Jeopardy! Season 36 (2019-2020)

[Driad]

I hope so.  At least twice before, I have quit watching Jeopardy because of incorrect answers and other annoyances. Was starting to think it was time again.

[GreekGeek]

2 hours ago, PaulaO said:

Bunch of dim  bulbs.  Teen Tournament had smarter contestants.  And yes, wrong to say “birds of prey” and “light opera” were correct.  How is birds of prey from Latin?

The word prey comes from the same Latin root as predator, so the answer was ruled correct. As for "light opera," it did contain the letters "op", so I can't entirely fault the judges for allowing it. But yes, this wasn't a great episode. Alex (the champ) did much better on Friday, and I missed Thursday's game, so I wouldn't call her a dim bulb. I wondered whether her FJ answer would be judged too vague if they wanted the specific number of Martin Luther's theses (95).

[Driad]

The FJ clue was badly written. Would have been clearer what they wanted if they had asked, say, who wrote the list in question, or how many items were on it.

[chessiegal]

For FJ my husband immediately said "95 Theses" saying he had never heard it referred to as anything else. I hadn't.  I said Martin Luther's Manifesto. At least I got the correct author.

[Moose135]

12 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

For FJ my husband immediately said "95 Theses" saying he had never heard it referred to as anything else.

Same here. I said it right away, then had to think to be sure it was Martin Luther.

[Brookside]

14 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Plus, it's British novels, not English novels. Ireland is part of Great Britain.

Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales.  The United Kingdom is GB plus Northern Ireland.  Ireland is a separate country, part of neither GB nor the UK.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Brookside

[Bastet]

8 minutes ago, Brookside said:

Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales.  The United Kingdom is GB plus Northern Ireland.  Ireland is a separate country, not part of GB or the UK.

Yep.  Alex once screwed that up, but I can't remember the specifics anymore.  Northern Ireland is a delicate dance in and of itself in terms of how you speak about it depending on where you are and whom you're talking to; calling Ireland part of Great Britain or the U.K. is a good way to get a pint of Guinness dumped on your head.

I only watched tonight's game during breaks in football, and it was painfully bad just from that limited exposure; I was stunned to read through the archive and see how many more TS and boneheaded wrong answers there were in the parts I didn't see. 

For FJ, I said "Martin Luther's ..." and then sat here trying to come up with what to call them.  I wound up with protests; I could not come up with theses.

[lb60]

3 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

.....(I was losing my mind with Mohammad answering before being called upon about a dozen times).....

That was driving me crazy!

Tonight I got equator, operetta, metronome, fencing, and precinct.

No clue for FJ, so December is off to a bangin' start.

[Browncoat]

I was all excited to have found Jeopardy here in the wilds of San Pedro (which I learned today is pronounced “pee-dro”), and then this game happened.  I couldn’t believe how many TS there were!  I got quite a few of them, but alas, missed FJ entirely.

I also call foul on accepting anything other than raptor and operetta.  I was surprised they missed Doc Holliday, metronome, and precinct.  I was less surprised that they missed Car Talk — it was before their time!  In addition to those, I got fencing and live oak.  And equator. And Rockefeller.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Browncoat

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I heard Alex answer “Christine Applegate”. I believe her name is Christina Applegate.

That was part of the show I didn't see because I was watching football, but in revealing the answer to Mohammed's missed DD in the first round, I thought Alex said "Rockerfeller".

[peeayebee]

I won't list all my TSs either. At least I felt superior for a half hour.

Except I couldn't quite get FJ. I couldn't remember what Martin Luther's list was called. I said Martin Luther's grievances.

[dcalley]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Martin Luther's grievances.

Martin Luther: Creator of Festivus!

[ClareWalks]

6 hours ago, dcalley said:

Martin Luther: Creator of Festivus!

I got a lotta problems with you [Popes], and you're gonna hear about 'em!

[Clanstarling]

I got Martin Luther's Theses, which sticks with me because it rhymes with feces, and I apparently have a 12 year old mind.

11 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

The word prey comes from the same Latin root as predator, so the answer was ruled correct.

Except that they they do not derive from the Latin word for "to sieze" which is what the clue stated.

[ABay]

Thank you, @Clanstarling! I can never remember what they're called, only that Martin Luther nailed them to a door. And it's stuck in my head that there are 39 rather than 95(?). Apparently, I have them confused with The 39 Steps. It makes no sense, but there you are.

[GreekGeek]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

I got Martin Luther's Theses, which sticks with me because it rhymes with feces, and I apparently have a 12 year old mind.

Except that they they do not derive from the Latin word for "to sieze" which is what the clue stated.

Both "prey" and "predator" come from the Latin verb praedor, praedari, which can mean "loot," "plunder," "rob," or "take/seize" (especially in the context of hunting or catching animals).

[Trey]

So many, many ts's - I got some of them but then they took some away from me.  At least I was correct with Greta Thunberg so I got that once they realized the contestant had put an extra r into her name.

I could have sat there nearly forever and not come up with FJ.

[bad things are bad]

I said 97 Theses, then decided to just go with Luther's Theses. 

97 Theses would have resulted in 96 Tears if I'd gone with it. 

Didn't someone answer Greta ThuRnberg instead of Thunberg? If it got corrected, I missed it (was cooking dinner and trying to catch most of the show)

[chessiegal]

15 minutes ago, bad things are bad said:

I said 97 Theses, then decided to just go with Luther's Theses. 

97 Theses would have resulted in 96 Tears if I'd gone with it. 

Didn't someone answer Greta ThuRnberg instead of Thunberg? If it got corrected, I missed it (was cooking dinner and trying to catch most of the show)

Yes, they took away the money for the Thurnberg answer.

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

I said 97 Theses, then decided to just go with Luther's Theses. 

97 Theses would have resulted in 96 Tears if I'd gone with it. 

Or 99 Problems. "I got 97 Theses, but a bitch ain't one."

[PBnJay]

I bought the PBS show "Carrier" on DVD so the equator TS was easy for me, plus I also knew what polywogs and shellbacks are. Doc Holliday was easy since I just watched "Tombstone." I got several other TSs although I didn't get some of the answered clues so it evens out. I did know FJ, thank you parochial school.

[helpmerhonda]

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Or 99 Problems. "I got 97 Theses, but a bitch ain't one."

Wow, did I ever need this laugh today!

[opus]

I got FJ, and I can say it, but I’m not sure I could write and spell it correctly.

[Bastet]

I won't be home tonight, so I just read through the clues on the archive, and can't decide if I'm surprised FJ was a TS - I guess that means I'm not.

Carol Channing as a TS, despite a picture, did surprise me, though, as did none of them knowing Fort Knox is in Kentucky.  Meter really surprised me until I realized that was the first clue uncovered in that category, at which point I wondered if they thought the answer had to use all the letters in "extremis".  But they went on to be just dreadful in that category, so who knows.

Margo Channing as a TS surprised me a little; I thought that play/film was well-known enough that at least one of three contestants would know its main characters.  Mites, jocular, latitude, Rin Tin Tin, and Clinton all surprised me a little, too.  Clinton because it had to be a recent Secretary of State, yet no one even took a guess.

Fifteen TS tonight.  Add in The Bell Jar DD being a miss, and this was another bad game, two in a row. 

[annzeepark914]

Hoooo-kay. Do ya think Jeopardy would have accepted "the Round Table"? Yeah, I didn't think so. I could not think of the name of that hotel & I stayed there once.

The new champ was the best contestant throughout. But this was another strange evening.

[chessiegal]

My husband said he thought Alex was doing his best not to burst out laughing when the contestant said Phyllis Diller for Carol Channing. My husband is 2 for 2 on FJ this week, and I'm at my usual goose eggs. And, as soon as my husband saw the FJ category, he said Dorothy Parker.

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, opus said:

I got FJ, and I can say it, but I’m not sure I could write and spell it correctly.

Just use fon-net-ticks and the judges will accept.

[Sharpie66]

I had a rather weird moment today. The clue was asking for what a bowler strikes. I wasn’t paying really close attention, so my wandering mind fixated on Bond films and bowler hats, and I said “a marble statue.”

[saber5055]

26 minutes ago, Sharpie66 said:

and I said “a marble statue.”

And almost Oddjob!

[Brookside]

I thought Alex was being particularly elitist and condescending (not to mention ignorant) when he questioned why a train journey should be considered special.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Brookside

[peeayebee]

I got The Bell Jar, Carol Channing, mites, merit, mitre, Rin Tin Tin, and Margot (though I didn't say Channing). Carol Channing and Margot Channing in one show!

I knew FJ but couldn't remember the hotel. I knew there was Dorothy Parker and a round table, but then I gave up and said the Friar's Club.

[lb60]

I got latitude, The Bell Jar, Carol Channing, mites, Clinton, and Rin Tin Tin.

I had no clue for FJ (including after the answer was revealed).

Been a great week, so far.

[Prevailing Wind]

Well, obviously, none of you went to Lutheran Church camp and learned the song, "He's Our Man" - in part, "He tore the Pope to pieces with his 95 theses. I like Martin Luther; he's our man!"

I've got a bad cold, so I wasn't too alert today (or yesterday), but I came up with Algonquin Round Table, probably because when the category was revealed, I told the cats and the box of Kleenex, "Dorothy Parker. Alexander Woollcott..." so the correct answer was already rolling around in my brain in component parts.

[biakbiak]

I got FJ and surprised that two of the guesses has nothing really to do with “literary NY”. The winners answer cracked me up because saving all their best stuff for days is what a SNL performer/writer should do!

Edited December 4, 2019 by biakbiak

[Clanstarling]

15 hours ago, PBnJay said:

I bought the PBS show "Carrier" on DVD so the equator TS was easy for me, plus I also knew what polywogs and shellbacks are. Doc Holliday was easy since I just watched "Tombstone." I got several other TSs although I didn't get some of the answered clues so it evens out. I did know FJ, thank you parochial school.

I went the other way - the international date line, despite a navy colleague of mine describing the experience to me in vivid detail.

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

I won't be home tonight, so I just read through the clues on the archive, and can't decide if I'm surprised FJ was a TS - I guess that means I'm not.

I called it before the clue was even read (do I get an extra point? 😉 ) Mostly because it's literally the only thing I know about "literary New York".

I also ran the novels category, which pleased me, though they didn't seem all that hard. (to this lit major). I'd read all of them except for Anna Karenina - I was never in a good enough mood to take a semester of Russian lit.

[Trey]

20 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I called it before the clue was even read (do I get an extra point? 😉 ) Mostly because it's literally the only thing I know about "literary New York".

I pre-called O. Henry, him being about the only "literary New York" I know.  As it turned out I knew the answer to FJ - just not the "round table" part - I knew Algonquin Hotel, Dorothy Parker and kept saying circle, circle, circle, trying to come up with the right phrase.  That's way more frustrating than just being totally clueless on FJ.

I got quite a few of the ts's, but apparently so did lots of people, just not these contestants.

[M. Darcy]

Aw, no one knew Al Hirschfeld.  Who was a question at trivia lately also.   

[Mindthinkr]

I had a good night. I got The Bell Jar, Carol Channing (surprised it was a TS), Kentucky, meter, seer, (disliked that category) mites, and Rin Tin Tin. The best part of my night is when I saw the category for FJ. I preguessed Algonquin Roundtable before they even showed the answer. 

[peeayebee]

45 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I called it before the clue was even read (do I get an extra point? 😉 )

Quote

I also ran the novels category, which pleased me, though they didn't seem all that hard. (to this lit major). I'd read all of them except for Anna Karenina 

I haven't read it either, but the clue was easy to figure out.

14 minutes ago, M. Darcy said:

Aw, no one knew Al Hirschfeld.  Who was a question at trivia lately also.   

I couldn't pull his name out of my head. I could see his face and his drawings.

[Driad]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

I called it before the clue was even read (do I get an extra point? 😉 )

Sounds as if a lot of us did, or at least called "Dorothy Parker!" (The quote in the clue is hers.)

[zoey1996]

I was shocked, shocked I tell you, that a question in Famous Novels was not something written by a man! Has that ever happened before?  ☺️

[Bliss]

I'm not sure why it surprises me when I hear that someone hasn't read Anna Karenina. It was one of my favourites at a fairly young age (early teens?). Perhaps my mini addiction to russian history at the time had something to do with it. I still get goosebumps just thinking about watching Dr Zhivago. Again. Aha... just figured out why I'm a romantic fool. Those romantic aspirations took hold of me at that adolescent age when everything is a possibility.

[Gimmick Genius]

It makes me sad that no one knew Carol Channing. It makes me angry that the one who thought she was Phyllis Diller is now the champion.

[Mindthinkr]

1 hour ago, Bliss said:

Dr Zhivago.

One of my all time favorites. I liked Omar Sharif even more when I found out that he was a Bridge Master. 

[saber5055]

The Algonquin Round Table is another popular subject for Jeopardy! writers. This is from TheJeopardyFancom:

The group has long been a favourite of the show’s writers, with J! Archive being littered with references to Parker, Robert Benchley, and Franklin P. Adams in clues about the group.

Not that that helped me come up with the answer. I will become increasingly dumber, if that's possible, by not being able to watch episodes. I do need to look up on J!Archive to see the clue for Rin Tin Tin. I never missed an episode of the adventures of Rusty and Rinny.

[Clanstarling]

2 hours ago, Bliss said:

I'm not sure why it surprises me when I hear that someone hasn't read Anna Karenina. It was one of my favourites at a fairly young age (early teens?). Perhaps my mini addiction to russian history at the time had something to do with it. I still get goosebumps just thinking about watching Dr Zhivago. Again. Aha... just figured out why I'm a romantic fool. Those romantic aspirations took hold of me at that adolescent age when everything is a possibility.

Now I did read Dr Zhivago, and other Russian novels. But I have never been much of a romantic, with Russian or other lit (only read one Jane Austin book because it was forced on me in class, and I don't remember which one.) Though as a young girl I did like Jane Eyre, but I think it was more the spookiness than the romance I liked.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Clanstarling

[HissyFit]

34 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

.... I do need to look up on J!Archive to see the clue for Rin Tin Tin. I never missed an episode of the adventures of Rusty and Rinny.

My neighbors likely heard, "Rin Tin Tin, you ninnies!" from my house last night. As a youngster, long before I learned to identify dog breeds, every collie was Lassie and every German shepherd was Rin Tin Tin. 

[Bliss]

3 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

One of my all time favorites. I liked Omar Sharif even more when I found out that he was a Bridge Master. 

Same. (My name is Bliss and I'm a bridgaholic. My parents taught me when I was 8 yr old so they'd have a fourth. I did the same with my kids!)

Did you ever hear about Sharif's experience in Las Vegas when he wined and dined a beautiful woman for the entire evening... hoping for some later 'action'... not to be, however... so he headed to the tables and won 1/2 million that night? Said it was "the best lay he never had".

[Mindthinkr]

18 minutes ago, Bliss said:

Did you ever hear about Sharif's experience in Las Vegas

No, I hadn’t and it’s a good story. 

[Katy M]

I know zilch about opera, but I got FJ right.  

I didn't get any TS's, but I did get the entire categories of trios and literary ends right, and no category all wrong.  I had a pretty good night.