This was Jeopardy!
March 31, 2008 4:39 PM   Subscribe

 
What is cute, informative and fun read?
posted by soundofsuburbia at 5:03 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]


You forgot to mention who conducted the interview, kyleg: Ken Friggin' Jennings.

Have I nerd-died and nerd-gone to nerd-heaven?
posted by Sys Rq at 5:13 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]


I used to like Jeopardy, but somewhere in high school it started to grate on me. Little nuggets of information, divorced from all context...

Still, a great read.
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:22 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]


Huh? What was the answer they were looking for?

The woman should have gone elsewhere, the man should have gone in. I'm assuming "here" is afrikaans for "men.
posted by dersins at 5:41 PM on March 31, 2008


"
posted by dersins at 5:41 PM on March 31, 2008


Dasein--

1) "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" was a popular song from the classic movie "42nd Street".

2) The woman shouldn't enter the men's room. The man should've entered the men's room
("MEN'S restrooms are marked 'here'"...).
posted by Dizzy at 5:46 PM on March 31, 2008


Anyone know of any other Jeopardy clue where the correct response varied depending on who is giving it? Wasn't there a Celebrity episode where the subject of a clue was playing and he or she (correctly) answered, "Who is me?"
posted by Rock Steady at 5:48 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]


Dreama, candyland, briank, wfc123, jpburns, Vidiot, padraigin, Guy Smiley, Dr. Wu.

Who are MeFites I have stalked who have appeared on Jeopardy!?

Am I missing any? (Maybe I should Wiki this.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 5:53 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]


THOUGH BORN IN ENGLAND, HE HAS BEEN UNDER CONTRACT TO NBC IN THE U.S. CONTINUOUSLY SINCE 1938. I complained “That isn’t a hint, that’s a mystifier. Who remembers that Bob Hope was born in England?”

How about: Everybody of a certain age in England?
posted by binturong at 5:56 PM on March 31, 2008


I passed the test and was on "The List," but they never called.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:57 PM on March 31, 2008


Anti-eponysterical. I forgot ubiquity.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 5:57 PM on March 31, 2008


p.s. Alfred Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin were also born in England.
posted by binturong at 5:58 PM on March 31, 2008


From the 2nd part:

f I hadn’t blown the whistle, it could have been very bad: “So Ellen, you just won on Jeopardy!, and Carlo, you work on Jeopardy! What a coincidence.” I could hear the Club Fed doors clanging shut.

Even if this writer did have an under-the-table deal to feed his ex-girlfriend the answers, how is this a crime? IIRC from "Quiz Show", after all the scandal and hearings over 21, no crime was committed by rigging the game show.
posted by dr_dank at 6:01 PM on March 31, 2008


On the message board, Ken and Carlo seem to explain that Carlo was implying that Alex's anecdote "died" because no one cared, so Carlo was saying that Gertrude died too. Doesn't make much sense to me, but...that's OK I guess.
posted by lampoil at 6:05 PM on March 31, 2008


Am I missing any? (Maybe I should Wiki this.)

What has two thumbs and is a one-day winner? This guy!
posted by true at 6:26 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]


Even if this writer did have an under-the-table deal to feed his ex-girlfriend the answers, how is this a crime?

Conspiracy to defraud whichever entity actually pays out the money, maybe.

Jeopardy follows ABC's Broadcast Standards and Practices. Still in reaction to the quiz show scandals, the network Standards and Practices departments work pretty hard to avoid even any appearance of impropriety.

In Brainiac, Ken Jennings described needing to change his tie, because the one he was wearing was creating a moire pattern on camera. So someone led him to the mirror in Alex's dressing room to change, and everyone flipped out, because a contestant shouldn't be that far upstage at that point -- the clues could have been on Alex's podium already!
posted by Zed_Lopez at 6:47 PM on March 31, 2008


I read Ken Jennings' book, which was a pretty good airplane read. There's a lot about Jeopardy and his run, of course, but he also talks a lot more about trivia as a whole. I would recommend it for all Jeopardy/Trivial Pursuit enthusiasts. This article was interesting in as fact based article, but I think the book has more interesting thoughts on what makes the people that enjoy it tick and trivia's cultural history. To be horribly punny (aka unfunny), it's not a trivial book.
posted by superchris at 7:48 PM on March 31, 2008


I will be appearing on Jeopardy at the end of May as well. One of my fellow contestants asked one of the contestant coordinators about becoming a writer, and we were basically told that someone would have to die for a vacancy to open up.

Bob Harris' book, Prisoner of Trebekistan, is also a very entertaining read.
posted by mogget at 8:30 PM on March 31, 2008


Thanks for reminding me that Ken Jennings has a blog. I used to read it regularly, but drifted away and subsequently forgot about it. It's like a snuggly soft blanket for the nerd-brain.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 10:15 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]


Zed_Lopez: I was on, too (Teen Tournament '94 represent!)
posted by jtron at 10:16 PM on March 31, 2008


Spotted two more -- exceptinsects and LDL_Plackenfatz. Damn, we got more Jeopardy players than librarians.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 10:48 PM on March 31, 2008


"Here" = "Gentlemen", "Dame" (pronounced like Dahmer) = "Ladies"
posted by PenDevil at 12:46 AM on April 1, 2008


Damn, we got more Jeopardy players than librarians.

Yeah, but if you're really cool, you're both.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:07 AM on April 1, 2008


Thanks Daesin, I didn't understand the personalized question, either. Nor the Gertrude Stein joke. Anyone?
Fun read, thanks!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:15 AM on April 5, 2008


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