Jeopardy

So, I love watching Jeopardy. And this is kind of funny, because at the same time it's the most annoying game in the world. But still... there's something really gratifying about watching a contestant's pure happiness at answering the most obscure trivia questions. Some of us are good at art, some are good at math, some at mechanical stuff, and then some are just good at knowing everything there is to know. These are the jeopardy contestants.

One of my favorite moments is when a contestant chooses a "daily double" square. The look that follows is something like, "Oh, my. Well this is very pleasing and fortunate," which is also a description of the look every time they answer a question correctly. --Those are the likeable contestants (likeable in a mockable way). We as viewers are impartial towards these contestants because although they know much more useless information than we do, they do not flaunt it. They know they are smart, but have the humility to pretend that they are slightly surprised when it comes through.

There are also the contestants that you immediately hate, because 1)they are very proud of themselves for simply being on jeopardy while you are merely on the couch at home, 2)they smirk, yes, smirk when answering correctly, as if they always get every answer right, and 3)they always get the answer right.

Sometimes there are awkward moments on jeopardy when a particularly tough question comes up and no one answers. Alex feels uncomfortable, the contestants feel uncomfortable, I feel uncomfortable, and so does the rest of America. I think Alex is annoyed, and the contestants' self-esteem drops at least 500 points, whereupon they must move decisively in the following questions to make up for such an error. The likeable contestants just press on with earnest effort, whereas the humiliating situation of not knowing who forgot to leave property taxes in his will causes the hated contestants to monopolize the board (even more if possible) in order to assert that they are, once again, the Ruler of the Universe. In return, America hates them even more, yet strangely reveres them in a whole new way once they win the whole game and know lots more stuff than we do.

An interesting fact about jeopardy is that Alex really doesn't care about the answering in the form of a question rule (he simply reminds them to rephrase their answer if necessary), whereas my brother Dan will heatedly point out that although I knew the answer a full three minutes before he did, I did not phrase it in the form of a question and should therefore be sent back to second grade.

I hate (love) jeopardy.

Love, Jennifer