CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
IS IN JEOPARDY
A cranky opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
The following is the opinion of a
cranky old man with little knowledge about anything he opines. Opposing opinions are welcome but will
probably be ignored. As usual, please,
no name calling, and that means you, you big stupid- head!
Last week I
copped out of an opinion post. Politics
had worn me out. Polarization had me
beaten. Hate, fighting, name calling,
all of this has taken the fun out of having opinions. So is the Cranky Old Man done with opinions? Does this opinionated man have nothing left
to complain about?
No way.
Today I have
to speak on a subject that is really the aluminum foil on my amalgam fillings.
I watch a
lot of TV. I like game shows, reality
shows, and quiz shows. One of my
favorite shows is “Jeopardy.” Lately, as sure as the hosts name is
pronounced Alex TREEbek, they are
ruining this game.
This quiz
show has multiple categories for the contestants to risk money answering
questions.
Yes yes, I know,
they don’t answer questions; actually they get the answer and have to supply
the appropriate question.
For
instance:
THE ANSWER – He wrote the seldom read “I Used To Be Stupid.”
The Question that fits the answer is – “Who is the Cranky Old Man?”
If you had answered,
“Who is the author of ‘I Used To Be Stupid.’?”
You would have correctly formatted a question that fits the answer but you
would still receive the WRONG
buzzer, so you see the game is really questions and answers.
OK, aren’t
you sorry you challenged me?
Anyway.
For the past
40 years contestants in this game have answered the questions in each category in
order; lower priced questions (the easiest) to higher priced questions (the
most difficult.) Lately contestants have been choosing category questions out
of order. They do this in an attempt to
find the “Double Jeopardy” question which allows them to risk part of or all of
the money they have earned. The “Double
Jeopardy” question is always behind one of the higher priced choices.
This is
annoying to me for several reasons.
1. Tradition!
40 years of selecting questions in order of difficulty and now they are
changing because of some strategy? Does
anyone care about tradition anymore?
2. I like to try and answer the
questions along with the contestants. I
need to warm up to the more difficult questions. I have to start with “American President’s
Pets for $200 Alex.” I just cannot just
jump straight to the $1000 question.
Come on
Jeopardy, change your rules! Make it
mandatory to choose questions in each category in order of their difficulty.
There it is;
there is my beef, there is my solution, and there is my cranky opinion for this
Saturday.
If you
disagree, then you are probably smart enough to answer the questions hardest to
easiest, you don’t watch the show, or you just have no passion.
If you
agree, voice your opinion. Let Alex TREEbek know you’ve had it with these
Jeopardy contestants that are ruining the game.
Tell him Cranky
sent you.
The preceding opinion was from a
cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.
I haven't seen that show in years, unless you count the Saturday Night Live version with Will Farrell and Burt Reynolds. :)
ReplyDeleteActually, they've been doing this for years. It hasn't troubled me too much because I'm just as likely to get the easy, cheaper questions wrong as I am the expensive ones. I do admit that I'm glad you've finally gotten around to commenting on the compelling issues of our time. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI get lost when they skip all over the board. But since I can't answer the easy questions I guess it really doesn't matter too much. If I were to pick, I would choose tradition.
ReplyDeleteWhen contestants used to do it more as you describe, I used to wonder why they did that instead of opting for the more difficult 'answers'. I didn't realize it was to keep you, and those like you, happy...
ReplyDeletedon't watch game shows. :)
ReplyDeletePerhaps going with the flow will uncrank you and solve everything. Just saying...
ReplyDeleteI don't watch that show and I don't care about how they do or don't answer the questions. Not one bit.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. :)
We watch Wheel of Fortune, followed by Jeopardy most every evening. It gives us pleasure to beat some of those wise guy contestants. My wife hates the people who jump to the expensive questions first. I don't care. Sorry, Joe.
ReplyDeleteJeopardy is the only show we record (so we can fast forward through the LONG commercial segments) & I can answer about 70-80% of the questions, in ANY order!! (Not the ones on music since about 1980, though.)
ReplyDeleteAre you sure it's not tree-BEK?
DeleteI've actually never watched an entire episode of Jeopardy, but I probably wouldn't be very good at it either.
ReplyDeleteI get slaughtered when we play Trivial Pursuit. I can remember almost all the old stuff, but calling it to mind in a timely fashion is a challenge :)
I watch on occasion but find my recall has really slowed with age.If you notice, there are rarely any older contestants on the show for that same reason. I get the question out a split second after the contestant says it but I guess that doesn't count and no one believes me that I knew it at all. .
ReplyDeleteHaven't watched Jeopardy in years, so don't know of any rule changes, but I do remember watching it when I was sick in elementary school years ago and being excited when I knew the answer.
ReplyDeletebetty
I haven't watched Jeopardy in a while...but I remember my entire family always was glued to the TV during that time when Ken Jennings was on.
ReplyDeleteI always preferred the traditional method of "working your way up" on the board, but I have to admit I might go for the expensive questions in a category I'm familiar with if I needed to catch up to my opponent (or put some $$$ distance between us).
Jeopardy is on at 4:30 here, and I get home in time to see the last half of it. I don't care if they skip around. I think that's the only chance the contestants who have fallen behind have to catch up. I hate it when Alex Truh-BECK says after someone answers an obvious question/answer/whatever..."GOOD!" Like he's SO patronizing sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI rarely know the answers to questions, or in this case, the questions that fit the answers, so I don't care how they play the game. Which I never watch.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of interesting though, that after so many years this is happening. What caused the change I wonder?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's reality shows - with each season the contestants are trying more and more to game the system, and maybe game show contestants have learned from this?
I can see how this would be annoying.