Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions

[ChuckNet]

This is probably the reason there were a few solo FJ! playings in season one. There was only one solo FJ! playing since then, sometime in season two.

And there was almost another during KenJen's reign, but one of his opponents pulled himself out of the hole at the last possible moment by correctly answering the final clue in Double J!.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Feb 12 2005, 10:40 PM\']
And there was almost another during KenJen's reign, but one of his opponents pulled himself out of the hole at the last possible moment by correctly answering the final clue in Double J!.

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[/quote]

SOme of us were so sadistically hoping that guy wouldn't have answered that last clue. WOuld have been lovely to see the first solo FJ! playing in more than 18 years, but oh well.

[Kevin Prather]

What I'd like to see is a game where all 3 players finish in the red. It'd be interesting to see how they fill the FJ time, and it'd also be interesting to know how payment would be structured. Normally, the person in first place gets to keep the cash. Needless to say, that wouldn't work with -$1,400, although the idea of someone going on a game show and having to pay THEM is kind of funny...

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Feb 12 2005, 11:35 PM\']What I'd like to see is a game where all 3 players finish in the red. It'd be interesting to see how they fill the FJ time, and it'd also be interesting to know how payment would be structured.

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[/quote]

This has happened at least once (in the last Seniors Tournament, as I recall); I didn't see it, but as I recall, Alex spent the last segment making some comment about his tie.  (In the tournament, it was in the first round, and a fifth wild card player advanced from the other four first-round shows.)

I do know that if everybody finishes with zero or less (something that happened in the first season, when everybody in FJ bet everything and missed), it's three new contestants the next day.  That's why some players bet everything but $1 in FJ.

-- Don

[That Don Guy]

Silly question time...

Whose bright idea was it to schedule the tournament so that the three-day final is on a Thursday-Friday-Monday?  Okay, the last day is Memorial Day, but still...

(Assuming there are no pre-emptions, and each round is completed before the next round begins (as opposed to playing out the half of the tournament that decides who one of the finalists is before starting the other half), I work out the schedule as:
First round - 48 games - 2/9 through 4/15
Second round - 18 games - 4/18 through 5/11
Quarter-finals - 6 games - 5/12 through 5/19
Semi-Final #1 - Friday 5/20 and Monday 5/23
Semi-Final #2 - Tuesday 5/24 and Wednesday 5/25
Final - Thursday 5/26, Friday 5/27, and Monday 5/30)

(And does anybody have any idea when the final will be taped, so we know to keep our TVs and radios turned off when the show isn't on, just in case some news program decides to break silence (and spoilers) and announce the winner?
Never mind that...who's going to be keeping an eye on this board to delete the inevitable "I WAS THERE!  THE WINNER WAS..." posts?)

-- Don

[Steve McClellan]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Feb 12 2005, 11:16 PM\']First round - 48 games[/quote]
There's your problem; it's only 45 games. The final should be on a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday.

And does anybody have any idea when the final will be taped, so we know to keep our TVs and radios turned off

To reduce the chances of just such an occurrence, it looks like they'll be taping the final just a week or so before it airs.

Never mind that...who's going to be keeping an eye on this board to delete the inevitable "I WAS THERE!  THE WINNER WAS..." posts?

Don't worry, the EPs here do a fine job of that, and I'm sure they'll be patrolling a bit more often when they know that there's information like that out there.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Feb 13 2005, 12:16 AM\']Whose bright idea was it to schedule the tournament so that the three-day final is on a Thursday-Friday-Monday?  Okay, the last day is Memorial Day, but still...
[/quote]
I will guess, and this is just that, a wild-assed guess, that the end of the tournament and the end of the May sweeps period run concurrently with each other.

As a rule of thumb, just as when the question is "Why did they...?", the answer is usually Monday, when the question is "What were the schedulers thinking?", the answer is usually "Sweeps."

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Feb 13 2005, 02:00 AM\']

This has happened at least once (in the last Seniors Tournament, as I recall); I didn't see it, but as I recall, Alex spent the last segment making some comment about his tie.  (In the tournament, it was in the first round, and a fifth wild card player advanced from the other four first-round shows.)

I do know that if everybody finishes with zero or less (something that happened in the first season, when everybody in FJ bet everything and missed), it's three new contestants the next day.  That's why some players bet everything but $1 in FJ.

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There were two three way zero ties in the 1984-85 season. A three way tie at zero also happened late in the 1997-98 season. I do not, however remember the Seniors Tournament ep. you mention. I do remember a three way tie on zero at the end of a Quarter Final game of the 1989 Seniors Tournament. They did indeed pick the five high scorers among non-winners to go with the other four game winners to the semis. Another three way tie on zero occurred in a November 1996 celeb episode with Jon Lovitz/Matthew Fox(Party of Five co-star)/Carl Lewis.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 13 2005, 06:14 AM\']I will guess ... that the end of the tournament and the end of the May sweeps period run concurrently with each other.

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[/quote]
According to Game Show NewsNet, the tournament runs through Wednesday, May 25, the last day of May sweeps.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that the timing is not a coincidence (or even irony).

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Feb 13 2005, 03:00 AM\']I do know that if everybody finishes with zero or less (something that happened in the first season, when everybody in FJ bet everything and missed), it's three new contestants the next day.  That's why some players bet everything but $1 in FJ.[/quote]
The irony is that more people have lost (or cost themselves a tie) because they didn't bet that last dollar than have won because they kept it.  You should bet to WIN by a dollar, but it's virtually never helpful to you to keep that last dollar when going for broke.

[Jay Temple]

I can put a number on the second scenario.  The exact number of players (except possibly in Celebrity J!) who have trailed going into FJ and won the game because they held out $1 is--zero.  There's been one $1 win, and it came about because the leader had a $1 lead.  The win-by-$1 bet in this instance was the same as the leave-yourself-$1 bet.

That said, there have probably been many players who were in third going into FJ and took second by leaving themselves $1 when the second-place player didn't.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Feb 13 2005, 01:24 PM\']That said, there have probably been many players who were in third going into FJ and took second by leaving themselves $1 when the second-place player didn't.[/quote]
That's a good point, and something I don't ever, ever think about.  There are probably many situations where saving that last dollar puts you in a position to win a second-place prize instead of a third-place prize.  In that case it's OK, unless that last dollar limited your ultimate chance at winning.  Still, overwhelmingly, after twenty years of doing this, we see people holding back that one dollar for no practical reason.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Steve McClellan\' date=\'Feb 13 2005, 04:07 AM\'][quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Feb 12 2005, 11:16 PM\']First round - 48 games[/quote]
There's your problem; it's only 45 games. The final should be on a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday.

And does anybody have any idea when the final will be taped, so we know to keep our TVs and radios turned off

To reduce the chances of just such an occurrence, it looks like they'll be taping the final just a week or so before it airs.

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[/quote]

Considering that last week's tournament games had material on the inauguration and the Oscar nominations, it looks like they're taping the entire tournament closer to air date than normal.  When really-current current events material shows up, that's a very good sign.  I wonder if they'll tape the finals on something like the Thursday or Friday before air...

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Feb 13 2005, 10:21 PM\']Considering that last week's tournament games had material on the inauguration and the Oscar nominations, it looks like they're taping the entire tournament closer to air date than normal.  When really-current current events material shows up, that's a very good sign.  I wonder if they'll tape the finals on something like the Thursday or Friday before air...[/quote]

Jeopardy! should do this more often--I think we've seen that it's not an insurmountable Challenge.

[TLEberle]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but I noted that our cluster-schmass of a Governor's election made it to "News of '05" on the first day.