Transcript 09/14/09 Alan Carver (carryover)

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Alan Carver
Federal Way, WA
Quality inspector

Meredith introduces today’s ATE, Ali Wentworth, regular on the “Oprah Winfrey Show”, writer and actress.

Topic Tree:

Brainiacs
The Original
Famous Names
Oh, Henry!
Practice Time
Chicago
(Delicious Fruit)
(Denim)
(Don't Quote Me)
(WWII)
(Bad Words)
(Put a Lid on It)
(Let's Play House)
(That's Class)
(Shake Shake Shake)

$25K In 2009, Chicago’s famed Sears Tower officially changed its name to what?
A. Weston Tower
B. Ward Tower
C. Willis Tower
D. Woodley Tower

Alan gives his final answer as the choices appear on the screen and before Meredith can give them.

Spoiler

C. Willis Tower (28)

Meredith says this is the first time she has seen any real emotion out of Alan since he’s been here.
Alan begins to tear up.
Meredith gets up and hugs him.

Alan says that he and his wife Gloria were worried about the $25K question. The $25K question on the syndicated show seemed significantly harder then the previous question. This one was not as hard as he was expecting.

$50K By definition, someone who is “skirling” is playing what musical instrument?
A. Cowbell
B. Bagpipes
C. Xylophone
D. Accordion

Spoiler

B. Bagpipes (43)

$100K Author Henry James famously remarked that “the two most beautiful words in the English language” are what?
A. Summer afternoon
B. Outdoor café
C. Complete silence
D. Babbling brook

ATE (38)

Ali: Believe it or not, I’m literate. I’m going to completely guess and say complete silence, but that’s a guess.
Alan: That was my thinking as well.
Ali: Wow. We should have dated way back when.
Alan: I’m considerably older than you are.
Ali: Oh, you’re sweet.

Alan goes with Ali and makes complete silence his final answer.
Alan leaves with $25K.

Spoiler

A. Summer afternoon (38)

They show the Tournament of Ten graphic with Alan if first place.

1. Alan Carver $25K 0:30
2. Will Capp $25K 2:39
3. Karen Geddeis $16K 1:23
4. Melissa Brown $16K 1:34
5. London Pfahler $8K 1:14
6. Russel Carmon $1K 0:41
7. Kazia MacLcop $1K 0:42
8. Matt Sittel $1K 0:53
9. Brian Peterkin $1K 1:04

commercial break

Answers:
$25K C. Willis Tower
$50K B. Bagpipes
$100K A. Summer afternoon

[MarleysGh0st]

The debate has already begun in other threads, but I have to agree with Chad and Jeemie, who said that Alan should never have trusted Ali's complete guess on that question, so the fault is entirely his.

But who is Ali Wentworth, again, and what would possibly make her an "expert" in TPTB's eyes?

[Jeemie]

Bye bye Alan.

Slow down next time.

BTW, thanks to a discussion about a PT question, I knew Willis Tower. Therefore I would be looking at the $250K with all four LLs.

Otherwise, I would've probably had to use a PAF on it.

Of course, since these shows taped the day after the PT shows taped, had I been in the Hot Seat, I wouldn't have had the benefit of the discussion in the PT thread, so I probably would have had to use a LL.

[Bob78164]

Bye bye Alan.

Slow down next time.

BTW, thanks to a discussion about a PT question, I knew Willis Tower. Therefore I would be looking at the $250K with all four LLs.

Otherwise, I would've probably had to use a PAF on it.

Of course, since these shows taped the day after the PT shows taped, had I been in the Hot Seat, I wouldn't have had the benefit of the discussion in the PT thread, so I probably would have had to use a LL.

This show taped a few weeks later. --Bob

[chad1m]

But who is Ali Wentworth, again, and what would possibly make her an "expert" in TPTB's eyes?

Well, she has a lineage of reporters. She's the daughter of Mabel Cabo, First Lady Nancy Reagan's social secretary and Eric Wentworth, a reporter for The Washington Post. She's also married to George Stephanopolsaksjsd.

She had a talk show, Living It Up! With Ali & Jack, she authored a cookbook and she's an actress.

That's all I've got.

[Jeemie]

The debate has already begun in other threads, but I have to agree with Chad and Jeemie, who said that Alan should never have trusted Ali's complete guess on that question, so the fault is entirely his.

But who is Ali Wentworth, again, and what would possibly make her an "expert" in TPTB's eyes?

Alan was a tragic hero.

Without his tragic flaw, he wouldn't have been a hero.

[NellyLunatic1980]

$25K In 2009, Chicago’s famed Sears Tower officially changed its name to what?
A. Weston Tower
B. Ward Tower
C. Willis Tower
D. Woodley Tower

Yeah, how many different threads have we had on the Bored concerning this traveshamockery of a name change?

$50K: I had no clue on this one when it was presented on Friday's show. Best choice of a lifeline here would probably be PAF.

$100K: I could narrow this down to A and D. I liked D better. Double Dip on D and A.

It's a shame to see Alan crash on the $100K question. He was a great contestant. But with the time that he posted, there's a great chance that he'll be back in November for another crack at the $1M.

But who is Ali Wentworth, again, and what would possibly make her an "expert" in TPTB's eyes?

She's Shmoopie. George Stephanopoulos' wife.

[MarleysGh0st]

But who is Ali Wentworth, again, and what would possibly make her an "expert" in TPTB's eyes?

Well, she has a lineage of reporters. She's the daughter of Mabel Cabo, First Lady Nancy Reagan's social secretary and Eric Wentworth, a reporter for The Washington Post. She's also married to George Stephanopolsaksjsd.

She had a talk show, Living It Up! With Ali & Jack, she authored a cookbook and she's an actress.

That's all I've got.

Oh, yeah. She's "Schmoopie".

[Jeemie]

Bye bye Alan.

Slow down next time.

BTW, thanks to a discussion about a PT question, I knew Willis Tower. Therefore I would be looking at the $250K with all four LLs.

Otherwise, I would've probably had to use a PAF on it.

Of course, since these shows taped the day after the PT shows taped, had I been in the Hot Seat, I wouldn't have had the benefit of the discussion in the PT thread, so I probably would have had to use a LL.

This show taped a few weeks later. --Bob

I thought they did all nine the day after PT taping ended.

[Jeemie]

It's a shame to see Alan crash on the $100K question. He was a great contestant.

Ultimately, I don't see that he was a great contestant at all.

There's more to this game than the time bank.

Great contestants don't lose control of the game.

He did.

[MarleysGh0st]

Bye bye Alan.

Slow down next time.

BTW, thanks to a discussion about a PT question, I knew Willis Tower. Therefore I would be looking at the $250K with all four LLs.

Otherwise, I would've probably had to use a PAF on it.

Of course, since these shows taped the day after the PT shows taped, had I been in the Hot Seat, I wouldn't have had the benefit of the discussion in the PT thread, so I probably would have had to use a LL.

This show taped a few weeks later. --Bob

I thought they did all nine the day after PT taping ended.

They did last week's shows the day after PT, but since Alan didn't finish his run, he had to come back at the beginning of September. This may have been the longest carryover delay ever, aside from special cases like the guy who started with a guest host and then finished with Meredith.

[Jeemie]

They did last week's shows the day after PT, but since Alan didn't finish his run, he had to come back at the beginning of September. This may have been the longest carryover delay ever, aside from special cases like the guy who started with a guest host and then finished with Meredith.

Ah!

Right!

[Weyoun]

The question is an easy google. Wrong lifeline there.

[Fresca]

I'm not sure what Alan's PAF situation was/whether he had a Googler available. He may have remedied this by the time he filmed for SyndiBAM, but in the green room before my show's taping, he told us that he had only 1 PAF on call, a radio personality from Seattle, because there was no one else he knew who he both trusted enough to use as a PAF and who was able to make themselves available for the (admittedly onerous) PAF waiting game.

[Weyoun]

If that's true... Yikes. I don't know how he could be so confident going in without (IMHO) the most valuable lifeline.

[Snaxx]

I'm not sure what Alan's PAF situation was/whether he had a Googler available. He may have remedied this by the time he filmed for SyndiBAM, but in the green room before my show's taping, he told us that he had only 1 PAF on call, a radio personality from Seattle, because there was no one else he knew who he both trusted enough to use as a PAF and who was able to make themselves available for the (admittedly onerous) PAF waiting game.

If the filming for the Lucky Nine was the very next day, he would not have time. OTOH, he may have had carried over for four weeks at 16K from August 6 to September 2, knowing that he was in the HS with a potential high-level PAF. He did trust a clueless expert as well, although it sounded like he had a good hunch of his own and might have used the ATE more to buy some time than anything else. His answer also seemed a logical guess.




.

[Jeemie]

I'm not sure what Alan's PAF situation was/whether he had a Googler available. He may have remedied this by the time he filmed for SyndiBAM, but in the green room before my show's taping, he told us that he had only 1 PAF on call, a radio personality from Seattle, because there was no one else he knew who he both trusted enough to use as a PAF and who was able to make themselves available for the (admittedly onerous) PAF waiting game.

That's too bad.

I hope he rectified that.

Unless he talks, we won't know.

[Jeemie]

His answer also seemed a logical guess.

How do you figure that it's a logical guess?

And if he's going to guess, use the DD then.

[Weyoun]

Yes, credit the writers for a question with a great distractor. But unless you've read that line, and that would imply reading - ick - Henry James, it seems a difficult to deduce the answer as Willis Tower, if you've not heard of it.

[Snaxx]

His answer also seemed a logical guess.

How do you figure that it's a logical guess?

And if he's going to guess, use the DD then.

The two most beautiful words in the English language are complete silence, in other words no words at all. Sounded witty and worthwhile to me.


.

[Jeemie]

His answer also seemed a logical guess.

How do you figure that it's a logical guess?

And if he's going to guess, use the DD then.

The two most beautiful words in the English language are complete silence, in other words no words at all. Sounded witty and worthwhile to me.


.

It's perilous to rely on that kind of logic when talking about people's quotes.

[silvercamaro]

Yes, credit the writers for a question with a great distractor. But unless you've read that line, and that would imply reading - ick - Henry James, it seems a difficult to deduce the answer as Willis Tower, if you've not heard of it.

It is obscure if you haven't come across the quote serendipitously. I don't pretend to be an expert on Henry James, but at an earlier point in life I was trying to learn as much as possible about selected American writers. During that project, I read two biographies of James, some autobiographical works, dozens of stories and plays, and approximately 15 or 16 of his novels. (I had planned to read every novel he wrote, but eventually I realized he had written pretty much the same novels over and over, so I stopped.)

Here's the thing. Henry James never wrote this in any of his own works, so reading his writing wouldn't have helped. The quote attributed to him was recorded by his friend, Edith Wharton, in her own memoirs, A Backward Glance. I cannot fault the expert -- any expert -- for not knowing this. Knowing Henry James is not enough.

[Snaxx]

Under the new rules, are carryover contestants allowed to switch PaF's available for the original taping day but not the carryover day, and vice-versa? The rules talk about providing photos, signed consents, etc in advance so there was time for this guy if allowed. However, it would be tough for someone who carries over consecutive days unless they come with two separate lists. If it is not allowed, he is stuck with whomever he chose on August 6 even if that person can't be by the phone on September 2.





.

[Snaxx]

How do you figure that it's a logical guess?

And if he's going to guess, use the DD then.

The two most beautiful words in the English language are complete silence, in other words no words at all. Sounded witty and worthwhile to me.


.

It's perilous to rely on that kind of logic when talking about people's quotes.

That is why it would have been my guess when out of lifelines going for 50K (or below 25K when I guess anyway) but not at 100K with LL's on the table.



.

[Jeemie]

Here's the thing. Henry James never wrote this in any of his own works, so reading his writing wouldn't have helped. The quote attributed to him was recorded by his friend, Edith Wharton, in her own memoirs, A Backward Glance. I cannot fault the expert -- any expert -- for not knowing this. Knowing Henry James is not enough.

Agreed.

I studied his life in an advanced lit class in college, and the professor related this quote to us.

Only reason I knew it.

Trivia knowledge comes from everywhere.