Inside Jeopardy podcast

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MarkBarrett
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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11/28/22 "Who is the 2022 ToC Winner?" (39:17)

Sarah, Buzzy and Michael Harris (Michael Davies doing World Cup stuff)

Thanksgiving chatter: Sarah does stuffing & gravy while Buzzy cooks his turkey in oil-less turkey fryer and brines with Alton Brown recipe

2:05 beep-boop for ToC talk:
Spoiler
Finals game 6 called "Similar Story, but Different Ending"
Sam Kavanaugh present belt to winner
Talk to winner at 4:55 - working on writing a book and happy to have had wife in the audience

Amy considers highlight of her J! run as beginning with Andrew and ending with him. They played Nov. 17 in both 2021 & 2022.
Andrew found 9 DDs in finals and went all-in each time.
Buzzy mentioned top seed historically has not won like himself and Sam K. while James did win
Buzzy can no longer tease Ken about never appearing at ToC.
Amy is 4th on all-time money list having passed Matt.
Sam Buttrey was fan favorite.

Sarah is very happy with the SCC, Great Exhibition and ToC run of games and talk of J! Masters is still being mentioned as Michael Davies wish. Sarah once again says there will be a SCC next year.
14:20 talk about return of regular play:
Spoiler
The break did not affect Cris at all.
Buzzy will not yuck anyone's yum, but would not order pineapple on pizza. Sarah is okay with it.
Buzzy & Sarah liked Ken's Bane impression.

Buzzy calls J! "The Cris Show" and Cris has bumped Austin Rogers off Top 10 list for winnings. Stats were cited after Cris' 13th game for finding 30/39 DDs and going 27/30 on them along with $90K on DDs.

Cris likes to bounce around board not just for DDs, but to throw off opponents for keeping track of what has come up already in categories. Chuck Forrest for bounce is mentioned while some think it started with Arthur Chu, but Buzzy & Sarah cannot recall Rubin for bounce strategy.

Some players try to execute the strategy, but can't do it so well.

Cris has highest J! round, DJ! round and FJ! round score of the season so far.

Matt Jackson is off Top 10 for games won in regular play.

Sarah & Buzzy are wrong in declaring no undefeated J! champions

Buzzy would never say, "I was Pannulloed" like some contestants might say for being happy to be on the show and losing to a super champ.

29:50 talk to Cris after his 15th win this past Friday.
Strange for Cris to watch himself on J! while knowing he had to return and he was recognized in public. Cris went back to work during break and could not talk about his run.
The thumbs up is a natural reaction Cris does in real life situations. Cris is tense when playing J! and does loosening up exercises prior to game to not get too tight.

Cris is on Leaderboard of Legends for Wins & Money.
Questions 32:50
From Reddit asking about player positions for ToC Finals. By wins so :
Spoiler
Amy at champ's spot
Andrew (5) in middle and Sam at end.
Random draw for who picks first and Sarah uses different props such as Ping Pong balls, coins, cards...
Positions were not rotated to keep things consistent where viewers expect to see players and the check marks for how many games they won.

Chris asks if board is not completed can a Daily Double not be revealed? Yes, but not if DD would be clue 30 then it gets revealed. DD could remain unplayed if more than one clue will not be played. Not fair to player who gets clue 29 to not get to play DD though.

Sarah emphasized how hard they try to complete board and understand the importance of it not only for contestants, but viewers as well.

Next week: the regular play week of games
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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12/5/22 "What is the Jeopardy! High School Reunion Tournament?" (37:13)

Michael Davies is participating remotely, still doing World Cup stuff. Sarah & Buzzy, but no "Enabler" this week.

Ryan Long did an episode of This American Life.

4:00 announcement of J! High School Reunion Tournament - picking Teen Tournament contestants who are now undergrads in college. It's a tournament with 9 QF games, 3 semis and 2-day total point affair with the winner getting a spot in the ToC for 14 days total.

Of two past Teen Tournaments with 30 players, 27 will be playing in the new event. Two were not available for this one and will be invited back at another time with the 30th person serving as an alternate for the upcoming tourney.

Doing it this way with former players lets the show have players already in the system and not have to go through big search. Disagreement among the three hosts about wearing school sweatshirts or players choice.

8:50 recap of last week's games:
Spoiler
Michael Davies got this BRITISH HISTORY $800 stumper from the 11/28 game:
The Marquess of Salisbury, who retired in 1902, was the last prime minister to lead a government from this body

Buzzy shared his own House of Lords trivia about Christopher Guest's active time there.

Of the challengers last week it seemed like Xanni had the strongest reaction for possible SCC while Matt & Rob were mentioned though not as strongly.

The management of the prize budget was mentioned and with an aggressive wagerer like Chris the J! producers have to check in with the Sony finance people. A player like Cris making more than normal can affect prize money available for other tournaments and such.

Cris is on the Legends list for games won and money won with only the big-timers ahead of him.

Cris eating lunch of mixed greens with no dressing and scoops of chickpeas or chicken with a banana on the side was up for discussion. Buzzy had salad + dressing when he played though changed it up for his ToC to add chicken.

Cris switches off his game mode after game ends and is more human afterwards.

Nov. 30 worked out well for Cris with win #30 while recalling that Ken lost to Nancy Zerg on Nov. 30 - 18 years ago.

Sarah like Ken's Borat impression.

17:45 the J-archive gets a moment in when talking about the Hancock clue with bigger font size and Buzzy saw that the archivist needed help how to code it even though there have been previous clues with a larger size.

18:05-20:30 is an ad break

Michael Davies has never had an olive in the U.S. though likes them in Spain, Greece & Italy. Buzzy likes olives.

A person who is up late is a night owl while who gets up early is not an early bird, but a lark.

Cris has had only 4 non-runaway games and his DD count was listed as finding 45/60 and correct on 40/45 for great percentages along with over $160K made on DDs.

Talk to Cris from 26:35 to 30:00 and he's been trying out 5-6 years. Ryan has been able to watch his run unfold while it's still ongoing.
30:19 questions
square3481 asks about camera work for revealing categories whether live or CG and it's a combination of both using a digital image. There used to be 2 cameras on contestants and now there are 3. Michele Hampton uses a stylus to control the reveal of categories and clues.

Amanda wants to know what the hosts are doing during the FJ! round. The host gets a card with information about wagers, numbers and such that Michele Loud prepares.

The host can see what the contestants are writing as it happens. The host does not take audience questions during the break between the DJ! round and FJ! round to allow the players to concentrate not only on wagering but also considering what the FJ! category might mean while thinking about possible responses.

The host knows the outcome of the game ahead of the contestant responses.

Next week: The players in the J! High School Reunion Tournament and a recap of Dec. 5-9 games
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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12/12/22 "Who are the Jeopardy! High School Reunion Tournament Contestants?" (36:19)

Sarah and Buzzy start off with a limerick seen on Reddit from ChatGPT: https://i.redd.it/3s7ztyhl7q4a1.jpg

Sarah and Buzzy might have their noses growing a bit as they said everyone has responded positively to the news about the JHSRT. :lol:

The students will be representing themselves though kind of for their universities.

2:00 is talk about the players in the tourney. 27/30 from the 11/7/2018 & 6/17 - 6/28/19 TTs.
Emma Arnold can't make it because she is studying abroad at Cambridge. They hope to get her on in some way in the future. Sophia Weng can't make it due to a prior commitment at a conference.

Ryan Presler is still in high school (was 8th grader when in the TT) and will be the alternate.

Buzzy and Sarah run down the year in college and where is player is attending.

The schools:
American U. in D.C.
Brandeis
Brown
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Caltech
Columbia
Cornell (Rhea graduating this month)
Emory
Georgetown
Georgia Tech
Harvard
Indiana
Maryland
Northwestern
Princeton
Stanford
UCLA - Eesha graduating this month
UT at Austin (3 players)
Vanderbilt (2)
West Florida
Yale (2)

That's 25 so I must have missed hearing a couple of them.

12:20 regular play from the 12/5 week:
Spoiler
Cris looked good in the Monday game and the hosts thought he might be around longer as Cris seemed unstoppable. Sarah enjoyed running down all the fun facts viewers learned about Cris.

Andy Tirrell was alternate in Professors Tournament and he could win biggest comeback award if that is a category at J! Honors next time. Buzzy was alternate the first time he showed up for regular play.

Buzzy had an "instaget" for the Tuesday FJ! clue and noted Ken's "Play's the thing" remark.

Tammy was mentioned as a possible for the SCC.

18:25 Sarah talks to Cris: Knowing he will be back for ToC helps the sting of losing. Cris will study as well as scout his opponents. Cris liked the hair and glasses Andy had.

For GF Heather's birthday in Feb. they'll go out to dinner and quiet night at home as they usually do. Cris likes to blind guess FJ! off the category. He hoped he'll be remembered as exciting player with big bets and he's enjoyed hearing from friends as well as the money and appreciates the J! crew.

Even if Cris wins the ToC he'll be just shy of $1M in winnings. So, as of today the 2023 ToC winning amount will be $250K.

21:45 A run-down of all of Cris' impressive stats for wins, money, DDs, etc.
Sarah enjoyed working with Ginger, a big fan of J!, and hopes to get more clues from her as she does a lot of traveling.

Buzzy likes a $0 bet from a champ with a runaway. Buzzy did not like being spoiled on the TV show:
Spoiler
Killing Eve
as he's a season behind and playfully blames Ken.

Sarah and Buzzy liked the FJ! clue on Friday about:
Spoiler
Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Sarah did a Clue Crew clue from Broadway using coconuts.
31:10 Question from Nathan - Will there be an exhibition match with the JHSRT only comprising 14 shows? No, the tourney will end on Thursday and regular play resumes that Friday.

Jake - the JHSRT players played four years ago--will their shows air again to see their original appearances. No, but there will be highlights and Sarah promises a side by side type show to compare the players as they looked in the TT compared to now at college

Next week: The 12/12 week of games and at some point there is going to be a special Clue Crew podcast with Sarah and Jimmy taking questions from Buzzy. They joked about Barbara Walters and that there will be tears.
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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Why would you have multiple players from a school?
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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econgator wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:22 pm Why would you have multiple players from a school?
Out of a possible 30 students it's not surprising that some attend the same college. It's probably one of those stat things with a low number of students having decent odds that two share a birthday?

Sarah and Buzzy explained that the tourney is more about the students returning than their colleges itself. It's not the kind of event that would limit itself to one college with no repeats like a typical College Championship. They specifically picked these two tourneys only to draw from since they occurred in the same season and wanted the then high school to now college (or very recently graduated when it tapes) dynamic.
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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MarkBarrett wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:27 pm
econgator wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:22 pm Why would you have multiple players from a school?
Out of a possible 30 students it's not surprising that some attend the same college. It's probably one of those stat things with a low number of students having decent odds that two share a birthday?

Sarah and Buzzy explained that the tourney is more about the students returning than their colleges itself. It's not the kind of event that would limit itself to one college with no repeats like a typical College Championship. They specifically picked these two tourneys only to draw from since they occurred in the same season and wanted the then high school to now college (or very recently graduated when it tapes) dynamic.
Sorry, I misread. I thought it was some weird college tournament they were having.
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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econgator wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:15 pm
MarkBarrett wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:27 pm
econgator wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:22 pm Why would you have multiple players from a school?
Out of a possible 30 students it's not surprising that some attend the same college. It's probably one of those stat things with a low number of students having decent odds that two share a birthday?

Sarah and Buzzy explained that the tourney is more about the students returning than their colleges itself. It's not the kind of event that would limit itself to one college with no repeats like a typical College Championship. They specifically picked these two tourneys only to draw from since they occurred in the same season and wanted the then high school to now college (or very recently graduated when it tapes) dynamic.
Sorry, I misread. I thought it was some weird college tournament they were having.
It’s a weird tournament.

viewtopic.php?t=6868
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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Bamaman wrote: Tue Dec 13, 2022 2:56 am
econgator wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:15 pm
Sorry, I misread. I thought it was some weird college tournament they were having.
It’s a weird tournament.

viewtopic.php?t=6868
Right, but it's a weird tournament of HS students who are now in college and not a College Tournament with multiple students from the same college.
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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12/19/22 Episode title:
Spoiler
"What is the End of the 1-Day Winner?"
25:13

Sarah & Buzzy host with Michael Davies still doing World Cup stuff.

There are various mentions and combinations about Hanukkah, Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Buzzy going on a trip to Brazil though will still see J! and do podcast from the beach. (Yeah, right.)

2:25 Beep boop to begin talk about J! games of the 12/12 week.
Spoiler
You win one game and you are a J! champ for life and the rest is gravy.

Sarah & Buzzy liked the FOOD AS YOU MIGHT SAY IT category from 12/13 and a Sloppy Joe in Buzzy's area of NJ means a deli sandwich on rye with meats, cheese, slaw, etc.

Sean McShane is cousin of 4x/ToC semis Dan McShane and there have been many family combinations of players on J!

During a taping break and the audience Q&A with Ken he said hosting is more stressful than playing and Buzzy can attest to the different skill sets needed.

On Spotify there was an ad break from 10:15 - 11:40.

Buzzy pointed out how Sean's style of play hurt him for not controlling the board and DDs better. It's better to load up on bottom of board before challengers get their footing and more likely to find DDs there.

Ken on the record for pineapple on pizza and Die Hard a Christmas movie with more to come in 2023. [Not mentioned but seen on Reddit audience report - Ken was hosting games taped Dec. 15 & 16, so it will definitely not be all Mayim starting in January.]

Canadians love J! and Ray like Mattea proving it.

Elizabeth's dogs getting punny names will likely make new feature on YouTube with J! highlights.

Ray has nickname from J! staff of "Ray the Sway" due to his constant moving back and forth.
18:25 Questions
Alex asks about hunting for DDs more popular and perhaps leading to more super champions? Buzzy supports the more strategic approach to look for DDs in bottom rows of board with tougher clues for players to separate themselves while top row clues are easier and more of a buzzer race. Save the easier ones for end of the round.

A top-down player may luck into DDs more than being strategic about finding them.

There can be a champion intimidation factor in starting with higher clues first.

Doug asks about the FJ! category reveal moving from the game board to a separate monitor. It was due to set change in 2009 and host does not have to go to the board. The players still see the FJ! clue on the big board.

Next week: Part 1 of 2 with Buzzy interviewing Sarah and Jimmy about the Clue Crew.

Happy Holidays.
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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Thanks for these recaps Mark
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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12/26/22 "What is The Clue Crew? Part 1" (53.21)
My comments are from the portion up to the 28:00 minute mark and I'll listen to the rest later.

Sarah and Buzzy yammer and yak about Christmas, Hanukkah, egg nog, family celebrations, etc. Sarah's family does Christmas Eve dinner and go to church and do gifts on Christmas Day with another big meal.

The White House uses egg nog recipe from Lincoln. Buzzy's new year's resolution is to get on J! again.

5:30 talk about the games from the 12/19 week:
Spoiler
Miranda solved candy FJ! clue thinking about synonyms for "flaw" and not as much from candy angle.

Buzzy reinforced that contestants should think about studying stuff around time the games will air such as holiday stuff if game airing in December.

The Dr, Seuss clues with Tamera Mowry were film on Sony lot where the baking challenge takes place. There was a lot of background noise from the bakers while the J! clues were shot that had to be removed in post-production.

Buzzy was not sure if betting +801 to be above Ray's FJ! starting point was silly or savvy.

Ray a 5xer after Wednesday show and Sarah talks to him at 11:00 point of podcast. It's something to hear Ray's voice on audio only. Ray's family watched Fleming version and he got his brains from mom. Ray had tried out previously and auditioned before his twin brother who also hopes to get on. Brother is medical physicist so knows science things well. Brothers can be told apart by Ray's birthmark.

Ray capitalizes on J! round to build up lead
Rian Johnson is fan of J! and his clues were shot at the studio where he does post-production work on his movies. Rian had the clue cadence down.

17:40 Jimmy McGuire joins the podcast. Jimmy had been stage manager for talk shows before J! and worked for Judge Hatchett show. They did 20 cases a day and Jimmy warmed up the audience. Jimmy was also product presenter for GM and worked at auto shows.

Jimmy, in K.C. at the time, saw promo for Clue Crew that Alex did on J! episodes. Jimmy did not have a computer and had to download application from a business center.

Sarah majored in broadcast journalism at USC and was working in Northern Michigan when co-worker mentioned the Clue Crew tryouts. Sarah secretly applied and Jimmy and Sarah later learned the audition pool went from 5,000 to 500 to 100 and down to final 21.

Sarah was flown out to CA and stayed at Beverly Hills Hilton along with the other 20 finalists. The audition process was to read clues and hosting a recreation of Brainbuster events the show used to do.

Jimmy was all business there and not to make friends while Sarah and others exchanged information for group get-togethers. Jimmy still did not have an email address to add to the list passed around.

Harry Friendman called Jimmy and he moved Marina Del Rey.

Sarah who had made her audition tape with high production values (including the weather wall) available at the station where she worked had said the tape was for her parents. Sarah wanted to get back to California.

Sarah's co-worker, Chris Williams, also got a call back and Sarah was disappointed she had not after checking phone messages, discovered it was email notification when Chris offered to share his email message.

Sarah had to go to Chicago for next round and flew there after getting to Grand Rapids after mom got her a plane ticket. Sarah had also debated driving all the way to Chicago. Sarah's flight was late and her cabbie said she had too much make up on. Sarah made it to the audition in Chicago after thinking she might have been too late.

Jimmy was known to some J! people prior to the Clue Crew since he had auditioned for Jep! as the host. Bob Bergen got that job.

That's enough for this post and I'll make a separate post later for the remaining time of today's part 1 podcast.
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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MarkBarrett wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 5:35 pm Jimmy ... had auditioned for Jep! as the host.
That's a fun fact. Who knew?
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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12/26/22 "What is The Clue Crew? Part 1" (53.21) The remainder of the episode from about 28:00 to the end

When Jimmy was the Clue Crew audition group call in N.Y. (the middle of the process?) there were people with props such as a juggler & ventriloquist. Jimmy was himself without those kinds of things.

Buzzy remembers being a contestant and seeing Clue Crew members on taping day.

Jimmy is busy on taping day as stage manager, rehearsal host and warming up the audience.

Clue Crew went to over 300 cities, 46 countries, all 7 continents and all 50 states.

Jimmy's favorite destination was Rome (his first international shoot) and he had little overseas experience and amused group by showing up with heavy hotel key and chain that was supposed to stay at hotel and he did not know it.

Sarah's favorite was Antarctica in completing all 7 continents.

Jimmy is huge Steelers fan and has a lanyard of the team he uses for his i.d. that Aaron Rodgers noticed when he was a celeb contestant.

Jimmy loved doing sports clues from places like Lambeau Field, Yankee Stadium and Indy race yard.

Sarah and Jimmy remember the cold opens they used to do. (Many examples in S18 and those links work)

Sarah's favorite place was Broadway and doing flying like Elphaba in Wicked.

A lot went on behind the scenes to make 8-second Clue Crew clues such as clearances, locations, permits, writer, Clue Crew, producer, researcher, travel, post-production to settle on best takes.

Each Clue Crew shot usually had two Clue Crew members in case someone lost their voice. With the Clue Crew members were a small group to not draw too much attention--audio, camera, producer and grip for lighting.

The Clue Crew did not use teleprompters or cue cards. They had a card with the clue and had to memorize the words with no ad-libbing as it needed to be read as written with writers in the the union.

Jimmy was not a fan of animals of just about any type as he was bitten by a dog when young. Jimmy remembers working with a nurse shark for some clues.

Sarah's toughest shoot was with Thunderbirds and trying to do clues with pilot doing Immelmann and barrel roll. The camera messed up and it needed to be reshot. Normally a civilian can only go up once with T-Birds, but Sarah got permission to it again (fine by her) as it was not for Jimmy to do.

Sarah lost a clue out of a helicopter in Rio because door was off to get better picture quality. Tough to handle clue cards to shuffle through them while flying in such conditions.

Sarah complimented Jimmy on his heart and integrity and Jimmy reciprocated about Sarah being open, caring and dedicated though will yell if necessary. Sarah has used the term to motivate Jimmy of, "You're Jimmy (effin) McGuire!".

Alex traveled with Clue Crew for trip to NY to go on The View. The Clue Crew was at first an acquired taste for Alex and he took a separate vehicle to the studio.

Another time they went to Israel and Sarah & Jimmy got to go out to dinner with Alex.

Years ago Alex was frank with Jimmy and Sarah and asked why there weren't married. At first Jimmy and Sarah thought Alex meant to each other for a funny misunderstanding.

Alex would offer ideas about Clue Crew shoots.

Sarah had her phone stolen in Cusco and did not set the room alarm properly and overslept. A different time Alex (who was usually never late) did not show up in hotel lobby at call time. Sarah and Jimmy were each reluctant to call Alex. When he finally showed up (overslept) he asked them why they didn't call him.

Jimmy regrets that it never worked out to shoot at Dodger Stadium as plans fell through more than once.
Sarah regrets she never got to go on a USO tour with Alex. Especially one in Japan.

Next Week is Part II.
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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1/2/23 "What is The Clue Crew? Part 2" (27:15)

Sarah & Buzzy talk about Buzzy in Copacabana for NYE and Sarah in Palm Desert. Sarah does 9:00 PST New Year's instead of staying up until midnight.

Celebrity J! on Thursday Jan. 5 with Michael Cera, Zoë Chao & Brianne Howey at 8. The Chase on at 10. The hosts call it trivia after dark.

2:40 talk about games 12/26 week:
Spoiler
Ray gets superchamp status for winning 10 or is it winning one more than Buzzy. :)

For the 12/26 FJ! clue Ray started with "Han" in thinking about Dolly Parton being Miley Cyrus' godmother and beginning to write Hannah Montana.

As a side discussion Sarah mentioned she played rehearsal game as part of on the road college tourney and she was not good at the buzzer.

The 12/29 game was a good one with all three players in 5-digits and Emily was mentioned as possible SCC player.

Ryan Seacrest is very busy, but efficient so able to find time to do the Rockin' Eve category.

9:20 Sarah talks to Ray. Ray is having fun playing the close games and knows viewers must like it. Ray has been heard telling some of his competitors that he hopes they make it to the SCC.

Ray thinks ahead about FJ! clue responses after the category reveal and sometimes he gets lucky with the right thing popping into his head.

Ray met Alex Trebek as a contestant audition and now he's playing on the Alex Trebek stage. Ray was in the pool 15 months before getting the call.
12:20 part 2 of talking to Jimmy and Sarah about Clue Crew days.

Jimmy when warming up the audience will sometimes tell same jokes and knows it's the first time for most of the audience to see a live taping.
Contestant rehearsal is 9:45 and then the audience is seated for Jimmy's warm-up.

Jimmy encourages podcast listeners to attend a taping and to mention you heard the invite on the podcast.

Jimmy as stage manager is another set of eyes & ears for the director.

Sarah is part of pre-production meeting about video clues. Sarah gives Ken his opening spiel and Ken does it without a teleprompter. Sarah can give Ken little nuggets about lead changes, clues not missed, etc.

Sarah works with guest readers on non-tape days. Sarah announces contestants on tape days in studio and later works with Johnny to get names said correctly.

Sarah & Jimmy get recognized in public and know they represent the show.

They can remember being in TV Guide and buying up copies because they were pictured with Alex.

Jimmy wore a Clue Crew t-shirt to podcast recording because suit no longer fit.

20:45 Questions about Clue Crew days - quarterzipquell asks about least glamorous part of job. For Jimmy, it was any kind of farm animals including milking a cow or shearing a sheep.

For Sarah it was being 12 wks. pregnant and doing clues in the Baltic in an open fish market in combination with morning sickness.

Sam Richard(s) asks about dangers of Clue Crew clues - On a Princess cruise Sarah did parasailing and hit water hard including ruining a mic. In a South Africa safari with Kelly there was being on the hood of a vehicle near a group of lions. The guide had a gun ready.

Tess [Ayleshire?] wants to know what cities Sarah and Jimmy would like to visit. Jimmy is Rome Venice and Dublin while Sarah would like her kids to experience a South Africa safari, though inside the vehicle.

Next week - game play from the 1/2/23 week and 1/5/23 Celeb J!
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

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1/9/23 "What Are the Jeopardy! 2023 Resolutions?" (36:09)

Wow, what an episode. Lots of good stuff.

Sarah and Michael Davies taped this earlier this year. Buzzy still in Brazil and not on this episode.

Michael binged British game show Only Connect and wonders how it would go if brought to U.S. Sarah watched White Lotus.

4:50 Michael's resolutions for the year. Analysis of the postseason showed it worked with ratings and social media buzz. The plan is to start it from the premiere of S40 and expand it to go through ToC in November. Regular play would then begin.

To placate new players who want their chance there might be fewer tournaments later in the season.

Celeb J! has done well and will be prime time fixture.

In prime time Michael says there will be J! Masters and he wants it to be annual event and the pinnacle of the J! season. To figure out the Masters it's about recency, clues correct, buzzer attempts, games won, etc. and Mattea was specifically named as someone good with those things.

Michael and staff are looking at and tracking lots of data. Michael sees Masters as a pyramid with every player since (an undetermined season or years) getting a chance to move up with a chance for every elite player to have a chance to play again. [Something like that]

J! is looking to address and work with stations about preemptions and form a relationship with each of the 200 stations that air the show.

Mayim will host Celeb J! and then High School Reunion in February (that's syndicated version of J!) with Ken still hosting games until then into Feb. as Mayim's schedule was altered due to scheduling with Call Me Kat.

17:30 discussion of Jan. 9 week of shows:
Spoiler
Nice comeback by Ray on Monday being down to 1000 at one point. Denise was mentioned as a candidate for SCC
18:45 Sarah talks to Eric Larson who guest read a category. Eric and his wife have been J! fans all 37 years of their marriage. Eric likes categories of HISTORICAL FIGURES and PLACES. Sarah visited Eric and his wife in their Manhattan apartment to film the category and they were very welcoming including serving coffee.

20:15 back to regular play talk:
Spoiler
Claire was mentioned as possible SCC candidate. Lloyd shared on a twitter a picture when he met Ken at an audition. Sarah noted Ray "only" had four runaways to make for more exciting games during his run.

"Ray the Sway", like any contestant, could have sat if he wanted while playing. The hosts made it very clear that anyone can have a chair at any point.

Michael strongly indicated a preference not to tell players how to play as they are competing for real money.

Lloyd said he guessed at Wednesday FJ! clue he got correct.

Yes, the BRING IT! category on Thursday was a nod to Sam Buttrey.

Lois likes that the box score indicated she attempted to get in 38 times even if it didn't work out on her way to not playing FJ!.

Michael and Sarah talked about success rate of the FJ! clues by the contestants. Michael prefers 1/3 the most while also happy with 2/3 getting it right. 3/3 and 0/3 are not the best scenarios although Sarah loves getting an 0/3 right.
28:20 quick talk about Celeb J!:
Spoiler
Michael Cera was one of the first to reach out when it was announced. For a time there was a chance Michael was going to play against two of his friends who he always watches J! with.
29:50 Questions anyobligations9761 from Reddit asks how contestants are paired for each game. A group of 12-15 are called in for a 2-day tape block based on geography, personality, test scores, gender, and first names. From there it's a random draw for each challengers each game done by Standards & Practices.

In 2023 J! is going to make more of an effort to have players representing the whole country and the markets that carry J!

Le Dame (La Dane?) asks about keeping results secrets. Yes, contestants sign not about not telling ahead of time. Audience members don't sign anything but are instructed not to give away things in understandings viewers want to watch without being spoiled. Staffers usually don't have to sign anything, but may have to for gold level events.

Audiences are told to go home, tell no one and then get everything right when show airs.

Next Week: Games the week of Jan. 9, Celeb. J! with:
Spoiler
Patton Oswalt, Candace Parker & Torrey DeVitto.
Michael slightly teased that he may have more news next week.
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AndyTheQuizzer
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

Post by AndyTheQuizzer »

MarkBarrett wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 5:17 pm Celeb J! has done well and will be prime time fixture.

In prime time Michael says there will be J! Masters and he wants it to be annual event and the pinnacle of the J! season. To figure out the Masters it's about recency, clues correct, buzzer attempts, games won, etc. and Mattea was specifically named as someone good with those things.

Michael and staff are looking at and tracking lots of data. Michael sees Masters as a pyramid with every player since (an undetermined season or years) getting a chance to move up with a chance for every elite player to have a chance to play again. [Something like that]
I'll start to get excited once a network announces that they're airing it.
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LucarioSnooperVixey
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

Buzzy in Brazil? At this time? Wonder how it’s going for him?😉
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

Post by goongas »

Sounds like they aren't going to do a 40th anniversary tournament like I thought they would, instead we will have a longer postseason, and possibly J! Masters and a possible ranking system to go along with it.
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threearruda
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

Post by threearruda »

MarkBarrett wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 5:17 pm
Michael and staff are looking at and tracking lots of data. Michael sees Masters as a pyramid with every player since (an undetermined season or years) getting a chance to move up with a chance for every elite player to have a chance to play again. [Something like that]
So a Tournament of Champions, minus the Tournament. :lol:

In all seriousness, I loved the whole Postseason idea as it played out and I'll be curious to see how TPTB fill those first 4-5 weeks each season. Maybe back up the ToC to start late October, and run all potential tournaments at the start the season; Teacher/Teen/whatever in the first 2-3 weeks, lead that into Second Chance, lead that into a 3-4 week ToC and then fill the next field with regular play straight through mid-November to July each season before the next season's tournament slate. Could work.
J! S39 - 1/27-2/1. '24 ToC ???

5x TD champ - 7x TD host
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leszekp
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Re: Inside Jeopardy podcast

Post by leszekp »

Recency as a criterion for the Masters? *sigh* Unless they count the BotD, that's going to rule out a large number of good players from the past. I'd like to think we're still as fully competitive as any of the recent champs. Maybe if they tested potential candidates from the past to see if they've still got it ...
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