Jeopardy! Season 34 (2017-2018)

[Roaster]

FJ Clue: In 1994 Wired Magazine described this 4-letter word as an idea leaping "from mind to mind...as viruses leap from body to body."

I dunno.  Meme occurred to me immediately.  From what I gather, the word meme was coined to be analogous to (and sorta rhyme with) gene.  Genes are ways for biological information to be transferred and memes are ways for cultural information to be transferred.  Memes have been around as long as people have been on Earth.  It's just with recent advances in communication, internet, etc they have been able to travel through society faster.  I remember hearing about memes before I ever got on the internet.

[Driad]

I got meme.  Not the Pennsylvania Avenue one, because from the wording of the clue, I thought they were not looking for an actual street, but maybe something similar to Boston's Freedom Trail.

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, Roaster said:

I don't think Wired invented the concept of memes.  But yes, the idea is that they spread like viruses.  Viruses enter a cell and make many copies of themselves and then those copies go on to new cells and repeat.  Memes are ideas, pictures, melodies, etc.  They work the same way.  They get into someone's mind and then that someone repeats them and they spread throughout society.  That's why some youtube videos, pictures, jokes are said to "go viral". 

Ah, thanks. I didn't get where 'virus' fit into the idea of a meme.

I'm not sure the writers were correct with their info. From Mental Floss:

Quote

In 1976, Richard Dawkins, the English evolutionary biologist, proposed an idea in his book, The Selfish Gene: What if ideas were like organisms, where they could breed and mutate? These ideas, he claimed, are actually the basis for human culture, and they are born in the brain.
[...]
Dawkins needed a name for this concept. He proposed calling it mimeme, from the Greek word meaning “that which is replicated.” He wrote in his book, “I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme.”

The only TSs I got were pot-bellied pig and Penn Ave.

[secnarf]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

I cannot believe how easy most of the Master Class clues were.  And Alcatraz?  Is this the kids tournament?  I know it was a low-value clue in the first round, but it had a map and everything.  Come to think of it, that whole Rough Waters category had easy clues.

I also wondered if it was the Kids Tournament when they played parts of the Star Spangled Banner and the clue required the players to correctly identify the song. Glad to see these guys were at least able to do that, and we didn't get a repeat of the embarrassment where the three contestants (might have been in the Teen Tournament?) couldn't state the last line of their national anthem. However, that question had no place in a regular Jeopardy game, even as a $200 clue.

[Bastet]

5 minutes ago, secnarf said:

I also wondered if it was the Kids Tournament when they played parts of the Star Spangled Banner and the clue required the players to correctly identify the song.

Yeah, that was the first clue of the Master Class category I was complaining about.  I thought it might pick up, and it really had to - and did - from that ridiculous starting point, but most of the category remained almost as simple.

[dcalley]

I knew groundstroke but wasn't surprised when no one got it. And then we got a second, much easier, tennis clue!

[Tunia]

6 hours ago, mojoween said:

It’s nearly getting to the point where I can hardly stand to watch.  Like was Alan seriously going to argue about the subject of “Semi-Pro?”  And his faux humility makes my teeth hurt.

Because Alan started at the bottom of the category (Sports on Film), I think he might not have realized they were referring to movie titles.  There was a point - perhaps the third clue, which he also answered incorrectly - where he suddenly seemed to grasp that they were looking for a movie, rather than a sports event that had been randomly filmed.  In the case of "Semi-Pro", I'm betting he thought they were looking for an example of a semi-pro sport.  After Alex gave the correct answer, Alan commented something like "Ohhhhhhh, now I..."  You could see a lightbulb turn on over his head.

[Toothbrush]

I liked Kate & wish she would have wagered better in FJ, but as a young blogger she probably thought a category like Modern Words would be easy for her. Loved her green tips that matched her skirt. The 3rd contestant (Mary?) reminded me of the actress Illeana Douglas. 

Alex copying Alan's exaggerated salute - stop encouraging them Trebek!

TS I got were castle hassle, Herculaneum, PA Ave. I was not surprised when 'let it ride' was deemed correct since it seemed like a reasonable answer to me. I said rollover. I had no idea the word meme was 24 years old. 

I thought Alcatraz was easy until 3 American contestants were asked to identify the American National Anthem by hearing parts of it being sung. Really writers? I did like that Alan (I think) left the Masterclass category & only retuned when there were no other clues left. 

6 hours ago, mojoween said:

Ok so it must be me, because it can’t be that every single contestant lately is just so damned extra, so I must be getting more intolerant in my dotage.

Not just you.

6 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Trebek also had to get his French on by repeating the name of that French museum after Mary pronounced it perfectly ... and without drah-ma. That had to rankle him.

I have to give him credit for his restraint in not repeating 'ingenue'

14 minutes ago, Tunia said:

Because Alan started at the bottom of the category (Sports on Film), I think he might not have realized they were referring to movie titles.  There was a point - perhaps the third clue, which he also answered incorrectly - where he suddenly seemed to grasp that they were looking for a movie, rather than a sports event that had been randomly filmed.  In the case of "Semi-Pro", I'm betting he thought they were looking for an example of a semi-pro sport.  After Alex gave the correct answer, Alan commented something like "Ohhhhhhh, now I..."  You could see a lightbulb turn on over his head.

And that is why we start at the tops of categories, contestants. And it makes my inner Adrian Monk happy. 

[Prevailing Wind]

Perhaps in order to get Aguilera to let them use that clip, there was a time limit on when it could be used and there was no where to put it but on regular J!, as the tournaments weren't in the time frame.  I know, it's a stretch, but it could happen.  Of course, that doesn't explain the simplicity of Alcatraz in an adult game.

Not only does ¡ALAN! use exclamations, there's a weird flourish underneath his name, too. WTF? Makes me yearn for R<smiley face>B.

[Clanstarling]

10 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Ah, thanks. I didn't get where 'virus' fit into the idea of a meme.

I'm not sure the writers were correct with their info. From Mental Floss:

The only TSs I got were pot-bellied pig and Penn Ave.

I'm not so sure they were incorrect, so much as they added some information to try and give a hint that related to online information. Viruses do replicate like the organisms in the quote from Mental Floss and there I think they were trying to lead the contestants to the idea of viral and then to meme. Plus they were quoting from Wired, which may not have attributed the Dawkins idea which was 20 years earlier, and in a different field. 

Edited February 24, 2018 by Clanstarling

[AuntieL]

I had no idea for FJ but I think any awkwardness in the phrasing should be attributed to Wired since they were quoting the article. There is however no excuse for the Christina Aguilera clue. It would have been marginally harder if they'd asked for the singer and not the song. Alan doesn't bother me at all. I don't pay attention to how they sign their names. And while I sometimes get irritated with how they hold the buzzer I can't blame anyone for holding the way they are most comfortable. 

[saber5055]

13 hours ago, Roaster said:

FJ Clue: In 1994 Wired Magazine described this 4-letter word as an idea leaping "from mind to mind...as viruses leap from body to body."

I always thought a meme is a picture with words on it so looked up the definition: "a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users." So, a meme can be pretty much anything, including what Russian trolls are putting online.

"And now I know."

3 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Perhaps in order to get Aguilera to let them use that clip, there was a time limit on when it could be used and there was no where to put it but on regular J!, as the tournaments weren't in the time frame.

IMO, it wasn't necessary to use Aguilera's clip at all, it added nothing. But maybe PR people knock on Jeopardy's door to get their people added as clues. You know, so the people they rep can turn into MEMES.

[Jesse]

I felt smug that I named Gordon Ramsey in that Masterclass category before the clip started, but then I heard an ad for Masterclass on a podcast today, so maybe I had heard it before and that's why I was so psychic....

[peeayebee]

What is Masterclass? A TV show? Something online?

[Mindthinkr]

24 minutes ago, Jesse said:

I felt smug that I named Gordon Ramsey in that Masterclass category before the clip started, but then I heard an ad for Masterclass on a podcast today, so maybe I had heard it before and that's why I was so psychic....

I saw that clue on Twitter earlier in the day but I knew Gordon Ramsey from Hells Kitchen and living in the UK years ago. 

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

What is Masterclass? A TV show? Something online?

I had never heard of it either, so I looked it up.

www.masterclass.com

It's online classes "taught" by famous people like Gordon Ramsey (cooking), Annie Leibovitz (photography), Aaron Sorkin (screenwriting) and on and on, the list is impressive. Way too many famous people. It actually looks pretty cool. But then again, that category was another example of Jeopardy shilling something, no doubt for compensation. I mean, a player's win money has to come from somewhere.

[Jesse]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

I mean, a player's win money has to come from somewhere.

What about the regular commercials? Lol.

[Mindthinkr]

So then, am I to think that Jeopardy is becoming commercialized and will begin to do product placement in categories? I sincerely hope not. 

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

So then, am I to think that Jeopardy is becoming commercialized and will begin to do product placement in categories? I sincerely hope not. 

Too late. Friday Jeopardy did product placement for Masterclass, which costs $180/year per person if you want to sign up for it. They do product placements all the time for movies ... we just saw an entire category promoting A Wrinkle In Time. The show regularly promotes movies, with Trebek saying "Blah blah blah movie opens nationwide this Friday" at the end of the category.

2 hours ago, Jesse said:

What about the regular commercials? Lol.

One can never have too much money. Commercials, product placement ... all income. Show gotta pay Trebek's salary too.

Edited February 25, 2018 by saber5055

[Mindthinkr]

I was wondering if they have ever done a category named Networks. They’d provide a shows name and we’d have to say which network it aired on (i.e. The Voice; What is NBC?).

[saber5055]

Tidbits from www.celebritynetworth.com:

"George Alexander “Alex” Trebek has an estimated net worth of $50 million. Trebek also reportedly makes $10 million a year." Also: "A week’s worth of episodes for the show are filmed in a single day."

[Kathira]

Missed this Friday's show, due to my station showing a Black History Month special. My DVR tried to record it on a later airing, but it turned out to be a Ninja blender infomercial.  I doubt there's any useful way to complain about this without seeming like a crank, but at least they could have scheduled it overnight correctly. I take it Alan of the annoying signature and general "extraness" won?

Edited February 25, 2018 by Kathira

[Mindthinkr]

7 hours ago, forumfish said:

Yeah, what is that? A paraph, perhaps?

*small voice* I just learned that I use a paraph under my name. I’ll go hide under my desk now. 

[Kathira]

8 hours ago, forumfish said:

Yeah, what is that? A paraph, perhaps?

What a great word! I use one too, when I sign cards and things like that. Fun vocabulary add. Now I just need to find ways to work it into everyday conversation. Although if I ever get on Jeopardy I'll make sure to skip it. LOL  

Edited February 25, 2018 by Kathira

[Ailianna]

12 hours ago, Kathira said:

Missed this Friday's show, due to my station showing a Black History Month special. My DVR tried to record it on a later airing, but it turned out to be a Ninja blender infomercial.  I doubt there's any useful way to complain about this without seeming like a crank, but at least they could have scheduled it overnight correctly. I take it Alan of the annoying signature and general "extraness" won?

Same here.  Very annoying.

[AuntieL]

Huh. I do the same thing sometimes when I sign my name to cards.  I never realize there was a name for that . 

[saber5055]

Hey, Forumfish, thanks for adding a new word to my vocab. I guess I add a paraph to my first name too, even if it's just an underscore. That makes the paraph easy to forge. My last name, when I write my signature, looks like one big paraph by itself, so no underscore needed there.

[dcalley]

19 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I was wondering if they have ever done a category named Networks. They’d provide a shows name and we’d have to say which network it aired on (i.e. The Voice; What is NBC?).

http://www.j-archive.com/search.php?search=name+the+network&submit=Search

The show also has promoted National Geographic/Linblad Tours, but they get some good nature footage and clues out of it, so I don't mind too much.

[trow125]

22 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

So then, am I to think that Jeopardy is becoming commercialized and will begin to do product placement in categories? I sincerely hope not. 

They've also had a paid partnership with the New York Times for what must be several years now. There's a J! ad in the NYT every day next to the crossword puzzle, and they've frequently done J! categories featuring NYT reporters reading clues. The dead giveaway for whether or not something is advertiser supported is that the category title appears as a logo and not just the plain blue & white.

[biakbiak]

Oops.

Edited February 26, 2018 by biakbiak

[illini1959]

On 2/24/2018 at 7:31 AM, Prevailing Wind said:

Not only does ¡ALAN! use exclamations, there's a weird flourish underneath his name, too. WTF? Makes me yearn for R<smiley face>B.

It makes me yearn for grown arse men (or women) who don't need to decorate their names on national tv :/

Or feel the need to mug for the camera, or board jump, or flail about with the clicker like it's a weapon, or...

Well, nobody has time for all my "ors" lol

[teebax]

5 hours ago, illini1959 said:

It makes me yearn for grown arse men (or women) who don't need to decorate their names on national tv :/

Or feel the need to mug for the camera, or board jump, or flail about with the clicker like it's a weapon, or...

Well, nobody has time for all my "ors" lol

I would totally subscribe to your newsletter. I would add to your list contestants who have to editorialize throughout the game. Shut up, and pick the next clue already!

[opus]

15 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Oops.

I did it again....

[proserpina65]

On ‎02‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 10:38 PM, peeayebee said:

I remember seeing it in my son's school library when I volunteered there many moons ago. It seemed to be a popular book. As far as the movie goes, I'm not really that interested in it, but it was directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma), so I expect it to be good.

I still have some vague hope that it will be good, but the commercials make it look like a terrible Disney-fied mess.

[Browncoat]

14 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I still have some vague hope that it will be good, but the commercials make it look like a terrible Disney-fied mess.

Camazotz in the ads (where the kids are all bouncing the balls in unison) looks exactly like I pictured it when I read the book, though, so I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic about the rest.

[illdoc]

As to the (kids level) FJ, I can only believe that the former champ thought Frankenstein was too obvious an answer and went for something less obvious (Pinocchio)!!! Otherwise, there is no excuse.

[Robert Lynch]

Bye, Alan! It was nice knowing you. No more theatrics from him! Didn't Jonah look like a young mature Corey Haim? The girl was lucky with that bet.

Edited February 27, 2018 by Robert Lynch

[Robert Lynch]

What a minute! Is Jonah Platt related to his brother Ben from Pitch Perfect? Is this the first to have a celebrity on the show?

[Mindthinkr]

At least the winner MaryAnn has good printing (penmanship) skills and doesn’t need a paraph. 

[GreekGeek]

16 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

Bye, Alan! It was nice knowing you. No more theatrics from him! Didn't Jonah look like a young mature Corey Haim? The girl was lucky with that bet.

When I saw Alan! grinning throughout FJ, I was sure he had the correct answer. If The Adventures of Pinocchio had been written in the first person in purple Victorian prose, it might not have been such a Goofy Guess. (Fun trivia fact: The first draft of the story ended with Pinocchio dead by hanging at the hands of the Fox and the Cat. Carlo Collodi's editors told him he couldn't end a kids' story like that.)

Good game, despite the slow start. There weren't a lot of TS's that I recall; I did know that the original language of The Name of the Rose was Italian.

Not sure about Corey Haim; Maryann reminded me a little of Maggie Gyllenhall. I hope she stays awhile, though she needn't say "please" every time she chooses a clue.

[Browncoat]

What a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad game tonight.  Way too many TS, way too many idiotic gestures at the beginning, way too much buzzer flailing, and way too much starting in the middles of categories!  Not to mention the FJ that all three should have gotten easily.  Pinocchio?  Really, Alan? 

New champ at least showed some promise by mostly starting at tops of categories, but we'll see. 

TS I got included scout, opal and pearl, bats, absolute zero, Italian, and steam. 

 

ETA: I knew the board in the first round wouldn't be cleared!  Thanks, Alan's endless recitation of whatever he was reciting!

Edited February 27, 2018 by Browncoat

[teebax]

I was way too irritated to write down my gets tonight. When Alan hit that late DD, that was me you heard screaming "Dammit!" 

I'm glad he lost. He annoyed me. 

[Driad]

Frankenstein was published 200 years ago, in January 1818, and there has been a certain amount of publicity about it this year, including a discussion on Science Friday.  

ETA: The book is quite different from the movie.  It is available free at several online sites.  Science Friday recommended the annotated edition at https://www.frankenbook.org/

Edited February 27, 2018 by Driad

[Misslindsey]

Quote

What a minute! Is Jonah Platt related to his brother Ben from Pitch Perfect? Is this the first to have a celebrity on the show?

He is Ben Platt's brother. I may have wanted him to win because of that. I love Ben Platt and have seen Dear Evan Hansen way too many times when he was in it.

[tallykat]

Oh my gosh, what just happened?? I was feeling so bad for Jonah having to bet the DD in the opera catergory with that evil clown on the other end just waiting to pounce.  There seemed to be so many theater questions! I thought we were in for another day of Alan. I am still shocked! Mary Ann, you are my hero! You knew exactly how to bet to win! Despite the previous 25 minutes, the ending made up for it all! Although I was rooting for Jonah. He just couldn’t overcome the DD. Pinocchio! Ha!

Colony in a cave, cmon! Bats! I like when there are lots of TS’s that I know. Makes me feel like I could stand a chance. 

Edited February 27, 2018 by tallykat
What was his name?

[ByaNose]

I know it’s a recent contestant but who do have to blame for the constant mugging (mostly the men) at the introductions? Knock it off. Thank you. 

[Mindthinkr]

8 minutes ago, tallykat said:

I like when there are lots of TS’s that I know. Makes me feel like I could stand a chance.

I was getting a lot of them and then....my daughter called. She knows better than to call me during Jeopardy. It’s paramount to a sin. She got off in time for me to run a few categories in DJ though so I guess I’ll forgive her lol! 

[CarpeDiem54]

Yay, Maryanne!  Started at the top, no flailing, no hideous mannerisms.  Jonah lost me with the stupid smiley face in his name.  Bye, ¡Alan! you flailing goof with the waaaay too long interview.  I wish Alex wouldn't encourage these asshats.

That Chrysler Building DD was too easy.

I got NCIS, bats, absolute zero, opal and pearl, Polish, and Italian.

Pinocchio?

[Robert Lynch]

Jonah did seem rather pissed off that he lost to Mary Ann. Not a good way to show anger on national television, Jonah. Remember that.

[dcalley]

I've never read Frankenstein, but of course it's one of those stories you just know anyway. However, I did see the Benedict Cumberbatch/Jonny Lee Miller version (on film in a movie theater). I feel bad mentioning it because it's not available to watch, because National Theatre Live doesn't do things that way.

I'm happy Jeopardy made no mention of the sex of the author!