OT: Jeopardy! fans

[QuikSand]

Mrs. Q and I have gotten into a habit of watching Jeopardy! more regularly lately, and are getting hooked a bit more than ever before. In part, I think that the new rules (a champion is now allowed to keep playing until he loses, rather than being kicked off with a car and a handshake after five wins) add a little bit of fuel to the show's ongoing storyline.

Does anyone else here watch the show regularly enough to start getting interested in whether a current champion will win again night to night?

The last couple of weeks have seen three pretty good champions -- fairly likeable guys, as nearly as I can tell, which helps from an audience perspective.

[corbes]

I have, from time to time, watched the show regularly enough to develop an interest in the competitors.

Unfortunately, I have not done so recently. I did not know about the new rules -- that is intriguing. Has anyone won more than five consecutive times since the change?

[QuikSand]

I think a champion about 4-6 weeks ago won six times before being bounced. But with the prize amounts doubled (a few years ago) it's certainly possible to average $20,000 or more per win -- so it can start to add up. Last night, a three-time winner got beat, but he had won over $100,000 in just three games.

[Butter]

I have been watching more lately as well, and that champion you are referring to, QS, lucked into a couple of those wins with good wagering and a correct Final Jeopardy question. But that's how you win, so I guess you can't just chalk it up to luck, but he was second a couple of times going into FJ, which made it surprising that he pulled 3 in a row out.

The thing I've noticed since I've been watching more lately is how there are fewer categories that I can chalk up to "extremely specialized knowledge", and more categories where even the tough answers I feel I should've known. I've missed the last couple of FJ questions, but they were phrased in a way that I don't feel they were "impossible" as some of the questions have been in the past.

I don't know if that "dumbing down" is good or bad, but I am enjoying it more now. So, I guess I am dumb.

[RPI-Fan]

Damn, QS, was hoping to see you say "I'll be on tonight".

Once school wraps up, I'll probably watch it most nights. Over winter break I watched pretty much every night - though I admit the draw for me relates to seeing how many I can get right, more than anything else.

[SirFozzie]

Nice to see they got rid of the five and out rule, too bad we'll never see anyone beat the record of Thom McCann (who won something like 36 straight games of Tic Tac Dough back in the 80's.. winning 7 cars )

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Nice to see they got rid of the five and out rule, too bad we'll never see anyone beat the record of Thom McCann (who won something like 36 straight games of Tic Tac Dough back in the 80's.. winning 7 cars )

Beat the dragon was clearly rigged.

[Maple Leafs]

Can't say I watch regularly, but have happened to be watching the last few nights and must admit that the wife and I were rooting the champ on last night. He seemed like a fairly likable guy. Not the smug know-it-all you usually see, more like a regular guy with a hint of "I can't believe I'm here" in his eyes.

[QuikSand]

I agree, Butter -- they are definitely moving more and more in the soft direction with their questions. They have always been prone to the clever or hint-laden questions (answers) but I think that's being taken to extreme -- nearly all of the really tough questions these days either include a reference that acts as a big hint, or are in a category that gives you a really good head start.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Nice to see they got rid of the five and out rule, too bad we'll never see anyone beat the record of Thom McCann (who won something like 36 straight games of Tic Tac Dough back in the 80's.. winning 7 cars )

Nothing will ever top the guy who figured out the pattern on Press Your Luck and kept spinning so long that they had to make the show a two-parter.

The funny thing is, on his very last spin he actually screwed up and mistimed his button-push. He wound up landing on a "safe" square, but he could just as easily have Whammied and lost everything.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I agree, Butter -- they are definitely moving more and more in the soft direction with their questions. They have always been prone to the clever or hint-laden questions (answers) but I think that's being taken to extreme -- nearly all of the really tough questions these days either include a reference that acts as a big hint, or are in a category that gives you a really good head start.

Heh. Last night I got all the clues in the "sounds like a Chinese Dynasty" category (with clues like "A famous dynasty, or the part of your face that's under your mouth"). This resulted in my wife's saracastic "gee, you really know a lot about Chinese Dynasties".

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

...the wife and I were rooting the champ on last night. He seemed like a fairly likable guy. Not the smug know-it-all you usually see, more like a regular guy with a hint of "I can't believe I'm here" in his eyes.

...ditto for us. The guy never stopped smiling, and at first I thought it was a little dopey, but after a second night I backed him, and felt he was pretty sincere.

Now we get a ponytailed math professor who is a part time college DJ. We'll see.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Heh. Last night I got all the clues in the "sounds like a Chinese Dynasty" category (with clues like "A famous dynasty, or the part of your face that's under your mouth"). This resulted in my wife's saracastic "gee, you really know a lot about Chinese Dynasties".

Mrs. Q and I rattled off the corrwect responses before hearing the clues. That's a great example of the catgeory giveaway - the questions became totally pointless. ("Astronaut's favorite drink...")

[rkmsuf]

Foods that start with the letter Q.

[Butter]

And it seems they have at least 1 category per round with the quotation mark thing (i.e. "First", where all the questions have "first" in the response). I enjoy the rare category on chemistry or science or sports, but don't at all miss the categories on Victorian England or opera or ancient Greece. I guess it's a trade-off, but I agree that sometimes the hints in some of the harder questions are a little too obvious.

[henry296]

The hints are probably more obvious than the past. I remember a final jeopardy from a couple of weeks ago that had a Greek name and said he was the first to head this organization from 1894-1896. Combining the Greek name and the dates, I figured it out but had never heard of the person.

I don't find myself rooting for someone, but like to test myself.

Todd

[MrBug708]

Blah. I made it pretty far in the Jeopardy tryouts at one point during HS. But I missed the cut for TV though. Fun stuff all the same.

[sooner333]

Tom from a few months ago is my hero. Not only did he win 6 times, he set it up one time where he and another person would tie in final jeopardy, allowing both to win and keep the money and come back the next day. The next time, if they had both gotten it right, they would have stayed as well. I'm looking forward to the TOC.

Unfortunately, this quarter of school I have classes that interfere with jeopardy twice a week. It comes on at 3:30 here, and we have a group of people who usually watch it.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

...ditto for us. The guy never stopped smiling, and at first I thought it was a little dopey, but after a second night I backed him, and felt he was pretty sincere.

Now we get a ponytailed math professor who is a part time college DJ. We'll see.

Man, I really disliked the smiley guy, it just got on my nerves.

Maybe its just me, but the questions have seemed easier the past few months, especially final jeopardy.

and why do I still see the secnd place people make the incorrect bet so much, when if they just bet correctly, they'd win?

[Celeval]

Used to watch it pretty regularly, was very upset when they moved it out of the pre-primetime to the afternoon. Can never see it now.

[lurker]

I used to watch it twice a day, every day (reruns on at 12:30 pm that my geeky mom and I would tape) plus the nightly one in the evening in high school/early college. I stopped watching it for lots of reasons:

1) it comes on only in the afternoon where I live now
2) they've seriously dumbed it down in the last few years
3) the fact that almost every Daily Double is a video question now with some random people asking the question with no need of the visual aid annoys me
4) I don't want to humiliate Passacaglia by kicking his ass at it when we keep score together

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Foods that start with the letter Q.

"What is a quice?"

SI

[ScottVib]

I used to watch it.. but as they dumbed down the questions it got a lot less interesting; at least to me.

[sabotai]

I probably would watch it, but it comes on too early for me to remember to watch it.

[Anthony]

i'll take "the rapist" for $200 Alex.

[Pumpy Tudors]

It comes on at 4:30pm here in New Orleans, so I don't get to see it at all, since I'm working at that time. I did see the guy who allowed the previous second-place player to tie him. It must've been Lundi Gras or something, because I was home early. Anyway, I doubt I'd mind the questions being dumbed down some. It's not that I found all the questions too hard for me. I thought it was challenging before, and I knew some of the answers, so I never felt stupid. I just wouldn't have a problem with them making the questions more, erm, accessible.

Anyway, it doesn't matter what I think, since I never see the show anymore. Don't mind me. Just passing through.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Nice to see they got rid of the five and out rule, too bad we'll never see anyone beat the record of Thom McCann (who won something like 36 straight games of Tic Tac Dough back in the 80's.. winning 7 cars )

And he was in that white navy uniform of his every single night of it. A remarkable run.

If Jeopardy would have had these rules back in the 80's, Chuck Forrest might have made a million dollars. Though I don't think he's that bad off today...

[Ksyrup]

I get to see bits and pieces of it. It comes on at 7:30, right after Wheel of Fortune, which is my 5 year old's favorite non-Disney/cartoon show. Then we read to her and she goes to bed about 7:45, so I only get to see the first round, if that. The intellectual whiplash of those two shows being back-to-back is almost too much to bear, though. Sometimes I get dizzy.

As for the "dumbing down" of the questions/answers on Jeopardy, I prefer to believe that I'm getting smarter.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

I don't think I would ever associate the word "intellectual" with Wheel of Fortune.

That's my point. Hence the "intellectual whiplash."

[RPI-Fan]

Whoops - misread that sentence.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by ScottVib

I used to watch it.. but as they dumbed down the questions it got a lot less interesting; at least to me.

F*cking elitist!

[QuikSand]

And last night, we saw yet another case of a smart person making a dimwitted double jeopardy wager.

Scenario: She's in 3rd place with $6000, about halfway through the second round. Other players have something like $12,600 and $11,000 or so -- for practical purposes that's about right. This is I think, the last DJ chance in the game.

She is clearly not the best player of the three - and has litle chance to make a big move on them in the last 12-15 categories. This is her chance to make a move. She bets $2,000.

I can't defend this decision. If she misses it, she's down to $4,000 -- where she is obviously out of real contention, and will just be hanging around for a chance to sneak through on a stumper. If she bets the full $6,000 - she gets right into the middle of things. I think it's a no-brainer, she had to bet it all.

Turns out, she got her just reward -- she got the DJ questin right, did fairly well down the stretch, and ended up exacyly $4,000 short of the leader at the end, and they both got the FJ question correct. Had she played this well, she would have been a returning co-champion... but instead, she got a consolation prize and a boot in the ass.

I know it's easy for me to bet with other people's money... but in a lot of cases, I think people make indefensibly conservative decisions with the DJ opportunitites -- seemingly worried more about not embarassing themselves than getting a chance to win.

Alas.

[RPI-Fan]

QS: Just curious, have you ever thought about trying to get on Jeopardy?

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

QS: Just curious, have you ever thought about trying to get on Jeopardy?

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.

[RPI-Fan]

One night I did a bunch of research into what's involved in getting on the show, etc., and basically, here's out it goes (if you're interested):

1. Take a written test (for you, in Washington, I suppose), where they ask 25 (?) difficult ($800-$1000 level) questions in various categories. You need to get 20 right to hang around.

2. Later that day, if you got enough right, you go into a TV practice game, with a fake set and everything. They'll have you write down five interesting things about yourself, and after a practice Single Jeopardy, Alex or more likely some standin will ask you about one of those things you wrote down. You won't know which one he's going to choose, and you won't know exactly how he'll ask his question. You make a little pseudo-conversation with him, just like on the real show. Then you finish off the game, etc. What the producers are looking for here are people who can handle the TV aspect. From what I can tell, you sound like a perfect fit for them, but who knows.

3. I _think_ they tell you if you "pass" the TV test, and they say they may or may not call you in a month or two. From what I could tell, it was totally random whether or not they actually call you after that one-to-two month period - how well you performed on the tests had no bearing.

4. If you get that call in a month or two, you are DEFINITELY on the show (presuming you make the time and money committments) - you fly yourself out to California on whatever date they tell you, and pay for your own hotel, and then they'll film 5 shows per day. Sometimes it works out that you have to stay an extra day because of carryover champions. But as long as you get that phone call, they guarantee you'll be on the show.

All this comes from, again, being VERY bored one night and reading up on everything for four or five hours.

Good luck, and keep us updated Quik!

[Maple Leafs]

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.

"And our Final Jeopardy category for tonight is... fractions!"

[rkmsuf]

I'll take the rapists for $1000

[Samdari]

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.

Do you have a link for details?

[Travis]

Jeopardy just lost all interest to me when Turd Ferguson quit being invited back.

[henry296]

Samdari,

I think you can find info at www.jeopardy.com

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

"What is a quice?"

SI

Boo-yah!!! You're in the zone man...

[Sharpieman]

The most ridiculous thing in Jeopardy is when Alex asks these boring ass contestants when what they do in their spare time...
Alex: So Marie, I understand you have a very interesting hobby, can you tell us what it is?
Marie: I recently got into sand scripting and I'm going to write a book on the history of Mickey Mouse watches.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Boo-yah!!! You're in the zone man...

Except I misspelt quince.

SI

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

One night I did a bunch of research into what's involved in getting on the show, etc., and basically, here's out it goes (if you're interested):

1. Take a written test (for you, in Washington, I suppose), where they ask 25 (?) difficult ($800-$1000 level) questions in various categories. You need to get 20 right to hang around.

From what I remember of the test, it's more like 50 questions. You get something like 8 seconds per question. I've taken the test twice, and passed once.

2. Later that day, if you got enough right, you go into a TV practice game, with a fake set and everything. They'll have you write down five interesting things about yourself, and after a practice Single Jeopardy, Alex or more likely some standin will ask you about one of those things you wrote down. You won't know which one he's going to choose, and you won't know exactly how he'll ask his question. You make a little pseudo-conversation with him, just like on the real show. Then you finish off the game, etc. What the producers are looking for here are people who can handle the TV aspect. From what I can tell, you sound like a perfect fit for them, but who knows.

Well, they might do this in Culver City, but not on the searches. You do write down the interesing things, but you do so before the test and hang onto it. If you pass the written portion of the test, you hand this in. They will call three contestents up at a time, give them buzzers and you'll play for a few questions. The questions were presented via projector hooked up to a computer running some crude software. A question will be read, and then a yellow border will light up around the projected question to indicate that you can signal in. Timing here is pretty tricky. You also tell a little about yourself like you would on the show. I'm not sure what kind of analysis they do here.

3. I _think_ they tell you if you "pass" the TV test, and they say they may or may not call you in a month or two. From what I could tell, it was totally random whether or not they actually call you after that one-to-two month period - how well you performed on the tests had no bearing.

4. If you get that call in a month or two, you are DEFINITELY on the show (presuming you make the time and money committments) - you fly yourself out to California on whatever date they tell you, and pay for your own hotel, and then they'll film 5 shows per day. Sometimes it works out that you have to stay an extra day because of carryover champions. But as long as you get that phone call, they guarantee you'll be on the show.

Regarding 3), I don't remember them really telling me anything as to if there was any "passing" of the fake game. You go into the pool of contestants, where I think maybe 1 of 10 people is actually called for the show. There was a good number of months where they could call, basically the entire filming season. You would be notified a month in advance if you are chosen to appear, and then you are responsible for a) getting to California and b) making and paying for accomodations.

There was much discussion about this when Subby's wife appeared on the show, if someone can dig the link up somewhere.

[sooner333]

I signed up and am hoping to get an interview for the college edition. There are interviews in Chicago in June...hopefully they are in early June so I can still be here at school when they are going on.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Nice to see they got rid of the five and out rule, too bad we'll never see anyone beat the record of Thom McCann (who won something like 36 straight games of Tic Tac Dough back in the 80's.. winning 7 cars )

Damn you, Fozzie! This was driving me crazy so I had to look it up -- Thom McCann is the crappy place in the mall that sells women's shoes; Thom McKee was the Tic Tac Dough champion.

The guy was on 46 episodes and won $312,700 and eight Buicks. Oddly, he continued to hold the record for most money won on a game show until The first $500,000 winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

I do like shows where they don't force the champion into retirement. That was a feature of Jack Barry and Dan Enright shows, which unfortunately leads to the speculation that shows where the champ always returns might be "manipulated" to keep popular champions on the show longer. I have no doubt Jeopardy! is on the up and up, but there are some others in the past you just don't know about.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

From what I remember of the test, it's more like 50 questions. You get something like 8 seconds per question. I've taken the test twice, and passed once.



Well, they might do this in Culver City, but not on the searches. You do write down the interesing things, but you do so before the test and hang onto it. If you pass the written portion of the test, you hand this in. They will call three contestents up at a time, give them buzzers and you'll play for a few questions. The questions were presented via projector hooked up to a computer running some crude software. A question will be read, and then a yellow border will light up around the projected question to indicate that you can signal in. Timing here is pretty tricky. You also tell a little about yourself like you would on the show. I'm not sure what kind of analysis they do here.



Regarding 3), I don't remember them really telling me anything as to if there was any "passing" of the fake game. You go into the pool of contestants, where I think maybe 1 of 10 people is actually called for the show. There was a good number of months where they could call, basically the entire filming season. You would be notified a month in advance if you are chosen to appear, and then you are responsible for a) getting to California and b) making and paying for accomodations.

There was much discussion about this when Subby's wife appeared on the show, if someone can dig the link up somewhere.

Well, my post had some element of truth in every part of it.

[QuikSand]

Monster buzzsaw champion up trying to win for an 11th time tonight... he has already won $340,000 or so. Watching now...

[NoMyths]

$340,000?!?!?! On Jeopardy?! Jebus, but times have changed.

[JeeberD]

Yup. They doubles the the value of each question and they no longer make a champ retire after one week. But still, $340,000 is a huge accomplishment...