The Buzz on Buzzy

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cinemaniax7
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The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by cinemaniax7 »

The interwebs are abuzz with chatter — good and bad — about current J! champ Buzzy Cohen. In this article, Cohen is interviewed about the polarizing nature of his game play and showmanship:

http://www.thewrap.com/we-need-to-talk- ... rdy-champ/
chmmr
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by chmmr »

I don't like the round glasses and the fact that he keeps winning through dumb luck. He seems like an alright person though.
IronNeck
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by IronNeck »

I'm always gob-smacked by the what the hell people consider "divisive" or "polarizing" among Jeopardy champions. Buzzy is as genial, polite, calm, and normal as they come.

Look, just because some morons on Twitter write insults about any and every contestant doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the contestants themselves. Although the article did amuse me in one regard.

The 18 year-old who talked about pushing Buzzy into a locker;

https://twitter.com/typicallytrang/stat ... 7227206656

looks like this

https://twitter.com/typicallytrang/stat ... 0549094400

High comedy. Reminded me of this classic meme.
chmmr wrote:I don't like the round glasses and the fact that he keeps winning through dumb luck.
Yep, pure "dumb luck". At no point does knowledge or skill ever factor into being a 6-day champion.
cosmos
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by cosmos »

I don't know if he gave his first name on the show because I skipped the interviews. But it's Austin and this is a good article from his hometown paper: http://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-ent ... -1.1601395
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CailinGaoilge
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by CailinGaoilge »

]Divisive???

Every single time there is a champion with even half an ounce of personality, somehow that person becomes "divisive", or "annoying", or "hated". Arthur Chu, Jennifer Morrow, Matt Jackson, Buzzy Cohen and many, many more - people who play the game well, and achieve something the vast majority of us (much present company excepted, of course) could never do.

It drives me mad. :roll:

*makes mental note to stay away from the J! Facebook page today*
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TheSunWillComeOut
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by TheSunWillComeOut »

CailinGaoilge wrote:]Divisive???

Every single time there is a champion with even half an ounce of personality, somehow that person becomes "divisive", or "annoying", or "hated". Arthur Chu, Jennifer Morrow, Matt Jackson, Buzzy Cohen and many, many more - people who play the game well, and achieve something the vast majority of us (much present company excepted, of course) could never do.

It drives me mad. :roll:

*makes mental note to stay away from the J! Facebook page today*
Over the past year, I've learned that the great irony is that as much as this type of champion is accused of "ruining" Jeopardy!, the show LOVES it when this happens. It gets people fired up and talking about Jeopardy! on social media! That is EXACTLY what they want. Not every week, but at least a few times a season if they can help it. They like a good mix of people so everybody has contestants they can root for and contestants they can root against, and they know that what defines those two types differs from viewer to viewer, so best to have all bases covered with a spectrum of personalities.

Don't believe me? Go to J!'s official Twitter and Facebook, where they're subtly stoking the flames by asking what people think about Buzzy. Don't like it? Wanna complain? Go right ahead, but know the show is laughing at you and watching the ratings creep upward as your friends tune in to see what's got you all fired up.

ha
ha
ha
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xxaaaxx
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by xxaaaxx »

Funny thing is I find him rather unremarkable (other than the fact that he's a good multi-day champ of course). I don't mean that as an insult, or to insinuate that I need (or even care about) more "personality" out of J! contestants, but divisive!? Whenever I see "controversy", "J! champion", and "FB/Twitter" together, my instinct is to just mumble something about social media morons under my breath and be done with it, but I try to keep an open mind about things...and then I made the mistake of reading the tweets in that article. F***ing social media morons.
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by mxc_takeshi »

No problems with him- seems like a nice guy; I must say that I have thought from his first game that he looked like a fusion of Buddy Holly and Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters.
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by pauerpoint »

CailinGaoilge wrote:]Divisive???

Every single time there is a champion with even half an ounce of personality, somehow that person becomes "divisive", or "annoying", or "hated". Arthur Chu, Jennifer Morrow, Matt Jackson, Buzzy Cohen and many, many more - people who play the game well, and achieve something the vast majority of us (much present company excepted, of course) could never do.

It drives me mad. :roll:

*makes mental note to stay away from the J! Facebook page today*
I'm just glad this circus didn't happen to me (that I know of, at least), I would be so mortified. Although I guess it does mean that I don't have even half an ounce of personality.
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CailinGaoilge
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by CailinGaoilge »

pauerpoint wrote:
CailinGaoilge wrote:]Divisive???

Every single time there is a champion with even half an ounce of personality, somehow that person becomes "divisive", or "annoying", or "hated". Arthur Chu, Jennifer Morrow, Matt Jackson, Buzzy Cohen and many, many more - people who play the game well, and achieve something the vast majority of us (much present company excepted, of course) could never do.

It drives me mad. :roll:

*makes mental note to stay away from the J! Facebook page today*
I'm just glad this circus didn't happen to me (that I know of, at least), I would be so mortified. Although I guess it does mean that I don't have even half an ounce of personality.
I recall enjoying your games and gameplay very much - so I doubt that's true ;) But very fair point: what I should have said was rather: half an ounce of personality beyond what is deemed acceptable by the TwitFace loudmouths.

And, yes, I can well understand that Jeopardy! enjoys the attention and the (no pun intended) buzz, but that doesn't mean that the individual contestants who are the butt of this online hate-frenzy enjoy it.
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by dhkendall »

TheSunWillComeOut wrote:
CailinGaoilge wrote:]Divisive???

Every single time there is a champion with even half an ounce of personality, somehow that person becomes "divisive", or "annoying", or "hated". Arthur Chu, Jennifer Morrow, Matt Jackson, Buzzy Cohen and many, many more - people who play the game well, and achieve something the vast majority of us (much present company excepted, of course) could never do.

It drives me mad. :roll:

*makes mental note to stay away from the J! Facebook page today*
Over the past year, I've learned that the great irony is that as much as this type of champion is accused of "ruining" Jeopardy!, the show LOVES it when this happens. It gets people fired up and talking about Jeopardy! on social media! That is EXACTLY what they want. Not every week, but at least a few times a season if they can help it. They like a good mix of people so everybody has contestants they can root for and contestants they can root against, and they know that what defines those two types differs from viewer to viewer, so best to have all bases covered with a spectrum of personalities.

Don't believe me? Go to J!'s official Twitter and Facebook, where they're subtly stoking the flames by asking what people think about Buzzy. Don't like it? Wanna complain? Go right ahead, but know the show is laughing at you and watching the ratings creep upward as your friends tune in to see what's got you all fired up.

ha
ha
ha
I'm assuming that most of the kids I went to elementary, junior high, and high school with are still alive. So if J! is looking for contestants who viewers hate, well, they have my number, I can provide a few hundred haters ready-made for ya!
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This Is Kirk!
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by This Is Kirk! »

pauerpoint wrote:I'm just glad this circus didn't happen to me (that I know of, at least), I would be so mortified. Although I guess it does mean that I don't have even half an ounce of personality.
It's OK, Andrew, we love you anyway! :lol:
IronNeck
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by IronNeck »

xxaaaxx wrote:Funny thing is I find him rather unremarkable (other than the fact that he's a good multi-day champ of course).
I like Buzzy, but tend to agree. Outside of maybe Matt Jackson (and even that's a stretch), I can't recall a single champion since I began watching in October of last year who displayed an abundance of personality. They were all polite and calm throughout the games. Certainly, I would be much more of a wildman if I were ever on the show.

I guess there are a large portion of viewers who don't give a damn about the actual questions and trivia portion, but just focus on anything and everything about contestants.
mxc_takeshi wrote:No problems with him- seems like a nice guy; I must say that I have thought from his first game that he looked like a fusion of Buddy Holly and Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters.
Come on, now. He's clearly a larger, better-looking mix of Harold Lloyd and John Turturro in Barton Fink.
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by harrumph »

He does give us a reason to root for him getting a lock.
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by brick »

harrumph wrote:He does give us a reason to root for him getting a lock.
Ooooh, not me. I think his lock answers are the worst. I didn't have any problem with him at all until he started that.
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by dhkendall »

brick wrote:
harrumph wrote:He does give us a reason to root for him getting a lock.
Ooooh, not me. I think his lock answers are the worst. I didn't have any problem with him at all until he started that.
It makes me think of Alex Jacob, who did the same thing but with him I'm convinced it was a "not showing your cards" reason - not letting potential opponents know if he knew it or not. (The trivia equivalent of a "muck"). Perhaps Buzzy is doing the same.
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John Boy
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by John Boy »

IronNeck wrote:I'm always gob-smacked by the what the hell people consider "divisive" or "polarizing" among Jeopardy champions. Buzzy is as genial, polite, calm, and normal as they come.
I was frankly stunned just to read the "headline" that some people are trashing this guy, esp. for his style of play. As if, what? He's cheating?

I won't waste a minute of my day reading why someone else needs to find fault with Buzzy. I agree wholeheartedly with the above: he is as pleasant and as much fun to watch as any player in a long time. I have loved some of his interview stories (which itself it a minor miracle, considering how lame most interview stories are), I've loved his "Trebek" comments the last couple of nights when he had lock games and chose to use his "answer" space for something besides an answer), and I've loved his calm, friendly demeanor.

Anyone ripping for him about how he plays the game, well that just makes me sad.
John Boy
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by John Boy »

brick wrote:
harrumph wrote:He does give us a reason to root for him getting a lock.
Ooooh, not me. I think his lock answers are the worst. I didn't have any problem with him at all until he started that.
I suppose he could guard his lock wins by betting $0 and writing "Hi, Mom!" What he's doing is way more fun and I find it quite enjoyable.
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by Linear Gnome »

To me, the only thing with the potential to be remotely divisive are the FJ! responses. I find them to be mildly amusing. I haven't been impressed by his play this week, but sometimes a champion is fortunate to have comparatively weak competition in the games with boards that are less favorable to him/her.

(I'm with John Boy in the "not going to waste a minute of my day to find out more" camp.)
brick
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Re: The Buzz on Buzzy

Post by brick »

dhkendall wrote:
brick wrote:
harrumph wrote:He does give us a reason to root for him getting a lock.
Ooooh, not me. I think his lock answers are the worst. I didn't have any problem with him at all until he started that.
It makes me think of Alex Jacob, who did the same thing but with him I'm convinced it was a "not showing your cards" reason - not letting potential opponents know if he knew it or not. (The trivia equivalent of a "muck"). Perhaps Buzzy is doing the same.
Hated it when he did it, too.
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