Random Questions

[ACW]

Okay, does Jeopardy! ever have reruns on weekdays? Because right now Wheel is in repeats.

When the season's over, yep.

Wheel's rerun season starts today. The new seasons for WOF and J! start on September 17th. 8/3 is the J! season finale, and it will be Kids' week as discussed before. As to what J! will rerun in the six weeks of reruns, with 10 weeks of special shows(ToC, Teen, COllege, Teachers, Power PLayers, and Kids'), time will tell. Gotta figure the celebs get rerun.

Wow, how is it Wheel has like 3 months of reruns while J! has only 1.5?

[bpmod]

Wow, how is it Wheel has like 3 months of reruns while J! has only 1.5?

Um... shorter season?

Brian

[legendneverdies]

Wow, how is it Wheel has like 3 months of reruns while J! has only 1.5?

Um... shorter season?

Brian

The first two seasons of Trebek J! were 39 weeks. It got changed to a 46 week season starting in 1986-87 in season three. ONly the Challengers did as many weeks of first-runs for a syndicated show(the show was to run 52 weeks a year with no repeats, but when it was known it wouldn't go past the 1990-91 season, they showed I believe four weeks of reruns at the end of the season, reruns of tourneys that didn't have a date reference on the video wall)

[ACW]

Here's one: If you have a lock, why not bid for the tie? Either way you advance, and why not try getting the extra $?

[xxaaaxx]

That extra dollar isn't worth potentially bringing back one of your opponents, armed with a game of J! experience and buzzer rhythm.

[ACW]

That extra dollar isn't worth potentially bringing back one of your opponents, armed with a game of J! experience and buzzer rhythm.

Ah, I never considered that.

[Bamaman]

Okay, does Jeopardy! ever have reruns on weekdays? Because right now Wheel is in repeats.

My local station airs the previous season's game for this day right before the new episode comes on.

[Magna]

That extra dollar isn't worth potentially bringing back one of your opponents, armed with a game of J! experience and buzzer rhythm.

Ah, I never considered that.

Another theory is that someone you've played against is a known quantity. (Not saying that should persuade you - just another perspective.)

And there could be cases where you're pretty sure the person you are potentially going to tie with just hit a lucky streak, and leaving him/her in the game protects you from having to play against one of the tougher opponents you met in the green room.

[xxaaaxx]

If you have a lock (the scenario originally presented), I'd wager that it's more likely that your opponent did considerably worse than you did. If anything, bringing them back increases the odds of them getting lucky and hitting a dream board (or you getting a bunch of weak subjects).

[ACW]

What happens if you don't give a DD wager in a certain amount of time?

[legendneverdies]

What happens if you don't give a DD wager in a certain amount of time?

Have they ever actually denied someone a chance to play a DD because they took too long to make a wager? And what would they do with the clue in that case, allow one of the other two players the chance to buzz in and get it for the face value of the clue?

[dhkendall]

What happens if you don't give a DD wager in a certain amount of time?

THis might be something to ask next time one of us goes to an audition (I understand there's a "If there's anything you wanted to know about Jeopardy!, ask it now" segment)

[Magna]

What happens if you don't give a DD wager in a certain amount of time?

THis might be something to ask next time one of us goes to an audition (I understand there's a "If there's anything you wanted to know about Jeopardy!, ask it now" segment)

I'm guessing the DD wagering time counts as part of the round, though I'm not certain. I could see someone with a lock game near the end of DJ using this (or trying to use this) as a stall tactic and, if it were egregious, they might stop the clock and just not count the time. In any event, I don't imagine they'd show two minutes of "um" on the air.

[jkbrat]

What happens if you don't give a DD wager in a certain amount of time?

I actually asked a somewhat related question from the studio audience when I attended a taping a few years (maybe 4?) ago. And I asked because I'm perfectly competent at pencil-and-paper, quiet-room, no-time-pressure kind of math, but not necessarily so good at in-my-head, lights-camera-action, Alex-Trebek-staring-at-you kind of math. So thought it would be good to know. You know, just in case.

First, though - when Alex Trebek called on me to take my question, he said, "Young lady in the front" - Oh, bless his failing eyesight and that dim studio lighting

Anyway he said that there wasn't a time limit on making a DD wager (by which, I believe, he meant there was no "official" time limit, although he did not use that word). But he added that on a practical basis, if you seem to be taking too long, he's certainly going to apply a little hurry-up pressure.

So, from this I concluded that FJ!-type calculations would not be possible -- for me anyway -- in a DD situation. I'd have to just wing it and hope for the best.

But I don't know what would happen if you ignored their hurry-up pressure and just took as much time as you wanted - I mean, at some point I assume they'd have to cut you off, but I don't know what they would do about the DD then. Interesting thought experiment, but I don't think anyone's come close to this scenario (as I assume a contestant would come up with a wager fairly quickly if they told him he had one more minute or he forfeits the DD!).

In other news, at that same taping, there was some kind of student group (middle school field trip?). There was one teenager about 3/4 of the way back who had his hand raised. Alex kept pointing to him and trying to call on him by saying "Young lady with the glasses" - and the kid kept looking behind him and keeping his hand up. He must have tried to call on the "young lady with the glasses" 4 or 5 times before the kid finally said, "I'M A GUY!". It was pretty funny. And Alex, to his credit, took it in stride, and made some self-effacing comment about his eyesight (which, yes, I had already noticed ). (And hey, kid - if you don't want Alex Trebek to think you're a girl, don't walk around with shoulder-length, gorgeously curly hair! Jus' sayin')

[jpahk]

there is indeed no time limit. if you have nerves of steel like roger craig, you can take as long as you want and just ignore alex when he tries to hurry you up. roger said he did this a few times during his regular run, too, but they edited out the long pauses. (and if anybody else remembers the ToC game the clip is from, you might recall that roger took enough time to get the wager exactly right.)

[ACW]

there is indeed no time limit. if you have nerves of steel like roger craig, you can take as long as you want and just ignore alex when he tries to hurry you up. roger said he did this a few times during his regular run, too, but they edited out the long pauses. (and if anybody else remembers the ToC game the clip is from, you might recall that roger took enough time to get the wager exactly right.)

Thanks Joon

And here's something I noticed that's not a question but I find interesting: In WoF, pronunciation matters; in Jeopardy, not so much (nor I believe does spelling).

[RCraig]

Yeah, as Joon points out there's no time limit. If there was a time limit, they would tell everybody in the green room. There's also not a time limit for making your FJ wager. In both cases, you'll just get prompted by Alex or a contestant coordinator respectively. (I've had both happen.

The longest I ever took was probably during my original run. While thinking, don't say anything and remain more or less motionless, then come to life, banter with alex and give your wager. They'll cut out all the dead air for broadcast. (The reason the TOC DD was so long is that Alex asked me a question, I responded, and then they left the whole sequence in, making it appear much longer than usual DDs.)

The broader point here is that most viewers of the show, myself included until I was on, think they are watching a sequence of events which are filmed in more or less in real time. Nothing could be further from the truth. At least a third, if not a quarter or more, of shows have significant stoppages in taping which the home viewers never notice. There's a lot of post-production that goes on when you are packaging every show to fit into ~22 minutes.

[RandyG]

there is indeed no time limit. if you have nerves of steel like roger craig, you can take as long as you want and just ignore alex when he tries to hurry you up. roger said he did this a few times during his regular run, too, but they edited out the long pauses. (and if anybody else remembers the ToC game the clip is from, you might recall that roger took enough time to get the wager exactly right.)

Thanks Joon

And here's something I noticed that's not a question but I find interesting: In WoF, pronunciation matters; in Jeopardy, not so much (nor I believe does spelling).

Spelling matters in Jeopardy! only in spelling-related categories. Other than that, as long as the answer is phonetically correct and close enough to the actual spelling, then it will be judged as correct. Pronunciation, however, does matter. Altering a vowel sound or adding an extra syllable or consonant, no matter how slight, will almost always be ruled incorrect. The only exceptions are when the actual pronunciation is somewhat obscure and the contestant gives what is at least a literal pronunciation of the term's spelling. Still, these are all potentially gray areas that may be judged on an individual as-needed basis.

[RandyG]

Yeah, as Joon points out there's no time limit. If there was a time limit, they would tell everybody in the green room. There's also not a time limit for making your FJ wager. In both cases, you'll just get prompted by Alex or a contestant coordinator respectively. (I've had both happen.

The longest I ever took was probably during my original run. While thinking, don't say anything and remain more or less motionless, then come to life, banter with alex and give your wager. They'll cut out all the dead air for broadcast. (The reason the TOC DD was so long is that Alex asked me a question, I responded, and then they left the whole sequence in, making it appear much longer than usual DDs.)

The broader point here is that most viewers of the show, myself included until I was on, think they are watching a sequence of events which are filmed in more or less in real time. Nothing could be further from the truth. At least a third, if not a quarter or more, of shows have significant stoppages in taping which the home viewers never notice. There's a lot of post-production that goes on when you are packaging every show to fit into ~22 minutes.

I remember specifically being told in the green room that there is no time limit for DDs, that it's solely at Alex's discretion at the time. On FJ, I was prompted several times by a CC to make my wager, as I kept going back and forth on making a cover bet on a category that I was totally uncomfortable with. I did eventually cover, but it turned out it didn't matter what I bet anyway.

That sounds like a good strategy, Roger... that "while thinking, don't say anything and remain more or less motionless, then come to life, banter with alex and give your wager. They'll cut out all the dead air for broadcast."

While there are frequently stoppages that are edited out, these are not planned and are typically done only to maintain the show's integrity -- e.g. judges researching an unexpected answer -- or if there's a production problem, or Alex garbles his words or says something inadvertant. Many times the show is completed in pretty much real time. Overall, Jeopardy! sticks much more closely to real time than other shows. I was startled when in a WWTBAM audience, I discovered that polling the audience on an "ask the audience" help takes forever, not the 5-10 or so seconds that are actually broadcast.

[marpocky]

If you have a lock (the scenario originally presented), I'd wager that it's more likely that your opponent did considerably worse than you did. If anything, bringing them back increases the odds of them getting lucky and hitting a dream board (or you getting a bunch of weak subjects).

Indeed, it increases the probability from 0 to something positive.

Snarkiness aside, your point could apply to every single opponent though, so I'm not sure it's really a valid consideration. You never know who's going to hit a lucky board, but at least in this case it's someone who's already proven themselves to be significantly weaker than you at least once. I wouldn't bring any one opponent back more than once so nobody gets too comfortable with the buzzer, but it's worth thinking about in some situations.