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A small matter for sure and the type thing that only I would catch, but in tonight's episode, Mayim Bialik called on the contestant in the third position, i.e. the podium to the far right, to choose the first category to begin the game. For as long as any of us can remember, the person in the first chair has had that honor, even when there was no returning champion.
I didn't notice that, David. I am not enjoying the Professor's Tournament so much. I prefer the traditional shows with a daily winner. We are waiting for the record setting champion, Amy Schneider, to continue.
Okay, so Ken reveals the answer "This Actor Was Known As 'The Hammer' Before He Played Thor In 'The Avengers'", to which the contestant responded "Who is Hemsworth?". Ken asked him "Which one?" and the guy answered correctly, naming Chris [not Liam].
Liam Hemsworth never played Thor, so why would simply answering using Chris Hemsworth's last name have been incorrect? Earlier, he gave credit to the champion who answered "Who is Zayn?" to a question about a singer who went solo after leaving his group [Zayn Malik left One Direction]. I saw where he's performed as Zayn, Malik and Zayn Malik, so I guess that's okay.
But Liam Hemsworth never played Thor, so why would "Who is Hemsworth?" have been an incorrect answer? If the question was "This Former Motown Artist's First Solo Album 'Off The Wall' Sold Multi-Platinum" and someone answered, "Who is Jackson?", would it be necessary to answer "Who is Michael Jackson?", even though none of his brothers had an album called "Off The Wall"?
I feel your pain. I have noticed over the years that there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when just a last name will suffice as opposed to when more information is needed. If you think back to Matt Amodio, he was consistent to a fault with just giving last names but I cannot ever recall any times when he was asked to give more information. Of course with him as you may recall, people screamed bloody murder because he would not use the word "who" if the question was about a person. It was always "What is Smith" or "What is Jackson?"
Matt never said "What is..." It was always "What's..." It annoyed the hell out of me until I read that it was his strategy. He commented that saying "What's" allowed him to focus on his response without having to be grammatically correct.
I noticed some of the best players reply with only a last name unless asked to be be more specific. I assume the judges have their reasons. There have been times when a response has been changed upon further review and the players totals adjusted accordingly.
I read online [but I cannot find the article] that we do not see the entire game due to errors in reading the clues or other bloopers that must be retaped. It was mentioned that tapings with the guest hosts lasted longer than those with Alex Trebek.
I have never read anything official on this, but I always assumed that it took at least a couple of hours to tape each episode. Not only do we have the bloopers to deal with, but the time it takes to re-set the board, give instructions to the contestants, etc. Occasionally you can tell where the show was edited but I am sure a lot of it slips by us.
Yeah, I always imagined that it takes more time than we see for the producers to request clarification. Usually, when the host requires more information, it's immediately following the response. Bang bang. I'll bet if we were at a taping, we'd find that someone gets the host's attention and clearly informs them what needs elaboration and why. On TV, the entire thing barely takes a couple of seconds but it has to take longer than that in real time. I'd imagine the anectotes following the commercial are heavily edited as well.
Jerry Oz, when you posted this comment I couldn't recall the specific broadcast. Turns out it was a Friday evening broadcast. However, in the Boston area, during football season, Jeopardy! is delayed until 2:35 on Saturday morning pre-empted by Patriots coverage of upcoming weekend games. Very annoying, to me and even my Patriots-loving partner. Fortunately we can record Jeopardy! to watch over the weekend before the Monday broadcast.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry Oz
Unfortunately, this specific contestant is from Dorchester, part of Boston proper, and his episode was not seen by regular Jeopardy! viewers unless they were up at 2:30 a.m on Saturday or could record the program. So his 15 minutes of fame went largely unnoticed in the Boston viewing area. I felt bad for him when I realized this.
As the guest hosts were doing their thing last year I read an online article that compared their "performance" with those of seasoned Alex Trebek's. It was mentioned that Alex could get through a day's taping my 5 PM, more or less, whereas the guest hosts' tapings lasted until about 8 PM, due to delays. This was all attributed to Alex's experience versus the guest hosts learning the ropes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry Oz
While Alex was alive there was a video, can't remember if it was on the Jeopardy! website or a news magazine program that showed Alex at work on taping day. He started very early in the morning and reviewed every Jeopardy! clue to familiarize himself with the topic and pronunciations. So by taping he was ready to go.
I recently read online that there is only about 10 minutes between tapings. Only enough time for the host and winner to change clothing.
I've always wondered if the host's podium has a "dashboard" that would allow the judges to signal the host for one reason or another. Maybe like a green, yellow and red signal to indicate whether an answer is correct, needs more info, or wrong.
I remember a Final Jeopardy answer that was disqualified because
the contestant wrote "Who is Barry Gorde?" -- wrong spelling of
first name. Yet, had he/she simply wrote "Who is Gorde?" the
answer would have been accepted. No rhyme or reason as to
when a first name is required for clarification. Furthermore,
occasionally misspellings are accepted.
Recently, there was a football question regarding a quarterback. The contestant, Rhone Talsma, answered "Manning". I was surprised he wasn't asked to be more specific. Not being knowledgeable about football, I at least knew of Eli and Peyton Manning, so I was surprised when Ken didn't request a first name. Another odd jeopardy quirk, at least to me.
Nice letter from Amy Schneider on Jeopardy website.
https://www.jeopardy.com/jbuzz/conte...rdy-experience
Did the question reference the Colts? If not, I can understand it since Peyton played for Indianapolis and Eli didn't. If it was a general NFL question, that sounds like it might have been a mistake by the show.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnjeb
You are right. I recall they showed a photo of someone in a blue and white uniform. My partner just confirmed that those are the Colts colors. So the response of "Manning" was correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry Oz
But my memory is bad. It wasn't Rhone who answered the question it was Amy. I found the clip [at 3:10]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeOOUWT1Y9g
Also in the most recent episode, the one that just aired Friday the 28th, we had two new contestants who finally restored my faith in the show by making intelligent Final Jeopardy wagers. One of them had the lead with $13,600 and the other had exactly half that amount. The returning champ was in third place with around $5,000. So the only smart thing for those two to do was for the guy in the lead to wager nothing so that the worst he could do was end up tied, and for the second place person to wager everything in hopes of creating a tie. Anything else done by either party would have made no sense. Fortunately the two of them figured that out and wagered correctly, but the guy in the lead was the only one that got the question right, so he won for that reason.