They overcomplicate the show by tryin to make it more exciting and glitzy for younger audiences. It’s not unwatchable, but it’s not great.….except for Banks.
This is Jeopardy!
- Thread starter Aaron
- Start date
Hey, Jeopardy is back! They're doing a 2nd chance champion tournament. It's contestants who won less than 5 games, and were beaten by super players. The winner of this tournament gets into the ToC.
Thanks for the reminder, I’ve been avoiding reruns all summer and didn’t think to look when new episodes would start again.
In addition to the new daily shows, they started a new Celebrity Jeopardy last week. It airs on Wednesday nights. So you have the option of feeling a little smarter, or a little dumber.
I skimmed through last week's show. First of all, they use the word "celebrity" almost as loosely as our Celebrity Death Thread. Two of them were Utkarsh Ambudkar (I think he was in a movie I saw) and Emily Hampshire (Stevie on Schitt's Creek). I don't know if this was due to the strike, or was planned all along. And while I like Emily's acting, she is not Jeopardy material.
I lost count of how many unbelievably idiotic responses she gave, which were always followed by an exclamation of regret, as if to say "God, what was I thinking 3.2 milliseconds ago!?". But here's one I remember. The category was "Birds" or something, and the clue said "You'll see more of these in Alaska than anywhere else, except for the backs of quarters". Emily rang-in first, but when called on, she was typically flustered, as if she hit the button by accident. And her answer... "Owls". Not Bald Eagles. Owls. And yes, she immediately regretted her answer.
That champions wildcard 2 day final was really good, with 3 good players. And that's a good thing, because a whole new champions wildcard competition starts tonight.
The manhunt for the Maine gunman has not only preempted tonight's jeopardy, but my recording of last night's celebrity jeopardy is also just an hour of news.
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
So this is not about Jeopardy, but rather our own kind of Jeopardy-like experience. Living in a summer tourist town, we've had to find some go-to places to have dinner on a Friday or Saturday night, where there isn't a 2 hour wait. Our #1 spot is the Shipyard Brewpub in the adjacent town of Eliot ME. If you look at this map, you can see why:
The major routes (95 and 1) go through Portsmouth NH and then into Kittery and York ME. Eliot is tucked-away off the highways, but has a large business district along rt 236 that only local people use. The Shipyard pub is on 236 and is 10 minutes from us. We had often gone there on Fridays during the summer, but ended up there one Saturday night, and discovered this:
We walked in about a third of the way into a very well-run trivia game, in which just about every table of patrons was playing. And we've tried to make it there every Saturday since, probably 8 times over the past few months. The games consist of 5 rounds of called-out questions or songs (for "name that tune"), plus 5 handout sheets. The handouts might have company logos to identify, or screenshots from movies, or lists of items or celebrities in a sequence, etc. Of course, you have to have your phone put away (other players and the waitstaff would notice if you were using your phone), and the whole game takes about an hour and a half.
Mrs. Scotch and I came up with a clever team name (which I can't reveal here), and we always finish right in the middle. There's somewhere around 10 to 16 teams competing. We once got a handout where we had to put a bunch of movie sequels in order, and they were all ones we hadn't seen (or had seen only 1 in the series); including Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. Between that, and some of the questions involving newer pop music, that's where we falter. (In another thread, I mentioned the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by "Deep Blue Something" fail).
So we've been trying to get our daughter to join us; the one who's seen every one of those movie sequels. And finally, on Saturday, she was up to visit with our stepdaughter and granddaughter who were up from Florida. There were not that many questions she was able to help with, but she and our stepdaughter gave us just enough of a boost to eke out 1st place out of 16 teams! We actually had to face a tiebreaker with the team that consistently comes out on top. One of the questions the daughter helped with was the Bond movie title that was released twice, and it was Casino Royale (I had no idea). She also came up with the 1952 children's book title "Charlotte's Web".
Another week, we were joined by our nephew's in-laws, who recently moved to Eliot. They're about our age, and they helped enough (well the wife did) to have us tied for 1st going into the final round, which is the "Hail Mary" round. It's 3 questions, and you must wager 1 to 10 points along with your answer. Those points will either add to, or subtract from your score. We got only 1 of the 3 questions right - the only #1 hit in 1986 for a band named after a capital city. The song was Amanda by Boston, but because it came so far after their initial success in 77-78, we were skeptical, and changed our wager from 10 to 5 points. We ended up losing points in that round, and finished the game in 4th place. The first 3 places get gift cards for dinner.
But anyway, getting back to this thread; playing that game gives me a perspective on actually being a contestant, versus just a guy shouting out answers to the TV. It's a lot harder when you're actually responsible for every question, not just the ones you know.
The major routes (95 and 1) go through Portsmouth NH and then into Kittery and York ME. Eliot is tucked-away off the highways, but has a large business district along rt 236 that only local people use. The Shipyard pub is on 236 and is 10 minutes from us. We had often gone there on Fridays during the summer, but ended up there one Saturday night, and discovered this:
We walked in about a third of the way into a very well-run trivia game, in which just about every table of patrons was playing. And we've tried to make it there every Saturday since, probably 8 times over the past few months. The games consist of 5 rounds of called-out questions or songs (for "name that tune"), plus 5 handout sheets. The handouts might have company logos to identify, or screenshots from movies, or lists of items or celebrities in a sequence, etc. Of course, you have to have your phone put away (other players and the waitstaff would notice if you were using your phone), and the whole game takes about an hour and a half.
Mrs. Scotch and I came up with a clever team name (which I can't reveal here), and we always finish right in the middle. There's somewhere around 10 to 16 teams competing. We once got a handout where we had to put a bunch of movie sequels in order, and they were all ones we hadn't seen (or had seen only 1 in the series); including Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. Between that, and some of the questions involving newer pop music, that's where we falter. (In another thread, I mentioned the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by "Deep Blue Something" fail).
So we've been trying to get our daughter to join us; the one who's seen every one of those movie sequels. And finally, on Saturday, she was up to visit with our stepdaughter and granddaughter who were up from Florida. There were not that many questions she was able to help with, but she and our stepdaughter gave us just enough of a boost to eke out 1st place out of 16 teams! We actually had to face a tiebreaker with the team that consistently comes out on top. One of the questions the daughter helped with was the Bond movie title that was released twice, and it was Casino Royale (I had no idea). She also came up with the 1952 children's book title "Charlotte's Web".
Another week, we were joined by our nephew's in-laws, who recently moved to Eliot. They're about our age, and they helped enough (well the wife did) to have us tied for 1st going into the final round, which is the "Hail Mary" round. It's 3 questions, and you must wager 1 to 10 points along with your answer. Those points will either add to, or subtract from your score. We got only 1 of the 3 questions right - the only #1 hit in 1986 for a band named after a capital city. The song was Amanda by Boston, but because it came so far after their initial success in 77-78, we were skeptical, and changed our wager from 10 to 5 points. We ended up losing points in that round, and finished the game in 4th place. The first 3 places get gift cards for dinner.
But anyway, getting back to this thread; playing that game gives me a perspective on actually being a contestant, versus just a guy shouting out answers to the TV. It's a lot harder when you're actually responsible for every question, not just the ones you know.
That sounds like fun. Yeah in a team trivia environment it helps to have a variety of ages and such.
Just looked for the place on Yelp, how’s the beer there?
Just looked for the place on Yelp, how’s the beer there?
Good. Shipyard beer (from Portland) has been around since the 90s, and with Sea Dog beer as part of them now, they're the largest brewer in Maine. So it's like a smaller version of Sam Adams. There are Shipyard pubs in Eliot and Portland, and a Brew Haus on the mountain at Sunday River. I watched the Giants beat the Pats in the super bowl there, with the crowd evenly segregated between the 2 sides. The picture of the beer board on Yelp is probably from the one we go to.
Lately, I've become hooked on the Bluefin stout.
On tonight's jeopardy champion tournament, the leader going into final ended with zero, because he bet more than he had to and got it wrong. The contestant who was in last going in became the winner.
And on celebrity jeopardy, we had Rachel Dratch and Macaulay Culkin. Wowza.
And on celebrity jeopardy, we had Rachel Dratch and Macaulay Culkin. Wowza.
When will people learn? As much fun as it is to say "Let's make it a true daily double!" - especially when followed by applause (by people who have nothing to lose) - unless you're James Holtzhauer, don't do it.
He made it famous, because he guessed correctly over 98% (yes, look it up) of the time. But these fools are wrong half the time; and then what? It's late in the game and you have ZERO. It's just sad.
The contestant tonight got both daily doubles wrong in double jeopardy. He didn't even have a guess. He just stood there befuddled, until Ken declared time was up. And after losing everything once, he bet most of it again, and repeated the same FAIL.
I'm seeing this several times a week now. And it's been happening ever since Mr. Cheesy-smile made it famous. The whole concept of making a thoughtfully calculated wager has gone out the window.
On a more positive note, the contestant from Durham NH won tonight, so she goes on to the next round.
He made it famous, because he guessed correctly over 98% (yes, look it up) of the time. But these fools are wrong half the time; and then what? It's late in the game and you have ZERO. It's just sad.
The contestant tonight got both daily doubles wrong in double jeopardy. He didn't even have a guess. He just stood there befuddled, until Ken declared time was up. And after losing everything once, he bet most of it again, and repeated the same FAIL.
I'm seeing this several times a week now. And it's been happening ever since Mr. Cheesy-smile made it famous. The whole concept of making a thoughtfully calculated wager has gone out the window.
On a more positive note, the contestant from Durham NH won tonight, so she goes on to the next round.
Right, I wouldn’t want to go all in on the wager unless you’re an absolute master of that category.