Warning: This page contains spoilers for the September 20, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category 20th Century People) for Wednesday, September 20, 2023 (Season 40, Game 8):
In 2022 the Dept. of Energy noted “a flawed process” & vacated a 1954 commission’s decision “in the matter of” this man
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Pam Sung, a physician-scientist from Amherst, New York |
Alex Lamb, a data scientist from Lake Forest, California |
Brian Ross, an attorney from Los Angeles, California |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Deanna Bolio and Rob Kim are already in the finals of Second Chance this week. One of Brian Ross, Alex Lamb, and Pam Sung will be joining them.
One thing I noticed this morning, especially after the opposite result was brought to my attention yesterday: I don’t think the show counts its Triple Stumpers properly when there’s a judge’s reversal. Yesterday’s show boxscore claimed 16 Triple Stumpers, while my count and J! Archive’s showed 15. I’m guessing that this was caused by a judge’s reversal on one of Rob’s responses yesterday; I think we can all agree that a clue should not be a Triple Stumper if a contestant is retroactively given credit for a correct response.
Another interesting thing that came out earlier this week: audience members have come out and reported the format for the Champions Wildcard events this fall. It appears as though the competitions will be contested among groups of 27 players over 14 episodes: 9 quarterfinals, 3 semifinals, and a 2-game total-point final, with the winner getting a Tournament of Champions berth. The first Champions Wildcard competition begins on October 2. (I also don’t see regular play returning until April 2024 at this point.)
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is J. Robert Oppenheimer?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
This should be a relatively straightforward Final—if you watched Oppenheimer in theatres this past summer. If you didn’t, you’re going to be in trouble.
In 1954, the security clearance of famed Manhattan Project scientist (and director of the Los Alamos Laboratory) J. Robert Oppenheimer was revoked, due to claims of associations with communism in the “Red Scare” at the start of the Cold War. This essentially ended Oppenheimer’s career as a nuclear physicist. In 2022, the Department of Energy vacated the 1954 decision, citing “more evidence has come to light of the bias and unfairness of the process that Dr. Oppenheimer was subjected to while the evidence of his loyalty and love of country have only been further affirmed”.
Even during Oppenheimer’s lifetime the Atomic Energy Commission (precursor to the Department of Energy) attempted to make political amends for the revocation; Oppenheimer was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award by the AEC in 1963.
As I mentioned at the top, the revocation of Oppenheimer’s security clearance played a major role in the 2023 film starring Cillian Murphy. Certainly, this isn’t the only case in Jeopardy! history where having seen a recent major film makes a Final Jeopardy clue much easier—Bob Harris recounts a story in Prisoner of Trebekistan about how his failure to see Amistad in theatres hurt his chances in his Tournament of Champions final in 1998.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Wednesday, September 20, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Back In The Day; The Sporting News; The New York Knocks; Name That Play; European Vacation; B Minus)
Alex was rolling along well, but an incorrect True Daily Double took away his momentum. As it was, Pam gave zero incorrect responses en route to holding a $2,000 lead after 30 clues.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Pam 4 correct 0 incorrect
Brian 3 correct 1 incorrect
Alex 4 correct 3 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Pam has parents celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at the taping.
Alex got Re-Called on the 2-year anniversary of his airdate.
Brian was haunted by his Final Jeopardy in his first game.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Pam 8 correct 0 incorrect
Brian 7 correct 1 incorrect
Alex 10 correct 4 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Pam $4,600
Brian $2,600
Alex $1,400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Hand That Feeds You; Mickey’s Mantel; Also A State Postal Abbreviation; The Real (White House) Wives Of D.C.; Opera; “High” Notes)
Double Jeopardy! saw the Daily Doubles stay out for a long while, but Pam then found them on back-to-back clues! Unfortunately for her sake, she split them for a net $0—which allowed Brian to keep Pam from having a runaway going into Final!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Pam 18 correct 2 incorrect
Brian 14 correct 1 incorrect
Alex 16 correct 7 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Pam $15,000
Brian $9,800
Alex $2,200
Final Jeopardy today was straightforward for everyone; Pam is your third of this week’s finalists!
Tonight’s results:
Alex $2,200 + $117 = $2,317 (Who is Oppenheimer?)
Brian $9,800 + $9,800 = $19,600 (Who is Oppenheimer?)
Pam $15,000 + $5,000 = $20,000 (Who is Oppenheimer?) (Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) BACK IN THE DAY $1000 (clue #7)
Alex 2200 -2200 (Brian 800 Pam 2000)
2) THE REAL (WHITE HOUSE) WIVES OF D.C. $2000 (clue #19)
Pam 15400 +3000 (Brian 7800 Alex 3000)
3) OPERA $1600 (clue #20, $7600 left on board)
Pam 18400 -3000 (Brian 7800 Alex 3000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -97
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Brian 4 5
Alex 3 4 5*
Pam 5 4
DJ! Round:
Brian 3 5 3 2 4
Alex 4 4 3 1 2 3
Pam 5 3 4 5 4 5 2 5* 4*
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Pam 4.18
Brian 3.71
Alex 3.22
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Pam $17,000 Coryat, 18 correct, 2 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Brian $9,800 Coryat, 14 correct, 1 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Alex $4,400 Coryat, 16 correct, 7 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Combined Coryat Score: $31,200
Lach Trash: $11,400 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $11,400
Player Statistics:
Brian Ross, career statistics:
35 correct, 5 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
30.36% in first on buzzer (34/112)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,400)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,800
Alex Lamb, career statistics:
38 correct, 9 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
35.96% in first on buzzer (41/114)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,800)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,100
Pam Sung, career statistics:
40 correct, 5 incorrect
2/4 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
32.46% in first on buzzer (37/114)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $0)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,600
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score: September 20, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Pam $15,000 Brian $9,800 Alex $2,200)
Brian: Bet at least $600; however, a bet between $5,201 and $5,399 both passes Pam’s score and keeps Alex locked out for second. (Actual bet: $9,800)
Alex: Any bet but “all in” is okay here in the battle for second. (Actual bet: $117)
Pam: Standard cover bet over Brian is $4,601. (Actual bet: $5,000)
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I thought that, during the writers strike, the show was going to recycle old clues. This is obviously a new clue, since it references 2022.
The show never said that the games would consist entirely of old clues.
On the latest Inside Jeopardy podcast, Michael Davies mentions that the writers had started preparing clues for Season 40 before going on strike. So it is likely that this clue, plus the “Barbie” one last week, were prepared by the writing staff pre-strike.
I have not had a chance to see the movie yet, but the timeframe, as well as knowledge about the Department of Energy’s work with Nuclear Energy, Oppenheimer was where my “Educated Guess” went.
Do you know how many champions wild card tournaments they are planning on doing? It must be a lot if regular play isn’t expected to start until April.
Remember that once the Season 37-38 stuff is done, they’re repeating the process with Season 39, then having a ToC, then find a qualifier for Masters with the Jeopardy Invitational Tournament. It’s the repeated process + JIT that brings us to April.
Ahh ok I thought some of those tournaments were dependent on where we were with the writers strike which seems to be going nowhere fast. Hopefully that’s all resolved somewhat soon
Resolution could be closer than thought. Per CNBC reporter and former Jeopardy! guest host David Faber:
“After face to face meeting today, writers and producers near agreement to end WGA strike. Met today and hope to finalize deal tomorrow, according to people close to the negotiations, who, while optimistic, warn that without deal tomorrow strike likely continues through year end.”
https://twitter.com/davidfaber/status/1704673659866984722
I hope it’s near an end and stuff has gotten figured out and everyone is happy most importantly the writers are happt
I didn’t see the movie, but I was a big scientist geek for the Manhattan Project guys and knew about the security clearance revocation during the Red Scare years.
The University of Chicago, where Manhattan Project experiments were done, built Argonne National Laboratory. My mom worked there and her boss was Dr. Hoylande D. Young, who was involved with the project at U of C. So I have followed it since I was 11 years old.
I’d like to think that I would have gotten this even if I hadn’t seen the movie (in IMAX). 3 for 3 this week.
I didn’t see “Oppenheimer,” but I remember seeing reviews, and/or, articles about it. PLUS the entire Jeopardy category devoted to it, late last season. Those things, with the Final Jeopardy answer lead me to the correct response, “Who is (was) Oppenheimer?
Between the movie, and, the Jeopardy category, I would have been absolutely been surprised if this hadn’t been a “triple get.”