Inside Jeopardy podcast

[Game Girl]

I doubt the average person could tell the difference between a game with fresh clues and one with a board lifted directly from Season 28.

I don't mean this to be a dis of the writers, but from my perspective the 2008 strike games were amazingly indistinguishable from completely fresh games (in their perception of "freshness"). Even those who engage with past material on a daily basis had to have the benefit of the Archive search to suss out the recycled clues.

I think Andy is right that any producer in Davies' shoes would be doing the same thing, trying to make the show go on as best it could under trying circumstances.

The writers deserve everything they are asking for and I hope the AMPTP comes to its senses, goes off-playbook, and starts to understand the writers' perspective. In the meantime, there are also families relying on the paychecks of non-writer Jeopardy! employees, and keeping the show going even under trying circumstances makes the most sense. It's not going to do the writers any favors to have a hobbled show, or no show, to return to.

agree

1/3 of the season special play? He’s an idiot.

The fact that he came up with former players being the solution was weird give you that. with the amount of jumble in all of this I am wondering if there is going to be time for a regular game which would mean the tournaments dry up. I mean after they do this 'players from before my influence' Championship they going to have to pull off 3 others. (I am almost wondering if they could just do half games with one round considering the numbers pointed out)

it sounds like we are going to have season 40a and season 40b or would it be called season 37b. basically a season within a season. it is nothing annoying watching such a thing but I am not sure how we are going to label it on this archive.

I will say to the producer if he is reading any of this (since he does say he occasionally looks at their social stuff) that do not even take your point yourself for not being able to continue your season (in particular choosing went to do tournament champions) because of the strike that is something that is actually not your fault.

[Game Girl]

on Andrew he's episode. this was a nice episode. I love that quote about once you teach high school nothing will shock you. (which is how I interpreted it rather then the 'scary' definition) Ken getting flies out of the studio and them ending up in the film is probably one of the top stories so far from the game play analysis. on to the interview, I was curious about what happened to Cris Pannullo as the alternate and if they were going to bend the rules. (I remember the only before they began the game portion but honestly I was not even sure if they began he scheduled first game at this point) in terms of him getting to see his child born it reminded me of that ad from the Super Bowl with the binky. (if you have not seen it it is from this year) anyhow he was relatable, not to mention has a very detailed list on who he wants to compete against. (I can admire he knows who is who)

I would have loved to hear a little more 'General knowledge' stuff about him. (like background, where did he come from, nothing super personal) I am not even sure if we have a favourite hobby (I know they will not be likely now that he has a newborn) but I am happy for what we got.

though I will give the interview Credit. they were still focused on him even if it was a very specific aspect of his life. unlike the masters where they were focused on other contestants he was near. anyhow nice episode somehow I feel these interviews go by so fast.

[MarkBarrett]

8/21/23 "Who is Ray Lalonde?" (23:00)
Sarah got right to chatting with Ray and it lasted until 19:45 with one ad break 14:25-14:55

Sarah tipped off Mattea that there was going to be another Canadian superchamp.

Ray did local news, radio, TV and paper appearances around time of his streak.

Ray is originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario and got to connect with people from decades back.

Ray tried out for J! starting 20 years ago and did the test 11-12 times and had a call back for next step of audition process three times.

After getting "The Call" Ray worked on travel arrangements and getting his dry cleaning done along with boning up on state capitals and U.S. history.

It was a long day doing games 3-7. Ray thinks of it like chess champs concentrating hard while playing and then crashing afterwards. Ray was in bed by 8:30 on tape day.

Ray did not tell his twin brother everything about how J! went but the brother knew Ray had to have won at least one game. Ray does not know if twin brother is in the contestant pool. Another brother has Ph.D. Their mum took the boys to the library.

Ray was doing renovation and construction work before decorative arts and got into it when helping out on a TV ad that needed marble work and gilding for a ballroom. That led to more work in that field.

Ray likes the J! set and was pleased it looked good in person like it does on TV and that does not always happen. Sarah mentioned there could be a new set coming in a few years.

Ray has seen the ToC field fill in since he played and everyone is bright & fast. Sarah seemed to indicate the finals will once again be first to three wins. If Ray gets that far he recognizes with chance to play again to bet big on Daily Doubles.

Ray is not ready to think about the possibility of qualifying for Masters.

Rays like that there is time to prepare for the ToC while also acknowledging he's getting older. Ray knows he has to take care of himself and stay in shape.

Ray's lunch was something that could be hand held since he ate in parking lot or chicken salad. He would drink something with caffeine at lunch but not after lunch. Ray had bottles of frappuccino bottles with him.

For a proud stat it's getting 10 FJ! clues in a row right.

Ray still gets recognized in public and Canadians are polite although now sometimes people aren't sure where they recognize Ray from.

For the ToC Ray is excited to come back and get to play J! again and meet the other champs.

Next Week - Cris Pannullo

[Game Girl]

in terms of the interview Matea talking about her life and how shocking it was to be a champion was amazing. I will say in terms of the last game that it seems that after the final interview in which they started talking about Horsehower's 'hometown' (this is the second hometown he has listed in the course of this tournament alone not that it is important). everything started going downhill for him. I do not know what are you anything else I just noticed that. I did not even noticed it was there from the first watch through. (I was rewatching certain portions when I noticed this.)

I think looking back on everything with The masters format with the tournament of champions is that The 'best of' games lasted too long. in the end it did turn into the Masters plus James more than anyone could have expected. if this was a pitch video for live with Ken and James it would have not been much different. anyhow the contestants were good even if that is not what this tournament will likely be remembered for.

in terms of the games in terms of almost everything I wish I could use a quote button for certain areas of this interview because I think I said the same thing about Mat when they talked about "pressure situations" when she was talking about coming back the next game. she is dropping really nice stuff throughout this whole interview. I loved talking about the jokes at each other in all of that stuff. it actually makes sense that Horsehower would not be making jokes backstage considering he had his sights set on one person, The host. having the resident gambler be bored out of his mind watching Long films without action sounds funny.

The reason they think that you have 2 twin Brothers even if it is not possible is that the that you use for your 2 person noun. (Voice dictate is not getting the grammar terminology mostly due to my accent) along with a possessive beginning of my. this usually leads to you being part of the twin package. if she did not mention the usual confusion I would have not even thought to check the wording. buzzy saying I would be fan of myself and her answering back approximately you still have that was hilarious. The after podcast flashcard collection also was is rememberable. (30,000 really)

[Trevor807]

in terms of the interview Matea talking about her life and how shocking it was to be a champion was amazing.

For future reference, Mattea prefers they/them pronouns.

[MarkBarrett]

8/28/23 "Who is Cris Pannullo?" (33:55)

Sarah and Cris chat until 30:00

Cris has same job, house, wife (Heather) and rabbit (Lentil).

Cris is not recognized a lot in public as he counts 6 times. People first ask if he's the J! guy and congratulate him for repping NJ well. He is not asked random trivia questions. Cris looks like a lot of other guys with cargo shorts and tee shirt, so different than as seen on J!

Cris tried out 7-8 times over a decade to get on J! He got "The Call" once and had to refuse since he was out of the country. That week would have been week with Andrew He and Amy.

When Cris got the call again he saw David Sibley winning games and Cris barely got a lock in that first game when he missed FJ! clue and Pam Warrent got it right.

When Cris did a video call with Heather she said that was the happiest she had ever seen him.

After first game Cris was told by a contestant staffer that they had read his application and knew he was funny. Cris knew he must be coming across as standoffish and tried to loosen up.

Cris did not sleep well between tapings and he understands why 5 games is threshold for ToC as hard to keep winning. Cris had a taping break from August 10 to October 10 after game 11 and tried to fine tune his strategy.

Cris uses flashcards for studying and sometimes insomnia would have him studying 4 in the morning for a couple of hours. Cris would also study piecemeal when little bits of time were available.

As a poker player, Cris knows about thinking strategically such as where to get edge with DDs and controlling the board. Getting an advantage from 30% up to 35% can make a big difference. Cris' goal was to keep playing well.

Playing J! went as Cris expected it to go as far as game play and he trained himself to bet big.

Cris has a sister that was a D1 soccer player and after 7 games she started to feel bad for the other contestants. His other siblings were starting to get tired of him keeping on winning.

Wife Heather's b-day of Feb. 21 came up with a lot of Cris' wagers ending with 221. J! posted a pic on Feb. 21 to acknowledge Heather's birthday. James also wagered numbers to honor family birthdays.

Cris is aware of his standing on Leaderboard of Legends for wins (#6) & money (#5) although he not thinking about it when playing.

Cris has invested his money and other than going out to restaurants has not done any big splurging.

Ad 18:25-18:55

Cris regrets not getting a 6-figure win as he knows he had the chance to do it when he won over $70K in one game. It was mentioned that James' average win total was higher than Cris' best game.

Cris met James at Masters as Cris was the alternate. Cris tried to keep the mood light and laugh at Sam's jokes. All of the Masters players are awesome.

Later watching at home, Cris enjoyed the moments of the tiebreaker moment with Andrew & Mattea and how James barely won.

Cris's last game had 9 lead changes and like James lost on a Shakespeare clue.

It will be a dream to play in ToC and Cris is looking forward to the challenge and is aware of the pressure that goes with a possible spot in Masters. Upcoming ToC field has some better stats than previous ToC field.

S39 did not have a lot of players win 10 games+ and Cris rattled off about Troy losing to Jake, Hannah losing to Ben, Luigi not betting enough to win on clue he got right and Ben C. one letter off from winning more.

Yogesh was named in commenting more about some who could have won 10 games.

Sarah confirmed again the plan is to have the ToC Finals be first to 3 wins and Cris likes that format as the best will win more often. It also gives America a chance to get to know the players better.

Cris' lunch choice is salad with chickpeas/chicken, Diet Coke and a banana on the side. Cris could never do pizza like James does. Cris likes a bland lunch.

Cris' proud stat was one of the oldest to win 10 games plus and went down one notch when Ray did it later.

Cris names losing opponents Xanni Brown, Matt Harvey and Mike Elliott as three who put up big numbers against him.

Next Week: A replay of the podcast bonus from November about the ToC exhibition match and today ends the one on one player interview series.

[threearruda]

8/28/23 "Who is Cris Pannullo?" (33:55)

S39 did not have a lot of players win 10 games+ and Cris rattled off about Troy losing to Jake, Hannah losing to Ben, Luigi not betting enough to win on clue he got right and Ben C. one letter off from winning more.

Yogesh was named in commenting more about some who could have won 10 games.

I need more bulletin board material, this won't help! I kid..

Very cool shoutout. I got the call in the middle of ToC last year so Cris was the reigning champ - and his loss aired the day I taped my first game. While unlikely, the thought that he could still theoretically be taping bounced around my head. Would love the chance to face off.

[Game Girl]

in terms of the interview Matea talking about her life and how shocking it was to be a champion was amazing.

For future reference, Mattea prefers they/them pronouns.

oops they seem to use "her" a lot so I got confused. I will try to respect in the future.

[Carpe Diem]

oops they seem to use "her" a lot

Who?
Who uses "'her' a lot"?
Who is "they"?

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

Who is "they"?

Mattea. Yes I know, the pronoun thing is confusing.

[seaborgium]

Who is "they"?

Mattea. Yes I know, the pronoun thing is confusing.

No, Carpe Diem was asking who seems to use "her" a lot according to Game Girl.

[Game Girl]

oops they seem to use "her" a lot

Who?
Who uses "'her' a lot"?
Who is "they"?

The broadcasted show. (at least the syndicate Version, I heard the host use a "she" on the masters in last weeks rerun) but that does not excuse me because a lot of times the show does that to appeal to The US audience. (which is a whole different discussion) i am thankful for any assistance for when I screw up. sorry for not clarifying The situation of Who I heard it and sorry for my screwup to cause a off topic discussion on the thread.

[gameshowfandanny]

In today's replay of the Great Exhibition bonus episode, Sarah announced at the end of the episode that next week's Inside Jeopardy! episode will feature clips from audience Q&A's with Ken and Mayim.

[MarkBarrett]

9/11/23 "What is an Audience Q+A" (27:43)

Sarah only host and talks about Second Chance to start Season 40 with 27 players form S37 returning. The three winners will advance to Champions Wildcard (CWC) for chance to make ToC playing with 1-3 day champs from S37 and S38.

S37 players the first time were in season when Alex died, pandemic restrictions, no family in audience and guest hosts.

Questions and answers from hosts at 4:08

Sarah began by talking about questions Alex got the most:
Favorite meal - chicken, rice & broccoli
Boxers or briefs - commando
SNL sketches - shaved mustache to make it easier for Will Ferrell
Alex like to give joke answers to make people laugh

Ken is asked about host vs. player - Host has more job security while 2/3rds players gone in 30 minutes
Being a host has more things to do than playing

Mayim - Watch J! as a kid? Yes, but not every night. She's from a Trivial Pursuit family and her parents were both teachers.

Ken - Watch J! from 1984 overseas in South Korea and limited options with Armed Forces Radio & TV - He and his friends in 4th grade big fans of J!

Mayim - role in Beaches? Played young Bette Midler. Mayim did some school plays and limited audition experience when she got the movie role. Mayim was told when she was young that she looked like Bette Midler. Movie filmed at Coney Island and it came out day of Mayim's batmitzvah.

Age difference and lack of cell phones in late '80s did not have Mayim staying in contact much with Bette but one time on a show (perhaps Access Hollywood) Bette left a message for Mayim who was a guest a week later

Ken - Imagine being a TV star? No. Over/under for being recognized was perhaps 10 times. Ken's friend, Earl, was in studio audience that day.
Ken thinks he's like Charlie getting the chocolate factory while others sucked up the chocolate river tube such as Dr. Oz.

Mayim - Role that brought happiness. Whether Blossom, Big Bang Theory or J! they all do in different ways.

Ken - Contestant Interviews--how so many stories? Got calls from staff for 5-10 more stories. The chat can be hardest part of the show for players. Ken felt he was out of good stories by Day 3 and learned he could lie to Alex since nobody facts checks such as liking airplane food

Mayim - Surprise as host? Enjoys watching contestants and impressed and surprised by how much the players know.

Ken - J! alum group? Yes, social media helps

Mayim - Favorite book - The Torah and History of Love and A Confederacy of Dunces also French exixtentialism books

Ad: 15:45-18:25

Ken - Playing James in GOAT - Ken studied James' games and knew he had to change playing style - There will be no rematch.

Mayim - still in chosen field of neuroscience? No - but did do some teaching along with designing curriculum. Home taught her boys now age 14 & 17

Ken - Favorite clue - the one that won his first game - Jones - J! staffers had already decided ahead of game that last name would be good enough. Sarah calls it a "sliding doors" moment.

Mayim - Advice on being J! host? Be yourself has not been the best advice for Mayim and she has had to curb her inner monologues and try to be more like Alex Trebek

Ken - Important lesson from Alex? Alex was the host of of J! and not the star. It's not about the host but the game and players. Ken and Sarah shared about how much it meant to Alex to receive all the well wishes, gifts and messages while still alive to understand how much people appreciated him

Next Week - The 9/11 week of games

Mark Barrett comment - With Sarah summarizing the audience questions and Ken/Mayim with mic pack on the episode worked well from an audio angle and yes, please, to doing it again.

[Game Girl]

well this podcast episode about the exhibition game revisited was nice. I think the preempt my complaints comment by one of the contestants (mat) went out wrong. when the podcast host saying 'see this', 'see this'. it feels like someone pointing out in a what did you do way. (we all know what I mean) it looks like minutes 7 that mat did everything but actually prepared to play game of jeopardy when preparing for the tournament of champions if his commentary has any weight to it. (which I am assuming it does for the sake of simplicity)

in terms of lose yourself you have got to see the pi version at some point I am going to finish and maybe even publish the montage but I will put the link here. (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U2uVoDxZpaQ) which I began about 3/4 days after she mentioned the song in her original interview. I had mixed CDs too made by my parents. probably best he did not make a joke with getting hot in here response. The cast background chatter after the cursing issue was definitely as funny as the podcast host is making out to be. also any information about those round tools would be appreciated.

I am thankful that they said most of them do not pay attention to Middlemarch. I honestly did not even know just say when the game first aired never heard of it, never read it. never mention this last time because I thought it was because I thought it was just me. like I likely said last time that was possibly awkward to go home to your mum after that. Magic beans was the moment I knew this game was forsaken. not because it was rude or wrong (it was actually a fine and mostly respectful joke) but that the game has gotten to the point that no one could even think to salvage it. for final I was thinking lv or la The first time.

I love how Amy said they were either be falsely secure or intimidated, it was such a great quote. mat was right it did come up poorly. Matea sounded like a mature person. take notes Mat you do not want to be buzzing into things you do not know. by the way I am ok with Mat as a contestant and did approve in the masters I am just and poking fun here. I will be honest I did not even consider her on the same amount as the other ones. which for me was a good thing because I was getting a little sick of the super champions and honestly suspicious. (I came up with a ridiculous theory in which they played the game traditionally with new contestants until the champion they wanted won instead of 'rigging' it since that would technically be a loophole.) so I was shocked to see her included but she did a great job. I will likely listen to the older podcast episodes but when I saw the name of this I skipped directly to it. about the audience question episode I also remember Alix saying they got the same six questions everytime so this will be interesting.

[Game Girl]

I was originally not going to review Ben's episode but I had to say drinking to do the test to get jeopardy is something else. I might have said some stuff on that days discussion on Benedict but I would not have brought it up to him if I was to be with him just to be clear. (oh I just noticed that Ben is also a nickname for Benedict as well, and that is the champions name I guess that is very slight irony)

any hey I love that comment about the masters that the host of the podcast gave, seeing people have fun was nice. go 300 club. anyway this was nice, felt was very casual. yeah this is all over the place anyhow have a nice day.

in the next episode about ray the search quality control of the set was a nice story to hear it is actually something I would have loved to see all the backstage film on their "channel". I can imagine not knowing the amount of questions answer in a row during gameplay but it is always cool to find out afterwards. that I know you from somewhere feeling. A topic that probably happens more with these contestants than it is represented on the show.

in terms of games some champions have big streak moments or have something iconic happen. (like a high score or something funny even) but sometimes when you go there you "just" play jeopardy. (well the biggest Jeopardy of your life) and that seems to be what happened here. The stories about him seeing his long lost friends were nice.

you know I was going to skip that episode since I was so behind but on both of the podcasts but it was pretty good and I would recommend not skipping it.

[MarkBarrett]

9/18 "What is Season 37 Second Chance Week 1?" (21:27)

Sarah & Michael Davies host - No Buzzy other than ad 11:50-13:05

The podcast will have new features:
This week in Jeopardy! history
interview of the week
host questions from studio audience

2:55 This week in J! history from 9/19/05 when Victoria Groce defeated David Madden with clip played. David still on Leaderboard of Legends for money won and games won.

4:40 9/11 week of games:

Spoiler

Jill was in Brian Chang vs. Zach Newkirk game. Sarah called Jill's all-in wager "unnecessary".

The clue about Margot Robbie and Barbie was written in April by the writers while some online thought it was written after the strike.

Brian Chang congratulated Jill on Reddit.

7:10 post game chat plays and Jill knew BRITISH MONARCHS was a great category for her. Derek only guessed correctly on the clue while Jill knew it for certain.

Derek is first to win the $3,000 consolation amount. Gabriel knew he had $2,000 minimum and sprung for Uber ride with his brother.

Sarah has read David Maybury's blog and knows about David helping Rowan for last SCC and Rowan helping David this go around.

Cody was on Alex's last week of hosting. The David/Cody/Susan game had 55R and only 2W.

Matt from Wed. game had a blast according to his Reddit post and the players would have played all day for fun. Nice come from behind win by Hari.

In the finals David's family was shown in the audience with matching T-shirts and Hari again pulled off the come from behind win.

14:!5 Chat with Hari and he felt elation, confusion and disbelief. When Hari got the call for SCC he prepped by watching old games and his parents reading him Qs over the phone.

Hari's mom was able to attend SCC taping and Hari hopes dad will attend Champions Wildcard taping. Hari may have to pay his parents hourly wage for all of their prep help.

16:25 Host questions from studio audience
Ken is asked how me amassed such wide knowledge. Curiosity and being omniverous about knowledge while paying attention to the world around you.

Michael told a story about his son attending a taping and asking Ken, "Does my dad do a good job?" Ken is very good at handling such questions and Michael enjoys seeing Ken doing the Q&A thing like Alex did. Sometimes Ken can get choked up talking about Alex.

Next week - Week 2 of the SCC from 9/18.

The pace of the ep. is fast-moving and I prefer that over a more leisurely one over 40 minutes. A lot was covered in short time.

[MarkBarrett]

9/25/23 "What is Second Chance Week 2?" (23:27)

Michael Davies & Sarah host with no Buzzy and no ad break on Spotify

Celebrity J! starts on Wednesday the 27th (Mark Duplass, Emily Hampshire, Utkarsh Ambudkar) and will have new shot sequence to help viewer track which clue being played. TV in 16:9 instead of 4:3 and in HD will allow viewers to track things better. It's an experiment for Celeb J! and not part of regular J! at this time.

4:00 This week in J! is 9/24/01 and first ep. with the Clue Crew. CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER was not selected until DJ26 and clues with Jimmy and Sarah were played on the podcast.

J! has hired a consultant Lindsay/Lindsey? and she will do outreach at bar/pub trivia as well as college/H.S. campuses. She was in callback group with Sarah in Chicago for Clue Crew in 2001.

A quick story was shared about Alex shaving his mustache on taping day and his family not noticing at first when he got home and then his kids cried that mustache was gone. Sarah would see games with/without mustache and know whether rerun or not.

Michael seemed to take a moment to defend the Second Chance competition as part of his commitment to get best players on stage and they are playing at elite level.

8:50 the 9/18 week of games:

Spoiler

Deanna originally played with Alex Trebek hosting and he said she played a hell of a game.

Matt after missing DD1 and DD2 did not go all in on DD3 and that cost him the chance to beat Deanna. Matt met his girlfriend after she slid into his DMs after his first appearance on J!

Deanna bet 926 on FJ! in honor of her mom's birthday.

Rob and Morgan both played with Ken as guest host during first appearances while Elizabeth was in the Matt Amodio and Josh Saak game. The hosts joked (they were joking right?) about a third chance for Elizabeth. Micahel said, "Don't tempt me."

Deanna had a runaway of just $200 by the end of Friday's DJ! round to lock the match.

The rule change is new for person who leads after Day 1 Finals to pick first for D2. The wrong light was on for the Friday game and that is why Pam (at champ's spot) picked first instead of Deanna.

Quick chat with Deanna at 14:10 and she feels like she crashed someone's party and hopes not to get kicked out. She's happy to get to continue to play at CWC and will study, study, study. She's glad she did not toss her flashcards during a spring cleaning.

Deanna's first J! game in S37 was so fast and a blur that's it's nice to get a re-do and soak it all in. All of the contestants are nice.

17:40 the hosts make a comment that the Champions Wild Card is really good.

17:55 Host question from studio audience wants to know Ken's favorite categories.
Ken liked movies, literature and word play. He used to do Jumble from newspaper. I think Ken's brother David was in studio audience when this Q was taped.

Ken knew Brad Rutter did not like word play stuff and Ken would go there first against him.

Michael Davies likes history, geography, literature and especially sports--and not just soccer. Michael did not get the vuvuzela clue right as he did not quite correctly recall the syllables of the word and he felt they ruined the 2010 World Cup. Michael does not like science categories.

Next week: The 9/25 week to conclude Second Chance and the first Celebrity J! game

[mfc248]

Spoiler

The rule change is new for person who leads after Day 1 Finals to pick first for D2. The wrong light was on for the Friday game and that is why Pam (at champ's spot) picked first instead of Deanna.

Nope. Wrong. False. (Sarah, that is, not Mark.)

Spoiler

[Carpe Diem]

Just listened to today's episode
Did I misunderstand or did they say 16 weeks of regular play at the end of the season?
So 30 weeks of...not that?
They're flipping what already seemed unsustainable (30 weeks of regular play and 16 weeks of whatever)?
What the actual?