Jeopardy! Season 34 (2017-2018)

[bad things are bad]

Quote

My fave Austin quote: "So @Jeopardy follows me on #twitter. And I follow @realDonaldTrump because I like to diminish my vocabulary."

Dammit. Now I have to like him for that! :)

Couldn't believe he risked Clavining it yesterday. "Who is a guy who's never been in my kitchen?"

[DrScottie]

3 minutes ago, bad things are bad said:

Couldn't believe he risked Clavining it yesterday. "Who is a guy who's never been in my kitchen?"

As for FJ, it was 20th Century World Leaders. While there were a lot of them, there's only a small fraction (50 or so at most) that Jeopardy! would ask. There was a good chance he'd know or at least figure it out by context. Besides, he was going to be in the TOC anyway no matter what.

If it were something very broad like Literature or like Cliff Clavin, Movies, I'm not sure he would have made such a big wager. 

[proserpina65]

So I tuned in for FJ in the vain hope that Austin would lose, but no such luck.  How could anyone not get Nelson Mandela?

[Writing Wrongs]

They even had a news bit about him on America This Morning. Ugh.

As soon as he hits all the Daily Doubles, I know it's over.

[Browncoat]

I take back all the bad things I said about Thursday night football until Austin loses. 

[PaulaO]

As soon as I saw the FJ! category of American Plays, I shouted out "Our Town". Sometimes I impress myself

[teebax]

I found Austin more tolerable today.

I got concurrent and final jeopardy.  

[CarpeDiem54]

I find it suspicious that Chewbacca always manages to land on both DD's in Double Jeopardy.  I also think it's strange that a bartender never seems to know about alcoholic drinks or liquor.  I don't care how you mispronounce sherbet in NY.  My loathing for him continues.

I didn't get any TS or FJ.  I guess my enthusiasm for the game is waning.

[ClareWalks]

Word. I'm Midwestern, we say "sherbert" here too, but I would never pronounce it "sherbert" on Jeopardy, where they are known sticklers about that sort of thing. 

[Miss Chevious]

3 minutes ago, CarpeDiem54 said:

I find it suspicious that Chewbacca always manages to land on both DD's in Double Jeopardy.  I also think it's strange that a bartender never seems to know about alcoholic drinks or liquor.  I don't care how you mispronounce sherbet in NY.  My loathing for him continues.

I didn't get any TS or FJ.  I guess my enthusiasm for the game is waning.

Haha, I loved it when Alex declared Austin's answer was incorrect due to pronunciation and he got all huffy. Highlight of the game right there. 

[opus]

So not only have I been pronouncing sherbet wrong this whole time, I've probably been spelling it wrong too.

[Spunkygal]

20 minutes ago, CarpeDiem54 said:

I find it suspicious that Chewbacca always manages to land on both DD's in Double Jeopardy.  I also think it's strange that a bartender never seems to know about alcoholic drinks or liquor.  I don't care how you mispronounce sherbet in NY.  My loathing for him continues.

I didn't get any TS or FJ.  I guess my enthusiasm for the game is waning.

And I thought his DD's were super easy. 

[saber5055]

There have been many discussions through the years about the pronunciation sherbert vs. the spelling sherbet, so I knew Austin was toast as soon as he said it incorrectly. I grew up saying "sherbert," just as it's common here to "worsh the car" and "go fer groceries." I do, however, know how to pronounce all those words correctly so listeners can't guess where I live.

Opus, as that no doubt is some raspberry SHERBET in your cone, you must learn to spell/pronounce it correctly from now on!

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, PaulaO said:

As soon as I saw the FJ! category of American Plays, I shouted out "Our Town". Sometimes I impress myself

Couldn't believe that the librarian didn't write anything down!

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, CarpeDiem54 said:

also think it's strange that a bartender never seems to know about alcoholic drinks or liquor.

A lot of bartenders only know the basics, no idea where he works but it could be mostly beers and basic bar drinks.

As for getting DDK he controls the board a lot so it's not surprising.

[Clanstarling]

3 hours ago, PaulaO said:

As soon as I saw the FJ! category of American Plays, I shouted out "Our Town". Sometimes I impress myself

I wasn't quite that fast, but when I saw narrator and 1938 I shouted it out. 

2 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Word. I'm Midwestern, we say "sherbert" here too, but I would never pronounce it "sherbert" on Jeopardy, where they are known sticklers about that sort of thing. 

I think if the clue hadn't specifically mentioned that the two end with the same three letters, they might have given  him some leeway. But the key to the pronunciation was in the clue.

Did Austin seem a little lackluster today? He did well, but not as well, and his voice seemed a bit hoarse to me.

[Toothbrush]

The game started for us at the contestant interviews due to a Las Vegas news conference, so I missed Austin mispronouncing sherbet & getting huffy. Darn.

I ran the LA & dental categories, and TS I got were derivative, pi, and tangent. Blind guessed FJ, because American Plays = Our Town or Death of a Salesman.

Austin shrugged off his winnings of $278,300. What a tool. 

[The Wild Sow]

Eh, we say SherbeRt here in Pittsburgh, too.  Well, I don't personally say it too often, because I don't like  sherbet.  But I know the correct spelling and would pronounce it correctly in a Jeopardy situation.

[teebax]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

A lot of bartenders only know the basics, no idea where he works but it could be mostly beers and basic bar drinks.

As for getting DDK he controls the board a lot so it's not surprising.

I'm sure he only knows drinks we've never heard of. He's much too cool for a Kir Royale. 

[peeayebee]

57 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I wasn't quite that fast, but when I saw narrator and 1938 I shouted it out. 

Just 'narrator' gave me Our Town. Is there another play with a narrator?

I will never ever again pronounce it as sherbert. I am cured!

I was tickled that M.D. in a diner is a Dr Pepper.

I was surprised that none of them knew the author of Watership Down. I came up with the last name only. No way to tell if the judges would have accepted just Adams.

I hadn't been paying attention to how much money Austin had been winning, so I was amazed that he's now over $278,000 in 7 days! 

Oh, and I've been meaning to say that whoever noted that he looks like John Larroquette hit the nail on the head.

Edited October 5, 2017 by peeayebee

[Toothbrush]

19 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

Oh, and I've been meaning to say that whoever noted that he looks like John Larroquette hit the nail on the head.

Dr. Toothbrush said John Larroquette also, but I was stuck on a Will Ferrell character. Then someone upthread posted that their sister said he looked like the Unabomber, and I realized I had been picturing Will Ferrell as the Unabomber on SNL 

[biakbiak]

42 minutes ago, teebax said:

I'm sure he only knows drinks we've never heard of. He's much too cool for a Kir Royale. 

But it's not like he missed it the other contestant rang in first.

[mojoween]

I was at my first ever trivia night last night so missed the show (we came in third boooooo) but apparently Jeopardy! felt they needed to address the sherbet controversy.

Sherbert vs. Sherbet

[GreekGeek]

5 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Just 'narrator' gave me Our Town. Is there another play with a narrator?

I will never ever again pronounce it as sherbert. I am cured!

I was tickled that M.D. in a diner is a Dr Pepper.

I was surprised that none of them knew the author of Watership Down. I came up with the last name only. No way to tell if the judges would have accepted just Adams.

I hadn't been paying attention to how much money Austin had been winning, so I was amazed that he's now over $278,000 in 7 days! 

Oh, and I've been meaning to say that whoever noted that he looks like John Larroquette hit the nail on the head.

I was surprised about Watership Down as a TS too, especially since Richard Adams died so recently.

I don't think it's necessarily wrong to say "sherbert," but as the explanation mojoween cited shows, pronouncing it that way made it not fit the clue about the last three letters. I never thought of it as a New York thing. I thought about the episode of Mad Men where Don Draper was trying to introduce his trophy wife Megan to the joys of Howard Johnson's orange "sherbert." He's living in NYC but wasn't born there, so it's hard to use that as evidence one way or another. 

As for plays with narrators, I thought of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical plays Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound. There's also Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly. Apparently lots of musicals have them, as this discussion shows. There are probably many lesser-known plays that use narrators also. It can be a sign of lazy writing, so they're lesser known for a reason.

[DrScottie]

6 hours ago, Toothbrush said:

TS I got were derivative, pi, and tangent.

Pi and tangent weren't TS. Derivative and integration were though. I said taking an integral for the calculus operation.  Would they count that? 

I always pronounced it sherbert. I would have screwed that up 

5 hours ago, 17wheatthins said:

Was Austin "talking" on an old-timey candlestick phone in his intro today? LMAO

Yeah, what the hell was that?

I miseed FJ. I'm not good with American plays. 

[StaceyNotStacie]

Austin was on GMA this morning. This usually means that they lose tonight, but he's also from NYC, so I don't know if they had him on because of that. 

[teebax]

17 minutes ago, Stacey1014 said:

Austin was on GMA this morning. [Snip]

I know you're speculating,  but you may want to use a spoiler tag for posts like this in the future.

[Clanstarling]

3 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I don't think it's necessarily wrong to say "sherbert," but as the explanation mojoween cited shows, pronouncing it that way made it not fit the clue about the last three letters. I never thought of it as a New York thing. I thought about the episode of Mad Men where Don Draper was trying to introduce his trophy wife Megan to the joys of Howard Johnson's orange "sherbert." He's living in NYC but wasn't born there, so it's hard to use that as evidence one way or another. 

I took it more as the kind of excuse I used to make as a 13 year old American student in a German school - they taught British English, so if I misspelled a word, I'd say "it's the way we spell it in America!" I got away with it more times than I should have. The teacher hated me, but would trot me out when the inspectors came to visit and observe (never mentioning I was an American), so I didn't feel particularly guilty. 

Edited October 5, 2017 by Clanstarling

[peeayebee]

4 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

As for plays with narrators, I thought of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical plays Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound. There's also Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly. Apparently lots of musicals have them, as this discussion shows. There are probably many lesser-known plays that use narrators also. It can be a sign of lazy writing, so they're lesser known for a reason.

Thanks for the info.

[DXD526]

Quote

I think if the clue hadn't specifically mentioned that the two end with the same three letters, they might have given  him some leeway. 

This! As soon as he said it, I thought, they just gave you the last three letters, which you screwed up! I enjoyed the petulant look on his face when he got dinged for it. And of course he had to make a defensive remark. Tool.

I respect Austin's smarts and playing abilities, but he's still the smuggest smug who ever smugged and he can't lose fast enough for me.

[Grundoon59]

For me FJ was an instaget with the year, narrator and New Hampshire in the clue but American Plays  (at least 20th Century) would be a dream category for me.  Since I had to work late and only saw second half, Austin didn't irritate me as much as usual but  I was irked by his cutesy pie "what is a taco?"  Just leave a blank screen dude, you ain't all that and a bag of chips.

[Toothbrush]

5 hours ago, DrScottie said:

Pi and tangent weren't TS. Derivative and integration were though. I said taking an integral for the calculus operation.  Would they count that? 

You're right - it was integration not tangent. I was incredulous that Dr. Toothbrush did not get pi, so that is why it was on my mind as a TS. 

[Pallida]

My guess for Richard Adams as a TS is that contestants weren’t sure if it was Adam or Adams. In a nervous situation, I don’t think I’d trust myself to get that correct. 

[PaulaO]

11 hours ago, 17wheatthins said:

Was Austin "talking" on an old-timey candlestick phone in his intro today? LMAO

Looked liked he was miming a flip phone to me.

[saber5055]

Jeopardy reruns are on here an hour before the new show. A fellow named Seth has been winning on that all week, and he looks a twin for Austin. Same color hair, build. clothes. Except Seth is well-groomed and a good player w/o being the look-at-me tool that is Austin. I wonder if Austin IS Seth, and came back hairy, uncombed, disheveled and a smart ass so he could have a second run at TOC and more $. Also: Consider that "bartender" might be code for "unemployed." Sort of like "personal trainer" is a popular non-occupation on The Bachelor.

I guess our modern society dictates that if you are a self-centerred dick, you get to be interviewed on morning news shows and be the center of promotional commercials. So much for how I was raised.

[DrSpaceman73]

I say Sherbert. 

According to my yahoo newsfeed comments some people love Austin.  I don't see it, I find him more smug and annoying, but I respect him as a player.  No doubting his skills. 

I know next to nothing about American theater and got Our Town.  Though mostly I just know that play from Growing Pains, its the one Mike was in that convinced him to try and be an actor.  I also read recently that its consistently one of the most popular plays high schools perform for well over 5 decades now. 

I say "sherbert". 

[dcalley]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

I know next to nothing about American theater and got Our Town.  Though mostly I just know that play from Growing Pains, its the one Mike was in that convinced him to try and be an actor.  I also read recently that its consistently one of the most popular plays high schools perform for well over 5 decades now.

Our Town was also used in The Wonder Years and My So-Called Life, so it's popular in high schools and shows about high school!

Edited October 5, 2017 by dcalley

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

A fellow named Seth has been winning on that all week, and he looks a twin for Austin.

Really? To me they look absolutely nothing alike. I did noticed that when Seth lost he was in the top 5 most game winners but had less money than Austin's current 7 day total.

[DoubleUTeeEff]

Aww, man. I like Austin. I always feel bad when Jeopardy contestants get so much hate. They're not fictional TV characters or TV personalities, they're real people who have put themselves out there to entertain us with their trivia knowledge (and win some money.) And today, people can be bullied over the internet. I hope most of the personal responses they get are positive. I guess some people are just off-putting, I probably identify with that because a lot of people think I'm stuck up but I just think I'm aloof. 

[Mystery Author]

Quote

 I hope most of the personal responses they get are positive.

The ones I've seen are. In fact, I've read very few negative comments. Except here :)

A fellow Jeptestant -- Pasha? -- said Austin was funny and quirky backstage, "just as he appears on the show." Pasha (?) compared Austin to Matt and said Austin was always polite while Matt was rude, especially to Alex. I'll take quirky over rude any day.

Quote

Also: Consider that "bartender" might be code for "unemployed."

Wow, where did that come from?

He's live-tweeting while the show is on, from a bar that I believe is the one he worked at (or still works at).

[illdoc]

6th???? Who's #5 and how close is Austin to moving up? As to FJ, we said "Olivier" and then rejected it as being too obvious. Stupid us!

[Robert Lynch]

That guy in the middle did not shake his hand at all! Am I the only one that noticed that?

[Spunkygal]

Austin: "tssssssshhhhhh" when deciding how much to wager for DD. 

Me: so rude, you jerk. Also, it was an easy DD, you jerk.

[Conotocarious]

I'm not getting what's so rude about it. I watched the show and he seemed quirky but not rude.

[secnarf]

42 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

That guy in the middle did not shake his hand at all! Am I the only one that noticed that?

Yeah that was really awkward...Austin turned all ready to shake hands and the other two just stood staring at the front. Then Alex came over to shake Austin's hand and made it less awkward.

[CarpeDiem54]

Dammit.  I thought we might be rid of Chewbacca, his annoying dancing about and looking oh so "cute" and smug.  I cheered when he missed that first DD.

I only got Paul Revere (missed DD).

FJ was an instaget.

[saber5055]

I missed the show today and was disappointed that I didn't get the pleasure of seeing Austin lose. Then I find out here that I'm still disappointed, but now because Austin is still on the show. Either way, that tool is a disappointment to me. Mystery Author, I'm the one that suggested Austin might be an (unemployed) bartender since most poster here have commented on the fact Austin knows nothing (or not too much) about alcoholic beverages. People use or are given fake occupations all the time on reality shows.

[GreekGeek]

Yes, it did look as if Austin were going to be bested by Todd for awhile. I was surprised that two out of three went for contemporary actors in FJ. Branagh wasn't a bad guess, but I had to google Hopkins to see if he had done any filmed Shakespeare.  (One film--Titus, Shakespeare's goriest and possibly not by him at all.) 

[opus]

Bummer. Had Olivier, switched to Branagh. Once Alex said the '40s, knew I was done.

[lb60]

26 minutes ago, opus said:

Bummer. Had Olivier, switched to Branagh. Once Alex said the '40s, knew I was done.

I did the opposite.  Thought Branagh first, switched to Olivier.  

I loathe Austin.