TV

Jeopardy! recap for Tue., Jun. 24

Here are today’s contestants:

  • Micah Fritz, a teacher from Milwaukee, Wisconsin;
  • Nicholas Moline, an attorney from Mooresville, Indiana; and
  • Emily Croke, a stay-at-home mom from Denver, Colorado. Emily is a one-day champ with winnings of $13,201.

Jeopardy!

FLORIDA HISTORY // CHAPTER & NON-VERSE // LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN // SCAMMERS // ALL KINDS OF SPORTS // ADD A LETTER

DD1 – $1,000 – SCAMMERS – After prison, this man whose last name is synonymous with a type of scam was said to have become a business manager for Mussolini (Micah lost $1,000.)

Scores at first break: Emily -$200, Nicholas $200, Micah $400.

Scores entering DJ: Emily $1,800, Nicholas $1,600, Micah $2,200.

Double Jeopardy!

COLORFUL GEOGRAPHY // GLOBAL MUSIC // AVIATION GLOSSARY // MOVIE TITLE PROFESSIONS // WORDS ABOUT NERDS // LIVING DOLLS

DD2 – $1,600 – WORDS ABOUT NERDS – A hyperintelligent nemesis of Superman in comic books likely gave us this portmanteau word for someone who’s crazy smart (Emily dropped $5,000 from her score of $5,400.)

DD3 – $1,600 – COLORFUL GEOGRAPHY – Amid a real estate boom in the 1950s, an Australian tourist destination called the South Coast was rechristened this (Micah improved his leading score by $3,000 to $10,000.)

Emily made a strong bet on DD2 but missed while Micah was correct on DD3, leading to a FJ runaway for Micah at $15,200 vs. $6,800 for Emily and $1,600 for Nicholas.

Final Jeopardy!

WEBSITES – A 2006 WSJ article described this website as having “row after row of blue…hyperlinks & nary another color or graphic in sight”

Everyone was incorrect on FJ. Micah dropped $1,000 to win with $14,200.

Final scores: Emily $6,800, Nicholas $1,600, Micah $14,200.

Judging the writers: Let’s put aside for the moment if this FJ clue provided enough information to fairly lead the players to the correct response. Why did they think what a newspaper said about the appearance of a website nearly 20 years ago was interesting or important enough to be written up in a clue? It’s one thing for a FJ clue to stump the contestants, but it shouldn’t also make us go “Who cares?”

Tough category of the day: The players missed four in a literature category, including one about the chapter “The Black Bird” being part of “The Maltese Falcon”.

One more thing: Even though it was part of a top-row clue in the first round, I don’t feel bad for not knowing Ted Lasso loves darts.

Correct Qs: DD1 – Who was Ponzi? DD2 – What is brainiac? DD3 – What is Gold Coast? FJ – What is Craigslist?