Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Jeopardy for Dummies
Since my return from Japan to a living situation in which I once again have access to my very own TV and am allowed to watch it on school nights, I have rediscovered my love of Jeopardy. I have much nostalgia for Jeopardy. It reminds me of times when I got to spend the night at my Watson grandparents' house in Raleigh, or visiting them in Florida. They love Jeopardy. My grandma would give me high praise when I knew any of the answers. It is a very cozy show to watch. (I have the same feelings about the NBC morning news show, for the same associations, except with that one, I wish grandma was around to make me toasted rolls and hot chocolate. It's not fair being the only even remotely morning person in this household.)
Anyway, yesterday I made Mark turn off his new XBox game long enough to watch Jeopardy and discovered that this week is Teen Tournament week. Do the clue writers of Jeopardy really have such a low opinion of teenaged smart people? Are teenaged smart people actually that dumb? Personally, I find it kind of depressing when I can answer every question on the board. The clue for last night's Final Jeopardy was "This series of over 200 books began in 1986 with the book Kristy's Great Idea." The answer was "What is The Babysitter's Club?" I guess neither of the guys had sisters, since only the female contestant got it right, but she sure knew it right away, just like I did.
When Mark protested that it was a horribly unfair question, I said I would have been equally able to answer had it been about the Dragonlance series, which is what all the guys the same age who bothered to read were reading back then. Mark said I am not allowed to use myself as an example of the norm. "You read a far wider variety of books, faster, and in greater quantity than anybody I know." I think that may be the biggest compliment he's ever given me.
Now I'm going to go read my book.
PS- I would like to also state my displeasure with the fact that the reason I will be reading my book for the remainder of the evening is that they have once again pre-empted The West Wing for Big 10 basketball. If I *cared* about the basketball game, I'd be at the arena. I don't, so I'm not. And really, lately, I've had quite enough of our actual president. I would very much like to watch a fictitious, intelligent, and witty one on TV for a while.
Since my return from Japan to a living situation in which I once again have access to my very own TV and am allowed to watch it on school nights, I have rediscovered my love of Jeopardy. I have much nostalgia for Jeopardy. It reminds me of times when I got to spend the night at my Watson grandparents' house in Raleigh, or visiting them in Florida. They love Jeopardy. My grandma would give me high praise when I knew any of the answers. It is a very cozy show to watch. (I have the same feelings about the NBC morning news show, for the same associations, except with that one, I wish grandma was around to make me toasted rolls and hot chocolate. It's not fair being the only even remotely morning person in this household.)
Anyway, yesterday I made Mark turn off his new XBox game long enough to watch Jeopardy and discovered that this week is Teen Tournament week. Do the clue writers of Jeopardy really have such a low opinion of teenaged smart people? Are teenaged smart people actually that dumb? Personally, I find it kind of depressing when I can answer every question on the board. The clue for last night's Final Jeopardy was "This series of over 200 books began in 1986 with the book Kristy's Great Idea." The answer was "What is The Babysitter's Club?" I guess neither of the guys had sisters, since only the female contestant got it right, but she sure knew it right away, just like I did.
When Mark protested that it was a horribly unfair question, I said I would have been equally able to answer had it been about the Dragonlance series, which is what all the guys the same age who bothered to read were reading back then. Mark said I am not allowed to use myself as an example of the norm. "You read a far wider variety of books, faster, and in greater quantity than anybody I know." I think that may be the biggest compliment he's ever given me.
Now I'm going to go read my book.
PS- I would like to also state my displeasure with the fact that the reason I will be reading my book for the remainder of the evening is that they have once again pre-empted The West Wing for Big 10 basketball. If I *cared* about the basketball game, I'd be at the arena. I don't, so I'm not. And really, lately, I've had quite enough of our actual president. I would very much like to watch a fictitious, intelligent, and witty one on TV for a while.
