– The Jeopardy! Fan

     Even though I’ve been home this weekend and got to watch Jeopardy! with my family, I wound up taking a little break from the blog. Unfortunately the break was a little longer than I expected: As has happened before, for some reason the recording I made of the show (on the VCR) didn’t record sound. >:-( To make matters worse, for some reason the closed-captioning wasn’t working during the show, but it worked during the commercials! Very helpful. So as you can imagine, watching the show was a challenge, and so was taking notes on it. I had to wait til I got home to watch the show again on my almighty and heaven-sent DVR. I’m newly thankful for it!
     Before I get into today’s show, here are some scores from episodes that aired last week and on recent weekends. (I record weekend episodes at my mom and dad’s.) Thanks to j-archive.com, I can know what the real contestants’ Coryat scores were. For the weekend episodes, I’m posting Coryat scores, since that’s the method I used:
Paul Lavrakas 13800     Angie Harrison 11200     Dave Belote 18200     Me 16600
Jeffrey Niblack 4000     Pat Spangler 5600     Andy Srinivasan 14600     Me 19800
Stephanie Gumble 8500     Rebecca O’Brien 15999     Bob Kennedy 16100     Me 16402
     I screwed up somehow on Final Jeopardy wagering. As happened the previous day, Bob wagered more than was necessary to beat his nearest opponent had he/she doubled. I wagered (or meant to, anyway) as though Bob would wager to win by a dollar. So my only explanation for my final score (unless I just did the math wrong) is that I misread it: My Jeopardy Challenger’s readout has a part that doesn’t light up, which makes it difficult to tell what the score is supposed to be.
Laura Button 28800     Matthew Warren 9200     Bob Kennedy 2200     Me 3598
     Speaking of Coryat scores, I am considering switching back to that method during the week, too. You might recall that I didn’t love it because I didn’t get to practice wagering and I couldn’t tell if I won the game. Well, I am considering Coryat again because I’d then be able to participate in a thread on the Jeopardy! message boards where people post their scores. And I’d still be able to compare my Coryat scores to the contestants’, once j-archive.com had them posted. I still hate not being able to practice wagering, though, but no one else seems to care. Do you guys have an opinion?
     I didn’t keep track of my score Friday, simply because I just felt like watching it. Judy Shewmake won that day, and was back today, with these two challengers:

(from left to right; Judy Shewmake, Kristin Anderson, Charlie Penrod)

I think Charlie looks exactly like John Krasinski, although it is not evident in the picture above. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Charlie got this clue right in Celebrity Matches: John Krasinski found this ‘Devil Wears Prada’ star anything but dull and got right to the point, marrying her in Italy in 2010. I was surprised no one had mentioned the resemblance on the Jeopardy! message boards. So I did it myself. Charlie himself responded that he has been told that many times! He also said “The Office” is one of his favorite shows.

At the top of the show, Mr. Trebek announced that there is going to be a teachers’ tournament next spring! It’s the first one.
Charlie found the first Daily Double before the first break, in Country Nicknames. He had 1000, Judy had 200, and Kristin had 0. Charlie wagered 1000 on this clue: “Italy is ‘Lo Stivale,’ meaning this”* Charlie went on to run the category.

Today was a good day for me, triple-stumper-wise (if I can coin a term). I got five! Did you guys know these? In Hollywood Ugly: “No one wants to date Julia Stiles in this 1999 movie except for Heath Ledger, and he does it on a lark.”* The very next one was a triple-stumper, too, again in Hollywood Ugly: “Of the frumpy sorority girls led by Anna Faris in ‘The House Bunny,’ this ‘American Idol’ runner-up sure stands out.”* Then another one in Hollywood Ugly: “Rachael Leigh Cook, the ‘ugly duckling,’ is pursued by Freddie Prinze, Jr. in this high school comedy.”* In 2010 20th Anniversaries: “Digital imaging contests were among the festivities as this Adobe software program turned 20 on Feb. 19, 2010.”* In Shakespearean Portmanteaus: “Shakespeare writes the 11th sequel to the Freddy Krueger horror films.”*
My dad got this triple-stumper in Celebrity Matches (we could tell by reading Mr. Trebek’s lips): “Wonder if this ex-heavyweight champ sang ‘In the Air Tonight’ at his June 6, 2009 wedding to Lakiha Spicer.”*

     Charlie found a Daily Double in the 400 spot in the Double Jeopardy round today. Yes, the clue at the top of the board.  The category was 10-Letter Words. Judy had -800, Kristin had 3800, and Charlie had 7000. He wagered 4000 on this clue: “Jay M. Arena, director of the Duke Poison Control Center, devised this type of bottle cap.”*
     Unfortunately, Charlie’s miss on what turned out to be the last clue of the round (there were 3 clues left) put the win within reach for his opponents. The category was The Lily, and this was the clue: “Over 6 decades, this botanist developed more than 50 varieties of lilies
as well as his famous potatoes.”* Judy had 4400 at the end of the round, Kristin had 8200, and Charlie had 15000.
    The Final Jeopardy category was The Civil War. This was the clue: “These 2 cities in the SE and SW were the only 2 Confederate capitals not captured by Union forces.”* My dad got this one right! So did Judy, and she doubled her score. Kristin missed it, and lost 7800. Charlie got it too, and added 2000. We’ll see him tomorrow! I know I’ll have sound the first time I watch it.

*the boot, “Ten Things I Hate About You,” Katharine McPhee, “She’s All That,” Photoshop, Twelfth Nightmare on Elm Street, Mike Tyson, childproof, Luther Burbank, Austin and Tallahassee