Jeopardy! Season 35 (2018-2019)

[Brookside]

Am I the only one who never knew there was such a word as "bettor"?

[saber5055]

"You're a bettor man than I am, Gunga Din."

[peeayebee]

FJ was an instaget. 

Finally I got a couple of TSs: morning glory and Bull Run. Coincidentally, this morning as we walked, I identified some morning glories for my son. 

I also got the DD of conch.

I had to google argonaut. It's a type of octopus. I never knew that, and I wish Alex had explained it. I knew the clue referenced the Argonauts, but I was trying to come up with a sea creature name that used a part of that word, which is what Jeff did with nautilus.

James' total is incredible. If he lasts a while, who knows how much money he'll win.

[Sandiscot]

I don't usually post on this thread, but wow! I am amazed by James. I'm really enjoying watching him. Why did the woman, whose name I've already forgotten, refuse to shake his hand? Rather rude.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Sandiscot

[zoey1996]

2 hours ago, Brookside said:

The way I remember which way West and East go is the initials spell "we".  Don't know if that helps, but I've used it for decades.  For right and left, I have a scar on one hand that I always look at to remind me which is which.  Does this make me sad?

It's sad only if you gave yourself the scar to help you with directions!

Once I am oriented, I do OK with finding my way, but getting oriented is the hard part for me.

I had hope that it wouldn't be a runaway until partway thru DJ, but then he hit the daily double, bet big, and got it.

[Grundoon59]

I had a moment of Jeopardy synchronicity tonight since Mother Grundoon and I were having Aunt Sally's Pralines for dessert after our recent visit to New Orleans.  I probably should have gone for the online test tonight to keep the good vibes going but I am hoping for a better night's sleep tonight and some more recovery from my respiratory bug brain fog before tackling it tomorrow.

FJ was an instaget given a late teens Romanov fascination and a year of Russian history in college. Actually even tried Russian language class but went running out after about a week - learning a new alphabet seemed too hard with my course load that year.

[Toothbrush]

2 hours ago, SHD said:

I’ll add to the whole “James reminds me of...” discussion by throwing in a young Seth McFarlane. 

Good one! 

[aces]

Separated at birth?

[Toothbrush]

2 hours ago, catrice2 said:

My sister thinks it is Alfred Neuman from MAD Magazine...but the mouth is not right...

My grandmother always said that Prince Charles reminded her of Alfred E Neuman, and now Harry reminds me of him. 

[saber5055]

16 minutes ago, Grundoon59 said:

I had a moment of Jeopardy synchronicity tonight since Mother Grundoon and I were having Aunt Sally's Pralines for dessert after our recent visit to New Orleans. 

Yes! Praline was another Throw Back to previous clues/answers, we had quite an extended discussion here about the correct pronunciation of "praline." I voted for saying it like so: "Delicious."

Meanwhile, lucky you @Grundoon59 for having Aunt Sally's Pralines left to eat. Mine didn't survive my trip home from NOLA. Who am I kidding, mine didn't survive my stay in NOLA.

[aces]

Here's video of James on The Chase.... I should've checked Youtube before I typed all that out I guess.

[DrSpaceman]

11 hours ago, Roaster said:

The website fivethirtyeight.com had an article a few years ago about how it is unlikely someone will break Ken Jennings' streak.

Short answer: (1) they now allow players to practice the buzzer before the game starts and (2) the pool of potential players is larger, so there are fewer weak players.

(2) is more-or-less why nobody will break Joe Dimaggio's hitting streak.  The best hitters today are as good as Dimaggio, but the weakest pitchers in MLB today are better than the weak pitchers in 1941.  Dimaggio was able to face both good pitchers and bad ones, but now there aren't many bad pitchers.

Jeopardy! now recruits nationwide with an internet-based test, and that means there are few weak players getting on the show.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ken-jenningss-jeopardy-streak-is-safe-for-the-rest-of-time/

Probably true for jeopardy but interesting thoughts on Dimaggio

I think with the hit streak its more that baseball anymore has so many specialized pitches and has them on pitch counts, don't leave any starter in or anyone in very long anymore, so they quality of pitching over a game is better.  As soon as a pitcher seems to be tired, he is pulled for someone else.  Not sure its the pitchers are better, just used more wisely over the game. 

If anything there were fewer teams back when DiMaggio was playing so you'd think the overall pitching quality would have been better and not so diluted over so many teams.

You can argue about strength training and medicine and rehab and other things as well helping make pitchers today overall better, but the same would be true as well for hitters, so one would think that would even out

I agree though as well he is not as likely to beat Ken Jennings record.  He is relying on the DD a lot to beat opponents.  And now other contestants know it too.  The lady last night bet big on DD and just missed it, had she not it would have been close going into FJ.  One of two things will happen over the course of more and more games :  He will bet big and miss more than once, losing lots of money, or someone else will get the DD and bet big to get a big lead on him, knowing that is his strategy. 

Ken Jennings just kind of dominated games and knew all the answers over time, just answered more questions.  Not that the current champ is not doing that, but he is relying as well on big wagers.  Its high risk, high reward. 

Now he may very well beat Ken Jennings earnings record for one run.  He seems to be running about double each game what Ken did.  But I don't see him lasting 70+ games

Also I definitely see him as Seth McFarlane more than anyone as his celebrity doppelganger

[Trey]

10 hours ago, SHD said:

I’ll add to the whole “James reminds me of...” discussion by throwing in a young Seth McFarlane. 

My entry is a younger Elvis Stojko.

I usually root for fellow Canadians but Jeff lost me at the introductions and did nothing to get me back.

I was shouting CONCH at the screen but Laura didn't hear me.

My other ts's were morning glory and argonauts.

Instaget FJ.  I don't know why they were canonized though. They didn't die defending their faith.

[Katy M]

18 minutes ago, Trey said:

My entry is a younger Elvis Stojko.

Yes, that is it!!! 100% right. Thank you, that was driving me crazy.

20 minutes ago, Trey said:

Instaget FJ.  I don't know why they were canonized though. They didn't die defending their faith.

I think they basically canonized everyone directly killed by the Bolsheviks, because the Bolsheviks wanted to outlaw religion.  So, "right place, right time."  If you want to take a very depressing view of that phrase.

[MrAtoz]

36 minutes ago, Trey said:

Instaget FJ.  I don't know why they were canonized though. They didn't die defending their faith.

As I understand it, there was some controversy about the canonization at the time, for that very reason.

[zoey1996]

James reminds me of ferret-face Frank Burns M*A*S*H, played by Larry Linville. Not a perfect match, but similar.

  

[MrAtoz]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman said:

I agree though as well he is not as likely to beat Ken Jennings record.  He is relying on the DD a lot to beat opponents.  And now other contestants know it too.  The lady last night bet big on DD and just missed it, had she not it would have been close going into FJ.  One of two things will happen over the course of more and more games :  He will bet big and miss more than once, losing lots of money, or someone else will get the DD and bet big to get a big lead on him, knowing that is his strategy.

I do think that James has a pretty good notion of how much he can bet, relative to how much time is left in each game.  Notice that his "all-in" bets have all been fairly early, leaving himself enough time to recover if he happens to get it wrong (which, in fact, happened yesterday).  When he hits a DD late in the game, with fewer clues left, he tends to bet more conservatively, betting just enough so that he can maintain his lead even if he misses.

I would note, on the other hand, that most of his FJ clues have been fairly easy, at least in my opinion.  It will be interesting to see what happens if someone can give him enough of a challenge to keep it from being a runaway (Laura came close last night), combined with a really challenging FJ.

I agree that I don't think he can keep up this pace long enough to challenge Ken Jennings's record.

Edited to add:  That video of The Chase reminded me how much I miss that show!

Edited April 11, 2019 by MrAtoz

[aces]

Don't know if anyone's mentioned this already but James was also on ABC's 500 Questions.... he's in this promo but can't find the episodes on Youtube.

[3 is enough]

2 hours ago, Trey said:

My entry is a younger Elvis Stojko.

I can totally see that!

The guy from Calgary totally lost me in the introductions too.  Although I do feel for him. After jumping through all the hoops to get on the show, not getting  to play FJ must be really disappointing.

[Prevailing Wind]

13 hours ago, ABay said:

To me, James is like a cross between Paul Patterson and James Darren. 

If you mean Paul Peterson from the Donna Reed Show, I agree.  This is because we're old & we remember these shows/actors (if not getting their names quite right.)  😉

I was just googling, and am very disappointed that Noodles Romanoff has nothing to do with the Russian Royalty.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Prevailing Wind

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, Trey said:

I was shouting CONCH at the screen but Laura didn't hear me.

I was blowing mine. 😄

I need to do some more googling to find the guy that James reminds me of. The suggestions here are pretty good, but they don't quite hit it for me.

[Bliss]

3 hours ago, Trey said:

My entry is a younger Elvis Stojko.

Yes! I agree... just flipped through a bunch of photos of Elvis, and the facial similarities are obvious to me.

[saber5055]

41 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I was blowing mine. 😄

I can take this is in so many ways, none of them family friendly. Plus it did make me laugh.

[Fex]

3 hours ago, Trey said:

I was shouting CONCH at the screen but Laura didn't hear me.

Me too. I thought Laura would have gotten it right if she had thought for a second. She answered too quickly, reacting to the spiral part of the clue, before her brain could process the trumpet part.

I never heard of argonaut the animal.

[Mystery Author]

Quote

To me he looks like a young Simon Cowell. 

I agree. But he sort of has a mouth like Springsteen, with retracted bottom teeth.

[Mystery Author]

Quote

My type of directions are: "turn left at the McDonald's" or 'go one street past the library & turn right"

Me, too.

I grew up in NYC where those were the directions, plus something like this: "Go left on Northern Blvd, drive until you see a big pink building owned by the Mafia, rented out for Bar Mitzvahs...don't do anything...keep on driving until you see a Carvel on your right...don't do anything..."

I've lived in 8 states. NOLA drove me bonkers, pun intended, but Houston was worse ("Go north on the southeast freeway..." Huh?)

Colorado was the best because the mountains are always to the west.

And for the record, I suck at geography. 'Tis lucky I have Mr. Author sitting next to me while we watch J! because he doesn't.

[saber5055]

Am I the only one here who thinks James resembles no one but himself?

Alrighty then.

I've never heard of The Chase, but I see it was on Game Show Network. All you rich people who have cable ...

I did watch 500 Questions during its short tenure. I guess Millionaire is on network, but a channel my rural antenna won't pick up.

And yes, I still have a corded land line.

What did the Canada guy do yesterday during his intro that made so many dislike him? I was doing other things so was listening, not watching.

ETA: I'm good at geography. I love maps, love to look at them. I've traveled extensively and would never use a GPS, I use maps and my brain. Yes, what's left of it still works to get me wherever I'm going.

Edited April 11, 2019 by saber5055

[ProudMary]

5 hours ago, DrSpaceman said:

Probably true for jeopardy but interesting thoughts on Dimaggio

I think with the hit streak its more that baseball anymore has so many specialized pitches and has them on pitch counts, don't leave any starter in or anyone in very long anymore, so they quality of pitching over a game is better.  As soon as a pitcher seems to be tired, he is pulled for someone else.  Not sure its the pitchers are better, just used more wisely over the game. 

If anything there were fewer teams back when DiMaggio was playing so you'd think the overall pitching quality would have been better and not so diluted over so many teams.

You can argue about strength training and medicine and rehab and other things as well helping make pitchers today overall better, but the same would be true as well for hitters, so one would think that would even out.

I agree about the nature of today's game where starters frequently pitch 5 innings or less, handing over the game to specialty set-up men and flame throwing closers. Additionally, the current dependency on defensive shifts is prohibitive to extended hitting streaks.

But, there's also one more important point about DiMaggio's 56: His feat--along with Ted Williams' .406 batting title--was accomplished in 1941, when many of the game's most talented players were not permitted to play in the NL or AL but were instead relegated to the Negro League. 

[ABay]

@Prevailing Wind, I blame auto-correct. For everything.

[Prevailing Wind]

54 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

ETA: I'm good at geography. I love maps, love to look at them. I've traveled extensively and would never use a GPS, I use maps and my brain. Yes, what's left of it still works to get me wherever I'm going.

Taking this to small talk...

[Babalooie]

Well, we're at the point now that when James is on camera I have to warn my husband to close his eyes or turn his head until the coast is clear.  We both admire his knowledge and will need to repent for being shallow. 😉

[Luvzmutt]

All this talk of James being on The Chase and 500 Questions...reminds me of last night's episode of The Goldberg's where Erica wanted to be a professional game show contestant.

[Sharpie66]

I had gotten behind until this morning, but was spoiled by the Chicago Tribune writing up James’ record win (he’s originally from Naperville, apparently). The online headline had the amount in it. I guess I will have to stay caught up, since I have to look at the Tribune home page every day for work. 

I couldn’t get past “giant leap” instead of “quantum leap” for Tuesday’s FJ, even though I knew it’s not a physics term. Oh, well, at least I got Romanovs. 

[Tabasco Cat]

On 4/9/2019 at 7:56 PM, ABay said:

Hang on. They give the guy on the end hemp for hops but won't take teleport for transporter ? I'm sure someone once in one of the billions of Star Trek iterations has used the word teleport. That's what it's often called in British sci-fi (could someone update Blake's7, btw? I have some casting notes).

I would have thrown my TV out the window if they accepted teleporter. It's a frikkin' transporter. The word 'teleporter' was never used on Star Trek. I know it has been used elsewhere, but accepting 'teleporter' for a Star Trek clue would be unconscionable. That would be like accepting "Dr. Spock" when they're looking for MISTER Spock. No. Just no.

[Tabasco Cat]

How about a young Paul Winchell?

(The one on the left)

[ABay]

Paul PETERson and James Darren.

Christ on a cracker. Until this week, I had no sympathy for Shatner on SNL.

[Trey]

James Darren definitely, Paul Peterson not so much - in that photo he looks more like Liberace - Paul Peterson, that is.

Oh, how I loved James Darren.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Trey

[hendersonrocks]

The two challengers did quite well today, but James showed he knows what he's doing with betting amounts - he's conservative when he needs to be.

FJ was an instaget for me, so I was shocked when two of them (including James!) got it wrong.

Oh, last thought: that Bob's Burgers category was a travesty. 

[catrice2]

10 hours ago, Trey said:

My entry is a younger Elvis Stojko.

I usually root for fellow Canadians but Jeff lost me at the introductions and did nothing to get me back.

I was shouting CONCH at the screen but Laura didn't hear me.

My other ts's were morning glory and argonauts.

Instaget FJ.  I don't know why they were canonized though. They didn't die defending their faith.

Boy did I love to see him skate!! 

[PaulaO]

*sniff*. Robert Osborne.  I miss him.  TCM is the only reason I have cable.

[catrice2]

5 minutes ago, PaulaO said:

*sniff*. Robert Osborne.  I miss him.  TCM is the only reason I have cable.

I sometimes watch all day on the weekend.  When they have the Thin Man or a William Powell marathon....watch out! 

I also love Margaret Rutherford as Mrs. Marple, but I have not noticed those on for a long, long time.  

Edited April 11, 2019 by catrice2

[lb60]

FJ=instaget. Guess that makes me smarter than James. ;-)

I still don't like him.

That is all.

[Browncoat]

No FJ for me tonight.  I read the clue, and got hung up on the video hall of fame: "Wait, there's a video hall of fame?  Who knew there was a video hall of fame?  I wonder what kind of videos are in the video hall of fame?  Music videos?  Home movies?  Oh, crap, time's up."

I did, however, get papaya and fish.

4 minutes ago, lb60 said:

FJ=instaget. Guess that makes me smarter than James. 😉

I still don't like him.

That is all.

I still don't like him, either.  I guess it's just us, @lb60.

[Sharpie66]

We had the record version of Jane Fonda’s workout and did it regularly in the early ‘80s (had a few pairs of legwarmers as well), so I am very familiar with it and got the answer right away.

[Grundoon59]

Okay this is weird but I have a second night of Jeopardy synchronicity based on my recent vacation.  Mother Grundoon and I visited the National WWII Museum in New Orleans (which I highly recommend to everyone).  A TCM crew was there filming and we got to meet Ben Mankiewicz.  We spoke for several minutes about Museum, his father's and my father's WWII service and of course TCM.  He was very approachable and very nice.  It was cool to see him on screen tonight.

[saber5055]

That virus clue/answer was almost identical to a clue/answer on last night's online J test.

The Experts, the monkey drawing, was a funny yet easy TS.

I go to TheJeopardyFan.com every morning to get the day's FJ clue, then answer. Today I was pumped, the category "Celebrities" was right up my alley. Then I got distracted reading about game percentages and who is rated where on the Jeopardy standings, and next thing I knew I had scrolled down and read "Jane Fonda." I had totally forgotten to read the clue and now I had seen the answer. I was bummed beyond words. I have a bunch of her VHS tapes, that was THE era of leg warmers and tights/leotard. But now I don't know if I would have answered correctly or not. So I can't give myself a FJ credit for the contest. Even though I cannot compete, it's the principal of the thing.

Turned my day crummy right from the start.

Edited April 12, 2019 by saber5055

[SHD]

The woman in the middle...her up-speak and tone on every answer was driving me crazy. She reminded me of that counselor on Glee.

I also guessed Madonna for FJ. Alex was pretty judgmental about that guess - “Oh, no...she wasn’t working it in 1982.” Madonna released her debut album in 1983. He made it sound like she guessed someone who hadn’t even been born then, like Ariana Grande.

That last category in the second round was a tough one to start at the bottom.

[Katy M]

I was like Jane, jane, jane jane...…….., FONDA.  It took me forever. I totally knew who it was, but her name was just escaping me.  I wouldn't have been callm enough on the show to come up with it in time.  That's for sure.

I liked Laura (if that was her name).  I was rooting for her, even though I figured she had no chance.  They did at least give a little bit of run for his money.  

[secnarf]

On 4/8/2019 at 10:34 PM, Bastet said:

Scroll down to Theme at the bottom of the page and see if you got switched to a different one with the switch; there was a post in the Bugs, Questions, and Suggestions forum saying if your layout is different, check your theme selection.

Thank you!!! This worked 🙂

I also guessed Madonna today for FJ. Couldn't think of anyone else and I don't think I ever would have come up with Jane Fonda.

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, Grundoon59 said:

Okay this is weird but I have a second night of Jeopardy synchronicity based on my recent vacation.  Mother Grundoon and I visited the National WWII Museum in New Orleans (which I highly recommend to everyone).  A TCM crew was there filming and we got to meet Ben Mankiewicz.  We spoke for several minutes about Museum, his father's and my father's WWII service and of course TCM.  He was very approachable and very nice.  It was cool to see him on screen tonight.

I love these Jeopardy coincidences.

A few years ago a bunch of us met in New Orleans, and one woman and her husband went to that WWII museum. They raved about it. 

For TSs I got papaya and Bob Woodward. FJ was almost an instaget. For a moment I considered Suzanne Sommers and her ThighMaster, but then I decided that Jane Fonda was more likely.