So two days ago, I was listening to Jeopardy on my headphones (Channel 6, which picks up the syndicated show, accidentally broadcasts its audio portion at 87.9 fm). The category was Veeps, and the answers (or, questions) to both the one hundred and two hundred dollar questions (or, answers) was ‘Bob Dole’.
WTF?!? I had always thought that one of the founding principles of Jeopardy was that there was never the same question twice. I mean, I specifically remember Alex saying shit like, “Oh, sorry Maureen. If you remember, ‘Fatty Arbuckle’ was the question for $400, and we don’t repeat answers.”
I am positive Bob Dole was the answer for two consecutive questions (you know the drill). Can anybody help me out?
I don’t know if they’ve claimed to NEVER repeat answers, but I do recall a recent episode where Alex mentioned that they don’t like to do it. It involved a phrase (maybe something to do with crazy) that was not the expected one, had already been used, but still fit. It was originally dinged incorrect, but later allowed (just as other ‘not expected but allowable’ answers are.)
I love Jeopardy but I really hate how they reverse the terms “Question” and “Answer”. It makes things much too confusing in casual conversation. What you recall as a founding principle of Jeopardy is correct but it is refering to the real Question …err the answer in Jeopardy speak (This first lady …). They never repeat the same question (answer) from one episode to another, They claim that they have been coming up with original questions since the show began. This may be technically true but I bet some of the differences are pretty small. There is no prohibition against a contestant replying with the same question in the same show or category.
You are remembering correctly. The Double Jeopardy! category was “Running Mates”. The $200 answer was something along the lines of “He was Gerald Ford’s running mate in 1976.” The $400 answer was “He picked Jack Kemp as his running mate in 1996.”
Jeopardy has gotten “cuter” with its answers and questions over the past few years. Gotta keep up with the Ben Stein’s of the world I suppose.
The category where all the “questions” were the same except the last was “Corey”, and all the responses were “Corey”. And yet, after seeing the pattern in the lower values, the contestants still got some wrong (besides the last, that is).
fiddlesticks’s memory is correct. The answer (or question according to Jeopardy) for the first two clues in the category were Bob Dole and the clue was what fiddlesticks said.
Actually, is does it on purpose, although the frequency is actually 87.75. TV channels have separate video and audio transmitters, and the sound uses a standard FM setup. Under the NTSC system used in the Americas and Japan, TV channel 6 is located just below the FM band, which begins at 88.1. Many FM receivers will tune that low, and when I lived in Wilmington, NC, the local channel 6 would mention that fact for people listening during power outages.