# The Jeopardy thread \[was James Holzhauer\]\[contains spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [April 17, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696 "2019-04-17T21:53:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 57
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1121 "2020-05-01T19:57:29Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > It’s Thursday, April 23, 2020. The time is 9:25 (approximately). I turned my TV on and went to the LIST function of my DVR. Oddly, the RECORDING light is on on the DVR. The list tells me that Jeopardy! is recording right now. > > Okay, that’s happened before; some event has preempted Jeopardy! and Channel 7 airs it at a different time, and my DVR still records it. So I tell the DVR to play the episode from the beginning. > > But Hark! (that’s fancy talk for _what the FUCK?_) I’m not watching Jeopardy! This is the NFL Draft! > > I tried calling the TV station, but nobody is answering, not even in the newsroom, where you’d think there would be somebody there 24/7. > > So, does anybody in the Los Angeles market know what the hell is going on? > > TIA. Kaylasdad - the live NFL draft pre-empted the normal 7PM PT airing of Jeopardy, but they pushed the scheduled time back to 9PM (after the planned 830 local news). Even though the draft ran past 9PM, they cut the news entirely and then joined Jeopardy in progress. My memory is unclear but I think they did something similar on Friday. A related local Jeopardy oddity was the next day when they came back from the break after Double Jeopardy for final Jeopardy, they re-ran DJ from the top (it was much easier the second time, LOL) but then just stopped the replay at the end of the time slot, so we had to look up to learn that Sarah Jett Rayburn won - they never showed the actual Final. I have never seen that mistake before and honestly am not sure how it would happen - I wouldn’t expect each segment to be a separate file that gets replayed individually ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1122 "2020-05-01T23:59:50Z")
On today’s show, we had three strong candidates until FJ, where two of the guesses were really weak (one was in French, and one had no article in the name at all!). Nice haul for the winner though. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1123 "2020-05-02T00:43:47Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > On today’s show, we had three strong candidates until FJ, where two of the guesses were really weak (one was in French, and one had no article in the name at all!). Nice haul for the winner though. I really didn’t understand that question. Something about an English-speaking country with a Spanish article in its name? Which El Salvador is not. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1124 "2020-05-02T01:34:12Z")
Not English speaking. English name on the list of UN members. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1125 "2020-05-02T03:39:34Z")
I was baffled too. “El Salvador” might be the name English-speakers use (as does the rest of the world), but it’s not English. It’s Spanish. I can’t recall ever seeing another clue so badly worded. “Côte d’Ivoire” doesn’t have an article either. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1126 "2020-05-02T03:48:25Z")
True. I should have said “neither had an article in the name, and one was in French!” ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1127 "2020-05-02T14:57:26Z")
The person who answered “Belize” may have an argument, because it does have “el” in its name. The question wasn’t worded clearly enough to exclude such answers, IMO. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1128 "2020-05-02T15:10:51Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Not English speaking. English name on the list of UN members. To be precise, the wording (from J! Archive) was, “On the English-language list of member states at [un.org](http://un.org), it’s the only nation with a Spanish-language article in its name.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1129 "2020-05-02T18:03:11Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > To be precise, the wording (from J! Archive) was, “On the English-language list of member states at [un.org](http://un.org), it’s the only nation with a Spanish-language article in its name.” Yep, it was a very clumsy clue. Mrs. Cretin was baffled by it, yet oddly enough I had no trouble figuring it out and immediately knowing the solution. But especially in FJ the clue shouldn’t require deciphering. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1130 "2020-05-02T20:59:15Z")
I didn’t think there was anything confusing about the clue, they wanted the English name of a country with “El” or “La” in it. I just couldn’t come up with the answer in time. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1131 "2020-05-02T22:08:18Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > The person who answered “Belize” may have an argument, because it does have “el” in its name. The question wasn’t worded clearly enough to exclude such answers, IMO. The clue specified “the only nation…” By your interpretation, correct answers would also include Belarus, Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Seychelles, Venezuela and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (all with -el- somewhere in their names); and Finland, Guatemala, Iceland again, Islamic Republic of Iran, Ireland again, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Malawi, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palau, Poland, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UK again, Venezuela again (all with -la- somewhere in their names); and Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Hungary, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, UK again, United Republic of Tanzania, and United States of America (all with -un- somewhere in their names). That’s a lot of only’s. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1132 "2020-05-03T10:17:36Z")
> [@mtnmatt](#): > > Kaylasdad - the live NFL draft pre-empted the normal 7PM PT airing of Jeopardy, but they pushed the scheduled time back to 9PM (after the planned 830 local news). Even though the draft ran past 9PM, they cut the news entirely and then joined Jeopardy in progress. My memory is unclear but I think they did something similar on Friday. I had thought it was done at 7:00 Eastern Time. So I was expecting it to start at 4:00 p.m. in California. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1133 "2020-05-03T12:37:37Z")
Those countries don’t have a Spanish-language article in their name. They have the letters that form a Spanish-language article, but that’s not what those letters are in that context. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1134 "2020-05-04T02:58:29Z")
I am couple weeks behind in my Jeopardy! viewing on the DVR. Watching the finals of the college tournament. The kid from Indiana didn’t do so well in game One of the finals. But he still did better than this [Hoosier](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npgzz42IEiE) on the Wheel of Fortune. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1135 "2020-05-06T15:42:44Z")
Is everyone getting repeats of the GOAT tournament this week? I thought enough episodes were taped before quarantine to last through May. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1136 "2020-05-06T15:48:01Z")
I am. Holy crap, Ken Jennings’ first game was in 2004? I don’t even remember the set looking like that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1137 "2020-05-06T16:19:47Z")
When that Ken Jennings kid was introduced I said to my family, "He’s got loser written all over him. Take my word for it, he’s going _nowhere."_ Then I predicted the President’s reelection. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1138 "2020-05-06T16:47:01Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Is everyone getting repeats of the GOAT tournament this week? > > I thought enough episodes were taped before quarantine to last through May. Guess it was _into_ May. Or else they feel more shorter periods of repeats are a better idea than one long one while they ramp up to start filming again and are holding onto the new episodes. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1139 "2020-05-06T17:35:42Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I am. Holy crap, Ken Jennings’ first game was in 2004? I don’t even remember the set looking like that. I hadn’t watched the show for years before Ken’s streak started getting some notice, and I didn’t remember it, either. But yeah, there is way too much going on on that set. And I found it much harder to tell who had rung in. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1140 "2020-05-06T17:46:05Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Is everyone getting repeats of the GOAT tournament this week? > > I thought enough episodes were taped before quarantine to last through May. Yup. Since it is only a few months old, it gets the same treatment as summer reruns, teachers, college and high school students shows, a hard pass. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=56) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=58)