[quote name=\'Twentington\' post=\'255561\' date=\'Jan 25 2011, 12:26 PM\']I admit I have a fairly narrow knowledge range, and probably don't have much justification to call out any answer as particularly tough. But[/quote]But it sounds like that's what you're doing, even if that isn't your intent. It isn't the job of the show to write 61 clues that you're going to be able to question correctly.
Why is it that you have such a narrow knowledge range? One of the things that any trivia tests is how much attention you pay to the world around you. What books you've read, plays you've seen, the music you listen to, that whole deal. If you don't participate in that world, or seek out that knowledge, then yes, a great deal of the material on a quiz show is going to go over your head.
When I was about 22 years old, I thought my trivia skills were in a rut. But now that I'm thirty years old, I realized that they were in a rut, because I wasn't getting into other areas of knowledge. Now I'm older, trying out new stuff, and it manifests in my ability to handle more of what Jeopardy! throws my way. I see no reason that the same can't work for you, but if you just say "Oh, that's tough, but Jeopardy! is a game of luck as much as skill," then brag about blank solves on Wheel of Fortune, the response from the group at large is gonna be "meh."
[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'255609\' date=\'Jan 26 2011, 05:30 AM\']57 people in a country of 307,000,000 really isn't a very good sample size.[/quote]Let's assume that at their absolute zenith of popularity during the days of Ken, that thirty million people watched the show. (I don't actually care what the real number is, I'm just using that.) In an absolute frenzy of watching, 90 percent of America was watching something Other Than Jeopardy, or not watching TV at all. And Jeopardy! probably doesn't care overmuch about programming to that group of people. I'll say it again: they're not out to be mean and nasty. They're trying to hit a sweet spot of interesting, factual and playable material that will challenge and entertain as much of that audience as possible.
To the survey size, you really don't need to poll more than about 500 people to get an accurate gauge of the population (depending on the margin of error). But for people who are fannish enough about Jeopardy! to post to a message board, I like my odds with that group.
[quote name=\'Twentington\' post=\'255627\' date=\'Jan 26 2011, 10:52 AM\']All I said was "I thought Liederkranz was the toughest clue I've ever seen, in my opinion, and Silent Butler the second hardest — and in my opinion, both felt like so-called 'budget saver' clues." I was never trying to imply that they actually were, just what they felt like to me.[/quote]If you don't know that a silent butler is in fact a thing (a hinged box that collects those crumbs and ashes) and not Emile Autouri's long lost brother holding a silver tray, then yes, I can see how that would be hard.
