Transcript 4/17/2009 - Fred Ebert

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Fred Ebert
Rotterdam, NY

Meredith says she can't believe it but Fred passed the test 16 times before getting the call to be on the show. "I'm persistent," Fred replies. People kept asking him, "Are you going to go down and try out again?" Fred's answer was that he wasn't going to give up until the show went off the air. Meredith says not to talk about that possibility.

Topic tree:
- Seeing Double
- The First Time
- Holla!
- Latitude Adjustment
- What's for Supper
- Moola
- Who Am I
- Beer
- Magazine Math
- The Beatles
- Crunch Time
- Drinking Test
- Kit Lit
- Log On
- In the Beginning

$100 - Which of these historic figures is commonly said to have lived during "Biblical times"?
A - Jesus Christ
B - Henry Ford
C - Albert Einstein
D - John Stamos the Baptist

Spoiler

A - Jesus Christ (8)

$200 - Opposed by many environmentalists and forest lovers, logging is the process of doing what?
A - burning coal
B - cutting down trees
C - hunting small animals
D - draining ponds

Spoiler

B - cutting down trees (9)

$300 - "My nose may look a little different after the operation" is a line from a 2008 kids' book about what sensitive topic?
A - plastic surgery
B - childbirth
C - potty training
D - adoption

Spoiler

A - plastic surgery (7)

$500 - Which of these car parts is commonly featured both on a regular automobile and on a bumper car in an amusement park?
A - sunroof
B - windshield wiper
C - steering wheel
D - air bag

Spoiler

C - steering wheel (7)

$1K - For many years, which of these snack foods promoted itself as "the cheese that goes crunch"?
A - Fritos
B - Ruffles
C - Tostitos
D - Cheetos

Spoiler

D - Cheetos (9)

Fred ate a lot of these as a child.

commercial break

Fred is a special education teacher. He didn't start out with that goal; he intended to be a math teacher. But the day after graduation he got a call from a friend asking for his help in a group home and he's been doing that ever since. He works with an organization called Best Buddies that brings regular children together with special needs children.

Fred has earned the Ask the Expert lifeline; today it's Laura Newmat.

$2K - Which of these songs by the Beatles contains three different pronouns in its title?
A - I Feel Fine
B - Martha My Dear
C - I Me Mine
D - All My Loving

Spoiler

C - I Me Mine (21)

$4K - If a subscriber to both Us Weekly and Texas Monthly kept a year's worth of each magazine, how many issues would he have?
A - 60
B - 62
C - 64
D - 66

Spoiler

C - 64 (23)

Fred does the math.

$8K - In what European city can you take a tour of the original 1867 Heineken Brewery?
A - Amsterdam
B - Berlin
C - Brussels
D - Vienna

Fred is pretty sure but he wants to ask the audience, so the clock stops with 23 seconds remaining.

ATA results

ATA results:
A - 61%
B - 28%
C - 9%
D - 2%

Spoiler

A - Amsterdam (21)

commercial break

In the past year Fred has lost close to 70 pounds. He joined a national program, goes to meetings each week, and watches what he eats. Meredith says he's looking like a million bucks.

$16K - Who is Hoda Kotb?
A - "Star Wars" character
B - U.S. Senator
C - beach volleyball player
D - TV news anchor

Spoiler

D - TV news anchor (20)
Meredith says she works with her every day and she's a doll.

$25K - What U.S. state's commemorative quarter features two locomotives and a railroad spike?
A - Utah
B - Wyoming
C - Colorado
D - Oregon

Fred mulls over the question then decides to ask the expert, stopping the clock with 17 seconds remaining.

ATE dialog

Laura reads the question aloud. She said it's either Utah or Colorado because of "the railroad that went all the way across the country, whatever that's called". If she had to pick from those she'd go with Utah but she would probably try Double Dipping or another lifeline. Fred says he was thinking the same thing.

Fred lets a few more seconds expire, then with 9 seconds remaining he asks to use the Double Dip.

DD choices

Fred's first choice is "Utah". He doesn't need the second choice.

Spoiler

A - Utah (8)

commercial break

In the relationship seat is Fred's sister Marian. She should be happy he's doing well because he wants to help her two children with college tuition.

$50K - In 2008, an art historian made headlines with the odd claim that Da Vinci's famous "Last Supper" depicts what last supper?
A - guinea hen with raisins
B - eel with orange slices
C - lamb with cherry sauce
D - sardines with pine nuts

Fred remembers hearing something about this but he can't remember, so he decides to phone a friend. On his PAF list are: Fred's partner Scott, from Schenectady, NY; his friend Jim, from Averill Park, NY; and his coworker's mom Barbara, from Milford, PA. Fred opts to call Scott.

PAF dialog

Fred paraphrases the question and then reads the choices slowly. Scott says, "eel?" but adds, "I don't know."

Fred said that he was leaning toward the same answer and decides to make that his final answer.

Spoiler

B - eel with orange slices (21)

THE HORN!!!!!!!!

Fred will return on Monday's show gong for $100K but with no lifelines remaining.

[ulysses5019]

Fred Ebert
Rotterdam, NY

Meredith says she can't believe it but Fred passed the test 16 times before getting the call to be on the show. "I'm persistent," Fred replies. People kept asking him, "Are you going to go down and try out again?" Fred's answer was that he wasn't going to give up until the show went off the air. Meredith says not to talk about that possibility.

Topic tree:
- Seeing Double
- The First Time
- Holla!
- Latitude Adjustment
- What's for Supper
- Moola
- Who Am I
- Beer
- Magazine Math
- The Beatles
- Crunch Time
- Drinking Test
- Kit Lit
- Log On
- In the Beginning

$100 - Which of these historic figures is commonly said to have lived during "Biblical times"?
A - Jesus Christ
B - Henry Ford
C - Albert Einstein
D - John Stamos the Baptist

Spoiler

A - Jesus Christ (8)

$200 - Opposed by many environmentalists and forest lovers, logging is the process of doing what?
A - burning coal
B - cutting down trees
C - hunting small animals
D - draining ponds

Spoiler

B - cutting down trees (9)

$300 - "My nose may look a little different after the operation" is a line from a 2008 kids' book about what sensitive topic?
A - plastic surgery
B - childbirth
C - potty training
D - adoption

Spoiler

A - plastic surgery (7)

$500 - Which of these car parts is commonly featured both on a regular automobile and on a bumper car in an amusement park?
A - sunroof
B - windshield wiper
C - steering wheel
D - air bag

Spoiler

C - steering wheel (7)

$1K - For many years, which of these snack foods promoted itself as "the cheese that goes crunch"?
A - Fritos
B - Ruffles
C - Tostitos
D - Cheetos

Spoiler

D - Cheetos (9)

Fred ate a lot of these as a child.

commercial break

Fred is a special education teacher. He didn't start out with that goal; he intended to be a math teacher. But the day after graduation he got a call from a friend asking for his help in a group home and he's been doing that ever since. He works with an organization called Best Buddies that brings regular children together with special needs children.

Fred has earned the Ask the Expert lifeline; today it's Laura Newmat.

$2K - Which of these songs by the Beatles contains three different pronouns in its title?
A - I Feel Fine
B - Martha My Dear
C - I Me Mine
D - All My Loving

Spoiler

C - I Me Mine (21)

$4K - If a subscriber to both Us Weekly and Texas Monthly kept a year's worth of each magazine, how many issues would he have?
A - 60
B - 62
C - 64
D - 66

Spoiler

C - 64 (23)

Fred does the math.

$8K - In what European city can you take a tour of the original 1867 Heineken Brewery?
A - Amsterdam
B - Berlin
C - Brussels
D - Vienna

Fred is pretty sure but he wants to ask the audience, so the clock stops with 23 seconds remaining.

ATA results

ATA results:
A - 61%
B - 28%
C - 9%
D - 2%

Spoiler

A - Amsterdam (21)

commercial break

In the past year Fred has lost close to 70 pounds. He joined a national program, goes to meetings each week, and watches what he eats. Meredith says he's looking like a million bucks.

$16K - Who is Hoda Kotb?
A - "Star Wars" character
B - U.S. Senator
C - beach volleyball player
D - TV news anchor

Spoiler

D - TV news anchor (20)
Meredith says she works with her every day and she's a doll.

$25K - What U.S. state's commemorative quarter features two locomotives and a railroad spike?
A - Utah
B - Wyoming
C - Colorado
D - Oregon

Fred mulls over the question then decides to ask the expert, stopping the clock with 17 seconds remaining.

ATE dialog

Laura reads the question aloud. She said it's either Utah or Colorado because of "the railroad that went all the way across the country, whatever that's called". If she had to pick from those she'd go with Utah but she would probably try Double Dipping or another lifeline. Fred says he was thinking the same thing.

Fred lets a few more seconds expire, then with 9 seconds remaining he asks to use the Double Dip.

DD choices

Fred's first choice is "Utah". He doesn't need the second choice.

Spoiler

A - Utah (8)

commercial break

In the relationship seat is Fred's sister Marian. She should be happy he's doing well because he wants to help her two children with college tuition.

$50K - In 2008, an art historian made headlines with the odd claim that Da Vinci's famous "Last Supper" depicts what last supper?
A - guinea hen with raisins
B - eel with orange slices
C - lamb with cherry sauce
D - sardines with pine nuts

Fred remembers hearing something about this but he can't remember, so he decides to phone a friend. On his PAF list are: Fred's partner Scott, from Schenectady, NY; his friend Jim, from Averill Park, NY; and his coworker's mom Barbara, from Milford, PA. Fred opts to call Scott.

PAF dialog

Fred paraphrases the question and then reads the choices slowly. Scott says, "eel?" but adds, "I don't know."

Fred said that he was leaning toward the same answer and decides to make that his final answer.

Spoiler

B - eel with orange slices (21)

THE HORN!!!!!!!!

Fred will return on Monday's show gong for $100K but with no lifelines remaining.

That Last Supper q was pretty odd.

On another note, Hoda Kotb is originally from Norman, OK.

[silvercamaro]

On another note, Hoda Kotb is originally from Norman, OK.

I didn't know that. I'm willing to bet that her father was a grad student when she was born. I don't think she lived here very long.

But you've reminded me that I want to say something in a tmitsss thread.

[doitneatly]

$25K - What U.S. state's commemorative quarter features two locomotives and a railroad spike?
A - Utah
B - Wyoming
C - Colorado
D - Oregon

Hey, a state quarter question!
They were one of the few things I studied before going on the show. and here I came pretty close to getting a question on 'em. (within the same tape date, that is)

BTW, my pick for best state quarter design: a tie between AK's grizzly bear or SD's massive dinosaur bird as big as Mt. Rushmore

[NellyLunatic1980]

Fred Ebert
Rotterdam, NY

Is that WE® territory?

I stormed through the first ten.

$50K: No clue on this one. PAF.

[earendel]

Fred Ebert
Rotterdam, NY

Meredith says she can't believe it but Fred passed the test 16 times before getting the call to be on the show. "I'm persistent," Fred replies. People kept asking him, "Are you going to go down and try out again?" Fred's answer was that he wasn't going to give up until the show went off the air. Meredith says not to talk about that possibility.

So, Fred, what was different about #16 that made you stand out as opposed to the fifteen auditions before that? I know one friendly gh0st who would love to know the answer. Please find your way here and tell us.

$8K - In what European city can you take a tour of the original 1867 Heineken Brewery?
A - Amsterdam
B - Berlin
C - Brussels
D - Vienna

Fred is pretty sure but he wants to ask the audience, so the clock stops with 23 seconds remaining.

ATA results

ATA results:
A - 61%
B - 28%
C - 9%
D - 2%

Spoiler

A - Amsterdam (21)

Call it nerves or TDC® but it's a shame Fred had to burn a lifeline on this one, since he said he was "pretty sure".

$16K - Who is Hoda Kotb?
A - "Star Wars" character
B - U.S. Senator
C - beach volleyball player
D - TV news anchor

Spoiler

D - TV news anchor (20)
Meredith says she works with her every day and she's a doll.

I have absolutely no idea, so it's time for a lifeline. I know it's not A or B, so it's either DD or ATA. Let's go with ATA and hope.

$25K - What U.S. state's commemorative quarter features two locomotives and a railroad spike?
A - Utah
B - Wyoming
C - Colorado
D - Oregon

Fred mulls over the question then decides to ask the expert, stopping the clock with 17 seconds remaining.

ATE dialog

Laura reads the question aloud. She said it's either Utah or Colorado because of "the railroad that went all the way across the country, whatever that's called". If she had to pick from those she'd go with Utah but she would probably try Double Dipping or another lifeline. Fred says he was thinking the same thing.

It's called the "transcontinental" railroad, Ms. Expert.

Fred lets a few more seconds expire, then with 9 seconds remaining he asks to use the Double Dip.

DD choices

Fred's first choice is "Utah". He doesn't need the second choice.

Spoiler

A - Utah (8)

So the expert doesn't really help him much other than get him to burn a second lifeline.

$50K - In 2008, an art historian made headlines with the odd claim that Da Vinci's famous "Last Supper" depicts what last supper?
A - guinea hen with raisins
B - eel with orange slices
C - lamb with cherry sauce
D - sardines with pine nuts

Fred remembers hearing something about this but he can't remember, so he decides to phone a friend. On his PAF list are: Fred's partner Scott, from Schenectady, NY; his friend Jim, from Averill Park, NY; and his coworker's mom Barbara, from Milford, PA. Fred opts to call Scott.

PAF dialog

Fred paraphrases the question and then reads the choices slowly. Scott says, "eel?" but adds, "I don't know."

Fred said that he was leaning toward the same answer and decides to make that his final answer.

Spoiler

B - eel with orange slices (21)

I have no idea. This looks like a job for a Google PAF.

[MarleysGh0st]

Fred Ebert
Rotterdam, NY

Is that WE® territory?

No, that's upstate, near Schenectady, well outside the WABC viewing area.

[MarleysGh0st]

That Last Supper q was pretty odd.

It was. I'm wondering two things:

1. How big were the headlines about this story?

2. In all the centuries since this was painted, was this art historian really the first person to make an observation about what meal was being served? I'm not saying that I ever paid attention to that, but I'd assume someone was interested in that detail!

[earendel]

That Last Supper q was pretty odd.

It was. I'm wondering two things:

1. How big were the headlines about this story?

2. In all the centuries since this was painted, was this art historian really the first person to make an observation about what meal was being served? I'm not saying that I ever paid attention to that, but I'd assume someone was interested in that detail!

1. I don't think it made all that much of a splash in the general news.

2. I don't know, but it would be an interesting observation, given that (a) the Last Supper was a Passover seder (according to the synoptic gospels); (b) accordingly the food served would have been lamb and the traditional elements of the seder; and (c) I'm not up on the laws of kashruth but I don't think eels are kosher. Given da Vinci's eye for details one wonders why he would have chosen these elements to put on the plates. OTOH as I'm rereading Dante's Divine Comedy I happened across a passage in which one of the popes is in Purgatory for gluttony and apparently his favorite delicacy was eels, prepared by dropping them, still alive, into wine, then cooking them.

[MarleysGh0st]

Given da Vinci's eye for details one wonders why he would have chosen these elements to put on the plates.

Look for this to be a key plot element in a sequel to The Da Vinci Code!

[earendel]

Given da Vinci's eye for details one wonders why he would have chosen these elements to put on the plates.

Look for this to be a key plot element in a sequel to The Da Vinci Code!

OK, I did a Google search and there were only about half a dozen articles on the first page that referred to this, and none of them were from mainstream media outlets (the Daily Mail was the only name I recognized). So it didn't make a very big splash.

[NellyLunatic1980]

Given da Vinci's eye for details one wonders why he would have chosen these elements to put on the plates.

Look for this to be a key plot element in a sequel to The Da Vinci Code!

OK, I did a Google search and there were only about half a dozen articles on the first page that referred to this, and none of them were from mainstream media outlets (the Daily Mail was the only name I recognized). So it didn't make a very big splash.

Therefore, the question was greatly undervalued.

[MarleysGh0st]

OK, I did a Google search and there were only about half a dozen articles on the first page that referred to this, and none of them were from mainstream media outlets (the Daily Mail was the only name I recognized). So it didn't make a very big splash.

Yeah, I just read the Daily Mail article. Eels were a popular dish at the time he painted them, and he like eels, himself?

That's not going to help the plot of The Da Vinci Code II very much.

[slam]

For clarification, eels definitely are not kosher.

Would Meredith have been offended or amused if I had been in the hot seat and told her, truthfully, that I only recognized Hoda's name from an SNL skit spoofing her?

It definitely is good to see someone get on the show after 16 tries and the show highlighing that fact. It does seem that he passed the test 16 times (or is at least claiming he did). I know that doesn't match Marley, but it's definitely in the ballpark.

When Fred reached for that lifeline on that question, I thought that he was making the right move at the right time. Knowing about the golden spike and Provo, Utah should be a gimme clue for a College Bowl champion. When it wasn't, I was rather surprised and disappointed. What's the matter with kids today? (he breaks out into song and dance)

Since I'd have all my lifelines left at $50K, I'd Double Dip between eels and sardines, the only two that seem to fit the description of "odd claim". But eels do seem odder than sardines.

Other than the bizarre $50K clue, this seemed like a very easy stack, but ymmv.

[Kazoo65]

OK up to $50K-which I didn't see because of an ABC News special report about Captain Phillips coming home.

It's time for a lifeline-PAF or ATE. I never heard exactly WHAT they ate at the Last Supper in Catholic school! They kept talking about bread and wine, but never mentioned eels (ugh!) or orange slices.

[MarleysGh0st]

It's time for a lifeline-PAF or ATE. I never heard exactly WHAT they ate at the Last Supper in Catholic school! They kept talking about bread and wine, but never mentioned eels (ugh!) or orange slices.

From the articles quoted above, it appears that da Vinci used some artistic license in the painting, so nothing we learned in school would have helped with this question.

[frogman042]

$50K - In 2008, an art historian made headlines with the odd claim that Da Vinci's famous "Last Supper" depicts what last supper?
A - guinea hen with raisins
B - eel with orange slices
C - lamb with cherry sauce
D - sardines with pine nuts

E - poutine with mushrooms

[MarleysGh0st]

Given da Vinci's eye for details one wonders why he would have chosen these elements to put on the plates.

Look for this to be a key plot element in a sequel to The Da Vinci Code!

How's this for timing? This article says there is a sequel being published in September, titled The Lost Symbol.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090420/en_ ... danbrown_1

"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey," Brown said in a statement. "Weaving five years of research into the story's 12-hour time frame was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."

No doubt, eels and orange slices will turn out to be a clever mathematical cipher, leading Langdon to yet another puzzle that he'll figure out in moments!

[earendel]

Given da Vinci's eye for details one wonders why he would have chosen these elements to put on the plates.

Look for this to be a key plot element in a sequel to The Da Vinci Code!

How's this for timing? This article says there is a sequel being published in September, titled The Lost Symbol.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090420/en_ ... danbrown_1

"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey," Brown said in a statement. "Weaving five years of research into the story's 12-hour time frame was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."

No doubt, eels and orange slices will turn out to be a clever mathematical cipher, leading Langdon to yet another puzzle that he'll figure out in moments!

"Eel" spelled backwards is "Lee", so maybe it has something to do with the lost treasure of the Confederacy.

[ghostjmf]

Eels are not kosher. I dunno who this meal theorist is or where they're coming from, but eels are not kosher. Even if VeryEarlyChristians wanted to flaunt the kosher laws (since this meal included Jesus as a live participant, they certainly were VeryEarlyChristians), I doubt they'd have Done It With Eels. More likely they'd have Done It With Creamed Lamb.

In other words, if you're gonna flaunt a law, you are more likely to flaunt one you live with daily than to go out & find a food you probably have no familiarity with, & therefore no hankering for anyway.

[KillerTomato]

Hmmm....I wonder what it is about eels that makes them non-Kosher. They're fish, after all, and fish are kosher, aren't they?. They certainly don't have cloven hoofs....

[ghostjmf]

And to comment on another comment I'm to lazy to find & quote from:

My memory of the painting has the participants in what people in Leonardo's time assumed was biblical garb. They probably assumed that from having seen contemporary Mediterraneans & North Africans in such garb. And they may have been right, seeing as how a lot of people wear such garb today, & haven't changed the style since Leonardo's time. Who's to say they changed it between biblical & Leonardo's time.

So, if the supper-eaters are dressed like "Biblical Mediterraneans", & are probably modelled by Leonardo's contemporaries who came from that region (being Italian, he didn't have to put out a giant casting call for Mediterranean models) why would he, with his attention to detail in other matters, have depicted them eating eels, which any smattering of research with contemporary Jews would have told him Are Not Kosher.

Just for the record:

Lamb in cherry sauce would be kosher as long as the lamb was slaughtered according to Leviticus. I've never personally had lamb in cherry sauce, but it sounds like it could be quite good.

Guinea hen with raisins would be kosher as long as the guinea hen was slaughtered per Leviticus. Cooking with raisins is not I think unusual in Mediterranean cooking.

Sardines are kosher. And there aren't even any slaughtering rules for fish; they just have to have fins & scales to be considered fish, & sardines do. Not my idea of a Passover meal, but we of European Jewish descent do eat a little gefilte fish as an appetizer, so who knows.

Sigh.

[ghostjmf]

KT says:

Hmmm....I wonder what it is about eels that makes them non-Kosher. They're fish, after all, and fish are kosher, aren't they?. They certainly don't have cloven hoofs....

If you are a creature of the sea, then, according to Leviticus, where the kosher laws are, you are kosher if you have fins & scales.

Technically catfish, which do not have scales, are not kosher (but I eat them because I'm not as strictly kosher as I was raised, & they look like fish, dammit!).

Technically swordfish, which have scales as baby fish but not as adult fish, are up for debate. A lot of authorities consider them "not kosher".

I dunno if eels have scales or not, but they certainly don't have fins. So they're Not Kosher. They're also, conceptually, yucky to me, so I wouldn't be eating them even if they were kosher.

[Bob Juch]

KT says:

Hmmm....I wonder what it is about eels that makes them non-Kosher. They're fish, after all, and fish are kosher, aren't they?. They certainly don't have cloven hoofs....

If you are a creature of the sea, then, according to Leviticus, where the kosher laws are, you are kosher if you have fins & scales.

Technically catfish, which do not have scales, are not kosher (but I eat them because I'm not as strictly kosher as I was raised, & they look like fish, dammit!).

Technically swordfish, which have scales as baby fish but not as adult fish, are up for debate. A lot of authorities consider them "not kosher".

I dunno if eels have scales or not, but they certainly don't have fins. So they're Not Kosher. They're also, conceptually, yucky to me, so I wouldn't be eating them even if they were kosher.

Eels have fins but not scales:

True eels are elongated fishes, ranging in length from 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in the one-jawed eel (Monognathus ahlstromi) to 3.75 metres (12.3 ft) in the giant moray.[2] They have no pelvic fins, and many species also lack pectoral fins. The dorsal and anal fins are fused with the caudal or tail fin, to form a single ribbon running along much of the length of the animal.

[KillerTomato]

Thanks, to ghost and Bob. It's true what they say: You learn something new every day!

While on the surface, this makes me glad I don't have to keep kosher, on the other hand I can't stand eel (I've tried it as sushi -- cooked, of course -- but it's just not for me.