J! TOC final, day 1

[Jeemie]

Larissa explains her thoughts on the J! board.

http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/s ... hp?t=40679

Yeah, it wasn't really a shining moment. The main problem, I think, was how I approached the question. Instead of trying to figure out what country a foreign-born king might have come from, which could have led to the Hanoverian monarchs, or thinking more generally about kings who reigned during the eighteenth century, which might at least have triggered thoughts of George III, I fixated on the 1683 date and spent too much time trying to remember and sort out the names of rulers from that general time period. It was the difference between viewing the question as an exercise in trivia recall, and seeing it as a test of logical reasoning.

As time was running out, I still didn't have anything written down and started trying to get at the answer another way. Weren’t a bunch of colonial wars named after rulers? There was Queen Anne's War, and, and…King Philip's War? It didn't feel right, but the music was hitting its last notes and the screen was still blank, so I put down the name. A few seconds later, as Alex commented on the question, I had two depressing realizations: (1) My answer was wrong and (2) my answer was really wrong, since King Philip was the name by which seventeenth-century American colonists referred to the Wampanoag leader Metacomet. (Yes, I’ve read Mary Rowlandson’s narrative of captivity during King Philip’s War. I’ve taken classes with archaeologists studying sites from the conflict. My dad taught American history, and my husband studies Britain in the 1600s. I’ve seen The Madness of King George. None of that helped.) It might have been nerves, tiredness, thick-skulledness or just good old-fashioned choking, but for whatever reason I simply didn't have what it took to come up with the right answer at that time. Dan did, and he richly deserved to win the tournament.

[NellyLunatic1980]

I was very happy that Larissa didn't win. She never connected with me at all. It could have been her unmoving lips that got me - not sure. She was just too competetive. I agree with Ed that she must have had a total brain fart. My first thought was Charles and then I thought of the Georges who didn't speak any English when they took over the throne. There never was a King Philip of England - that was just weird.

My first thought was "George", but in the 30 seconds before the end of the think music my mind wandered to "Charles", thinking that he might have been born while his dad was in exile. And the time was close (the Protectorate was 1653-1659). So under the pressure of FJ! I might well have changed my answer from the right one to the wrong one.

I answered Charles as well. Just as time expired, I said to myself, "Oh crap, it could be George".

[Weyoun]

What a terrible way to lose.

[Weyoun]

The more I think about it, the more I am stunned. It is a wheelhouse category for most champs. She is a history grad student. And honestly it is not that hard - they wanted a man who was a second. Ruled 18th century.

Just goes to show, when the camera is rolling...

[Jeemie]

The more I think about it, the more I am stunned. It is a wheelhouse category for most champs. She is a history grad student. And honestly it is not that hard - they wanted a man who was a second. Ruled 18th century.

Just goes to show, when the camera is rolling...

After seeing Larissa's explanation, I tend to agree with what someone else on the J! board posted.

Sometimes, one can be TOO smart. Too MUCH data can paralyze the thinking.

As soon as the clue came up, I said "George" without hesitation. Probably because, while I know a lot of history, I don't so much of the minutiae that I could possibly overthink the clue.

[mom2five]

I was so sorry to see her get that final wrong! I felt bad for her, but then I saw that she still won $100K for coming in 2nd, add that to the $200K+ that she won the first go-round, I think she'll be ok. Who knows maybe in a few years she'll show up on BAM or 5th Grader!

(British royalty is a total ????? for me so, I had no idea what the answer was!!!!)

[Weyoun]

The more I think about it, the more I am stunned. It is a wheelhouse category for most champs. She is a history grad student. And honestly it is not that hard - they wanted a man who was a second. Ruled 18th century.

Just goes to show, when the camera is rolling...

After seeing Larissa's explanation, I tend to agree with what someone else on the J! board posted.

Sometimes, one can be TOO smart. Too MUCH data can paralyze the thinking.

As soon as the clue came up, I said "George" without hesitation. Probably because, while I know a lot of history, I don't so much of the minutiae that I could possibly overthink the clue.

My girlfriend insisted that I go onto the Jeopardy website to find out if she had thrown the game, that's how surprised she was after I had built up Larissa a bit. I tried to explain to her that these situations are a little weird. Still, it looked from my sofa like missing a three foot putt on the 18th hole. Even the Philip stuff didn't make sense - I know who Metacomet is, but that's why I know he's not right. I know who Philip II is, so I know he is too early. I know George I didn't speak so much a word of English, so his Hanoverian son being born in Hanover made sense, especially given that Walpole seized upon George II's foreignness early in his reign. Plus, George II is the answer to a popular question - who is the last king to lead England into a battle? George II, at Dettingen.

But you mayhave a point. Quiz Bowlers aren't expected to answer questions where George II is the answer. They're expected to know about Mary Rowlandson, etc.

[VAdame]

I was very happy that Larissa didn't win. She never connected with me at all. It could have been her unmoving lips that got me - not sure. She was just too competetive. I agree with Ed that she must have had a total brain fart. My first thought was Charles and then I thought of the Georges who didn't speak any English when they took over the throne. There never was a King Philip of England - that was just weird.

My first thought was "George", but in the 30 seconds before the end of the think music my mind wandered to "Charles", thinking that he might have been born while his dad was in exile. And the time was close (the Protectorate was 1653-1659). So under the pressure of FJ! I might well have changed my answer from the right one to the wrong one.

I answered Charles as well. Just as time expired, I said to myself, "Oh crap, it could be George".

Me three (torn between Charles and George, that is!) I was pretty sure Charles was earlier but not 100%.

But England never had a King Philip -- not even the one who Came Over For Good Sex! Philip of Spain was Mary Tudor's consort, but he was never King of England. Reserving judgment about the Good Sex part but probably NOT!

[Jeemie]

But you mayhave a point. Quiz Bowlers aren't expected to answer questions where George II is the answer. They're expected to know about Mary Rowlandson, etc.

Well- to be honest, I thought the championship boards for this ToC were somewhat easy. On day one, there were only two categories that I had any trouble with, and last night, I only missed 5 clues total (and I knew one of those 5, but brain-cramped trying to shout out the answer before one of the contestants did). I got both FJ's without hesitation.

And I'm not a J! player. I did pass one online test and one audition (but was never called to play), but I do not have the fast recall necessary to play well (plus I have too many gaps in the literature categories that one needs to know to do well).

So if I can do that well, I'm guessing it was essentially a buzzer contest for those guys (until the end).

[Weyoun]

But you mayhave a point. Quiz Bowlers aren't expected to answer questions where George II is the answer. They're expected to know about Mary Rowlandson, etc.

Well- to be honest, I thought the championship boards for this ToC were somewhat easy. On day one, there were only two categories that I had any trouble with, and last night, I only missed 5 clues total (and I knew one of those 5, but brain-cramped trying to shout out the answer before one of the contestants did). I got both FJ's without hesitation.

And I'm not a J! player. I did pass one online test and one audition (but was never called to play), but I do not have the fast recall necessary to play well (plus I have too many gaps in the literature categories that one needs to know to do well).

So if I can do that well, I'm guessing it was essentially a buzzer contest for those guys (until the end).

Yes, I found it to be an extremely easy game. Underwhelming, too. You come all this way, to answer questions about flooring and adjectives evocative of Las Vegas?

[ToLiveIsToFly]

Spoiler

Worse, I knew she didn't know it. You could tell by her expression.

Maybe it looked "more exciting" in the audience, but on TV, I knew she was screwed, so there was no excitement, for me, in FJ.

I was fascinated by the series of looks on Dan's face.

Going into the finals, even going into the second day of the finals, I thought Larissa was just a better player and that Dan, while he had a shot, would have to get lucky. But the first half of DJ yesterday he put on a show. I thought he was the best player yesterday and he deserved the win. But then Larissa got lucky and hit both DDs, and led going into FJ. I was thinking it was too bad for Dan that he played better but would need a lot of luck to win. I thought I saw a look of frustration on Dan's face that reflected that, but maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Then of course the question came up, and Dan wrote down his answer in about 3 seconds. Usually when I see a contestant do that, they have a really happy/relieved look on their face when they finish. Dan looked pretty sour - he knew he needed Larissa to miss FJ, and it's obvious that he thought the question was so easy there was no way she'd miss it.

I was wondering about what was accepted as the FJ answer. Normally, one would have to be specific about individuals, so any question about monarchs would require an answer of "George II." But because the clue asked for the "the second of this name," simply answering "George" was sufficient? Would that have made "George II" incorrect, since he wasn't the second George II?

Yes, George II was the second George.

Unless this website is incorrect.

http://www.britannia.com/history/h6f.html

What am I missing?

Wait- never mind- I understand what you were saying now. Hmm...I can't believe they would get that technical.

During the pre-taping "here are the rules" part they usually talk about specificity - they go through how in general a last name is usually good enough, but if there's more than one famous person with that last name they'll prompt you, except in Final, where because there's no prompting you need to be as specific as they need you to be right away. I remembering them saying that for Presidents, the last name is usually ok except for Johnsons, Adams', Harrisons, Roosevelts and Bushes, but that if it's a King, usually you need the number or the appelation or whatever. (I remember Tom Walsh getting questions wrong at both ends - he was negged during a game for "Who is Ghali", because apparently one of the Boutros' was part of his last name. And he lost his UTOC game because he tried to figure out the number of Edward the Confessor instead of just saying that.)

But the wording of this pretty much says not only that you don't need the number, but that you can't use it. No one was the second King George II. (Though maybe Hanover would have been acceptable.)

My first thought was "George", but in the 30 seconds before the end of the think music my mind wandered to "Charles", thinking that he might have been born while his dad was in exile. And the time was close (the Protectorate was 1653-1659). So under the pressure of FJ! I might well have changed my answer from the right one to the wrong one.

I had the same thought process in reverse. "Late 1600's, must be Charles II. Oh. Wait. BORN in late 1600's. Must be someone who was crowned in the 1700's. William came after Charles II, but not much, and he wasn't a II anyway, and he wasn't that young when he was crowned. Then nothing but Georges as far as the eye can see. Gotta be a George. Oh. Yeah. That makes sense" Looking at Jeemie's sight, I see there was Anne in there too but I didn't even think of her.