(Before you groan, this is an actual title of a George Strait song!)
The big (bad?) news of the day: The official Jeopardy! message boards are back. I believe there was even a commercial about it during today’s episode. Now for better news: It appears that the vast majority of boardies on the “new” forum are committed to staying, though some regulars had already posted on the old one by at least 4 p.m.! I’ve joined the official one, but I don’t intend to be there much (at least til March 28th or so). 😉 Trust me, jboard.tv is the place to be for serious fans.
But wait, there’s more good news…You may recall yesterday my Jeopardy! recording didn’t quite work out. Well today, my mom saved the day – I was working on the blog when she asked me if I was going to tape Jeopardy! I had it all set up and told her so, as long as no one had changed the channel. Well someone had. Disaster averted. Believe me, I was relieved when I pushed “play” and didn’t recognize today’s contestants. It would’ve been too embarrassing to even talk about here! Thanks, Mom! And happy birthday! :-*
Before I get to today’s episode, I played three recent Saturday episodes last night. Here are my Coryats:
originally 6-6-2011: 26400 (My Coryat the first time I played this episode was 23000! That’s what I love about these reruns – I can monitor my progress.)
originally 6-7-2011: 23800 (My Coryat the first time I played this episode was 22200. And what a weird coincidence – The blog entry about this episode is the same one where I talk about the J! message boards going down! It’s also just a few days before my audition.)
originally 6-8-2011: 29400 (My Coryat the first time I played this episode was 29800!)
Today’s contestants:
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| Jason Keller |
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| Isaac Patterson |
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| Niall Prendergast |
Jason found the first Daily Double 5 clues in. (It would’ve been 4, but Isaac, a grocer, went to the Fruits and Vegetables category when he had a chance!) The Daily Double was in A Matter of Some Gravity. Jason found it. He had no money, while Niall (pronounced like the name “Neil”) had 400 and Isaac had 600. Jason naturally wagered 1000 on this near-no-brainer: “Building on the work of Galileo and Kepler, he published the first quantitative theory of gravitation in 1687.” As he’s done before, Jason seemed to pause before he responded, as if he just didn’t want to respond too quickly. At the first break, he had 3000, Niall had 1800, and Isaac had 2400.
I was pumped about the George Strait category, but the contestants went to it last! They didn’t seem too excited about it, either. I wound up sweeping the category. I was pleased to get the triple-stumper that everyone attempted!
I was also excited about two Double Jeopardy categories: In Britain’s National Portrait Gallery and Fleece Navidad – I’ve been to the National Portrait Gallery, and I just listened to talk about fleece tonight in a little documentary called “Being Elmo.” This category was not really what I expected, and anyway it’s not like I learned a lot about fleece in the movie.
Jason found the first Daily Double in Try State Area. (You provide the state’s name.) Jason had 11800, Niall had 5600, and poor Isaac had -2200. Jason wagered 2000 on this clue: “59,425 total square miles, today the biggest of the original 13.” I knew it instantly. Jason missed it.
Niall found the next Daily Double with 2 clues left on the board, in In Britain’s National Portrait Gallery. He had 12000, Jason had 22200, and Isaac had -1000. Mr. Trebek seemed a little chagrined when Niall wagered 4000, as though he was afraid it was too much to wager with so few clues left on the board. (This is an assumption, of course!) This was the clue, delivered by Jimmy: “It looks like the painter initially included himself, then changed his mind. That shy artist was Branwell, the brother of these literary siblings, in their only group portrait.”
I got this one right, and so did Niall. Phew, as this wound up being the last clue played in Double Jeopardy! This meant, sadly, we had to bid an early farewell to Isaac, as he was in the hole. So Jason had 22200 and Niall had 16000.
The Final Jeopardy category was Islands. Yick, for me! This was the clue: “1 of the 2 islands with a population exceeding 100 million; each one is part of an Asian country.” I oh-so-happily had both islands right, but it’s not like I was sure of them. Both gentlemen gave the same correct answer. Jason wagered 10000, enough to top Niall had he doubled. Jason joins that elite group of 5-time champions. Can he become a superchamp?
My Coryat today was 22800.