For the first half of the show, Alex Trebek had a black mustache. Aside from the color mismatch, it looked pretty realistic (from 10 feet away on a small TV, anyway). I wondered if it had anything to do with April Fool’s Day, and when he came back from commercial sans moustache, it was pretty much confirmed. Unless I missed it, however, the moustache was never mentioned.
As an added bonus, two of the contestants on Final Jeopardy were pretty foolish. The question was “Who was the only sitting Vice-President since Martin Van Buren to be elected President of the US?” The first guy guessed Al Gore! (Taking a dive to make a political statement?) The second guy had it in his head that we DID have Richard Nixon to kick around in 1960, and the third guy correctly answered (questioned?) George H.W. Bush.
I thought the mustache prank was pretty lame compared to Sajak’s. Wheel Boy actually had me going there for a couple of seconds, but I had it figured out long before he mentioned the date.
And I can’t restrain myself from mentioning that the famous “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore” quotation was made after he lost the 1962 California gubernatorial election, not after he lost the 1960 presidential election.
I couldn’t believe that only one of three got the final question. When they say he’s “the only sitting VP since Van Buren to be elected president,” it only takes a moment to scan back through the three most recent presidents and name him. I was shouting his name at the screen about two seconds after I finished reading the question.
I shamefully confess that I didn’t even notice the moustache was gone after the commercial break, though. When he walked out wearing it, I wondered if it might be an April Fools’ joke, but then when it was gone I didn’t notice. I was hoping he’d decided to grow it back.
Well, to be fair, the question did say, “elected president” and not “became president” or “served as president”. Therefore, wouldn’t the Gore answer be technically correct?
Yes, it is instructive to remember that you are “elected” President of the United States by the vote of the Electors in the Electoral College, not by the vote of the people on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
I completely missed the missing moustache. That doesn’t surprise me as much as my son having missed it. We did all comment on him having the moustache at the beginning.
When the topic of Final Jeopardy was revealed I moaned a little and thought I had about a 35% chance of getting it…I know some assorted unusual VP facts, but can’t list all the VPs or anything like that.
Then came the question and I did just what jackelope said…ummm, nope, nope, BINGO.
It didn’t seem hard enough for a Final Jeopardy question to me.
Darn…I watch Jeopardy from a distance, usually while I’m in the kitchen getting my dinner together its on on the TV in the family room and I tend to listen more than watch. I didn’t even notice! I did enjoy the Al Gore answer…
Well, I’m glad it was a joke. I only caught the first half of the show and thought “I wonder how he grew that mustache so fast?” Then I started working out how they tape the show in advance, and they do more than one in a day, etc, etc. Had ME going.
I. too, thought that Final Jeopardy was ridiculously easy, then realized that was because there had been so much talk about “No sitting Vice-President has been elected President since Martin Van Buren” – during the 1988 election! God, I feel old sometimes.
On the other hand, the “Al Gore” answer left me gobsmacked – made me think I was watching “Dog Eat Dog”, not “Jeopardy!”.
I wondered about the guy who answered Al Gore. Was that a legitimate error, or did he give that answer knowing it was incorrect, just to make a political point?
The last-name-only rule doesn’t apply to 99.9% of responses. It’s closer to 90-95%. When there are two or more famous people with the same last name in the same or closely related field of endeavor, a first name is generally required (Katherine vs. Audrey Hepburn; Andrew vs. Lyndon Johnson; Francis Ford vs. Sofia vs. Roman Coppola). When there are two people with same the first and last names, a further qualifier is generally required (Alexandre Dumas pere vs. fils, John Adams vs. John Q. Adams, George H.W. Bush vs. George W. Bush).
I’ve seen people be ruled incorrect for writing “Roosevelt” as a FJ response to “The President who…”-type questions.
Glad I peeked in here…I always watch Jeopardy a day late (the previous day’s DVR’s episode is what my daughter and I watch over breakfast), and I couldn’t figure out why the hell Trebek’s mustache disappeared between the two rounds.
