Warning: This page contains spoilers for the December 20, 2024, 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 Movies & The Law) for Friday, December 20, 2024 (Season 41, Game 75):
“Drafters…have to have a little fun sometimes”, said the author of this law when asked if he was inspired by 1931’s “Little Caesar”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Maria Lauro, a contract specialist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Joe Asaminew, an ER physician from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Laura Faddah, a manager from Memphis, Tennessee (1-day total: $11,200)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Yesterday’s 61-clue battle saw Memphis manager Laura Faddah dispatch Neal Bowling and Eric Weldon-Schilling with the assistance of a football clue in Final Jeopardy that fell—as football clues often do on this program—for a Triple Stumper. Today, she gets to defend her title against Winnipeg ER physician Joe Asaminew and Pittsburgh contract specialist Maria Lauro.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is the RICO Act?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2024 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act for short) was drafted in the early 1970s to combat organized crime in the United States. Law professor G. Robert Blakey drafted the legislation, and many—especially in the Italian-American community—suspected that Blakey intentionally used the acronym RICO because it was the main character’s name in the 1931 film Little Caesar. The famous quote from that film and Rico’s last line, “Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?” is #73 on the AFI’s “100 Years 100 Movie Quotes” list.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, December 20, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Fountains; TV; Smooth As Silk; Business Names; Science Bookshelf; Numeric Phrases)
While Joe found the Daily Double and picked up $1,000 from it, Maria had the best opening segment, picking up 6 correct responses to lead after 15 clues. At the interviews, the scores were Maria $4,000 Laura $2,400 Joe $2,000.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Maria 6 correct 0 incorrect
Laura 4 correct 0 incorrect
Joe 5 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Maria is a quiz bowl mom and history bowl mom who wants to thank (and shout out) her husband.
Joe punched a doctor at the age of 5.
Laura celebrates a dip-mas over the holidays.
Things stayed very close in this part of the round, with all three players within $1,400 at the end of thirty clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Maria 9 correct 0 incorrect
Laura 9 correct 0 incorrect
Joe 8 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Maria $5,200
Laura $4,800
Joe $3,800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Historic Songs Of The Brits; Computer Tech; World Religion; Mr. & Mrs. Lit; Pop Culture Physics; “Hog” Calling)
Both Laura and Joe lost $2,000 on Daily Doubles. Close to the end of the round, Laura and Maria were tied for a long while as Joe mounted a comeback and came close to the lead; Maria got clue #29 correct to lead by $400 going into Final.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Maria 16 correct 0 incorrect
Laura 16 correct 1 incorrect
Joe 16 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 17 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Maria $10,800
Laura $10,400
Joe $9,000
Final Jeopardy was a Triple Stumper, and things came down to the wagers again. Laura went just conservative enough to end up with the most money and is now a 2-day champion! She’ll return on Monday to defend.
Tonight’s results:
Joe $9,000 – $4,000 = $5,000 (What is the Taft-Hartley Act)
Laura $10,400 – $4,600 = $5,800 (What is ?) (2-day total: $17,000)
Maria $10,800 – $10,001 = $799 (What is Jackie The Child ar)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) SCIENCE BOOKSHELF $1000 (clue #8)
Joe 800 +1000 (Laura 600 Maria 2000)
2) WORLD RELIGION $1600 (clue #3)
Laura 6000 -2000 (Joe 3800 Maria 5200)
3) MR. & MRS. LIT $1200 (clue #7, $26800 left on board)
Joe 7000 -2000 (Laura 4000 Maria 6000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 38
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Laura 1 4
Joe 3 4 5*
Maria 2 5 3
DJ! Round:
Laura 4* 5†
Joe 3 3 2 3*
Maria 3
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Laura 3.50
Joe 3.29
Maria 3.25
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 17 (0.23 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Laura $12,400 Coryat, 16 correct, 1 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Joe $11,000 Coryat, 16 correct, 4 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 0 rebound opportunities)
Maria $10,800 Coryat, 16 correct, 0 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $34,200
Lach Trash: $13,200 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,600
Lead Changes: 13
Times Tied: 7
Player Statistics:
Laura Faddah, career statistics:
31 correct, 3 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (28/114)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000)
0/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,000
Joe Asaminew, career statistics:
16 correct, 5 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 0 rebound opportunities)
31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,000
Maria Lauro, career statistics:
16 correct, 1 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,800
Laura Faddah, to win:
3 games: 39.011%
4: 15.219%
5: 5.937%
6: 2.316%
7: 0.904%
Avg. streak: 2.640 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Maria’s interview became more poignant with the news that she broke on Reddit this morning that her husband passed away suddenly three weeks ago; while Maria did tell her husband how she did, she did not tell him about the interview; it was intended to be a surprise for him. The Jeopardy! Fan wishes to express condolences toward Maria and her family.
- I can’t really criticize Joe’s or Maria’s bets today—there would have been no way of really knowing if yesterday’s bet from Laura stemmed from a supreme dislike of sports or if she would use a strategy of betting up to round numbers.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Maria $10,800 Laura $10,400 Joe $9,000)
Laura: Standard cover bet over Joe is $7,601. (Actual bet: $4,600)
Joe: Being that Maria’s low range tops out at $399, it’s probably safe to bet as little as $2,201 here. Your maximum bet should be $6,200, falling to $2,800 and staying ahead of a cover bet from Laura. (Actual bet: $4,000)
Maria: Standard cover bet over Laura is $10,001. (Actual bet: $10,001)
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To me, this seems far harder than yesterday’s FJ…and yesterday’s was a hard one!!!
I agree. I used to think that Little Caesar was the movie in which Edgar G. Robinson said, “You dirty rat.” I’ve since learned that it was James Cagney in Taxi, from the same year. And he didn’t say it exactly that way. Many so-called movie quotes are apocryphal.
I’ve heard of the RICO Act and I remember what it stands for, but without Andy’s explanation, I would have no idea what relation it has to the clue.
I can thank a law school professor for helping me get this response. Part of the lecture one day was the R.I.C.O. Act and after discussing it, he closed with “Mother of mercy. Is this the end of Rico.” I had never heard of the movie. But I always remember that connection anytime I hear the Act mentioned.
And I think what has to be a Jeopardy first for me: I knew the correct response to back-to-back final jeopardy triple stumpers.
Seeing the results of the last couple of weeks has given me a thought. (I know, I know, I can think – it’s just as much of a shock to y’all as it is to me!)
Andy has mentioned a few times that if you know of a player’s propensity to not cover, especially if Ken announces it at the beginning of the show, your best bet from second is an automatic all-in to retroactively force the leader to do so. Andy has also mentioned a couple times during Greg Jolin’s run – particularly after Greg had the foresight to guess on DJ!30 in his fifth game, which gave him just enough room for a runaway going into Final – that he believes Greg is better at Jeopardy than most of his challengers were, partly because Greg has been active in the fan community for as long as he has.
Greg has very clearly and obviously done his homework when it comes to the strategic side of Jeopardy, and that makes me wonder – if he was up against a player like Laura or Ashley Chan, would he have the foresight to do what Andy has suggested and go all-in if he found himself trailing?
If nothing else, it’s interesting for me to ponder?
I was going for the Jackie Coogan law – the one to prevent exploitation of child actors. I. Of course I remembered his last name as soon as the game was over. My husband knew the answer when I told him the question. Of course.
Maria, I’m so sorry for your loss. I haven’t seen your interview yet but I’m sure it was a wonderful tribute to your dear husband. I’m glad you got to express your feelings for him. I hope you can find some peace in the memories of your years together and be happy for the time that you shared together. Nothing can make up for your loss but I hope your memories can help get you through the difficult times. God bless you always.
You’d think that after all this time that I’d learn Final Jeopardy categories aren’t always what they seem. Even when the answer clue was revealed, my mind was reaching for the Hays act, which was kind of predcessor to today’s MPA guidelines.
When I heard RICO was the correct response, I didn’t did the joke, until I read Andy’s More Information. Then my brain kicked in with Rico from Robinson’s famous film.
Anyone familiar with the movie “Little Caesar” is going to instantly connect the character with the name of the Act. It would be much harder to come up with the name of an act that relates to the movie. Having seen the movie and being aware of Rico, the character, this was fairly easy since the RICO Act is frequently in the news (even though it is sometimes mis-applied). Because of the age of the movie, I think this may have been easier for my generation than for younger generations. All of today’s contestants appear to be too young to get this connection.
My heart really goes out to Maria. I couldn’t help but shed some tears as I read through the Reddit link that Andy provided. If you click on that link, I’d advise having some tissues handy. I sure needed some.
I am wondering if Laura is a fan of Oliver Putnam (of ‘Only Murders in the Building’).
This one was much easier for me than yesterday’s. I seriously dislike football and know very little about its history, but I went through a stage in my teens and twenties when I was obsessed with gangster movies. Not surprised no one else got it.
My sympathies to Maria on the loss of her husband.
I’ve never seen “Little Caesar,” however I did vaguely remember that it’s a gangster movie (and even remembered it starred Robinson). Coupling it with some kind of law that we fans would be expected to know led me to RICO. But it was a blind guess, not even getting the joke, or even knowing that there was a character named Rico that has a famous quote.
Lucky.
You learn something new every day…
.
.
On another note, my condolences to Maria on the heartbreaking news. This website often reminds me that the people who entertain us on the show are real people; this time it was a sad reminder. But Maria, I (and I’m sure we all) hope that you can receive support from the Jeopardy! online community, as well as in your irl community. I pray that you are comforted in and blessed as you journey through this sad time.