Will that guy on Jeopardy ever lose?

i think there was a point where having clocked more hours playing real jeopardy than any of the newcomers gives jennings an advantage, i.e. the streak was more likely to continue the longer it got. did arthur ever get to the point where he could be relaxed and just coast through?

Right I'm sure that helps a bit (also after a while I imagine that the longer the streak the greater the intimidation factor) but at the same time exhaustion and bad luck (which is basically what happened to Arthur) is bound to set in for anyone (Jennings even talks about that in his book IIRC).

Was Jennings as public and vocal during his winning streak? Could Arthur have jinxed himself by talking so much, taking to Twitter, whatever, rather than staying in the mental competition zone? Not that there is a way around that for most. He's called Jennings a mutant and a robot, which maybe is what it takes.

Chu's shows were filmed over 3 days last November. All the tweeting and media attention didn't happen until months after his run was over.

Wow, I guess that's right. For some reason it never clicked with me that these shows were filmed that long ago. So he's known four or five months how long his streak lasts? Well, then, kudos to the guy for talking so much without giving the game away!

they sign ndas not to discuss the outcomes until after everything airs

The ones before that one tournament in February were filmed in November; I think the rest were filmed somewhat recently, at least in 2014?

According to Chu, all his shows were taped over three days in November. They tape five shows a day, and only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Chu taped four shows on a Wednesday, taped five the next Tuesday, and then his final two the next day. There was no break for the tournaments, and it annoyed him that Trebek said "he's had two weeks to study" -- he thought, "fuck you, I was here yesterday."

Ah ok, gotcha

i'd like to think trebek just exists in a jeopardy time vortex

I just assume he does, yeah.

The funny thing is, because of how far in advance they tape, we won't see if Arthur's strategy has caught on among contestants for at least another couple of months.

just watched arthur's loss, which i had dvr'd while i was in austin. he did look tired; he was even rattled by the innocuous question alex asked him during the player introductions. but i thought it was weird that he bet wrong in final jeopardy, considering how much of a jeopardy strategist he was. he wasn't going to win anyway since diana, who was in the lead, had the correct answer. but he bet everything, which is the wrong bet in 99.9 percent of final jeopardy circumstances, and wasn't even close to what he should have bet. he should have bid $2200 or $2201, which would have been enough to nose out diana if he got it right and she got it wrong, which is the only way a player in third place has even a chance of winning. but i guess he had had little or no experience at betting from behind in final jeop.

Arthur's Loss

One of the things that Arthur's streak illustrated is how insanely difficult what Jennings did was.

This was my thought too. He's like the Wilt Chamberlain of Jeopardy.

but i thought it was weird that he bet wrong in final jeopardy, considering how much of a jeopardy strategist he was.

True, but his strategy was also "if I know something, I'm going all-in." His answer didn't seem like a random guess; I think he was maybe 60% sure of his answer.

OMG COLBY IS BACK

smulders?

Are they doing the 2000's tourney already? Cause no Stephanie Jass, no cred.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BkGaPAwCEAAkuNA.png

i can't parse that

horribly formed?

look for the "we build this city" tweet for a treat

No talk about Julia Collins, huh? Yet Arthur Chu is your bff? Yall are a buncha Elliott Rodgerses.

i caught her the other night, trebek called her 'julia the giant of jeopardy' which came off kinda like a fat joke tbh

tnr did a profile on him that's amusing - http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117694/alex-trebek-last-king-american-middlebrow

Seems like the kind of thing Alex Trebek would say, being a huge asshole and all.

But anyway, about Julia Collins...

one thing from that piece - According to head writer Billy Wisse, “Jeopardy!” is merely adjusting along with the evolving canon. His team needs to write the games so that contestants will still have a shot at knowing the answers; just as important, they have to ensure that the people playing along at home still get to feel good about their intellects.

when i was looking at jeopardy's facebook wall when chumania was going down what struck me is how many ppl, esp how many of the angry ppl who felt chu was 'ruining' it for them, generally watched jeopardy so they could tell themselves they were smart even though it was very apparent from their posts they were not smart, not at all. chu gave them some tangible things to direct that hatred towards - 'smug', 'rude', 'asian' - but if you went back you'd find pretty much anyone who won say more than three days in a row drew crazy hate. thinking of scorsese's character in quiz show, how says ppl weren't interested in the displays of intellect or whatever they just liked watching the money, and there's something to that (cf. 30 rock's gold case) but jeopardy does something different than most other shows where the prize is central (even w/ the price is right where some sort of supermarket savviness is key the focus is on the showcase), or even another trivia show like who wants to be a millionaire where the questions initially are ridiculously easy (as trebek bitched about once) and the 'game' comes in w/ when and how to risk the money, w/ jeopardy the prize is secondary (it can come into play w/ strategy but even this is seen as poor form or playing the game wrong somehow as chu demonstrated) and not particularly impressive really and yet it has generally been the most popular game show of the past thirty or so years by effectively pandering to the viewers' egos.

Haven't been watching regularly but have LOVED Julia on all the shows I've seen her on. Total pro.

So is somebody on a new run? I snooze alarmed this after the tourney

Thanks for the heads up on julia btw, i watched her utterly demolish her opponents before the first commercial break and it was a thing of beauty. She bets conservatively but wisely on daily doubles and sorta steamrolls ahead at a healthy pace. I really only like watching jeopardy when a contestant is on a jag and i'm hoping julia can keep it going!

No talk about Julia Collins, huh? Yet Arthur Chu is your bff? Yall are a buncha Elliott Rodgerses.

― del griffith, Sunday, May 25, 2014 7:30 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

such a time capsule of a post

yeah, the shelf life on any post that tries to bound that dude's hate is probably short

bonus arthur chu essay:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/27/your-princess-is-in-another-castle-misogyny-entitlement-and-nerds.html

man this guy is great

That's a really nice essay - glad it seems to be making the rounds. As we've touched on periodically in Why is casual racism/sexism more accepted in video games than other forms of media (these days)? , and as the comments sections of most articles about anything make clear, nerd culture reeeeeeally has a hard time having even a remotely nuanced conversation about sexism or privilege at any level. Also nice to see a nerd using their fifteen minutes to challenge these things (as he did to probe the reasons for the anti-Chu sentiments) rather than just to do Nerd Pride Week or whatever. I like this guy.

Just started watching his run back-to-back on the ShowForYou youtube this morning (after burning through the Julia run to date), so good.

goddamn, julia's last two wins have been so smooth and yet so suspenseful! She's put everybody away before final jeopardy but she's done it with no panic, no worry, no hurry. She gets five or six in a row, finds her groove, nails a daily double, bets intelligently and then doesn't miss. It's not as exciting, abrasive or explosive as Chu's run was but it's just flat out masterful gamesmanship. Really loving this lady right now!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/wilmette_kenilworth/chi-north-shore-jeopardy-champion-breaks-second-place-record-20140530,0,6860998.story

http://holykaw.alltop.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Screenshot-2014-02-23-16.32.51-744x420.png

are they running some kind of side tournament right now? or will Julia be on on Monday

the latter

she's kinda my favorite person on television right now

ohohoh, beyonceclaus

She seems immune to tiredness or nerves. Rooting for a long million-dollar run.

she has ice water in her veins....love her.

http://www.vulture.com/2014/05/women-are-dominating-jeopardy-this-year.html

After win No. 16, Jennings tweeted his compliments and she replied that she was now in even more awe of his epic streak.
“If you’re a white male they give you the answers,” Jennings quipped.
“When you’re a woman they tell the other contestants not to try,” she volleyed back.

My favorite part of that exchange: https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/471100517221797888

The guy today deserved to win if only because he had to endure Alex's Irish accent in the lead-in to Double Jeopardy.

she looked so sad at the end there.
bravo to her tho'

Crap, I slept through this