Jeopardy watch....

[rsvman]

I honestly did not know that TVs could be repaired these days...I remember when every town had a tv repair guy...

The problem wasn't the TV, but getting a good streaming signal.


And oh, by the way, no spoiler but the final Jeopardy question for the first game that included James was WAY too easy for this level of competition.

[weezie]

When James revealed that he's been in training with bridgemasters I was doubly sure he was going to triumph. I may be in the minority but I like him. What a competitor and I like the charity that he's playing for.

[Bluedog]

I'm surprised there's no post about the latest happenings after 9-game winner Ben Chan was ruled incorrect on Final Jeopardy for his response "Who are Beatrice and Benedict?" when the correct response was "Who are Beatrice and Benedick?" He had nine runaways before that point (NEVER done before), but in this FJ, second-place person bet less (obviously) and also got it wrong but ended up victorious. Some people think Chan got the shaft on the ruling. Misspellings are okay but it must be phonetically correct and no syllables added/removed. In this case, "Benedict" IS phonetically a bit different than "Benedick" although I bet if he verbally said it, nobody would have noticed it. He chalked it up to a typo on a flashcard that he studied.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/24/enter...cec/index.html

What say you DBR Jeopardy aficionados? Fair ruling?

[aimo]

I'm surprised there's no post about the latest happenings after 9-game winner Ben Chan was ruled incorrect on Final Jeopardy for his response "Who are Beatrice and Benedict?" when the correct response was "Who are Beatrice and Benedick?" He had nine runaways before that point (NEVER done before), but in this FJ, second-place person bet less (obviously) and also got it wrong but ended up victorious. Some people think Chan got the shaft on the ruling. Misspellings are okay but it must be phonetically correct and no syllables added/removed. In this case, "Benedict" IS phonetically a bit different than "Benedick" although I bet if he verbally said it, nobody would have noticed it. He chalked it up to a typo on a flashcard that he studied.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/24/enter...cec/index.html

What say you DBR Jeopardy aficionados? Fair ruling?

It sucks, b/c I liked him, but at least they are consistent and not making any exceptions. It does not have to be spelled correctly, but the misspelling cannot change the pronunciation. You could see Blossom explaining that to him as the credits rolled.

[missfinch]

It sucks, b/c I liked him, but at least they are consistent and not making any exceptions. It does not have to be spelled correctly, but the misspelling cannot change the pronunciation. You could see Blossom explaining that to him as the credits rolled.

Can’t spork but lol on Blossom.

[75Crazie]

It sucks, b/c I liked him, but at least they are consistent and not making any exceptions. It does not have to be spelled correctly, but the misspelling cannot change the pronunciation. You could see Blossom explaining that to him as the credits rolled.

I guess my stance is: How many people would catch a pronunciation difference between the two? I tend to elide a lot of terminal consonants when I speak, and I think a lot of people do. I think it was a picky point to base a disqualification on, but I can understand either side of the issue.

[pfrduke]

I guess my stance is: How many people would catch a pronunciation difference between the two? I tend to elide a lot of terminal consonants when I speak, and I think a lot of people do. I think it was a picky point to base a disqualification on, but I can understand either side of the issue.

I also hate people to lose when they clearly know the right answer for all intents and purposes. He got the play right and knew exactly which two characters were being referred to. If you raised this in casual conversation, no one would say "I have no idea who you're talking about" because you said Benedict rather than Benedick. Would even Shakespeare have cared if the person told him "I adore the characters you wrote whose names are derived from the Latin word for 'blessed', Beatrice and Benedict"? Methinks not.

[aimo]

I guess my stance is: How many people would catch a pronunciation difference between the two? I tend to elide a lot of terminal consonants when I speak, and I think a lot of people do. I think it was a picky point to base a disqualification on, but I can understand either side of the issue.

If it had been an out loud answer, the judges would have reviewed it if they had any doubt. They are quite anal about that stuff. That's what happens behind the scenes sometimes when they do score changes.

[Neals384]

I honestly did not know that TVs could be repaired these days...I remember when every town had a tv repair guy...

In my town, the one repair guy was named "Rip" He had the back of his Van decaled with "There Goes Rip!" and the front with "Here Comes Rip!", which was in mirror image so you could read it when he tailgated you.

Years later (no longer living in Rip's town), I bought my first color TV, a huge vacuum tube model. While still warranted, it had a heat-related failure in the power supply, meaning it would only work for about 15 minutes before it failed. I returned it for repair; they sent it back "no problem found." I sent it back with instructions "turn it on for at least 30 minutes!" They still sent it back. It was maybe the 4th or 5th time before they finally fixed it.

[budwom]

In my town, the one repair guy was named "Rip" He had the back of his Van decaled with "There Goes Rip!" and the front with "Here Comes Rip!", which was in mirror image so you could read it when he tailgated you.

Years later (no longer living in Rip's town), I bought my first color TV, a huge vacuum tube model. While still warranted, it had a heat-related failure in the power supply, meaning it would only work for about 15 minutes before it failed. I returned it for repair; they sent it back "no problem found." I sent it back with instructions "turn it on for at least 30 minutes!" They still sent it back. It was maybe the 4th or 5th time before they finally fixed it.

In 1982 I needed a new color TV (tube, of course) on a limited budget, and a friend was a distributor. He got me to try this new variety called a Samsung...a couple hours into the first use, there was a huge bang and a flame shot out the back of the set. The dog bolted from the room. But the local TV repair guy knew how to fix it which was good because it failed a second time...loved going in his shop, TV bones everywhere.

[rsvman]

I haven't seen the episode yet, but to me by the letter of the rules it sounds like he lost, but in the spirit of the game I think he should have won, because he obviously knew the answer. Sometimes rules should be changed.

Having said that, perhaps the reason they stick by the letter is that they don't want to open up Final Jeopardy to a lot of contention about which pronunciations or spellings are "close enough" and should be granted. Whenever a rule is vague, it's a fair bet that somebody will end up unhappy about how it is applied.

[budwom]

I haven't seen the episode yet, but to me by the letter of the rules it sounds like he lost, but in the spirit of the game I think he should have won, because he obviously knew the answer. Sometimes rules should be changed.

Having said that, perhaps the reason they stick by the letter is that they don't want to open up Final Jeopardy to a lot of contention about which pronunciations or spellings are "close enough" and should be granted. Whenever a rule is vague, it's a fair bet that somebody will end up unhappy about how it is applied.

It's interesting because quite often the written answer to Final Jeopardy are illegible or incomplete...I think one of the contestants last night fell into that category, her answer was found to be wrong, but in fact it never should have counted at all because it was incomplete.

[johnb]

Besides the awkward delays, when she gives the correct answer after none of the contestants have been able to do so, she has a sort of know it all tone. I don't think she means to have that tone, of course, but it really comes across that way..

Ken, despite being a true know it all, somehow manages to deliver the correct answer in a much more evenhanded way. Also, when a contestant misses a daily double or another big-money answer, Ken expresses sympathy in a way that is very nice.

In the banter where the contestants introduce themselves and respond to questions from the host, Ken handles that very well and has very many quickwitted, humorous responses. Mayim, not so much.

I am really glad, however, that they did not pick Aaron Rodgers. :-)
That would've been a complete disaster.

Completely agree with the above.

It’s fun to watch the Masters shows. Each of the 6 contestants came across very well—the show seemed to be encouraging actual personality, and the players came through.

[rsvman]

Another somewhat odd ending to Final Jeopardy and a recent day of almost record-breaking contestant ignorance.

I'll address these in backwards order. Last week there was an episode where there were 23 triple stumpers. Twenty-three! The show seemed to consist mostly of three people standing around, befuddled, while the host asked questions, stood there for ten seconds in absolute silence, and then answered them for the hapless contestants. Apparently there was one game a few decades ago in which there were 24 triple-stumpers, so it turned out not to be the worst game in Jeopardy history, but it was close.

As an aside, it featured a contestant that, in my opinion, was one of the worst-ever 6-time winners. He was a likable guy, and capable enough, but as I was watching the shows I felt that there would probably not have been any other 6-game stretch in history in which he could have won all six. Good enough for maybe two or three games, it seemed to me, but the ended up winning six.

Now to what seemed to me another weird Final. The answer to the question was 'The House Unamerican Activities Committee.' The first guy had painstakingly written out all the words, but in place of 'committee' he had written 'commission,' so his answer was deemed incorrect. Both of the other contestants had responded with 'HUAC,' and they were deemed to have correctly answered the question, even though we have no ldea if they actually knew what the letter C stood for.

Just another example of when less is more in Jeopardy. For example, never say a person's first name, since the last name alone suffices, and if you make a single-letter mistake in a first name you could be judged to have missed the question.

[MChambers]

Another somewhat odd ending to Final Jeopardy and a recent day of almost record-breaking contestant ignorance.

I'll address these in backwards order. Last week there was an episode where there were 23 triple stumpers. Twenty-three! The show seemed to consist mostly of three people standing around, befuddled, while the host asked questions, stood there for ten seconds in absolute silence, and then answered them for the hapless contestants. Apparently there was one game a few decades ago in which there were 24 triple-stumpers, so it turned out not to be the worst game in Jeopardy history, but it was close.

As an aside, it featured a contestant that, in my opinion, was one of the worst-ever 6-time winners. He was a likable guy, and capable enough, but as I was watching the shows I felt that there would probably not have been any other 6-game stretch in history in which he could have won all six. Good enough for maybe two or three games, it seemed to me, but the ended up winning six.

Yes, last week was a very unimpressive week, and the six time winner was not a very strong player.

[budwom]

weak week indeed. And didn't they have a "medicine" category with one of the contestants being a doctor?

[rsvman]

weak week indeed. And didn't they have a "medicine" category with one of the contestants being a doctor?

Yep.

[75Crazie]

weak week indeed. And didn't they have a "medicine" category with one of the contestants being a doctor?

Do they usually screen for that? That is, if they're planning a "medicine" category for a specific day, and a doctor lines up to become one of the contestants on that day, do they usually say "Well, lets defer that category to a different day" (by "day", I mean air date, not studio date)? It would seem to potentially involve a lot of last-minute wrangling, because I would think they have some sort of process for determining the spread of categories in a specific round ... and I would think there's always a chance of late-warning contestant changes. But I assume a lot here, I know.

[rsvman]

Do they usually screen for that? That is, if they're planning a "medicine" category for a specific day, and a doctor lines up to become one of the contestants on that day, do they usually say "Well, lets defer that category to a different day" (by "day", I mean air date, not studio date)? It would seem to potentially involve a lot of last-minute wrangling, because I would think they have some sort of process for determining the spread of categories in a specific round ... and I would think there's always a chance of late-warning contestant changes. But I assume a lot here, I know.

If I had to guess, they probably don't care that much about it. I mean, they have history professors on and they almost always have history categories.

[aimo]

Do they usually screen for that? That is, if they're planning a "medicine" category for a specific day, and a doctor lines up to become one of the contestants on that day, do they usually say "Well, lets defer that category to a different day" (by "day", I mean air date, not studio date)? It would seem to potentially involve a lot of last-minute wrangling, because I would think they have some sort of process for determining the spread of categories in a specific round ... and I would think there's always a chance of late-warning contestant changes. But I assume a lot here, I know.

They say that all categories are completely random and they do not take into consideration the contestants' backgrounds.