Tuesday, June 19, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[billy pilgrim]

Came up with rayon for FJ, even though the Ontario worlds Fair didn't ring a bell.

Not a fan of Victoria until late when she got out of the celebrity category and back into i-hop.

What struck me about the letters was the clue said 'initials'- implying a two word (or more) city.

[noneyet]

My game's on Thursday. Can't decide if I want to jump up and down or puke... Those are both valid reactions, right?

I had that quandary on the day I taped, not the day it was broadcast

[Woppy T]

During one of the Italian fod clues, the Clue Clue person said "don't be afraid to give us the full name," which I took to mean "we need the whole name." Contestant gave partial name and Alex filled in the rest. Anyone else think this was not OK? I guess the strict wording of the clue gave the contestant the option.

[Lefty]

In any case, the Wikipedia article strongly indicates that New York has nothing to do with the naming of the material.

Well, the clue really doesn't say that it does. Merely that the letters are in there.

True, but without that bit of historical connectedness, the clue seems like a reject from the Will Shortz NYT Sunday Magazine wordplay puzzle that fights for space with the "meh" list.

[Swift'sSecondCourse]

Hi, everyone! Just started watching "my week" of shows—eep! So funny to see the games now, especially since I was so jittery about being called next that I was only half watching most of the time (and totally blanked out on the nylon FJ). But that David! Ooo! He was already the returning champ and the only one not in our nervous little hotel shuttle group the first morning, but then he kept coming back to the green room after every game! Nooooo! As friendly as everyone was, I think we were just a leetle bit less excited to see him come back each time. (I kid, David!)(Sort of!)

Shop talk for Tuesday's game: Alex **loved** Navy Curt. He got such a kick out of his USO story about him steering the ship and kept going back to it whenever we'd have a commercial break. He was totally tickled. And Curt was so very tall! The little platforms for David and Victoria got quite a workout that taping. What else? I think the set looks so much more beautiful in person than on TV. Everything's all smooth glass and softly glowy. The cameras do not do it justice at all.

My game's on Thursday. Can't decide if I want to jump up and down or puke... Those are both valid reactions, right?

Hey there, Margaret. Yeah, I did start to get a little self-conscious about heading back to the green room after every show. Everyone was friendly, it's true, but I still felt they were all secretly hoping I spontaneously combusted on stage like a Spinal Tap drummer. And Alex totally wanted to be Curt's best friend.

[jeff6286]

So after each game is taped, are all of the week's contestants taken from the audience back to the green room, joined by the defending champion, then the players are selected for the next game, then the remaining players return to the audience? When/where does the champion change clothes if the other players are in the green room? Another thing I've never seen addressed is that I believe players are instructed to bring 3 different changes of clothes, so does this mean if a player wins Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then they will presumably be repeating Monday's outfit on Thursday? Does anyone ever bring more than 3 outfits, or would this risk angering the Jeopardy! gods by presuming that one might be likely to win multiple games? If you win the final 3 days of the week, do you then go out and splurge on new outfits for the following tape day, assuming that you're not a local and the 3 outfits you've already worn are the entirety of the wardrobe you have with you?

Sorry for the slew of questions, but the mentions of David repeatedly returning to the green room got me curious. Some of this stuff has probably been addressed before on this board or the old Sony board, but if any past, present, or future contestant would like to answer some of these questions I would appreciate it.

[mswanson]

Hey there, Margaret. Yeah, I did start to get a little self-conscious about heading back to the green room after every show. Everyone was friendly, it's true, but I still felt they were all secretly hoping I spontaneously combusted on stage like a Spinal Tap drummer. And Alex totally wanted to be Curt's best friend.

David! I didn't see you there! I really do kid. True, there was a soupcon of disappointment whenever you failed to lose, but just because the rest of us wanted to a chance to play more! I think mostly we were all really impressed at how good you were. It's too bad we couldn't let you know about the spontaneous post-taping hangout we had later that night at the hotel bar! Congratulations again on Game 4. The amount of money you won is just mind-boggling.

So after each game is taped, are all of the week's contestants taken from the audience back to the green room, joined by the defending champion, then the players are selected for the next game, then the remaining players return to the audience? When/where does the champion change clothes if the other players are in the green room? Another thing I've never seen addressed is that I believe players are instructed to bring 3 different changes of clothes, so does this mean if a player wins Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then they will presumably be repeating Monday's outfit on Thursday? Does anyone ever bring more than 3 outfits, or would this risk angering the Jeopardy! gods by presuming that one might be likely to win multiple games? If you win the final 3 days of the week, do you then go out and splurge on new outfits for the following tape day, assuming that you're not a local and the 3 outfits you've already worn are the entirety of the wardrobe you have with you?

Sorry for the slew of questions, but the mentions of David repeatedly returning to the green room got me curious. Some of this stuff has probably been addressed before on this board or the old Sony board, but if any past, present, or future contestant would like to answer some of these questions I would appreciate it.

I know this one! All the remaining contestants go back to the green room in between tapings for about 10(ish?) minutes while everyone resets. That's when the next two challengers are announced and go in to get miked and have their makeup retouched. The champion has a little "dressing room"/closet inside the green room (with a star on the door!), where they pop in to quickly change clothes before also heading into makeup again. And if you're there long enough, everyone goes to lunch together at a little quarantined area in the Sony cafeteria! As for outfits, I also wondered about that since they do tell you to bring only 3. I'm assuming they have emergency wardrobe options to help disguise or replace the combination of clothing you brought with you. In any case, I certainly didn't want to jinx myself by bringing more than 3! I don't know, David: just how many outfits did you bring with you (EDIT: possible spoiler? Please correct me if I am wrong!) (Though it is so much easier for guys to just bring extra ties with them...)

[MarkBarrett]

The play in NBA MVPs made it discouraging to root for the players. The writers tried to avoid the neg on the Lakers for Kareem by using Magic earlier and it did no good. That was easy money left there at the end of the category when it opened up looking good.

Iron Eyes Cody is a name I've known for years as my dad would point out the actor in various TV roles and tell me he was not a real Indian. That's my kind of of $2000 clue. [Sage: Any stories to add about the actor?]

The FJ clue on the other hand had me doing the hammer thing. The first thing I wrote on my paper was NYC. I realized that looked like nylon, but not quite and I moved on. STL had me struggling to find a fabric. SEA looked like a promising combo and I worked it as a suffix and prefix to get nowhere. KN or KNO was a desperate stab with time running out. It then hit me that I may need to leave the country. PAR and LON were as far as I got with no guess on the paper.

I'd like to think in the studio I would have known I need to write something. At home I blew it.

Curt under wagered both DDs, but David played the last one, so I'm optimistic the champ would have bet more on Italian Food if the situation called for it. David did enough to win and very likely make the TOC. The field is lacking intimidating Gold players like we had last November, but there is plenty of time to get there.

[MarkBarrett]

From my paperwork in 2005:

Wardrobe: Please be dressed and "camera ready" when you arrive at the studio. Also, bring with you two changes of clothing for a total of three outfits.

Men: Dressy casual. Suit, sport coat, sweater, shirt and tie. Any of these looks are fine (if possible, bring an additional sport coat, tie, or sweater to see what looks best on camera.)

**********
I wore my game one suit and had two more packed along with a bunch of ties, multiple shirts, plus a fourth jacket. I'm not superstitious and I did not think it was any big deal not to follow that wording of the paperwork to the letter. If anything I brought was a problem for the cameras I just wanted to have options.

[trainman]

Someone's asked about wardrobe during at least a couple of the tryouts I've done, and the contestant coordinators have explained that 3 outfits seems to be a reasonable amount: they don't want contestants to be too loaded down with clothes on their way into the studio (or feel obligated to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe before appearing on the show), and most viewers won't remember what the returning champion was wearing more than 3 days ago anyway.

[Turd Ferguson]

I know this one! All the remaining contestants go back to the green room in between tapings for about 10(ish?) minutes while everyone resets. That's when the next two challengers are announced and go in to get miked and have their makeup retouched. The champion has a little "dressing room"/closet inside the green room (with a star on the door!), where they pop in to quickly change clothes before also heading into makeup again.

This sounds a bit more "relaxing" than what happened last year, where the champion did a "Winner's Circle" interview onstage after each game. After my game, it seemed like everyone was doing a lot of waiting for me - to come back from the interview (which was much longer than the edited version that appeared on the website), then to change, then to get back on stage. I wasn't surprised at all that they didn't keep the Winner's Circle (not in that form, anyways) for this season, as it must have made the tapings take longer, and i don't know that they got a lot of good moments from the interviews. (I tried to watch them all, some were certainly entertaining, but most weren't especially memorable)

Talk of bringing multiple outfits always reminds me of the episode of "Our House" where Wilford Brimley's character appeared on a game show (with Shannen Doherty's character). IIRC, the curmudgeon was asked to bring five outfits, so he brought five identical suits. I did wonder what might happen if someone were to do that for a J! taping, but certainly wasn't going to try it myself!

[jeff6286]

Talk of bringing multiple outfits always reminds me of the episode of "Our House" where Wilford Brimley's character appeared on a game show (with Shannen Doherty's character). IIRC, the curmudgeon was asked to bring five outfits, so he brought five identical suits. I did wonder what might happen if someone were to do that for a J! taping, but certainly wasn't going to try it myself!

True, it would be interesting if Superman or Smurfette ever got called to Culver City and managed to win a game.

[Sage on the Hudson]

The real problem with FJ is that Nylon isn't fabric, but a synthetic polymer that can be cast or machined into solids of any shape or spun into a fine thread that can then be woven into a fabric. Gold can exist as blocks or be woven into fabric, yet no one would classify the metallic element as synonymous with fabric.

[Vanya]

The real problem with FJ is that Nylon isn't fabric, but a synthetic polymer that can be cast or machined into solids of any shape or spun into a fine thread that can then be woven into a fabric. Gold can exist as blocks or be woven into fabric, yet no one would classify the metallic element as synonymous with fabric.

Cotton isn't a fabric; it's a plant. Wool isn't a fabric; it's an animal covering. You're not a sage; you're an ...

[dhkendall]

Talk of bringing multiple outfits always reminds me of the episode of "Our House" where Wilford Brimley's character appeared on a game show (with Shannen Doherty's character). IIRC, the curmudgeon was asked to bring five outfits, so he brought five identical suits. I did wonder what might happen if someone were to do that for a J! taping, but certainly wasn't going to try it myself!

Those in military service (or, often, in the service of God) only have either one outfit or three identical ones from what I can tell. (Well, I guess different shirts, but that's not what I notice first ... )

[earendel]

Congratulations to Swift'sSecondCourse (David) for his 4th win.

For the 2nd day in a row I precalled the FJ answer - I saw the category and said, "Oh, why not say

Spoiler: show

nylon

?" If it happens again tonight I'm going to buy some lottery tickets.

[fowlerism]

I'm glad the writers were savvy enough to avoid the apocryphal "New York LONdon" etymology, though the fact that I believed that one for years made FJ a cinch.

[fowlerism]

The real problem with FJ is that Nylon isn't fabric, but a synthetic polymer that can be cast or machined into solids of any shape or spun into a fine thread that can then be woven into a fabric. Gold can exist as blocks or be woven into fabric, yet no one would classify the metallic element as synonymous with fabric.

I think "nylon" is often used as a synecdoche for "nylon fabric," and it's included as such in most dictionaries.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Came up with rayon for FJ, even though the Ontario worlds Fair didn't ring a bell.

Not a fan of Victoria until late when she got out of the celebrity category and back into i-hop.

What struck me about the letters was the clue said 'initials'- implying a two word (or more) city.

That's how I came up with it at the 22d second. For some reason, I got focused on the fabric and misread it as the first two letters, first with denim (De Niems, France) and Madras (India), but knew they never had a World Fair. Once I reread the clue, realized it was a two-word town; first went with St. Louis (what fabric starts with SL.....?) and then nylon popped out. It made sense, with the 1938 NY Fair being about the time nylon came out.

[OntarioQuizzer]

Am I the only one on the planet that knows that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wasn't Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when he won his first MVP award? He was still Lew Alcindor at that point.

He was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for his next two with the Bucks, though...