"Originally from..." - how does that work?

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MitchO
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by MitchO »

schoe wrote:Or, "from the outer reaches of your mind"!
"From wherever he damn well pleases"? :)
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by RichmondJ »

9021amyers wrote:Doesn't that usually just mean the contestant lives in Los Angeles, and TPTB want to avoid a disproportionate number of players coming from Southern California?
I can say from experience that law student/lawyer from the Los Angeles area is their worst-case scenario. They really leaned on me to go the "originally from" route, and in games with a second contestant who was also a lawyer or law student, they insisted on describing me as something else. ("City planner," IIRC, on the ground that that's what I was before law school, and also that I was a member of my local Planning Commission.)
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by caknuck »

MitchO wrote:
schoe wrote:Or, "from the outer reaches of your mind"!
"From wherever he damn well pleases"? :)
In my aborted career as a professional wrestler, my character would've been announced as hailing from Crockett's Bluff, Arkansas.
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by harrumph »

MitchO wrote:
mikeyb wrote:
BigDaddyMatty wrote:If I ever get on, I'm going to request that Johnny announces my seasonal residence, Million Dollar Man-style.
Or "Parts Unknown," like the Ultimate Warrior?
"Deepest, Darkest parts of Africa"?

Image
I'll go with the traditional "Hollywood, California".
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by StephA »

RichmondJ wrote:
9021amyers wrote:Doesn't that usually just mean the contestant lives in Los Angeles, and TPTB want to avoid a disproportionate number of players coming from Southern California?
I can say from experience that law student/lawyer from the Los Angeles area is their worst-case scenario. They really leaned on me to go the "originally from" route, and in games with a second contestant who was also a lawyer or law student, they insisted on describing me as something else. ("City planner," IIRC, on the ground that that's what I was before law school, and also that I was a member of my local Planning Commission.)
This doesn't seem right. A contestant should have complete control of his or her introduction, imo.
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by RichmondJ »

StephA wrote:
RichmondJ wrote:
9021amyers wrote:Doesn't that usually just mean the contestant lives in Los Angeles, and TPTB want to avoid a disproportionate number of players coming from Southern California?
I can say from experience that law student/lawyer from the Los Angeles area is their worst-case scenario. They really leaned on me to go the "originally from" route, and in games with a second contestant who was also a lawyer or law student, they insisted on describing me as something else. ("City planner," IIRC, on the ground that that's what I was before law school, and also that I was a member of my local Planning Commission.)
This doesn't seem right. A contestant should have complete control of his or her introduction, imo.
I was grateful that they invited me to be on the show, even though I didn't help to diversify the contestant pool. If they had said they wanted to introduce me as an astronaut from Mauritius, I'd have been 100% OK with that.
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by BRD-98 »

This is actually fascinating.

Kind of on the subject: can people who hold dual citizenship (let's just say American and Chinese) try out for Jeopardy!? If so, are they allowed to be introduced as "a _______ from Guangzhou, China?" or something similar?
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by dhkendall »

BRD-98 wrote:This is actually fascinating.

Kind of on the subject: can people who hold dual citizenship (let's just say American and Chinese) try out for Jeopardy!? If so, are they allowed to be introduced as "a _______ from Guangzhou, China?" or something similar?
As Stefan and I pointed out, Vijay Balse did it. The woman from Trinidad and Tobago working at the UN that appeared early in Season 31 did it. As long as you're living in Canada or the US you can audition to be on. (I think there was even one case where between the audition and The Call a contestant moved to Kazakhstan and wasn't living in the US at all.) (And I'm not even counting Chuck Forrest's case of moving to Rome years after his regular run, ToC and other championship appearances, but before the BotD.)
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by opusthepenguin »

If I had complete control of my introduction, I'd probably go with "a rock hopper originally from Occupied Malvinas, Argentina".

I'd also give consideration to "a huckster from right here in Culver City".
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by triviawayne »

Well if we are talking that kind of complete control I want to be introduced as a motivational speaker who lives in a van down by the river
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by Stanislaus Jacob »

I always wondered a bit about this myself and therefore have some thoughts.

1. The percentage of Californians on the show is probably less today than it was in the pre-online-test era. In those days there were frequent walk-in auditions in L.A. These have been discontinued. Today some cities such as New York, Chicago, or Boston seem to be routine annual stops on the post-online second round. I think any individual city was visited more rarely in the old days (I could be wrong there).

2. I wonder how many people would notice or care if the show did have too many (?) Californians.

3. It seems (based on the small sample size of people whose original hometowns I know) as if most people choose to give their current city (even if neither is in California). I wonder if TPTB strongly favor that or are indifferent.
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by hbomb1947 »

dhkendall wrote:
BRD-98 wrote:This is actually fascinating.

Kind of on the subject: can people who hold dual citizenship (let's just say American and Chinese) try out for Jeopardy!? If so, are they allowed to be introduced as "a _______ from Guangzhou, China?" or something similar?
As Stefan and I pointed out, Vijay Balse did it. The woman from Trinidad and Tobago working at the UN that appeared early in Season 31 did it. As long as you're living in Canada or the US you can audition to be on. (I think there was even one case where between the audition and The Call a contestant moved to Kazakhstan and wasn't living in the US at all.) (And I'm not even counting Chuck Forrest's case of moving to Rome years after his regular run, ToC and other championship appearances, but before the BotD.)
And if you're going to bring up Chuck Forrest, don't forget David Madden living in Germany as an overseas student when he got The Call.
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MitchO
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by MitchO »

I'm specifically NOT proud of either where I was born or where I currently live. Think I can use "Hoping to live in a nicer town someday"? :D
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by teapot37 »

Tom Baker was living and working in Japan when he was on the show. (According to the archive, his howdy was in Japanese.)
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by seaborgium »

Stanislaus Jacob wrote:The percentage of Californians on the show is probably less today than it was in the pre-online-test era. In those days there were frequent walk-in auditions in L.A. These have been discontinued. Today some cities such as New York, Chicago, or Boston seem to be routine annual stops on the post-online second round. I think any individual city was visited more rarely in the old days (I could be wrong there).
You're probably right about the percentage of California residents, but I think they still have an advantage in getting on the show, as TPTB still need locals who will be less inconvenienced by attending a day's tapings without getting to play.
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by caknuck »

Stanislaus Jacob wrote:I always wondered a bit about this myself and therefore have some thoughts.

1. The percentage of Californians on the show is probably less today than it was in the pre-online-test era. In those days there were frequent walk-in auditions in L.A. These have been discontinued. Today some cities such as New York, Chicago, or Boston seem to be routine annual stops on the post-online second round. I think any individual city was visited more rarely in the old days (I could be wrong there).

2. I wonder how many people would notice or care if the show did have too many (?) Californians.

3. It seems (based on the small sample size of people whose original hometowns I know) as if most people choose to give their current city (even if neither is in California). I wonder if TPTB strongly favor that or are indifferent.
I know this still happens...

Chris Lastrapes was one of the SoCal folks in my Wednesday taping group, but he was held to the end and waitlisted. They brought him back a few weeks later, and he appeared on the 10/28 airing.

He was introduced as "Chris Lastrapes, a business developer originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma"
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by BobF »

teapot37 wrote:Tom Baker was living and working in Japan when he was on the show. (According to the archive, his howdy was in Japanese.)
Jeopardy! or Doctor Who?
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by caknuck »

BobF wrote:
teapot37 wrote:Tom Baker was living and working in Japan when he was on the show. (According to the archive, his howdy was in Japanese.)
Jeopardy! or Doctor Who?
The set does match the color of a certain police box...
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by sarah0114 »

mikeyb wrote:It will affect your hometown howdy. I opted to go with my current home, New York, since I've lived here a decade, rather than my "originally from..." in Texas. But when I was filling out the hometown howdy form, they didn't want anything that wasn't in the New York market, so colleges, high school, etc were all out for me.

Here's a little tip: If your home market is Philadelphia, you have to do a slightly more complicated hometown howdy, because that's what the affiliate demands, so "originally from..." could be a way to avoid that!
I think this is the case with Columbus too. I remember someone on one of my tape days having to do a special Hometown Howdy based on the demands of their affiliate, and I think it was Chip Bell.
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Re: "Originally from..." - how does that work?

Post by Cat Hammarskjold »

I really don't want people I know seeing my howdy, and I was born on federal property in Ohio while my parents were legally residents of Albuquerque, although I never lived there. Can I claim as originally being from Albuquerque, since that's what on my birth certificate?
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