's why with one of them (I don't recall which one, but I can picture it), he said, "Ohhhh, I get it now," after he figured out what the question was specifically going for.

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, Spunkygal said:

For those who haven't seen The Right Stuff, it is being shown on TCM tomorrow night. I thought it was pretty good.

I love the movie. I was always very much into the space program (one of my schools as a military dependent had a Gemini tracking station on the top floor). It was also one of the first movies my husband and I saw together. So we rewatch it all the time. Not sure if we get TCM, but I do have the DVD.

[illdoc]

That was pitiful. There were too many TS today! One that stuck out in my mind was "Rice. Noodle. Fish. is a book about the cuisine of what country?" and no one guessed "Japan"!! It was the $400 clue in the first Jeopardy round...how can you not even guess Japan?!!!  Or "Uranium" after the incorrect "Uranus" in the element category????

[ClareWalks]

Usher was a TS! USHER! My god! You can't throw a beer bottle without hitting a car that's blaring Usher songs!

[illdoc]

22 minutes ago, ClareWalks said:

Usher was a TS! USHER! My god! You can't throw a beer bottle without hitting a car that's blaring Usher songs!

Not to mention, but how many "U" performers are there??? I'm surprised that they even had enough to fill a category

[Browncoat]

I know nothing of Usher, so I missed that one, too.  I've heard of him, but haven't heard of (or heard) any of his songs.  Well, until now, of course. 

I got goanna thanks to Crocodile Dundee, and my immediate and horribly wrong response to the element named for the sun was solarium.  Heh.  I did get firmament, Adriatic (thanks, Cheers!), Toy Hall of Fame, Women's Hall of Fame (a wild guess), slow, Japan, Uranium, gaucho, and reflexes.  Way too many TS today, and still they didn't clear the board!

No clue on FJ. 

Congrats to the champ again, but please don't ever wear that particular shade of purple with that particular shade of pink plus a dark blue tie ever again.  Maybe I'm not fashionable enough, but I really don't think those colors go together.

[ClareWalks]

Just now, Browncoat said:

I know nothing of Usher, so I missed that one, too.  I've heard of him, but haven't heard of (or heard) any of his songs.  Well, until now, of course. 

I'd never fault any one individual for not knowing Usher (although I always recommend listening to "Caught Up," my fave Usher song), I am just surprised that two guys in that age demographic would not know Usher based on the clue given.

[Tabasco Cat]

2 hours ago, illdoc said:

That was pitiful. There were too many TS today! One that stuck out in my mind was "Rice. Noodle. Fish. is a book about the cuisine of what country?" and no one guessed "Japan"!! It was the $400 clue in the first Jeopardy round...how can you not even guess Japan?!!!  Or "Uranium" after the incorrect "Uranus" in the element category????

Well, I guessed China. Never heard of the book, but I did enjoy the old Iron Chef TV show. I guessed Usher because that was the first U name that popped into my head. Uranium was easy, I thought, and I didn't even have to count off the 7th planet. I agree wholeheartedly that tonight's game was pitiful overall. Some bad categories and FJ was a really tough one, in my opinion. I guessed Papal Conclave but had zero confidence. You'd have to know not only 19th Century History but probably be a Napoleanic scholar as well to get that.  "Hooray! Napolean is dead! Let's have a conference!" ... Really? Oh well, who am I to question history?

Now, if you thought that was bad, don't even think about watching tonight's episode of Wheel of Fortune. Maybe the worst episode I've ever seen. None of the contestants deserved to win anything and the woman who went to the bonus round at the end only got there because the other players kept hitting 'bankrupt' or 'lose a turn' with most of the letters exposed already, thus dropping the puzzles right into her lap for the most part. It was awful. I think Pat Sajak does an admirable job trying to cheer up the contestants who don't win, but he was over the top tonight. Just once I'd like to hear him be brutally honest and tonight would have been the perfect time for it. "You got unlucky on a couple spins, but on top of that you called bad letters, spun the wheel when you didn't have to, called a consonant on a Free Play when there were ample vowels left, mispronounced a puzzle solution that was completely revealed and all you had to do was read it. And you did that not once but twice! You suck! Here's your $1,000. Now get out of here!"

Would have been epic. And deserved. Sorry to veer into Wheel land on this Jeopardy! forum (but I have a sneaking suspicion that many here also watch WoF).

[GenerationX]

Mom couldn't keep up with her boys.  I thought she would win at the start of the show, just because she would have less competition for the clues skewing older and the boys would split the younger ones.  There weren't enough age-favoring clues to matter.

[BuckeyeLou]

I'll just jump in to say I too saw "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming" as a youngster and thought it was great...John Philip Law was handsome & Alan Arkin was great as the captain.  And I knew Chuck Yeager from seeing "The Right Stuff"...another good movie...I would recommend both to young people today... as for today's FJ, I knew it had something to do with the defeat of Napoleon :)

[Writing Wrongs]

For the Wisconsin milk question of "America's ...", I was thinking we were still in the "U" category and said "America's Udder". 

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I got goanna thanks to Crocodile Dundee

I didn't get goanna, but I had a lightbulb moment as I remembered that in The Rescuers Down Under, the bad guy's giant lizard minion was named Joanna.

I got the Civil War, the toy hall of fame, slow, Japan, Tower of Pisa, Melissa Gilbert, and Erica Baddu, which I don't know how to spell but figured that wouldn't matter. (Erykah Badu)

I had no idea for FJ. 

[Mondrianyone]

Congress of Vienna was taught in high-school world history, so I thought that was going to be a gimme.  Apparently not.

I said Desert Storm for the war that ended in 1991--no idea if it would've been accepted.

I remember hearing Erykah Badu on some radio show--maybe Wait Wait Don't Tell Me--say that she named herself Badu because those were the syllables she most liked to sing when she was scatting.  So weird the things that lodge in your brain (and don't!).  Apropos of absolutely nothing.

[Fex]

2 hours ago, Tabasco Cat said:

Now, if you thought that was bad, don't even think about watching tonight's episode of Wheel of Fortune. Maybe the worst episode I've ever seen. None of the contestants deserved to win anything and the woman who went to the bonus round at the end only got there because the other players kept hitting 'bankrupt' or 'lose a turn' with most of the letters exposed already, thus dropping the puzzles right into her lap for the most part. It was awful. I think Pat Sajak does an admirable job trying to cheer up the contestants who don't win, but he was over the top tonight. Just once I'd like to hear him be brutally honest and tonight would have been the perfect time for it. "You got unlucky on a couple spins, but on top of that you called bad letters, spun the wheel when you didn't have to, called a consonant on a Free Play when there were ample vowels left, mispronounced a puzzle solution that was completely revealed and all you had to do was read it. And you did that not once but twice! You suck! Here's your $1,000. Now get out of here!"

Would have been epic. And deserved. Sorry to veer into Wheel land on this Jeopardy! forum (but I have a sneaking suspicion that many here also watch WoF).

I don't watch Wheel, but I really enjoyed your story! Thanks :)

I thought that at least one of them would have gotten Usher. I always felt pretty neutral about Usher, but I saw him in concert last year with the Roots and it was AMAZING.

For FJ I said "What is.... some kind of meeting after they got rid of Napoleon" - I don't think it would have been accepted.

Question for Americans: was the Civil War clue tricky in some way? I just saw the word Mississippi, with some words that meant nothing to me, and decided it must be the American Civil War. Since none of them got it, was there a different possibility that, in my ignorance of US history, I didn't consider?

[Tabasco Cat]

1 hour ago, Mondrianyone said:

Congress of Vienna was taught in high-school world history, so I thought that was going to be a gimme.  Apparently not.

It's been a while but I didn't remember that. My high-school story for tonight is when (and this is a looong time ago) one of my friends went around for a few weeks saying, "Emergency! Emergency! Everyone to get from street!" One of those catchphrases kids sometimes fixate on for a while. He had seen "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!" and thought it was hysterical. If he said it once he said it 50 times a day. Personally, I've never seen it, but I knew it was the answer just remembering how my friend in high-school was really annoying for a few weeks (it could've been a couple of months) once upon a time many years ago.

[Mystery Author]

Quote

For FJ I said "What is.... some kind of meeting after they got rid of Napoleon" - I don't think it would have been accepted.

OMG, I did the same thing!

I hardly ever think J! is boring, but I did tonight.

I miss Austin! :(

Quote

It's a good strategy. In fact, that's precisely the tactic Roger Craig used to win.

So did Austin :)

[YoureSoUrban]

Yay Kyle!

For TS I got Adriatic Sea, Japan, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Melissa Gilbert, reflexes, and Erykah Badu. Love huh and it was a shame no one knew her but I wasn't surprised.

I had no clue on FJ. 

[DrSpaceman73]

11 hours ago, Tabasco Cat said:

Well, I guessed China. Never heard of the book, but I did enjoy the old Iron Chef TV show. I guessed Usher because that was the first U name that popped into my head. Uranium was easy, I thought, and I didn't even have to count off the 7th planet. I agree wholeheartedly that tonight's game was pitiful overall. Some bad categories and FJ was a really tough one, in my opinion. I guessed Papal Conclave but had zero confidence. You'd have to know not only 19th Century History but probably be a Napoleanic scholar as well to get that.  "Hooray! Napolean is dead! Let's have a conference!" ... Really? Oh well, who am I to question history?

Now, if you thought that was bad, don't even think about watching tonight's episode of Wheel of Fortune. Maybe the worst episode I've ever seen. None of the contestants deserved to win anything and the woman who went to the bonus round at the end only got there because the other players kept hitting 'bankrupt' or 'lose a turn' with most of the letters exposed already, thus dropping the puzzles right into her lap for the most part. It was awful. I think Pat Sajak does an admirable job trying to cheer up the contestants who don't win, but he was over the top tonight. Just once I'd like to hear him be brutally honest and tonight would have been the perfect time for it. "You got unlucky on a couple spins, but on top of that you called bad letters, spun the wheel when you didn't have to, called a consonant on a Free Play when there were ample vowels left, mispronounced a puzzle solution that was completely revealed and all you had to do was read it. And you did that not once but twice! You suck! Here's your $1,000. Now get out of here!"

Would have been epic. And deserved. Sorry to veer into Wheel land on this Jeopardy! forum (but I have a sneaking suspicion that many here also watch WoF).

I know that Wheel was awful!!  TWO people in a row mispronounced a word THAT WAS UP ON THE BOARD on their guesses and lost out on a trip to Hawaii. 

I have to say though Pat is a much more easygoing host than Alex.  He laughs off most of the screw ups and, lets face it, idiots, takes it in stride.  If the people on Wheel acted like that on Jeopardy, Alex would be going crazy.  Some of them, especially on couples week, don't even seem to know the basics of the game. 

I actually should have known that FJ, but did not.  I knew from the year it had something to do with napoleon and a treaty or meaning, but didn't know what it was called.  Also I just recently read about that fact, still didn't get it right.  That Beethoven piece is like the official anthem of the European Union, or some such designation. 

Also what was up with the one guy being in the wrong millennium with some of his guesses?  I understand some are just word association and you make a guess, but really..........the Colosseum was not built in the 1200s.  You are 1200 years off. 

Edited December 6, 2017 by DrSpaceman73