# Jeopardy! Season 42. It is what it is **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [August 10, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905 "2025-08-10T14:25:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/141 "2026-01-09T01:21:59Z")
Is there any suggestion in Mark Twain’s book that he is biracial? I doubt there would be. I thought the idea was introduced in this new book. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/142 "2026-01-09T01:23:41Z")
[quote=“Dung\_Beetle, post:132, topic:1021905”] IN A 21st CENTURY PULITZER PRIZE WINNER [/quote] The novel _James_ > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > THIS CHARACTER INTRODUCED IN AN 1876 WORK IS BIRACIAL. The character is Huck. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/143 "2026-01-09T01:24:17Z")
Right. Nothing to do with Twain. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/144 "2026-01-09T01:27:02Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Is this really fair? Until recently, nearly everyone treated Huck as purely white. It was only recently that some people have claimed that we were supposed to consider him as biracial. What do you mean fair? He’s biracial in the novel James, which the clue was referencing. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/145 "2026-01-09T07:33:45Z")
I think it would have been a more fair question if it was more clear that the new work reframed the old. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/146 "2026-01-09T08:29:21Z")
Yeah, it seems like the show specializes in convoluted ways to phrase a clue. Most of the time that I’m slow to arrive at an answer that I know, it’s because I’m trying to figure out if they’re asking (for example) the name of the character, the actor that portrayed them, or the work itself. In the phases that have a quick timer, it generally makes sense to add that complexity. On final jeopardy, not so much. That said, I wouldn’t have gotten that one. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/147 "2026-01-09T08:39:10Z")
I was thinking Huck, but I wasn’t sure. Had I been a contestant, and having nothing better, I would have put him down (the 1876 in the clue really helped), but since I wasn’t, I just decided to see what happened. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/148 "2026-01-09T08:51:55Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That the show still only airs on traditional broadcast television is one reason its audience is so old. I think many younger people have cut the cord and no longer watch linear television. I cut the cord, too, but I can still watch broadcast television via a compact UHF antenna. I cut the cord just because I watch so little broadcast TV, but could still do it if I wanted to, but mostly I don’t. As for _Jeopardy_, meh, I haven’t watched it since Alex Trebek hosted. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/149 "2026-01-09T11:00:37Z")
Note that I was incorrect that Jeopardy! is broadcast-only. Both it and Wheel of Fortune can be streamed on Hulu and Peacock, the day after the broadcast and the last five episodes can be streamed. And if you pay for the ad-free stream, you can watch an episode of Jeopardy! in about 22 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/150 "2026-01-09T11:06:07Z")
Every contestant got the correct novel, but the wrong character. The clue says 21st century Pulitzer Prize winner. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/151 "2026-01-09T12:10:16Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Yeah, it seems like the show specializes in convoluted ways to phrase a clue. I agree. _Jeopardy!_ often has complicated ways to phrase the clue. Far too often they state the clue in a way that doesn’t make it clear what they’re asking for. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/152 "2026-01-09T13:43:09Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And if you pay for the ad-free stream, you can watch an episode of Jeopardy! in about 22 minutes. Likewise if you DVR it. You miss all those annoying pro-MAGA and annoying casino ads we get in Phoenix, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/153 "2026-01-09T14:34:39Z")
Does your DVR automatically skip commercials? Because mine does not, though I can hit a button to jump thirty seconds forward through them. The advantage of the ad-free stream is that there are no commercial breaks at all, although I still see the in-show promotions. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/154 "2026-01-09T14:43:07Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > I think it would have been a more fair question if it was more clear that the new work reframed the old They **did** they said. They specially said the question was about a book from the 2000s. I didn’t get it because I had never heard of the new book, but there is nothing at all “unfair” about the question. Every single contestant knew exactly what they were asking. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/155 "2026-01-09T15:01:18Z")
I agree. I’m also not familiar with the book, so I didn’t get it. But I thought it was perfectly clear that they were saying, “There was a character who was introduced in a book in 1876. There was a new book published in the 21st century that treats that character as biracial.” ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/156 "2026-01-09T16:44:05Z")
Ixnay on the eelWhay of ortuneFay… ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/157 "2026-01-09T16:58:52Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Ixnay 😉 345 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/158 "2026-01-09T18:41:05Z")
I had to smile about this today when I saw one of the categories from yesterday’s show was Can I Buy a Vowel. ---
**Author:** ![cieskokid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cieskokid/32/5374_2.png) [@cieskokid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cieskokid)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2026, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/159 "2026-01-10T07:02:49Z")
🤓 yes, indeed! The sly nod to WOF & the cleverness of the category also demonstrates why Jeopardy is in the upper strata of game shows. Word to your buzzer! 📍 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/160 "2026-01-23T18:36:19Z")
I’m bumping this to brag again that I got a Final Jeopardy right, though it was a triple-stumper to the contestants. It happened just after I complained that all the Tournament of Champions questions were too hard. 🤓 How are you guys doing? In the category “Old Books”: This 1653 work includes information on the care & use of proper equipment including lines, floats & rods. Answer: The Compleat Angler [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905.md?page=9)