Sony email leaks, or how the NFL picked the wrong producer to mess with

[Unrealtor]

Some of those categories are worse than others. I'm assuming that there's some kind of clause in some of these that the category has to be played all the way through, and I noticed one game around Thanksgiving where the first round seemed to drag on forever because they left that one for last and it used video clues, then they seemed to try to race through the DJ round but there were still a ton of clues left on the board when time ran out.

[clemon79]

I'm assuming that there's some kind of clause in some of these that the category has to be played all the way through

That would surprise me a great deal, though your evidence is compelling. Do they ever do those clearly-sponsored categories in DJ? It would very much bolster your case if they didn't.

[Joe Mello]

I'm assuming that there's some kind of clause in some of these that the category has to be played all the way through

That would surprise me a great deal, though your evidence is compelling. Do they ever do those clearly-sponsored categories in DJ? It would very much bolster your case if they didn't.

Monday's Round 1 had a category filmed at a Post Office distribution center and it only four out of five got shown.

I suppose a company who wishes to partner with J! could ask for such a clause (I imagine it's something you have to ask for), but how would you enforce it?

[Fedya]

I've been thinking about it a bit more, and you're all welcome to tell me I'm inconsistent and thoroughly illogical.  Part of it is certainly the perception of product placement, but there's something about the visual breakup if you will that accompanies many of these categories.  A category about the Smithsonian Institution is one thing; a category in conjuction with Smithsonian magazine with their logo above it would be murh more likely to make me roll my eyes.  By the same token I also find something mildly jarring about the categories that have one celebrity doing videos for all five clues and have them announcing the category (or even when it's a member of the Clue Crew).  Those seem to break up the flow of reading the category names, too.

Like I said, it's illogical, but for whatever reason I don't care for it.

[clemon79]

Like I said, it's illogical, but for whatever reason I don't care for it.

It's not illogical, it's change. Which is hard.

[Unrealtor]

I'm assuming that there's some kind of clause in some of these that the category has to be played all the way through

That would surprise me a great deal, though your evidence is compelling. Do they ever do those clearly-sponsored categories in DJ? It would very much bolster your case if they didn't.

The ones which are obviously about promoting something tend to be in the first round, but I don't specifically remember other times when I noticed the round running long. However, J-archive tells me the category I was thinking of was about Tesla cars, and if anyone has both the spare cash and the ego to throw a few extra bucks at Harry Friedman in exchange for a guarantee that the rules will be stretched so that every last second of paid-for content will be aired, I think it would be Elon Musk.

I suppose a company who wishes to partner with J! could ask for such a clause (I imagine it's something you have to ask for), but how would you enforce it?

What I assume they did for Tesla seems reasonable as a way to make sure that certain clue(s) are revealed--put it in the first round and don't allow the round to end until that category has been finished, then take time out of the Double Jeopardy round if that means that the first round ran long.

[MSTieScott]

I noticed one game around Thanksgiving where the first round seemed to drag on forever because they left that one for last and it used video clues, then they seemed to try to race through the DJ round but there were still a ton of clues left on the board when time ran out.

Was it the episode where the Clue Crew spent five clues talking about Tesla's amazing electric cars? I saw that episode and wondered the same thing you did, and even checked the end credits to see if Tesla was listed as one of the episode's sponsors. (It wasn't, though I don't know whether other branded categories show up there. I assume they had some kind of "special thanks to Tesla" credit in with the photo licensing disclaimers.)

On the other hand, I see that they had not one, but two categories of very short clues on that first-round board, undoubtedly to make up for the extra time the Tesla clues would take. But I too was surprised that I didn't remember hearing the "less than a minute" warning in round one, only to see nearly a full category left on the board in round two.

(Edit: I see we were typing at the same time.)

[TLEberle]

I've been thinking about it a bit more, and you're all welcome to tell me I'm inconsistent and thoroughly illogical.  Part of it is certainly the perception of product placement, but there's something about the visual breakup if you will that accompanies many of these categories.  A category about the Smithsonian Institution is one thing; a category in conjuction with Smithsonian magazine with their logo above it would be murh more likely to make me roll my eyes.  By the same token I also find something mildly jarring about the categories that have one celebrity doing videos for all five clues and have them announcing the category (or even when it's a member of the Clue Crew).  Those seem to break up the flow of reading the category names, too.

Like I said, it's illogical, but for whatever reason I don't care for it.

I won't go so far as to snipe about the difficulty of entropy, but I'll say "so what?" They've been doing it for years. We're only talking about it because of the Sony leaks.

[Matt Ottinger]

Does this seem overblown to anybody else?

I thought so at first, then reconsidered.  Remember, Harry Friedman making a big deal about Jeopardy and Wheel being pre-empted is an entirely different thing than when Brian Henke does it.  He did everything right -- fighting fiercely for his properties, while keeping it out of the public eye.  The electronic paper trail makes it pretty easy to see why he was miffed.

[aaron sica]

  Remember, Harry Friedman making a big deal about Jeopardy and Wheel being pre-empted is an entirely different thing than when Brian Henke does it.

There have never been any truer words more spoken in this forum than this. You reading, Brian?

[Kevin Prather]

I suppose a company who wishes to partner with J! could ask for such a clause (I imagine it's something you have to ask for), but how would you enforce it?

It wouldn't be terribly hard provided the sponsored category was in the first round. A quick briefing from the stage manager before the show is all you need.

"Hey, players. That category's sponsored. You can leave it for last if you really want, but we're playing it out whether there's time or not. If the first round runs late, that means less time for Double Jeopardy, where the real money is. Catch my drift? Solid."

[jage]

Hmm, I'm not so sure they would tell the contestants ahead of time. Is there anything in the rules about round length? Seems like it can be arbitrary, but does that go against S&P?

[trainman]

I'm more bothered by everything from the starting lineup to the halftime show to the highlight reel having a sponsor.

The NFL, to its credit, allows far fewer sponsorship mentions during its national TV broadcasts than any other league does.  (You can get a good sense of that by comparing local preseason game broadcasts to a regular-season game.)

[Kevin Prather]

Hmm, I'm not so sure they would tell the contestants ahead of time. Is there anything in the rules about round length? Seems like it can be arbitrary, but does that go against S&P?

Someone with more first-hand knowledge can answer, but I'm pretty sure it's been mentioned that contestants are sometimes briefed that a certain category must be taken top-to-bottom. This wouldn't be too much different.

[TLEberle]

Hmm, I'm not so sure they would tell the contestants ahead of time. Is there anything in the rules about round length? Seems like it can be arbitrary, but does that go against S&P?

S&p are there to make sure the show follows its own rules. I presume the only rule is that the show comes in on time, and Friday had a long credit roll.