WWTBAM Bored

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog account of the experience. Thanks for letting us share in the drama and excitement.

You were a great J! Champion, and I look forward to hearing all about you call to appear in the ToC!

Great run - winning multiple times on Jeopardy is the toughest thing to do in game shows, IMHO.

Seeing this unstickied spoiled the outcome for me

Congrats on the nice run and chunk of change

I want to apologize to Dave for failing to acknowledge and celebrate his great success on Jeopardy. I had written down his first air date in my master calendar, but subsequently my family received an impromptu invitation to go to the beach for a few days over that Mon-Wed period, and I just didn't look at my calendar. So I didn't see him. I have now read of his spectacular success, and I want to acknowledge it here.

The 75-or-so souls who inhabit this space are a quirky, nerdy, but nevertheless oddly endearing community, who in some way share a particular abiding interest in this trivia goofiness. Virtually all are extremely generous in their encouragement and empathy, and I know I keep returning here sporadically not only for the inside-baseball information but also for that support and encouragement. I know this crowd was enthusiastically in my corrner when I got my big shot in '02.

Although I like to think that on occasion I have contributed here, I really fell down in recognizing and congratulating Trevor McFee. His congratulations on my recent invitation to a J! tryout compound my embarrassment. So, Dave, congratulations to you. Thank you for your support today. And thanks to all of you, who keep this strange little island afloat.

The 75-or-so souls who inhabit this space are a quirky, nerdy, but nevertheless oddly endearing community

Are you and I talking about the same bored?

I watched all week.

I was enthralled and happy and proud and giddy and all those things.

Enjoy your fame, enjoy your money and be proud!

Did anyone ask wht KJ et al were at the Jeopardy taping?

macrae1234 wrote:Did anyone ask wht KJ et al were at the Jeopardy taping?

KJ had blogged about it. He was in LA (I think to promote his most recent book). He called up Bob Harris to have lunch. They decided to wander over to the afternoon taping sessions. By coincidence, it turned out that Rutter had been there all day.

slam wrote:

macrae1234 wrote:Did anyone ask wht KJ et al were at the Jeopardy taping?

KJ had blogged about it. He was in LA (I think to promote his most recent book). He called up Bob Harris to have lunch. They decided to wander over to the afternoon taping sessions. By coincidence, it turned out that Rutter had been there all day.

That's what they want you to believe.

Here's an article about Dave's J! appearance.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/ ... 5326.story

One of the things I worried about on my trip was whether my DVR would be able to capture all of Dave's J! appearances. As it turned out, it did (unfortunately - I was hoping he'd have a long run). I should add that I knew that he had lost either on the Friday show or on Monday because on Wednesday we watched an episode on which Alex had mentioned a series of one-day champions. One of the first things I did after getting home and unpacking was watch Dave's shows. So, Dave, congratulations on a great run and sorry it couldn't have lasted longer.

MarleysGh0st wrote:Here's an article about Dave's J! appearance.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/ ... 5326.story

Thanks for posting that, Marley. We got back from Florida late Saturday night and with all the unpacking and clothes-washing and re-entering reality yesterday, I didn't get a chance to read the paper.

I suppose this is the end of the Trevor Media Blitz - there were also four articles in the local county paper and an interview on a Baltimore Chirstian radio station.

The whole experience has been a lot of fun. I certainly hope that everyone here gets to experience it on J! or WWTBAM or AYSTAFG or or whatever or all of the above.

One thing about our trip - I spent a lot of time with my mom, whose Alzheimer's has progressed to the point that she has trouble remembering my kids' names and is often confused about where in the world she is, but she did consistently remember that I had been on J!.

And . . . we'll see about the TOC (which will supposedly be taped in Vegas next January).

As to Trevor's chances to make the J! ToC, you can look at a list that I keep updated over on the J! board:

http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/s ... hp?t=34076

slam wrote:As to Trevor's chances to make the J! ToC, you can look at a list that I keep updated over on the J! board:

In other words...it's looking pretty good!

How does qualification work, again? Is it strictly by total dollar winnings or by number of days won and then dollar winnings?

earendel wrote:One of the things I worried about on my trip was whether my DVR would be able to capture all of Dave's J! appearances. As it turned out, it did (unfortunately - I was hoping he'd have a long run). I should add that I knew that he had lost either on the Friday show or on Monday because on Wednesday we watched an episode on which Alex had mentioned a series of one-day champions. One of the first things I did after getting home and unpacking was watch Dave's shows. So, Dave, congratulations on a great run and sorry it couldn't have lasted longer.

Did you watch the same Dave I did? I am certainly impressed with his wins and winnings. Sure I wish he could have continued, but I do look forward to seeing him In the TOC.

MarleysGh0st wrote:

slam wrote:As to Trevor's chances to make the J! ToC, you can look at a list that I keep updated over on the J! board:

In other words...it's looking pretty good!

How does qualification work, again? Is it strictly by total dollar winnings or by number of days won and then dollar winnings?

Number of games won, then dollar winnings amongst those with the same number of wins. That is, in the order shown on the list.

Yes, Trevor's chances are looking good, but definitely not a lock. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

slam wrote:Number of games won, then dollar winnings amongst those with the same number of wins. That is, in the order shown on the list.

Oh. Make it obvious, why dontcha!

If the TOC is taped in January, do we know what airing date is the cut-off for qualification in this tournament?

kayrharris wrote:

earendel wrote:One of the things I worried about on my trip was whether my DVR would be able to capture all of Dave's J! appearances. As it turned out, it did (unfortunately - I was hoping he'd have a long run). I should add that I knew that he had lost either on the Friday show or on Monday because on Wednesday we watched an episode on which Alex had mentioned a series of one-day champions. One of the first things I did after getting home and unpacking was watch Dave's shows. So, Dave, congratulations on a great run and sorry it couldn't have lasted longer.

Did you watch the same Dave I did? I am certainly impressed with his wins and winnings. Sure I wish he could have continued, but I do look forward to seeing him In the TOC.

As was I - did my post imply otherwise?

MarleysGh0st wrote:If the TOC is taped in January, do we know what airing date is the cut-off for qualification in this tournament?

We don't know exactly. But the ToC has always been shown during a sweeps month. Presumably, the January taping (announced to be at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January) was originally for airing during the February sweeps month. But next year, February sweeps is going to become March sweeps because of the elimination of the analog signals. The airing date cut-off will be the Friday before the ToC is aired. For the purposes of my projections, I am assuming that the ToC will begin airing on March 2nd.

Prolly only the "unfortunately I hoped he would have a long run" line. Could be read as not as good as hoped. Of course usually to us that means making KJ second place!

We are all very happy for TrevorM, of course!

earendel wrote:

kayrharris wrote:

earendel wrote:One of the things I worried about on my trip was whether my DVR would be able to capture all of Dave's J! appearances. As it turned out, it did (unfortunately - I was hoping he'd have a long run). I should add that I knew that he had lost either on the Friday show or on Monday because on Wednesday we watched an episode on which Alex had mentioned a series of one-day champions. One of the first things I did after getting home and unpacking was watch Dave's shows. So, Dave, congratulations on a great run and sorry it couldn't have lasted longer.

Did you watch the same Dave I did? I am certainly impressed with his wins and winnings. Sure I wish he could have continued, but I do look forward to seeing him In the TOC.

As was I - did my post imply otherwise?

A little bit. You mentioned that you were hoping he would have a long run and implied that he didn't (You said that if had had a long run your VCR wouldn't have taped all of it. Since your VCR was able to tape his run in its entirety...)

If you check the link I posted to the ToC qualification thread, you can see that more than halfway through the qualification period, there are only 4 people who have won more games than he has. In a typical season, he would probably be in the top 10. Sure, Ken Jennings apparently had nothing to worry about, but Dave certainly had an excellent run.

slam wrote:The airing date cut-off will be the Friday before the ToC is aired. For the purposes of my projections, I am assuming that the ToC will begin airing on March 2nd.

So contestants could qualify for the TOC before their original games had even aired yet. That makes sense for the viewers at home, but leaves some uncertainly for those of us tracking the qualifiers.

MarleysGh0st wrote:

slam wrote:The airing date cut-off will be the Friday before the ToC is aired. For the purposes of my projections, I am assuming that the ToC will begin airing on March 2nd.

So contestants could qualify for the TOC before their original games had even aired yet. That makes sense for the viewers at home, but leaves some uncertainly for those of us tracking the qualifiers.

I don't know if it makes any difference for people like you and me other than determining when we find out who'll be in the ToC, but it cerainly does affect someone like Trevor. He won't know until he gets a call from TPTB whether or not there has been a spate of late qualifiers that. Moreover, if he does make the ToC, there will very likely be a few contestants whose runs he won't have seen.

In the first handful of seasons of Trebek-era J!, this wasn't an issue. The qualification period was exactly one season. The ToC was then taped in August (after the season had aired in its entirety) and then aired during November sweeps.

slam wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

slam wrote:The airing date cut-off will be the Friday before the ToC is aired. For the purposes of my projections, I am assuming that the ToC will begin airing on March 2nd.

So contestants could qualify for the TOC before their original games had even aired yet. That makes sense for the viewers at home, but leaves some uncertainly for those of us tracking the qualifiers.

I don't know if it makes any difference for people like you and me other than determining when we find out who'll be in the ToC, but it cerainly does affect someone like Trevor. He won't know until he gets a call from TPTB whether or not there has been a spate of late qualifiers that. Moreover, if he does make the ToC, there will very likely be a few contestants whose runs he won't have seen.

All this has led to a very different experience watching Jeopardy! each night. It's very strange to watch knowing that results could have an impact on, well, me.

Friday night was especially significant - if the 3-time champ, who was leading going into Final Jeopardy, had won, he would've passed me on the TOC list (although we'd have been tied in games, he would've had more money). But he missed FJ, and there was a new champion, and there was much rejoicing in the Trevor household.

I'm looking forward to the summer hiatus and 6 weeks of no-stress Jeopardy.

Of course, I realize there is nothing I can do about whether I qualify at this point and to worry is pointless. But it is kind of fun to have a "rooting interest" in each J! game (new champion each night!!).