Jeopardy! Megathread

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Absolutely devastated by today’s result.

[brucejoel99]

Absolutely devastated by today’s result.

If only Alex could've been there to say that "we'll be seeing him again, folks. Take care, so long."

[Biden his time]

Heartbreaking 

[Mexican Wolf]

First genuinely exciting game in a while, imo. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the second half of the episode.

[Meclazine for Israel]

I watched Jeopardy for the first time today.

I don't get it. Maybe you have to leave it on in the background as a child until your brain tunes into the right wavelength.

[beesley]

Beyond Jeopardy, Sporcle and the Spelling Bee, does America have much of a quiz culture?

[Biden his time]

Sporcle

To my knowledge isn't that solely a website

[beesley]

Sporcle

To my knowledge isn't that solely a website

To my knowledge they run much larger events. But perhaps the website came first.

[Mexican Wolf]

Beyond Jeopardy, Sporcle and the Spelling Bee, does America have much of a quiz culture?

Do trivia nights at bars and restaurants count? I've definitely participated in plenty of those.

[Alben Barkley]

Tbh I am kinda glad Matt’s run is over. He was no James, hence why he made nowhere near as much money despite making it a few games longer. Very good and consistent, yes, but just not as fun to watch as someone with a flashier play style and personality like James had. The robotic “What’s…?” didn’t help. At first I thought that was an interesting quirk, but was just annoyed with it by the end. Seems some answers took more effort to force a “What’s…?” in than the more natural, grammatically correct options would have. Plus the way he paused for a second before every answer reminded me of a Google search loading or something. I have no doubt he did this to be as efficient and optimal as possible, and it clearly worked very well for him. But I also have no doubt even he would admit he was one of the most robotic and machine-like contestants ever (aside from Watson of course), by design. He is a computer science and machine learning/AI expert, after all…

[GeorgiaModerate]

I thought Matt had looked kind of fatigued for the last few days, especially so in that game, and against two good opponents it finally cost him.  For those not familiar with the taping process, they tape two days a week (usually Tuesday and Wednesday), five games a day with some time between to set up for each new game.  From the first game to the last it's a long day, and to do this two days in a row and then come back the next week (or more) and do it again has to be physically exhausting.  It puts in perspective just how amazing Ken's run was.

[Alben Barkley]

I thought Matt had looked kind of fatigued for the last few days, especially so in that game, and against two good opponents it finally cost him.  For those not familiar with the taping process, they tape two days a week (usually Tuesday and Wednesday), five games a day with some time between to set up for each new game.  From the first game to the last it's a long day, and to do this two days in a row and then come back the next week (or more) and do it again has to be physically exhausting.  It puts in perspective just how amazing Ken's run was.

One thing to note about Ken though is that he had an enormous advantage on the buzzer due to the fact that not until over halfway through his run did they start training other contestants on how to use it properly before playing (a practice which has stuck ever since). After that, he "only" won another 20 or so games I think. It's quite possible that in today's day and age, with both more robust competition and more preparation from other contestants, he couldn't last much longer than James or Matt did. I still think that in terms of actual raw knowledge and skill, James was actually the GOAT, not Ken. He got a WAY higher percentage of Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy questions right than either Ken or Matt, for one thing. His play style also completely changed the game and forced Ken to upend his own style just to keep up with him and eke out a win over him in the GOAT tournament (ironically, on James missing a Final Jeopardy question despite his like 99.7% accuracy rate and Ken losing originally on a very easy Final Jeopardy question). Luck is of course part of the game, and I don't doubt that any of these guys could beat each other on a good night. I just think that if you had them all play each other 162 times or so, James would probably come out on top in the end. He just hit a perfect storm of bad luck slightly earlier, but still with almost as much money as Ken in half the time.

[brucejoel99]

Matt's giant-killer, Jonathan, won his 4th game today (for a total of $94K), officially making him eligible for the next ToC. If he wins tomorrow's game, he'll be guaranteed a spot therein, presuming that he doesn't violate the show's morality clause.

Interestingly enough, Jonathan is the 2nd opponent of Matt's to still be in contention for the ToC: the other is Josh Saak, the 3-day champ whom Matt beat in his 1st game, all the way back in Jul. during Robin Roberts' week of shows. Depending on how early the show's producers decide that the cutoff for the next ToC should be (since the regular-season Teachers Tournament & College Championship are unlikely to occur this year, the producers may very well just decide to do another ToC this upcoming May, during S38, with a higher-than-average number of 3-day champs similar to how the 2006 TOC featured five 3-day champs, rather than call it early at a year-&-a-half after the previous ToC like they did earlier this year due to COVID or wait for the regular pre-COVID 2-year interval that'd developed in recent years) & how many 4+ day champs emerge before then (keep in mind that Jonathan is just the 6th contestant to win their 4th game since Alex's passing), we could see Matt & both the champ whom he beat & his own giant-killer in the next ToC, & since the producers avoid matching contestants who competed against each other during the regular season up in the quarterfinals (& semifinals, if possible), we could very well see a final round consisting of a mega Matt rematch with both his predecessor & successor. (And to top it all off, those aren't even the only rematches that the next ToC could feature, as Zach Newkirk - who will be the last ToC'er to have competed with Alex Trebek - & Brian Chang from last year will both be there too.)

[brucejoel99]

Jonathan won his 5th game today, for a 5-day total of $117,700: not only does this mean that he's formally clinched a ToC spot, but it also means that he managed to literally sweep an entire tape-day after having already managed in his very 1st game to defeat a GOAT, both of which are very impressive accomplishments in their own right, not to mention together!!

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Jonathan won his 5th game today, for a 5-day total of $117,700: not only does this mean that he's formally clinched a ToC spot, but it also means that he managed to literally sweep an entire tape-day after having already managed in his very 1st game to defeat a GOAT, both of which are very impressive accomplishments in their own right, not to mention together!!

We’ll see if he makes it ten today! Hoping we see our first back-to-back double-digit champions!

[brucejoel99]

Jonathan won his 5th game today, for a 5-day total of $117,700: not only does this mean that he's formally clinched a ToC spot, but it also means that he managed to literally sweep an entire tape-day after having already managed in his very 1st game to defeat a GOAT, both of which are very impressive accomplishments in their own right, not to mention together!!

We’ll see if he makes it ten today! Hoping we see our first back-to-back double-digit champions!

Aaaaand he did! Yes, Jonathan astonishingly won his 10th game today, for a 10-day total of $230,100; he's now the 1st-ever ultra-champ (i.e., a champ who's made it to double-digit wins) in the show's history to have first defeated in their regular-season debut another fellow ultra-champ, & only the 11th contestant to make it to double-digit wins & achieve ultra-champ status since the 5-day cap was eliminated 18 years ago, all the way back in 2003 (& to think that the 4 most-recent ultra-champs - James, Jason Zuffranieri, Matt, & now Jonathan - all won their ultra-streaks within just the last 2-&-a-1/2 years). Now here's hoping that he's able to make it to a 21st game so that he can compete with Ken as the host!

Also hitherto unnoted: Jonathan is only the 2nd-ever champ, after Emma Boettcher supplanted James, to even win just their 2nd game - let alone however many more (in Emma's case, 1; in Jonathan's, 8+) - after unseating an ultra-champ.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Now all he needs is 29 more…

[brucejoel99]

Jonathan lost on Tues. after an 11-day reign & his dethroner lost on Wed., so the curse of the giant-killers has returned.

[brucejoel99]

With 5 total wins, this week brought us our newest ToC entrant: Tyler Rhode. As a result of his qualification, Katie Sekelsky, a 3-day champ from back in Jun. who overlapped between Mayim's initial guest-hosting stint & Savannah Guthrie's stint, is now the 1st (&, so far, the only) alternate instead of the 15th seed.

[GeorgiaModerate]

With Ken Jennings assuming the hosting duties tonight, a couple of observations:

1. Ken talks much faster than Mayim Bialik (too fast, really).  Hopefully he'll slow down a bit after his first episode.

2. Johnny Gilbert introduced Ken as "hosting Jeopardy", while Mayim was "the host of Jeopardy".  An indicator that she'll be the permanent host?

Also, tonight's contestant Elena looked remarkably like a young Linda Ronstadt (one of my celebrity crushes back in the day).

[Biden his time]

Please Ken Jennings
Hopefully he permanently replaces Bialik

[brucejoel99]

1. Ken talks much faster than Mayim Bialik (too fast, really).  Hopefully he'll slow down a bit after his first episode.

I only noticed him being real fast before the 1st commercial break, & it looked like he slowed down thereafter. I personally liked the fast pace, but oh well

2. Johnny Gilbert introduced Ken as "hosting Jeopardy", while Mayim was "the host of Jeopardy".  An indicator that she'll be the permanent host?

Keep in mind that Mayim has already been announced as the official host of Jeopardy! primetime specials, whereas Ken hasn't yet been named as the official anything beyond consulting producer. Idk if anything means anything beyond that.

[Lambsbread]

I went to high school with the winner from Friday night's episode, which is cool. She was always the smartest person I knew. I see she got 3rd place last night, but that's pretty cool she was on and did so well.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Second-highest losing final score ever was set yesterday! Really great game all around.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Second-highest losing final score ever was set yesterday! Really great game all around.

Thanks for that!  I was wondering about it at the time.  What was the highest losing score?