Unless what is being suggested is that he crossed off a correct answer in order to taunt the other players (as in ‘ha, you two have to duke it out for second place, but I don’t even have to write down the correct answer, even though I know it, haha’ or the like).
If that’s it, it’s certainly unpleasant.
I guess you could describe it that way, although it’s uncharitable. I see it as his wanting to stick a message in there but also to let it be known he did know the answer.
Sure, but couldn’t he have demonstrated he knew the answer by letting it remain uncrossed -out? Nothing would have stopped him from, in addition, writing his message—unless you’re saying there’s some automated system that will erase what you write after you’ve written down the answer…?
I’m pretty sure the former-namesake of this thread wrote some messages in addition to his correct (and un-crossed-out) answers. (“Questions,” technically.)
eta: in this image search, some examples can be seen. For example, Holzhauer has written on his FJ screen BOTH “What is Quantum Leap” and “Happy Birthday BOOGER.”
He crossed out the answer because he wanted Alex to read “Who da man?” so he could respond with “You da man, Alex.” That happened, but Alex talked over him so the moment didn’t have the desired impact. He included the crossed-out answer to show that he knew it.
I always use “Liszt”. It’s never that.
Well, theoretically, if Alex never reads the messages when there is also a legitimate response on the screen, then the crossing-out of the correct response would make sense, as a means of guaranteeing Alex would read the message. I’m not sure if that proposition (about Alex never reading messages if there’s also a FJ response) is true, though.
Anyway, guess this is a dead horse. Thanks for all the feedback on the topic (to Gus and others).
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.
Wasn’t this an error on Alex‘s part? The clue was something like “If Lincoln had given his famous speech in 1843, it would have started with this word.” The contestant rang in and said “three”. Alex looked at her expectantly, asking for more—and then when she said “three score”, he said that was correct. But that’s two words! 
It didn’t affect the score, but it was weird.
Also strange: the pen mishap in Final. The contestant seemed overly worried about it on camera, but I guess it’s easy for me to say when I don’t have thousands of dollars on the line.
Slacker, I thought Alex saying that response was incorrect was rather questionable, too. Or perhaps we both misheard something. I did a search and there appears to be some difference of opinion on whether “threescore” is a word, so at the very least, the original clue should have been worded more strictly.
The pen thing was odd, too. (Think I can say that without spoilering it.)
kaylasdad, the Draft replaced Jeopardy in my market, too.
Continuing the spoilered discussion:
The text of the speech on Wikipedia and Abraham Lincoln’s own website show it as two words - “four score”. The Wikipedia article has a picture of a manuscript of the speech which has it as two words. I’d guess that the judges knew that Alex made a mistake but it didn’t affect the outcome so it wasn’t worth mentioning.
LMAO, the response to that video clue, which clearly depicted a performance by Janet Jackson, was “Ariana Grande”? Aside from the video evidence, it’s hard for me to imagine that someone would both be aware of Grande at all, yet think she had not released an album in over a decade?
:smack:
Perhaps someone will link to a YouTube clip of a response more cringe-inducingly embarrassing than that, but it will be pretty tough to beat if you ask me.
ETA: On the “three score” deal (it’s the next day, so I think we can talk about it openly), while it didn’t affect the outcome in a measurable way, I do wonder if something like that could throw someone off enough mentally to be “off their game” from that point forward. Was it the ultimate winner who got unfairly corrected?
Especially so given that if you’re a regular viewer, you know they don’t penalize for misspellings. There was a six-game champ a month or two ago, Mackenzie, who misspelled several Final Jeopardy responses and Alex would explicitly point out that they don’t penalize for misspelling. Seemed odd to me that she’d be so worried that the word “commandments” was unrecognizable without the “a”.
For sure. But like you, I am very familiar with that rule–and maybe she wasn’t?
It was awkward in any case. You could just feel Alex glaring at her like “stop going on and on about it, it’s fine”. Or at least that’s what I imagined, as he was not on screen.
The day before the pen mishap, she babbled on for quite a while when her response was uncovered.
The rule is more complicated than that. They don’t penalize for misspellings, unless the misspelling would result in a different pronunciation. There was a minor scandal several years ago when, in the Kids Week tournament, a 12-year-old boy spelled “Emancipation” as “Emanciptation” and was ruled incorrect. I’ve seen other people penalized for those kinds of misspellings as well.
Since leaving the “A” out of “Commandments” would result in a different pronuncation, I can understand Sarah being worried about it. Based on her other episodes, I get the impression she’s someone who kind of babbles when she’s nervous.
In “recent” (i.e. - they could have been taped months ago, and I don’t know if the same episode is televised everywhere on the same date) episodes, there have been a number of corrections (money added or subtracted - usually announced after a commercial break).
Do contestants have any right to appeal? Is there some sort of button they can press to alert the judge(s) without having to scream at Alex that their answer was correct? Or are these corrections determined solely by the judges?
What is the actual length of a show? Do they pause for exactly the same amount of time as the commercial breaks?
The episodes are taped several months in advance of airing, and every ep is aired on the same day everywhere in the country (but obviously not at the same time).
Virtually all the errors you see corrected during the show are caught by the staff (the people sitting at monitors in front of the studio audience.) The contract that players sign says the decisions of the judges are final. There is no “you made a mistake” button, nor AFAIK, is there a formal process for challenging a decision while the show is being taped. I suppose you could mention it to a contestant coordinator during a break. If a serious mistake that could have affected the outcome of the game is found after taping is over, the affected contestant may be invited back to play another game, but I believe that’s all they will do. And such instances have been very rare.
For the most part, the show is recorded as if it were being aired live, with very little editing. The pauses are roughly the same length as the breaks, but the crew can extend them for technical or other reasons, if necessary. If Alex flubs the reading of a clue, they will sometimes record a retake.
I was a contestant a couple of years ago–I taped my games in February of 2018. At that time there was something of a formal process, and that was exactly it. They told us in the contestant briefing that if you think an answer you gave should have been counted right, wait until the next commercial break and mention it to a contestant coordinator. They will relay your concern to the judges, who may or may not reverse their decision. Some of the corrections you see on the show may be the result of those kind of protests, but I have no idea how many.
Exactly. As much as possible the games are played in real time (and as a player, it was surprising how quickly a game goes by). That’s one of the reasons they want you to wait until a commercial break for any concerns; they don’t want to stop tape if they don’t absolutely have to. As commasense says, the commercial breaks are occasionally a little bit longer, but usually not by much. Remember, they’ve got five games to get through in a day. It’s a pretty well-oiled machine, and part of getting done at a reasonable time is to keep things moving as much as possible.
Thank you for that, but I read someplace that because of Alex Trebek’s illness, they were not doing five episodes each day but only two or three. (Now of course they stopped filming entirely.)
Thanks for this. I really should have known better than to rely on my 29-year-old memories. (I was on in 1991.) For all I can recall now, they probably told us exactly the same thing, and I just forgot.