Jeopardy! Season 35 (2018-2019)

[Toothbrush]

We only got the last 10 minutes of the game due to news special reports. It's been happening more & more frequently, so if George Stephanopoulos could hold off on reporting breaking news until after 1:30 CT, that would be great :-p

FJ was easy for me but only because I've been there. Otherwise I probably would have had no clue (heh) since FDR is my default Roosevelt. 

17 hours ago, Ailianna said:

The other problem with the category was that it wasn't about actual Quidditch, as in the books, but "Muggle Quidditch"--how to play the game if you don't have a broomstick and magic  There are actually people who have made a Muggle version, and the rules as I followed the clues were clearly not based on the books, especially the seeker clue (in the books, catching the snitch is 150 points--the clue mentioned 30 points).  I think Jonathan figured that out after the second clue, and then was disgusted by the category.  He didn't seem thrilled to be going back to it, and yet he seems like a guy who is pretty good at pop culture and I feel like he would have read the books or seen the movies and would know how the books work, but there was a fair amount of guess work required for these clues, as shown when the middle contestant missed with quaffle (actual name of scoring ball in the books).

I was surprised by the 30 points too, but put it down to my faulty memory, glass of wine, etc etc. Muggle Quidditch didn't even occur to me. Wasn't there a Muggle Quidditch player on the show a season or 2 ago?  

15 hours ago, Bastet said:

Take Your Daughter to Work Day is now Take Your Kids to the Office Day?  Way to completely lose sight of the point!

It's happening more & more. 

[opus]

2 hours ago, Toothbrush said:

so if George Stephanopoulos could hold off on reporting breaking news until after 1:30 CT, that would be great :-p

He does the same thing to me, except it's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. George Stephanopoulos hates questions and answers !! 

[Trey]

I forget how the question was worded in 19th century Occupations category, but I said taxidermist instead of tanner.  Think they would have given it to me?

[Pallida]

11 minutes ago, Trey said:

I forget how the question was worded in 19th century Occupations category, but I said taxidermist instead of tanner.  Think they would have given it to me?

I checked J-Archive and the wording was “Due to the smell, this person who cured animal hides into leather usually had his business on the outskirts of town.”  Based on that, I would say no to taxidermy. But, now I’m curious about the preservation procsss in taxidermy so off to the google rabbit hole I go!

[saber5055]

14 minutes ago, Trey said:

I forget how the question was worded in 19th century Occupations category, but I said taxidermist instead of tanner.  Think they would have given it to me?

This judge votes no dice. A taxidermist preserves dead animals by stuffing or mounting. Not a lot of smell. Seriously. A tanner on the other hand ... Pee-You. The skins are soaked in vats (that stink to high heaven) to turn them into hides that are used to make belts, shoes and so forth. Tanners don't care what animal, they are interested in the resulting leather, while a taxidermist does care and recreates the animal. Without any smell!

[illdoc]

Question: One of the first questions Friday was: Between the Rockies & the Cascades is the Columbia one of these level areas of high land. The correct answer was "plateau". I said "Mesa". Yea or Nay?

[Trey]

Thank you for the clarification, @saber5055.

[saber5055]

54 minutes ago, illdoc said:

Question: One of the first questions Friday was: Between the Rockies & the Cascades is the Columbia one of these level areas of high land. The correct answer was "plateau". I said "Mesa". Yea or Nay?

The Columbia Plateau is an actual geographical area in eastern Washington that extends into Oregon, Idaho and BC, so I'd have to vote no on the mesa. Others, including Jeopardy "real" judges, might disagree of course!

[Driad]

How many judges are there (not counting Alex)?  They are so inconsistent, maybe they take turns judging questions instead of voting on each one.

[MrAtoz]

8 hours ago, Trey said:

 

Does anyone else check the TOC Tracker?

I do. And it was with this game that I officially fell off the bottom of it. :(

Ah, well. It was always a long shot.

[GenerationX]

12 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I'm curious about why "waterway" rules out rivers. I guessed the Rio Grande because of the Spanish name and because I thought the Roosevelt was FDR and the highway was a WPA project. I'm embarrassed by so many people here saying they found FJ easy.

Based on how the question was worded, if the answer had been a river, I think they would have just said "river" in the clue.  By using the alternate term "waterway", they gave away that it was some other long, skinny body of water.  Canal fit the description.  They frequently drop this kind of hint in FJ clues, and I suspect it is so that we have multiple ways to get to the answer.

[Sharpie66]

The tanning process stinks to high heaven. When I was in college in downtown Milwaukee in the mid-80s, the campus was surrounded by strong smells: the Pabst Brewery was to the NE, a tannery was to the SW, and on extremely lucky days, the wind blew from the north and the Ambrosia chocolate factory (where Jeffrey Dahlmer later worked). In the fall of 1984, there was a month with a stalled weather system that gave us fog and mist for the entire month, and the smells started to mingle into a disgustingly foul odor. 

[Prevailing Wind]

Another disgusting odor emanates from a chicken processing plant. I drove past 3 in one day and nearly gagged each time. I'm never taking those roads again!

[Clanstarling]

Well, I should not watch Jeopardy when I'm exhausted.

When it came to FJ, I thought Trebek was putting on a Russian accent (though the words were right in front of me - and replay showed he did not). So I was embarrassingly far away, geographically speaking.

I did get tanner (thank you historical novels I've read over the years) and Olivier. To be fair to those who didn't get him, it took me a second, because the picture is of a very old Olivier, much older than the last thing I saw him in. But I was a little sad that no one got him, even so.

Speaking of odors - in New Orleans when I was traveling through as a kid, there was a coffee plant that reeked. Now, I love the smell of coffee, but not the smell of it being processed.

That being said, the worst stink I ever smelled was a pig farm in Germany, and that was entirely natural.

[Trey]

14 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

I do. And it was with this game that I officially fell off the bottom of it. :(

Ah, well. It was always a long shot.

I was hoping you would make it, but, as you say, it was a long shot.

[saber5055]

16 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

I do. And it was with this game that I officially fell off the bottom of it. :(

This makes me sad. But you had a great run and presented yourself (and your knowledge!) well. I wish you could have a "do over." You should have goofed up the last FJ reading or something so you would be invited back.

To everyone talking about the worst smells ... combine those all together and you get a tannery.

When I was a kid, there was a licorice factory to the north. On great days, the wind would blow from that direction. Much like @Sharpie66's Ambrosia chocolate wind!

[peeayebee]

When my dad was young (way before my time), he worked for a day in a tannery. He couldn't stand the smell. and sent my mother to get his paycheck.

[Mindthinkr]

@saber5055 Did you like the licorice smell? I sometimes think that too much of any one smell is annoying. I knew someone who worked in a tannery and one shower was never enough or the Irish Spring soap. 

[saber5055]

I did like the licorice smell. While I'm not fond of black licorice, red licorice rules. It was only odd days that the smell reached my home. The factory was Brach's, and some days they were making chocolate candies. Those were good days too, given a congenial wind. It was also nice driving past the place. Not sure if licorice and chocolate switched days. The factory is long gone, it left before I did!

LOL at your dad sending your mom to get his one-day paycheck @peeayebee. Women ... their work is never done.

@Mindthinkr, the "one shower is not enough" reminds me of Patricia Cornwell's description of the showers Kay Scarpetta has to take before entering her home after a day's work in the morgue. Maybe that's one workplace that smells worse than a tannery.

[illdoc]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

It was only odd days that the smell reached my home. The factory was Brach's, and some days they were making chocolate candies. Those were good days too, given a congenial wind. It was also nice driving past the place. Not sure if licorice and chocolate switched days. The factory is long gone, it left before I did!

And, on the other side of the city, I got the "fresh cookie" smell from Maurice Lennell's (also gone now), but only sometimes in the morning if I was driving past it.

[saber5055]

22 minutes ago, illdoc said:

And, on the other side of the city, I got the "fresh cookie" smell from Maurice Lennell's (also gone now), but only sometimes in the morning if I was driving past it.

Oh! You made me remember the Wonder Bread factory! Again, long gone. The road past it got the nickname "Twinkie Boulevard" as WB was owned by Hostess.

Now I drive past a packing house, a nice name for a slaughterhouse, when I venture to the Big City. There is nothing at that Interstate exit, including homes. Given the number of employees and truckers in and out 24/7, the location would be a gold mine ... except for the odor.

[secnarf]

I used to live down the street from a Cadbury factory - you could nearly always smell Fuzzy Peaches and Swedish Berries. Not unpleasant smells, but to this day I can't stand them :P

[Prevailing Wind]

The Holsum Bread bakery in South Miami was heavenly to drive by. My brother used to work for Virginia's DMV, near the FFV cooky bakery (bakers of Girl Scout cookies, too). Joe said he loved being out in the parking lot.

[Driad]

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Oh! You made me remember the Wonder Bread factory! Again, long gone. The road past it got the nickname "Twinkie Boulevard" as WB was owned by Hostess.

I have never eaten a Twinkie. They just don't look or smell like food to me.

[saber5055]

28 minutes ago, Driad said:

I have never eaten a Twinkie. They just don't look or smell like food to me.

But if you stock up on them, load your bomb shelter with boxes of Twinkies, they will still be the same 50 years after the apocalypse and all "real" food is gone. Dharma Initiative probably stocked them!

I can see how a smell can wear on a person after a while, even yummy ones like Cadbury. For instance, I OD'd on Febreze when it first came out and now can't stand the smell. (But it is preferred over that packing plant.)

[PaulaO]

Attention Laurel and Hardy fans, and those who don’t know their genius.  Tonight Turner Classic Movies is running an L&H marathon, starting at 7pm CST.  First up is my fave, The Music Box.  And yes, there will be a quiz!

I somehow teased out FJ! There are a lot of famous Scots...

[illdoc]

Re FJ: Does "Gauguin" sound Scottish to you?????? 

[SoMuchTV]

I've only just seen the beginning so far, but doesn't it seem unusual that Alex singled out one player to say he did well on the jeopardy test? Didn't everyone who made it this far do well?

[M. Darcy]

I’m surprised that no one got FJ - I thought it was easy. I thought that at least one of them would know it. 

[opus]

Got Aristophanes from an Odd Couple episode (the one where they’re on Password).

[saber5055]

49 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I've only just seen the beginning so far, but doesn't it seem unusual that Alex singled out one player to say he did well on the jeopardy test? Didn't everyone who made it this far do well?

He didn't single out one player, he told the two new players that they passed the J test so were smart enough to give the champ a go.

I did get a kick out of Trebek saying Jonathan would have an advantage in the Collaboration category, then after he picked the first clue, Zorn answered it, then Zorn and Meredith answered all the rest. Jonathan got totally locked out of "his" category. Thanks, Trebek, for the jinx.

Speaking of Zorn, in one place on TheJeopardFan, his name is misspelled as Zork. Ha. Great superhero name, Zork. Or Star Trek alien. Or planet. Also a good name for a Jeopardy champion.

I got St. Ives, tea caddy and Jared Padalecki. Kind of funny none of the three have caught an episode of Supernatural in the 15 years it's been on.

I hate Trebek schooling players for wrong answers. Doing so at FJ is an irritation and brings me back to Would You Rather ... be ridiculed for a guess or be a know nothing and leave it blank. Up to you. No wrong answer and I won't school you if you don't agree with me.

If I were Zorn, I would have bet 5,000 on the Bird DD to put me well into first. Of course, that's one of "my" categories and Zorn ended up winning anyway, so never mind. I just wanted to say it!

Asterisk day all you contest players!

Edited January 8, 2019 by saber5055

[Quickbeam]

So excited to see a pagan category! That made my day. 

[SoMuchTV]

18 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

He didn't single out one player, he told the two new players that they passed the J test so were smart enough to give the champ a go.

Oops, I must have nodded off there. I only caught the comment to  the one guy.

[PaulaO]

45 minutes ago, opus said:

Got Aristophanes from an Odd Couple episode (the one where they’re on Password).

Lincoln’s favorite condiment?  Mayonnaise 

[Sharpie66]

My brain was just not functioning today (only TS I got was tea caddy), so I was delighted when I was actually able to suss out Stevenson. I didn’t know about his connection with Samoa specifically, but the year of his death and vaguely remembering he had something to do with the South Pacific got me there.

[GenerationX]

I had zero clue on FJ.  I would have to do some serious studying of Literature (among other subjects) if I were ever on the show.

I likely would've run the games category had they uncovered the clue at the top (I had the DD of Go).  Decades of reading GAMES magazine came in handy on that one.

[Kathira]

3 hours ago, illdoc said:

Re FJ: Does "Gauguin" sound Scottish to you?????? 

No, but I never got any further than "that painter guy." I would have needed a lot more obvious clue than just Scottish and Samoa. Although also in the "who else could it have been" category is Aristophanes. Whenever they ask about Greek comedies, it's him. Nobody else is really as famous, and The Birds is one of his best known plays. The other one is Lysistrata, which is the one where the women go on a sex strike to get the men to make peace.

I also got Jared Padelecki, although I stopped watching Supernatural years ago, at least partly because I could never remember which one was Sam and which one was Dean. Every once in a while I try again and nope, still can't tell 'em apart. And the episodes are depressingly similar, too.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Kathira

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I got St. Ives, tea caddy and Jared Padalecki. Kind of funny none of the three have caught an episode of Supernatural in the 15 years it's been on.

I've never watched Supernatural, and I have no idea who Jared Padalecki is. I just googled his picture. I still don't know him. 

The only TS I got was [tea] caddy.

I didn't get FJ. I had a photo in mind but couldn't think of the name, so I chose Leakey. Not even the photo I had in mind was correct. I didn't know Robert Louis Stevenson had anything to do with Samoa. I guess I don't know much about him at all.

What is hand fasting? I guess I'll google right now.... Ah. I was taking 'fasting' as abstaining from food, but it means more like fastening, right?

[zoey1996]

Stevenson was almost an instaget for me.  I've been to a RLS museum in St. Helena California, and also visited Braemar Castle in Scotland, where he had stayed for a time, so that helped.  

I also got St. Ives and tea caddy.  

Edited January 8, 2019 by zoey1996

[saber5055]

33 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I didn't know Robert Louis Stevenson had anything to do with Samoa.

And I didn't know he was Scottish.

[GreekGeek]

Since we're reminiscing about living near food factories...I remember the smells of baking from the Silvercup Bread factory in Long Island City. It's now a movie studio...go figure.

I thought of tea cozy instead of caddy, but I did know Aristophanes and St. Ives. I wondered if anyone else would remember the classic Odd Couple episode. It's funny that Felix thought "Aristophanes" was a perfect clue for "bird," since Ari also wrote plays called Knights, Clouds, Wasps, Frogs, and Peace!

I knew FJ from a YA book I read a long time ago called Hearts Courageous, about people who achieved much despite obstacles. Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis and went to the South Seas for his health. His books about his travels were published posthumously, but definitely aren't as well known as most of his other writings.

[Driad]

As a Gilbert & Sullivan geek "I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes" and also that Ari wrote Birds etc.

[lb60]

I had a fantastic game tonight.  And by that, I mean I completely crapped out.  Not a single TS and no clue for FJ.  I'm not sure that's happened to me before.

Looks like another great week!  lol

[Grundoon59]

I have been a devoted Supernatural fan although slacked off in later seasons.  They have a rabid fan base and depending on whose writing the episode, there can be almost as many pop cultural, mythological and historical allusions as an episode of Jeopardy.

Got Arisophanes as a guess and was 98 % sure on RLS since I couldn't make any other Scotland-South Seas-19th century connection.  Wasn't surprised someone said Gauguin but was surprised all three got it wrong.  Still what I can answer easily at home and what might possibly come to mind in a television studio would vary wildly.

[Sharpie66]

RLS’ Dr. Jekyll was based on Edinburgh’s Deacon Brodie. I ate at Deacon Brodie’s Tavern on the Royal Mile, so I remembered he was Scottish.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Sharpie66

[Toothbrush]

5 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I got St. Ives, tea caddy and Jared Padalecki.

I got the first two & said Jared Pada(mumble). Much like Zorn with Johnny Galecki. 

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I didn't get FJ. I had a photo in mind but couldn't think of the name, so I chose Leakey. Not even the photo I had in mind was correct. I didn't know Robert Louis Stevenson had anything to do with Samoa. I guess I don't know much about him at all.

I guessed Leakey also. No asterisk for us. 

[Good Queen Jane]

Since the FJ involved someone from Scotland, I, of course, guessed Robert Burns. I was sure I got an asterisk when Alex said "Robert" but was completely deflated when he went on "Louis Stevenson." Sigh.

[MrAtoz]

Weirdly, I read the FJ clue early at TheJeopardyFan.com, and had no idea.  But then when I saw it on the actual show, Stevenson came to me instantly.  I can't imagine what the difference was.

[Trey]

I wonder why FJ category was 19th Century Notables instead of 19th Century Male Authors.  If it had been the latter, I just might have figured it out.

My only ts's were St. Ives and tea caddy.

I like Zorn. 

eta: a poster on JBoard showed nearly 20 clues from past Jeopardy! games that were about RLS dying on Samoa - I don't remember a single one.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Trey

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, Trey said:

I wonder why FJ category was 19th Century Notables instead of 19th Century Male Authors.  If it had been the latter, I just might have figured it out.

I wasn't going for an author at all. I was thinking of anthropologists and the like. I just recalled who was in the photo I had in mind: Albert Schweitzer.