Transcript 12/10/08 - Todd Meierhans

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Todd Meierhans
New York, NY
Business Analyst

Meredith says that Tom's a funny guy, and he loves to play games: card games, board games, and he's been playing a lot of poker and backgammon lately.

Meredith: "But your favorite game is....."
Tom: "Millionaire"
Meredith: "Yeah, thank you, that's always the right answer!"

In the audience cheering Tom on are his stepmom and dad, and "Uncky Joseph."

His category tree:

Sheepish
On Time
Family Trees
Pen Pals
Take the Oath
Heaven Help Us
Check Your Glands
Speed Reading
Mangia!
Surfing
Rip-Offs
Crayola
Higher Education
Bah, Humbug
For Starters

$100 (For Starters): The exclamation "And they're off!" traditionally marks the start of which of these events?
A. Baseball game B. Horse race
C. Boxing match D. Shoe sale

Spoiler

B. Horse race (8)

Tom answers with a serious look on his face, and didn't crack a smile at the joke "D" answer.
Meredith: "Oh, you're serious when you play!"
Tom: "I just don't want to end up on YouTube!"

$200 (Bah, Humbug): In a popular Christmas song, what fictional character is told, "You're a mean one"?
A. Jack Frost B. Rudolph the Reindeer
C. Frosty the Snowman D. The Grinch

Spoiler

D. The Grinch (8)

$300 (Higher Education): In the U.S., which of the following is considered an example of "higher education"?
A. Medical school B. Elementary school
C. Kindergarten D. Junior high school

Spoiler

A. Medical school (8)

$500 (Crayola): In 2000, the name of the Crayola crayon color "Torch Red" was changed to what?
A. Indigo B. Jade
C. Scarlet D. Beige

Spoiler

C. Scarlet (8)

$1,000 (Rip-Offs): By volume, which of these grocery products is made up largely of water and air?
A. Spam B. Cool Whip
C. Velveeta D. Slim Jim

Spoiler

B. Cool Whip (6)

$2,000 (Surfing): Which of these Internet search engine names is actually two Spanish words meaning "a view from above"?
A. AltaVista B. Yahoo!
C. Google D. Lycos

Spoiler

A. AltaVista (24)

$4,000 (Mangia!): Named for Vittore Carpaccio, a painter known for his use of red and white, the Italian dish carpaccio is traditionally made from thin slices of what?
A. Red pappers B. Beets
C. Strawberries D. Raw beef

Spoiler

D. Raw beef (17)

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Todd is known to his friends as "Team Todd." He says, "It's good to be on Team Todd, because Team Todd wins in games!" "Team Todd!" "Team Todd!" "Team Todd!"

$8,000 (Speed Reading): Woody Allen once joked, "I took a course in speed reading and was able to read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It's about" what?
A. Russia B. India
C. Japan D. Germany

Todd decides to ATA (25):

Spoiler

A. Russia - 73%
B. India - 5%
C. Japan - 8%
D. Germany - 14%

Spoiler

A. Russia (24)

$16,000 (Check Your Glands): Where is your pituitary gland?
A. Inside your ribcage B. Inside your skull
C. Inside your pelvis D. Inside your abdomen

Todd takes his time, and answers with only 3 seconds left.

Spoiler

B. Inside your skull (3)

$25,000 (Heaven Help Us): Which of thse whimsical phrases is not featured in the lyrics of the classic rock anthem "Stairway to Heaven"?
A. My spirit is crying B. The maidens will dance
C. The piper's calling you D. The forests will echo

Todd chooses to ATE (18).

Pat: "The piper's calling you" seems familiar.
Todd: Are you sure?
Pat: No, no, I'm saying it...No, I'm not sure. I'm trying to help you to see if we can narrow it down at all.

That's pretty much all the help he could give. So Todd decides to PAF (16). Standing by are his friends John (Short Hills, NJ), David (New York, NY) and Jon (Ann Arbor, MI). He chooses John with the "H". John asks for the choices again after Todd paraphrases the question, and with 5 seconds says "The piper is calling you is, the maidens will dance I think is not, I'm not sure."

Todd chooses to DD (10):

Spoiler

Todd's first pick is correct.

Spoiler

B. The maidens will dance (10)

THE HORN SOUNDS.

Todd ("Team Todd!") will be back tomorrow to go for $50,000 with no lifelines left.

[NellyLunatic1980]

Todd Meierhans
New York, NY

WE®

Sheepish
On Time
Family Trees
Pen Pals
Take the Oath
Heaven Help Us
Check Your Glands
Speed Reading
Mangia!
Surfing
Rip-Offs
Crayola
Higher Education
Bah, Humbug
For Starters

Pretty good stack again.

$25K: I know that "the forests will echo" is in that song, but I'm just not that familiar with it. I better phone a friend.

[Kazoo65]

$4K-ATA. I've never eaten this, even though I like Italian food. However, something with raw beef in it doesn't sound too appetizing to me.

$25K-Arrgh. I have no idea. I've heard th song zillions of times, but can't figure this one out. PaF.

[slam]

From Todd's description, it sounded like he had potential to do well. And in fact, he started off well. But needing to ATA on the War and Peace question told me that he was not the contestant I thought he might be.

I'd expect the Stairway to Heaven question to be tough for many. But since I'm the right age for it, I merely hesitated briefly between A and B before picking the right one.

[AlphaDummy]

$100 (For Starters): The exclamation "And they're off!" traditionally marks the start of which of these events?
A. Baseball game B. Horse race
C. Boxing match D. Shoe sale

E. Gender Reassignment Surgery.

[MarleysGh0st]

$8,000 (Speed Reading): Woody Allen once joked, "I took a course in speed reading and was able to read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It's about" what?
A. Russia B. India
C. Japan D. Germany

Todd decides to ATA (25):

Spoiler

A. Russia - 73%
B. India - 5%
C. Japan - 8%
D. Germany - 14%

Spoiler

A. Russia (24)

Hmmmm. I presume Team Todd knows that it is about Russia, so the challenge must be to analyze the joke. Either it's a joke about "speed reading" boiling down that lengthy novel to a single, correct word, or it's a joke about being completely wrong. Which works better?

[MarleysGh0st]

$25,000 (Heaven Help Us): Which of thse whimsical phrases is not featured in the lyrics of the classic rock anthem "Stairway to Heaven"?
A. My spirit is crying B. The maidens will dance
C. The piper's calling you D. The forests will echo

Todd chooses to ATE (18).

Pat: "The piper's calling you" seems familiar.
Todd: Are you sure?
Pat: No, no, I'm saying it...No, I'm not sure. I'm trying to help you to see if we can narrow it down at all.

Have you helped enough, yet, Pat?

You see, if you knew something about this show, you'd know that the "is not" questions can be very tricky for PAF and ATE communications. So when you said C seems familiar, you meant that you thought that choice was in the song, but Todd appeared to jump on that response as being the the correct answer for not being in it. Your narrowing it down response didn't clarify that point and might have been as disasterous as Tuesday's "Chile" response.

You don't have a time limit, Pat. Keep talking until you're sure you've explained yourself, in full.

[slam]

$25,000 (Heaven Help Us): Which of thse whimsical phrases is not featured in the lyrics of the classic rock anthem "Stairway to Heaven"?
A. My spirit is crying B. The maidens will dance
C. The piper's calling you D. The forests will echo

Todd chooses to ATE (18).

Pat: "The piper's calling you" seems familiar.
Todd: Are you sure?
Pat: No, no, I'm saying it...No, I'm not sure. I'm trying to help you to see if we can narrow it down at all.

If you're someone with a moderate familiarity with the song, it might help to notice that the correct response has a different meter than the other three. So, if you're trying to replay the song in your head, it somehow doesn't quite fit in. Admittedly, that's not a lot to base your answer on, but it might be the nugget of information which gets you that last step.

Since seeing this question yesterday, I've listened to "Stairway To Heaven" three times.

[KillerTomato]

Marley, it's tough to tell Fromthe transcript but I don't think it was so much a matter of Todd "jumping on" Pats response of one sounding familiar. I got the impression that he understood what Pat was trying to say, and just wanted to get a feel for how well Pat remembered the lyrics. Almost like he had in his head that the answer might have been piper, and he was surprised when Pat said that one sounded familiar.

[earendel]

Todd Meierhans
New York, NY
Business Analyst

A WE®

$8,000 (Speed Reading): Woody Allen once joked, "I took a course in speed reading and was able to read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It's about" what?
A. Russia B. India
C. Japan D. Germany

Todd decides to ATA (25):

Spoiler

A. Russia - 73%
B. India - 5%
C. Japan - 8%
D. Germany - 14%

Spoiler

A. Russia (24)

Hmmm...I guess "Team Todd" isn't very well-read. This should have been a no-brainer.

$25,000 (Heaven Help Us): Which of thse whimsical phrases is not featured in the lyrics of the classic rock anthem "Stairway to Heaven"?
A. My spirit is crying B. The maidens will dance
C. The piper's calling you D. The forests will echo

Todd chooses to ATE (18).

Pat: "The piper's calling you" seems familiar.
Todd: Are you sure?
Pat: No, no, I'm saying it...No, I'm not sure. I'm trying to help you to see if we can narrow it down at all.

That's pretty much all the help he could give. So Todd decides to PAF (16). Standing by are his friends John (Short Hills, NJ), David (New York, NY) and Jon (Ann Arbor, MI). He chooses John with the "H". John asks for the choices again after Todd paraphrases the question, and with 5 seconds says "The piper is calling you is, the maidens will dance I think is not, I'm not sure."

Todd chooses to DD (10):

Spoiler

Todd's first pick is correct.

Spoiler

B. The maidens will dance (10)

And again the expert provides no help whatsoever. I hope TPTB are keeping track and don't ask him back. As for me, I don't know if I could have come up with the answer in 30 seconds, although I would eventually have done so. If the clock was running down and I was coming up empty I'd PAF - a Google search should easily find the answer.