Tuesday, October 7, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[mennoknight]

I am astonished that there as this many people who haven't watched the show.

[Spaceman Spiff]

No way I was getting this. I have never watched that show. Went with the Marlboro Man and actually felt good about it.

Same here on all counts.

[billiej]

I was completely lost in the Fj. A "Fauxbituary", but in the clue says it was a "real obituary". Huh?

Agreed, I had the hardest time wrapping my brain around this. Like a few others, lung cancer led me to the Marlboro Man. He was a "faux" persona but one of the "real" men who portrayed him did die relatively recently. I didn't feel good about it, but it was the best I could come up with.

[John Boy]

Unlike last week's TV FJ, I wonder how many who have not watched the show will get this. The clue seems to require pretty detailed knowledge of the show in order to even make the leap to a TV show character.

As someone who saw every episode, this was a no-brainer for me.

I am also a huge fan of Breaking Bad and still never came close on this one. And I cry "Foul!" on the writers. I know they called the category "Fauxbituaries," which means to me an obituary which is false or fictitious. Then they said the person in the correct answer received a "real obituary." I say, by definition a fictional character cannot receive a real obituary. Example, the one making the rounds a few years ago announcing that the Pillsbury Dough Boy had died (of a yeast infection ). I don't care if you put that in the N.Y. Times, it is not and cannot be a "real obituary."

My answer was the same as Brendan's (Twain) even though I was pretty certain that wasn't right. (just because a bad answer has a better chance of being right than no answer) I figured a real person such as Twain might have had a real obituary as a sly nod to the "faux" one that led to his famous "greatly exaggerated" line. And "lung cancer?" Well, if that didn't kill Twain, it should have. At least it would have been a "real obituary," even if it was 100 years after Twain's death.

But a fictional character? Just can't have a "real obituary."

I wouldn't have this gripe if the writers hadn't misled us. They could have said "this fictional character's death was noted in the obituary pages of the Albuquerque newspaper;" or something to that effect. But the clue and category name, as written, were just a confused mish-mosh of red herring IMO. Boo, hiss, and a pox on the writers for this one.



And Ohhhhh, Carol, really? You can't tell the difference between Patton and MacArthur, even with MacArthur's iconic pipe? Really?

[John Boy]

Instaget FJ; the obituary was big news here in Albuquerque. It was paid for and written by local fans, and the paper didn't run it on the actual obituary page.

Then there was the mock funeral, which didn't go over well with people who had deceased loved ones buried in the cemetery where the funeral was held.

And I wonder how anyone not in Albuquerque would know that the "fauxbituary" "didn't run on the actual obituary page." The clue DID say it was a "real obituary." grumble, grumble, grumble.

[MarkBarrett]

I am astonished that there as this many people who haven't watched the show.

I would think you could take any program and find dozens of people here who have never watched it. Big events like the Super Bowl or the Academy Awards would have to have been seen by 95%+ at some point in their lives. Anything else, especially a low buzz at the start cable show, could easily go unseen by many.

[opusthepenguin]

And speaking of the clue where I got the Magellan LT: When there's a clue that all three contestants neg with, Alex usually says "No Harm, No Foul" because they all lost the same amount. But just as an example, if scores are 10000/5600/3000 near the end of DJ! and all three neg a 2000 clue, now the scores are 8000/3600/1000 and the theoretical middle player goes from having a chance to catch the leader (on a late DD or FJ!) to being locked out. Am I the only one that gets bothered by that?

It irks me as well. I don't lose sleep over it or anything, though I might if he said it in one of my games. But I usually, at a minimum, give an irritated exhalation when he says it. I assume he doesn't really think about what he's saying. It's a stock phrase that he's used habitually for so long that it has no real meaning. It's just the thing he says in that situation because it moves the game along. And setting the peeve aside, I definitely give him props for keeping the game moving without hemming and hawing and trying to figure out what happens next. That kind of thing looks easy when a pro does it. Then maybe you try it yourself and realize a tiny bit how much practice it would take just to be relatively unembarrassing at the job.

Your example situation is great. One might hope that Alex could easily see the implications. But he doesn't seem to understand even basic wagering strategy, so maybe not. Definitely forget trying to explain why the scores can go from 8000/8000/8000 to 6000/6000/6000 and it's still not "No harm, no foul".

[econgator]

Instaget FJ. It's one of the greatest series ever made and I loved it.

"One of"?
End to end, its execution surpasses anything I've ever watched. I considered myself lucky to have gotten to binge it over the last couple months of Sundays.

THAT BEING SAID... I haven't seen the Sopranos yet, so who knows.

Two words: The Wire.

Yeah, that was the one I'd put ahead of it.

[mennoknight]

I am astonished that there as this many people who haven't watched the show.

I would think you could take any program and find dozens of people here who have never watched it. Big events like the Super Bowl or the Academy Awards would have to have been seen by 95%+ at some point in their lives. Anything else, especially a low buzz at the start cable show, could easily go unseen by many.

But it's so good! It's better than doing meth.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I am astonished that there as this many people who haven't watched the show.

I would think you could take any program and find dozens of people here who have never watched it. Big events like the Super Bowl or the Academy Awards would have to have been seen by 95%+ at some point in their lives. Anything else, especially a low buzz at the start cable show, could easily go unseen by many.

But it's so good! It's better than doing meth.

Especially on your teeth!

[macrae1234]

Romancing the Stone 1984
Jack Colton: [picking up a magazine] Dammit man, the Doobie Brothers broke up! Shit! When did that happen?

Joan Wilder: How long have you been down here?

Jack Colton: Forever

[OrangeSAM]

Clever, clever FJ. There have been a couple of stinkos lately, but this one was very nicely done. I've only seen a few episodes, but the Albuquerque connection clicked once I went back to the category name. Kudos to the writers.

So how did everyone but me know to go to a fictional character?

Like others, I pre-called Twain and Nobel, but quickly turned to WW when I saw the clue. (FWIW, I never saw the show.)

...Can't believe Uncle Mac was called Patton; ZOMG he's rolling over in his grave!...

Except the old soldier never died....

[Bamaman]

If a loved one of mine died, I'd be a little upset if I went to read their obituary and saw a joke one listed for a fictional person.

[TenPoundHammer]

I am astonished that there as this many people who haven't watched the show.

Show, nothing — I don't think I've ever watched AMC.

(Seriously, never considered Breaking Bad because it doesn't seem like my thing.)

Example, the one making the rounds a few years ago announcing that the Pillsbury Dough Boy had died (of a yeast infection ).

Reminds me of when Mad did obits for advertising characters, like the Little Caesars guy, the Maytag guy, the Taco Bell chihuahua, etc.

And I wonder how anyone not in Albuquerque would know that the "fauxbituary" "didn't run on the actual obituary page." The clue DID say it was a "real obituary." grumble, grumble, grumble.

The only thing I know about Albuquerque is that it has a Holiday Inn where the towels are oh so fluffy. And you can eat your soup right out of the ashtrays if you wanna. It's okay, they're clean.

[Turd Ferguson]

I cry "Foul!" on the writers. I know they called the category "Fauxbituaries," which means to me an obituary which is false or fictitious. Then they said the person in the correct answer received a "real obituary." I say, by definition a fictional character cannot receive a real obituary. Example, the one making the rounds a few years ago announcing that the Pillsbury Dough Boy had died (of a yeast infection ). I don't care if you put that in the N.Y. Times, it is not and cannot be a "real obituary."

I guess I'm glad that other people thought the same as me. I spent 30 seconds assuming it was a false report about a real person (perhaps as a joke) and wondering what I was missing - "Is Alburquerque supposed to mean something? Lung cancer?". All I had was that maybe it was Abe Vigoda...

[jeff6286]

Fauxbituaries
He received a real obituary in the Albuquerque Journal in 2013 noting his "long battle with lung cancer".

Spoiler

Who is Walter White? Carol had no guess; Brendan said Mark Twain.

Terri Pous: $11,200+$2,000=$13,200...now a 2-day champion with $36,801
Brendan McParland: $4,200-$4,200=$0
Carol McGhee: $3,600-$3,500=$100

Who???

Not sure what you're going for here. Did I mess up one of the names? Or are you saying you don't know who Walter White is?

[JeopRDFan]

Late posting due to the game having been preempted by a political debate (the nerve!) -- also went with 'The Marlboro Man' on Final based on the lung cancer reference.

[Linear Gnome]

Missed J! on Tuesday because I was recording the Cardinals-Dodgers game--just had a chance to watch it.

For me, FJ was an instaget.

It takes a lot for a game or group of contestants to strike me as unusually good or bad, but I found this game to be almost painful to watch. I just deleted about four sentences--I'll just say that there were too many wild, bad guesses, too many TS's that weren't that hard, and too little learning from others' wrong guesses and one's own mistakes.

[MarkBarrett]

It takes a lot for a game or group of contestants to strike me as unusually good or bad, but I found this game to be almost painful to watch. I just deleted about four sentences--I'll just say that there were too many wild, bad guesses, too many TS's that weren't that hard, and too little learning from others' wrong guesses and one's own mistakes.

Are you sure you are posting in the right thread?

[davey]

Catching up...
I'm glad a lot of posters got this FJ, but I'm a Breaking Bad fan who's with those who thought it was poorly worded, sending me off on the wrong track. You shouldn't call the same thing a "Fauxbituary" in the category and a "real obituary" in the clue. And of course it wasn't "real" because it wasn't about a real person and it wasn't an obituary, it was an advertisement. Even then, the model for the piece was not an obituary but a paid death notice. I know that's technical, but I think people who write obituaries for newspapers appreciate the distinction.
I suppose the other parts of the clue should have led me right, but after the wrong turn "lung cancer," with its implication as the cause of death, led me to the Marlboro Man...