Jeopardy fans! [Archive]

tk13

05-16-2005, 09:43 PM

As most Jeopardy fans know, the "Ultimate Tournament of Champions" has been going on... where they've brought back around 150 of the greatest players ever to compete. After weeks of play, we are finally down to the Final match! It is a 3 game match, this Monday through Wednesday, with $2 million going to the winner.

If you're a trivia fan or even a casual fan of Jeopardy, I'd suggest you tune in for the next three days because the game of Jeopardy will probably not get much better than this. I figured there'd be a surprise player or two sneak in considering just how many players were in this tournament, but two of the most respected legends of Jeopardy made it to the Finals. This will be a very, very tough test for Ken. All three of these guys are amazing. Should make for great TV though, which is what Jeopardy wanted in the first place.

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Ken Jennings - 74 game winner in 2004, won $2,520,700, both game show records. Holds Jeopardy record for one-game winnings, $75,000. Won $40,000 or more in a game 22 times. Broke the $50,000 barrier 11 times. Holds 22 of the 27 highest single-day scores in Jeopardy history. Has never trailed entering Final Jeopardy, has trailed going into the Double Jeopardy round 4 times. 65 of his 75 games were "locks", meaning he had more than double 2nd place's score going into Final J!

Brad Rutter - 5 game winner in 2000, won his Tournament of Champions (ToC), won the "Million Dollar Masters" tournament of Jeopardy champions in 2002. Career winnings: $1,155,102, which is 2nd only to Ken Jennings. Out of the nearly 150 players that started this tournament, now the only one that has never lost a Jeopardy match. Would've probably won a poll among knowledgable fans of "Most likely to beat Ken" before UToC started.

Jerome Vered - Won 5 games and over $96,000 in 1992 (2nd highest total ever before they doubled the clue values), finished 3rd in his ToC. Most famous for holding one-day record of $34,000 that lasted for almost a decade until dollar-values were doubled. Only missed 1 clue total in the first 3 rounds, and is a perfect 5/5 in Final Jeopardy so far in the UToC.

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This is going to be good.... and with this thread hopefully I can keep spoilers on the front page to a minimum since it airs later here. :)

chiefs4me

05-16-2005, 09:55 PM

damn, I need to find out exactly what time and channel this is on. I mean the show is always on 3 or 4 times a day down here and its on different stations. So I never know if it is a repeat...:(

tk13

05-16-2005, 10:14 PM

damn, I need to find out exactly what time and channel this is on. I mean the show is always on 3 or 4 times a day down here and its on different stations. So I never know if it is a repeat...:(
http://www.jeopardy.com/showguide_whentowatch.php

Thig Lyfe

05-16-2005, 10:19 PM

Ken is going to pwn.

Fairplay

05-16-2005, 10:25 PM

When the tourneyment of champions questions are being read off I feel like an idiot. When the its teen week there i feel much smarter knowing the answers.

tk13

05-16-2005, 10:44 PM

Ken is going to pwn.
We'll see. If he owns this group of people it will be quite a feat. I do wonder if the other players having more practice with the buzzer will help them hang with Ken. I really wonder what kind of questions/answers we'll see, they could be brutal.

Ultra Peanut

05-16-2005, 11:10 PM

I do wonder if the other players having more practice with the buzzer will help them hang with Ken.Exactly. He was always a little rusty coming back from long breaks, and that was against untested n00bs.

tk13

05-16-2005, 11:16 PM

Exactly. He was always a little rusty coming back from long breaks, and that was against untested n00bs.
I'm sure they're going to give them lots of practice time to get used to it. Ken said over on the Jeopardy board that the buzzer practice-time before games got a lot more in-depth the farther along his run went. He hasn't had many posts over there since this tournament began, but one of them was in a topic about the buzzer timing in this tournament, and he made a comment about differences in the timing between rounds in some of the early round games, so he's obviously been watching it very closely, I'd almost bet he was finding some way to practice at home... having three full days will help even things out, but with the quality of some of these semi-finalists I wouldn't want to fall behind too much on that first day.

KCWolfman

05-16-2005, 11:39 PM

Why is KC the only television market that insists on showing Jeopardy! at 4:00 in the afternoon?

Ultra Peanut

05-16-2005, 11:39 PM

Why is KC the only television market that insists on showing Jeopardy! at 4:00 in the afternoon?Comes on at 3:30 here.

KCWolfman

05-16-2005, 11:40 PM

Comes on at 3:30 here.
Bastards!!!!

Let's stage a protest!!!

You bring the rainbow sashes, I will mass the troops and pitchforks.

Ultra Peanut

05-16-2005, 11:46 PM

Bastards!!!!

Let's stage a protest!!!

You bring the rainbow sashes, I will mass the troops and pitchforks.Screw that. I like knowing the outcome thirty minutes before you guys.

Or, you know, watching five episodes in a row via the magic of Tivo.

No marching on Sony Pictures Studios for me, thanks.

KCWolfman

05-16-2005, 11:50 PM

Screw that. I like knowing the outcome thirty minutes before you guys.

Or, you know, watching five episodes in a row via the magic of Tivo.

No marching on Sony Pictures Studios for me, thanks.
Ohh, bought by the establishment, are we? I bet you have your own dual shocker going as we speak!!!!

Ultra Peanut

05-16-2005, 11:52 PM

Ohh, bought by the establishment, are we? I bet you have your own dual shocker going as we speak!!!!I refuse to comment on the veracity of this claim... aside from refusing to comment on it.

Hammock Parties

05-17-2005, 12:34 AM

I watch it while I eat dinner when I get home from work.

Are you sure you're not 65?

Ultra Peanut

05-17-2005, 12:37 AM

I gotta say, watching the UToC has been fun. Watching Ken play was fun because he owned everyone... watching the games after he got eliminated reminded me how few questions people usually got right. As this tourney has gone on, games have gotten really good. Every round that goes by fewer questions go unanswered.

I fear Jeopardy may be hurting themselves, though. After the UToC is over, the gameplay is going to drop dramatically. Maybe I'm of a rare breed that enjoys watching stiff competition... wait... that doesn't even make sense. Of course I'm not. Anyone who got interested in the show during the UToC and keeps watching "normal" people after it's over is going to think, "Man, these guys suck."I was actually going to say something similar, earlier. I think we've been spoiled by the UToC to the point where watching the episodes following it is going to be like watching a HS JV game of football after watching the NFL.

Logical

05-17-2005, 12:41 AM

A thread post where tk13 that was serious and interesting.;)

Thanks tk

tk13

05-17-2005, 12:44 AM

I was actually going to say something similar, earlier. I think we've been spoiled by the UToC to the point where watching the episodes following it is going to be like watching a HS JV game of football after watching the NFL.
Yeah, plus the games are just more exciting because everybody is so equal, there have been some thrillers. The first four games last week of the "Elite 18" quarterfinals were awesome... back and forth between all three people right down to the wire, and it came down to who got Final Jeopardy and how smart the wagers were. Thrilling TV.

wildcat09

05-17-2005, 12:46 AM

somehow don't associate the word thriller with jeopardy. maybe its just me

tk13

05-17-2005, 12:49 AM

A thread post where tk13 that was serious and interesting.;)

Thanks tk
:p I actually figured everyone would think this wasn't interesting and it'd fall off the front page. But it's getting down to the wire and it should be more entertaining than a lot of stuff on TV, so what the hey. Plus I don't want any spoilers on the front page at 4 in the afternoon since it seems like I'm always the last person that gets to see it. :D

Ultra Peanut

05-17-2005, 12:54 AM

:p I actually figured everyone would think this wasn't interesting and it'd fall off the front page. But it's getting down to the wire and it should be more entertaining than a lot of stuff on TV, so what the hey. Plus I don't want any spoilers on the front page at 4 in the afternoon since it seems like I'm always the last person that gets to see it. :DThat's what I ****ing dread. I won't watch the finale immediately, and the first thing I'll see is "KEN WINS!" or "KEN IS THWARTED!" or something. Tivo, blessing/curse.

Ultra Peanut

05-17-2005, 12:54 AM

somehow don't associate the word thriller with jeopardy. maybe its just meHow sad. You've lost at life.

Logical

05-17-2005, 12:58 AM

:p I actually figured everyone would think this wasn't interesting and it'd fall off the front page. But it's getting down to the wire and it should be more entertaining than a lot of stuff on TV, so what the hey. Plus I don't want any spoilers on the front page at 4 in the afternoon since it seems like I'm always the last person that gets to see it. :DNot to worry, we see it at 7:30 pm out here in San Diego. When Ken was on everyone on here was posting the results before the show was starting. Yet I still watched.

wildcat09

05-17-2005, 12:58 AM

How sad. You've lost at life.

matters on your definition of life. i rather enjoy my existence.

mlyonsd

05-17-2005, 07:06 AM

It's :BS:Ken is allowed to come back just at the end of the tournament and not come up through the field like the rest of the champions.

He's a puss for not standing up to the show and demanding to be treated like any other contestant. I hope he gets his arse kicked.

Ultra Peanut

05-17-2005, 10:44 AM

Yeah, because an easier path to $2,000,000 more is something you should turn down on the basis of "being treated like any other contestant." **** that Dutch noise, give me the money!

Without Ken, the UToC probably wouldn't have happened, or at least not at this point, since they wouldn't have needed to one-up themselves after the huge spark for the show that was his wonderful reign.

mlyonsd

05-17-2005, 11:09 AM

mlyonsd

05-17-2005, 11:34 AM

Dude, he's the king. None of the other contestants' accomplishments even come close to what he did. The whole point of the tournament is to dethrone him. He has nothing to prove.

Maybe that's because the majority of champions back for this tournament are 5 time winners. The rule used to be if you made it through 5 shows you were done. I'm not sure when that changed but it wasn't too long ago.

Granted Ken is arguably the best contestant Jeapordy has ever seen, but he's not proving anything by not coming up through the brackets. In fact, if I were him I'd insist on it.

But I'm not a puss. Just a dumb hick that would probably wouldn't get to final Jeapordy cause I was in the red.

tk13

05-17-2005, 01:37 PM

There was actually a huge argument over on the official Jeopardy board over that... one of the more well-respected members called Ken out and couldn't believe he agreed to just jump to the end. Ken defended himself, I forget everything he said, just something to the effect that this was not his decision. Most seemed to agree that given the same option there was no way they could've turned that down. I understand the problem some would have with it, but it does ensure a pretty exciting final, so I'm not complaining.

Ultra Peanut

05-17-2005, 02:33 PM

It also ensures that the King (the good one, not the freaky burger one) is still around for the big finish. You can see why they'd want that.

tk13

05-18-2005, 07:05 PM

That was a pretty good semifinal. Jerome Vered dominated the first day yesterday, led by almost $10,000.... but struggled quite a bit today for the first time in this tournament. Frank Spangenberg and Mueller both made a great run at him, and Frank actually came back to have the "lead" over two days heading into Final Jeopardy, but couldn't get FJ right. Vered was the only one who did, and he won and will face Ken next week. Seems like all the Jeopardyites over on the official board and jumping on his bangwagon to win the whole thing. Should be another good semifinal tomorrow.

chief52

05-18-2005, 07:09 PM

tk13

05-18-2005, 07:44 PM

One other note that I've just missed since it's almost over now, but the A&E "Biography" episode that features Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, Spagenberg, and some other great champs is on now... although it's almost over. If you want to check it out it's on A&E again at 1AM eastern time/10PM pacific.

Baby Lee

05-18-2005, 07:57 PM

Fuggin' interregnum. First missed FJ since Friday before last.

tk13

05-18-2005, 08:00 PM

Fuggin' interregnum. First missed FJ since Friday before last.
I had no idea, but that really should've been a lot easier than it seemed, the whole pope thing went right over my head. I was surprised Frank didn't get it. I really wanted to see him win, but oh well....

Baby Lee

05-18-2005, 08:06 PM

Over the years, I haved noted a hint of Catholic bias and Canada bias in the questions. Maybe it's because they're weak areas for me, but I remember 10x as many categories/FJ questions on the Pope, the Papacy, Vatican City, Encyclicals, etc. as would concern any other world religion. Likewise, maybe it's the clear joy on Trebek's face when they come up, but there seems to be an inordinate number of questions over the years on Canadian provinces, prime ministers, etc.

Ultra Peanut

05-19-2005, 04:28 AM

I liked all three of them, and it was a fun showdown, so I wasn't really too upset when Pam and Frank didn't make it through. I just wish they'd start a World Jeopardy! League, or something, featuring the stars of the UToC, so these sorts of games would be the norm all of the time.

On a personal note, I was rockin' the house for a while, especially during the first game. There wasn't an answer that got by me. "Elvis! Filament! Daguerreotype! Darius! Ying Yang Twins!"

Wait, what?

KChiefs1

05-19-2005, 06:59 AM

The questions were too easy yesterday...I thought they'd give them harder questions since this is the "Ultimate" Jeopardy ToC!

Ultra Peanut

05-19-2005, 03:48 PM

Way to obliterate my self-esteem, ass.

tk13

05-19-2005, 07:15 PM

Decent game today. Brad Rutter was killing everybody on the buzzer. You can see why he's so good, he doesn't get beat on the buzzer, even by two other great players. He jumped out quick ahead of everybody, missed $4000+ on a Daily double, fell behind, then came back from $8000 down and did the same thing during Final J! and lost another $4000+. That was more than a $16,000 dollar swing, he would've blown everybody away had he just nailed those two questions. Instead, the other two guys hung tough and got Final J!, and John Cuthbertson leads with $13,500 and both Rutter and Chris Miller have $10,000. Should be an interesting finish tomorrow.

tk13

05-20-2005, 07:06 PM

Wow, Cuthbertson and Miller got "Ruttered" today. That was domination. Semi-finals against two of J! greats, and Rutter annihilated them today. The final score of today's game was something like 26,000-7,000-5,000ish... and Rutter was the only one who got Final Jeopardy, and ran away with it.

Jennings, Rutter, and Vered... definitely three of the greatest players of all time. Considering there were almost 150 players in this I figured some upstart player would get in there, but this really should be a battle starting Monday.

tk13

05-23-2005, 03:46 AM

Bump to note that the Finals start today! I'm pumped, this should be one heckuva final match. Ken will definitely be tested to the max I think. It'll be fun to get to see him play again though. Plus, hopefully this thread will keep me from having to kill that one person who'll post the results all over the front page. :)

Ultra Peanut

05-23-2005, 05:26 AM

My hero returns! GO KEN, GO!

Even if he doesn't win, I'm considering writing a fanfic called "My Favorite Mormon."

Okay, not really.

KChiefs1

05-23-2005, 07:47 AM

Ken Jennings returns to Jeopardy today!

tk13

05-23-2005, 07:16 PM

Wow, this looks like it's going to be everything we expected. Ken showed absolutely no rust at all, and jumped out all over the other two guys early, amassing a 8000-3000-2000ish lead going into the 2nd round. Rutter and Vered fought back very nicely in that round, Rutter got going on a run early and got right back into it. Vered did what he always seems to do, just kinda quietly hang around picking up the high $ clues nobody else knows, and at the end of Double Jeopardy all three players were within $1800 of each other.... Rutter 1st, Ken 2nd, Vered 3rd... and all three got Final J! right, but Ken went with the most conservative bet and finished slightly in 3rd. With two days left there is a long long way to go.

After day 1:

Brad Rutter: $18,400
Jerome Vered: $16,400
Ken Jennings: $16,000

Baby Lee

05-24-2005, 02:59 PM

2 for 2 on final jeopardy.
Yesterday was jaw droppingly easy, nearly not even worthy of a run of the mill episode. Wonder if it was to play with the contestant's heads in future wagering.
Today was easy to make the connection. Took me the full 30 to pull the name from the recesses of my brain.

Spoiler

At first, I said "but Heston's STILL ALIVE." Then a flurry of "I'm ready for my closeup. . . I'm ready for my closeup!!!!"

KChiefs1

05-24-2005, 04:36 PM

This Brad Rutter dude is nails!

tk13

05-24-2005, 07:12 PM

There's a reason Rutter's played all the best in these tournaments and never lost a game. He's freaking tough. He jumped out to a big lead a couple times, Ken did a good job of fighting back to stay within striking distance. Jerome finished the 1st round in the red and did a good job in the 2nd round to get to about $8000 for the day. Ken made a run at the end of Double J!, and down by $2000 with 1 clue for $2000 left, Brad outbuzzed Ken and got it, and Ken slammed the podium. Gotta love the intensity. It was 15000-11000-8200 going into Final J!, but Brad was the only one that got FJ. Jerome bet big but missed, Ken missed but had a conservative $1000 bid. Brad bid $5000 and added to yesterday's totals is now taking a decent lead into the last day.

After 2 days:

Brad - $38,400
Ken - $26,000
Jerome - $19,600

The other two guys will probably have to give Brad a big run tomorrow, and it'll probably all come down to Final Jeopardy... unless they totally dominate Brad, they'll need him to miss Final J! to win. Still anybody's game though really.

Macroach

05-24-2005, 11:55 PM

I can't wait to see the finale tomorrow.

Rutter is incredible. I never thought I would see the day that I truly felt Ken Jennings was an underdog. Jerome seems to be a little outclassed by these two.

I don't think the scores are a fluke. Jennings and Rutter are both great on the buzzer, but Jennings still has to "guess" a little more than Rutter. Has Rutter missed a clue yet?

tk13

05-25-2005, 12:12 AM

Here are the right/wrong totals after 2 days, courtesy of the folks over on the Jeopardy board.

Brad: 35 right, 3 wrong (including 1 right, 1 wrong on Daily Doubles)
Ken: 40 right, 6 wrong (incl. 2 right, 1 wrong on DD's)
Jerome: 24 right, 5 wrong (incl. 1 right, 0 wrong on DD's)

Ultra Peanut

05-25-2005, 01:13 AM

Rutter is ridiculous. I had a feeling he'd win the showdown before I plopped down and watched the first two, but he'll have to have a stroke or something before tomorrow's show for him to not walk away with the $2,000,000.

I'm hoping Ken can pull out one of those classic "sit the **** down and watch me roll over your ass" games he had so many times during his run, but Brad is no mere mortal.

mlyonsd

05-25-2005, 06:32 PM

Ken was a gracious loser. That being said he should have had to come up through the regular tournament.

He looked uninterested the whole time.

Spicy McHaggis

05-25-2005, 06:46 PM

Ken was a gracious loser. That being said he should have had to come up through the regular tournament.

He looked uninterested the whole time.

True but he also did win another $500,000. Not bad for a few days work. Congrats to the Stormin Mormon.

mlyonsd

05-25-2005, 07:04 PM

True but he also did win another $500,000. Not bad for a few days work. Congrats to the Stormin Mormon.

sheepguts...he did show he was very talented. I wish he could have made it more of a game.

KChiefs1

05-25-2005, 08:29 PM

Rutter was freakin' awesome today....no contest!

I was hoping Final Jeopardy would have some suspense, but it was over way before then.

Ultra Peanut

05-26-2005, 01:41 AM

Rutter Rampage, part three. Wow.

Way to go, Brad, way to go, Ken (still my hero), way to go, Jerome.

How the hell am I going to watch regular Jeopardy! now?

tk13

05-26-2005, 02:01 AM

Wow, they got Ruttered today. That was impressive. Brad definitely deserved it. It just kind of goes to show how luck plays into Jeopardy... if you had just logged on to watch the finals, you wouldn't know that in his 3rd round match, Brad got beat up pretty badly on the buzzer by both his competitors (the only time I've ever seen that), was way back in 3rd place, and with some less than stellar wagering by his opponents was able to come back and win by 1 solitary dollar and survive. He's still never lost a match though, and a lot of his matches weren't even close, and he's played in two of these "former champion" tournaments...pretty darn impressive. I could watch 5 day matches involving Brad and Ken every single week. I don't know, maybe it's me, I thought the material was much easier than I expected, I thought I got more high $ value clues than normal. Either way, it was a lot of fun to watch. I hope they have a 25th anniversary tournament in a few years and bring some of this big stars back, it was fun to watch them play.

Ultra Peanut

05-26-2005, 02:04 AM

I could watch 5 day matches involving Brad and Ken every single week.Without a doubt.

Maybe Ken would finally win one someday. :D

tk13

05-26-2005, 02:25 AM

Without a doubt.

Maybe Ken would finally win one someday. :D
Yeah...haha. The shame in this is that everybody's gonna say "Oh no, Ken got beat!" But if you'd known a little bit about Jeopardy history... or really even watched Brad in some of his other games in this tournament, you'd seen that Brad was an amazing player. Every match besides the one he almost lost, he dominated.... and there really weren't many games at all among all these players where one dominated.