OT: Jeopardy! fans

[jbmagic]

damn


i forgot to set my TIvo to season pass for jeopardy... (

[Ksyrup]

I could also use a good beating now and then. Do you have any recommendations?

[Bee]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

My daughter had gymnastics last night and I missed the show. What happened?

The same thing that always happens.

Although this time Alex was trying to convince Ken to go for the record of $52,000 in a single show, Ken went ultra conservative and won with $40,000. He didn't bet anywhere close to how much he could have and still be guaranteed a win. Maybe he's starting to feel guilty about taking all this money?

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I could also use a good beating now and then. Do you have any recommendations?

I believe Brett Ware is available

[Ksyrup]

Maybe people have been calling him to ask for money and he's about to have a heart attack...

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

I believe Brett Ware is available

That's Brett WEIR. Open up your fuckin' ears, jackass!

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

That's Brett WEIR. Open up your fuckin' ears, jackass!

I think it's time for the super across the way to give you a call...

[Bee]

I usually don't watch Jeopardy, but have been watching lately because of this run. Has Alex Trebek always been such an idiot?

I mean the other day someone had a Final Jeopardy answer of "I want my two dollars!" and Alex replied..."You know you get $1000 for finishing last?"

Then last night, He suggested that Ken go to Europe for 6 months since he's won so much money...Ken replied "The taxes will kill me though"...Alex was like "You don't have to work in Europe, just go there and live off your money you won"

What a freaking idiot

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I'll likely be at the contestant search in Washington, DC this June. It's totally my cup of tea, but for some reason I have never tried out before.

Update?

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I was waiting for her to start twirling her hair, talk on the phone, and chew gum with her mouth open to complete the picture.

She immediately brought Married to the Mob to mind for me.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Bee

The same thing that always happens.

Although this time Alex was trying to convince Ken to go for the record of $52,000 in a single show, Ken went ultra conservative and won with $40,000. He didn't bet anywhere close to how much he could have and still be guaranteed a win. Maybe he's starting to feel guilty about taking all this money?

Agreed, I definitely expected him to go for more (even if it wasn't the record), especially with the category of, "Movies of the 1970's."

[Easy Mac]

Ken is going down

[Maple Leafs]

So what happened this time? I missed it.

P.S. Anyone else think Letterman's bits about this streak are hilarious?

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

So what happened this time? I missed it.

P.S. Anyone else think Letterman's bits about this streak are hilarious?

Yes!

Trebek: Originally drafted by Atlanta, he quarterbacked Green Bay to a Super Bowl win in 1997.
Jennings: "Who is Indira Ghandi?"
Trebek: "Yes!"

Gold!

[Easy Mac]

Ken won

[Wolfpack]

SPOILER (for you West Coast types)





He won, but he got a real stern test and was bailed out by a pretty easy Final Jeopardy! question.

[Easy Mac]

There hasn't been a tought final jeopardy question in months.

And this game must be all about the buzzers, because I think I could challenge Ken almost every day.

[Ksyrup]

SPOILER



That was a balls move by the challenger, doubling up at the end of the game. Otherwise, that would have been a cakewalk.

It's almost over for him, but at this point, does it really matter? He's over $600K. He could get shutout by two brain-dead bimbos and he probably wouldn't care.

[Easy Mac]

If I was him, after 10 days I would have just ballsed up on every double/final jeopardy and risked it all. After 300K, It would be time to have fun.

I don't think anyone will match what he is doing right now. This is like DiMaggio.

[Ksyrup]

I don't know. How long has this format been in place? Give it a few years, then we'll see if anyone can challenge his streak.

[lcjjdnh]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I don't know. How long has this format been in place? Give it a few years, then we'll see if anyone can challenge his streak.

Yeah, I pretty sure they just switched to this format at the start of the current season. At the earliest it was the start of last year. So this streak is the first real test of the system but I'm sure with time it will not be the last.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I'll likely be at the contestant search in Washington, DC this June. It's totally my cup of tea, but for some reason I have never tried out before.

Well darn it!
If there's one thing not imported from the USA to the Netherlands, it's the original Jeopardy! (I mean with the American contestants rather then a bad Dutch copy with Dutch people playing.)

Seeing some super intelligent AI live in action would be neat!

[sterlingice]

I don't think this is too big of a Jeopardy spoiler:

With 19 days under his belt, Ken is down at the first commercial break going for #20 (granted, it's only 3800 to 3400 and yesterday he had a stiff challenge in SJ before blowing them away in DJ)

SI

[Ksyrup]

Once again, I missed an episode, and once again, I forgot to come here asking what happened. I'll probably see this one tonight at 7:30 EST.

[sterlingice]

Whats with the east costers all getting it in the evening? Both in Houston and here on the KC (either that or Topeka station, I forget which I'm watching), we have them in the afternoon.

SI

[Ksyrup]

As far back as I can recall, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune have always shared the 7pm-8pm EST slots. In some markets, one of them is at 7, in others that same show is at 7:30. I don't ever recall those shows NOT being on during that hour.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

As far back as I can recall, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune have always shared the 7pm-8pm EST slots. In some markets, one of them is at 7, in others that same show is at 7:30. I don't ever recall those shows NOT being on during that hour.

I believe that has more to do with markets targeting certain demographics during the timeslots. Here they go after the Oprah crowd at 4pm and the game show crowd at 7pm like more markets but I have heard of it being on in the afternoon before. Actually, the 2 just swicthed networks in Syracuse not too long ago. Didn't change the time they were shown tho.

[vtbub]

Prime Time starts at 7 CT, 8 ET.

It simply fits better in the afternoon outside both coasts.

[kingfc22]

so did he win?

[QuikSand]

He won tonight again, easily. The nitwit in second place once again wimped out with a double jeopardy question fairly deep into the second round -- I'm amazed how foolish these trivia-smart people can be when it comes to game strategy. But it really didn't matter - Ken won in another near-runaway, and would have won even if the other guy made a smart bet on his DJ earlier.

[Chubby]

The guy in 2nd place had a chance going into Final Jeopardy but he missed it and Ken got it right.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

He won tonight again, easily. The nitwit in second place once again wimped out with a double jeopardy question fairly deep into the second round -- I'm amazed how foolish these trivia-smart people can be when it comes to game strategy. But it really didn't matter - Ken won in another near-runaway, and would have won even if the other guy made a smart bet on his DJ earlier.

I was screaming at the television when that bet was made. You have to take huge risks to beat that guy.

And when I say guy, realize that I mean "world's first humanoid robot." He is NOT human, he is electro-mechanical, and they have chosen jeopardy as as forum to introduce it to the world, as well as fund the project.

Does anyone else want to reach into the tv and forcefully remove that smile from his face?

Is anyone else starting to be disturbed by the developing homo-erotic tension between Ken and Alex?

[Ksyrup]

You know, the guy is obviously geeky, but I haven't seen one thing about him that would engender dislike, aside from the fact that he's doing extraordinarily well on the show. If this guy won 3 games and got booted, you guys would think he was geeky (like all of us) but deserving of his $60K-$80K and that would be the end of it. But the guy keeps winning, and all of a sudden, no one can stand the sight of his face.

This is like a mini-version of the sports dynasty phenomenon. Do well, and you're liked; do too well and you're hated.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

You know, the guy is obviously geeky, but I haven't seen one thing about him that would engender dislike, aside from the fact that he's doing extraordinarily well on the show. If this guy won 3 games and got booted, you guys would think he was geeky (like all of us) but deserving of his $60K-$80K and that would be the end of it. But the guy keeps winning, and all of a sudden, no one can stand the sight of his face.

This is like a mini-version of the sports dynasty phenomenon. Do well, and you're liked; do too well and you're hated.

He is freaking cocky about how good he is at this game. I mean T.O. cocky.

[Ksyrup]

A. I haven't really seen that, although I admit I've only seen about half of his games.

B. He's won 20 straight times and has somewhere around $650K+. If he is, can you blame him?

[QuikSand]

I'm not rooting against him out of hatred, but basically for the simple reason that I'm sick of him. I guess it is a fair parallel to what we see with an overpowering sports dynasty. But I don't dislike him - I'm just rooting for him to get beaten at this point.

[Ksyrup]

Do you think the 5-win limit should be reinstituted because of the possibility (and now reality) of something like this? It seems to me that this is giving the show just what it wants - more exposure. I have to admit, even though I have missed a few of these shows, it's not because I didn't want to see them. I think it's a great story. I hope he keeps winning.

To draw another sports parallel, it's kinda like watching Randy Johnson strike out his 4,000 batter, then seeing him 1,700+ behind Nolan Ryan. Time will tell whether he is truly unique, or whether someone else can sustain this kind of run, but I tend to think it won't be equaled - maybe not even close - so I say let it run for as long as possible.

[Bee]

I'd like to see them bring back a couple of the "tournament of champions" champions to compete against him. I don't care who wins, but I think it would be interesting to see.

[Chubby]

I think part of the reason he wins so much is that he seems to have timed the button to ring in and answer perfectly. There's a ton of times where an opponent is mashing the button before Alex finishes the question and Ken still rings in 1st.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Chubby

I think part of the reason he wins so much is that he seems to have timed the button to ring in and answer perfectly. There's a ton of times where an opponent is mashing the button before Alex finishes the question and Ken still rings in 1st.

That's part of the problem. From what I understand, if you push the button before the question is finished being read then your buzzer won't work right away...

[QuikSand]

There's definitely a significant element of timing the buzzer - giving a real edge to a player who has already become comfortable with it. He basically just gets in more quickly than others even on questions where the answers are obvious -- that's a huge edge.

[RPI-Fan]

From reading a bunch of participants' accounts online one night, I saw that a lot of (more succesful) contestants had prepared for a significant amount of time not by reading Encyclopedias or such, but instead taping episodes of the show, and using the "Pause" button on their remote control to perfect buzzing in timing.

[vtbub]

The buttons lockout anybody else from ringing in, we had them in our high school scholar's bowl stuff back in the late 80's.

He's incfredibly smart and incredibly quick.

[Chubby]

He is incredibly smart, I'm not trying to take anything away from his intellect but I do think that his ability to time the buzzer is leading to his huge winning streak much like the Press Your Luck Guy.

[RPI-Fan]

The Press Your Luck guy was TOTALLY different. He wasn't necessarily all that good at pressing the button quickly.

Jennings has no single piece of knowledge re: how the game/board works that the other competitors don't.

And with that out of the way, there have been loads of people that had great ability to time the buzzer.

All the people who have been good at the show have been able to ring in well - I've seen far, far too many genius' who simply can't ring in well go down. Jennings is just the first person to combine great knowledge with great reflexes AND avoid that "bad day" - while he is certainly at the top of the class, I don't think he's much different from what we've seen in a lot of previous contestants.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

The Press Your Luck guy was TOTALLY different. He wasn't necessarily all that good at pressing the button quickly.

Jennings has no single piece of knowledge re: how the game/board works that the other competitors don't.

And with that out of the way, there have been loads of people that had great ability to time the buzzer.

All the people who have been good at the show have been able to ring in well - I've seen far, far too many genius' who simply can't ring in well go down. Jennings is just the first person to combine great knowledge with great reflexes AND avoid that "bad day" - while he is certainly at the top of the class, I don't think he's much different from what we've seen in a lot of previous contestants.

He's a triple threat

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

The Press Your Luck guy was TOTALLY different. He wasn't necessarily all that good at pressing the button quickly.

He was able to time his button presses quick enough to correspond with him stopping the board exactly where he wanted for an insane amount of spins in a row. I'd say it's similar.

Someone pointed out people taping episodes to get the timing on the buzzer down, this is the same thing Larson did on PYL. Obviously, I don't know if the people really did that in preparation of Jeopardy but it's obvious to me that a super smart person combined with the ability to time the buzzer right on will dominate Jeopardy like Ken has.

[RPI-Fan]

Larsson memorized patterns - the board moved slow enough that after memorizing those patterns he could stop it at the right spot with ease.

It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction, where he would see the square on something, and then stop it.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Larsson memorized patterns - the board moved slow enough that after memorizing those patterns he could stop it at the right spot with ease.

It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction, where he would see the square on something, and then stop it.

Larson videotaped episodes and studied them religiously to find the pattern/timing.

I don't see how this is different from taping Jeopardy episodes to find a possible timing pattern to buzzing in (not saying Ken did that but it sounds like others are trying it).

Of course they're not the same games, you have to be incredibly knowledgable to even get on Jeopardy but the fact that he can go strings of questions in a row while perfectly timing his buzzer each time raises some suspicion. Watch him, he gets in a zone and everything is in rythym both him buzzing in and his answers. Not that I think this should affect his accomplishment but I think the reason he keeps winning is not so much that he knows more but that he is able to buzz in 1st more often.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Chubby

Larson videotaped episodes and studied them religiously to find the pattern/timing.

I don't see how this is different from taping Jeopardy episodes to find a possible timing pattern to buzzing in (not saying Ken did that but it sounds like others are trying it).

Of course they're not the same games, you have to be incredibly knowledgable to even get on Jeopardy but the fact that he can go strings of questions in a row while perfectly timing his buzzer each time raises some suspicion. Watch him, he gets in a zone and everything is in rythym both him buzzing in and his answers. Not that I think this should affect his accomplishment but I think the reason he keeps winning is not so much that he knows more but that he is able to buzz in 1st more often.

My point is... EVERY person who wins more than a couple times on Jeopardy! has been great at the buzzer... Jennings is the rare one who has extreme intelligence AND hasn't been unlucky.