Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

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Leander
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Leander »

Bamaman wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:12 pm I turned it on in the middle of the second clue so I was a little taken aback not to hear Alex’s voice. Did Ken say anything at the beginning beyond the usual greetings?

I was pleasantly surprised how well he did. Being very familiar with the show and how it works was no doubt a help for him. Reserving judgment on if he deserves the job until I see more of him and the other auditions.

No guess on FJ.
Ken opened with what seemed to be a very heartfelt tribute to Alex.
I thought he did OK hosting. I’d say his pace was a little too fast, and his readings were a little too flat. He missed some nuances in delivery that a trained announcer would bring. Curious to see how the other hosts do.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by MarkBarrett »

Bamaman wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:12 pm I turned it on in the middle of the second clue so I was a little taken aback not to hear Alex’s voice. Did Ken say anything at the beginning beyond the usual greetings?
...
Yup:
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by georgespelvin »

For the few people still here that know me well, I got this weird feeling that Ken Jennings or at least the clue writers were sending shout outs to me. :lol: I'm referring to "Nighthawks" and the Final Jeopardy category (great clue which I missed). I'm currently writing clues for a tournament of champions I am doing for my Facebook trivia contest and that would have been a great one to use. Can't do it now though.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by The Talking Mime »

Had "Viva" translated in my head, but then drew a total blank. Couldn't get further than that. Wrote "La Bamba" just to have something written down. I should've written the minimal translation I had, since everything clicked when I saw Julia's incorrect response.

Ken held his own really well I thought, but it'll still take a while to get used to not seeing or hearing Alex. It'll be interesting to see how this goes over the next six weeks.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by talkingaway »

Quickest FJ! get in the Ken Jennings era. I took the intended route of "long live the" = "viva el/la/los/las", and the 1960s category was enough to get me to the right final word, Viagra commercial or no.

In the "it just didn't stick" category, I watched about 4-5 minutes of a Keith Haring show on a rerun of PBS "American Masters" this weekend. I'm familiar with his style, and if you showed me a characteristic one of his pieces of art, I could get to "1980s pop artist who died of AIDS-related complications", but the name just wasn't there.
Bamaman wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:12 pm I turned it on in the middle of the second clue so I was a little taken aback not to hear Alex’s voice. Did Ken say anything at the beginning beyond the usual greetings?

I was pleasantly surprised how well he did. Being very familiar with the show and how it works was no doubt a help for him. Reserving judgment on if he deserves the job until I see more of him and the other auditions.
Yup, he addressed it head on.



And he concluded the show with a "Thank you, Alex". I wonder if that's going to be a thing. I thought Ken did very well. He kept
the pace up, and was a little faster than Alex at reading the clues. Well, faster than TODAY'S Alex - if you stroll thorough some old 80s YouTube videos, you'll notice that Alex is a lot faster (and higher pitched) - I don't think that's to evade algorithm detection, but I could be wrong.

The only weird thing I noticed is on DD2, the contestant never technically gave a wager...he just said "Let's do it again". If I were an EP giving Ken notes after the show, that would be kind of a big one...Standards and Practices wouldn't like it the contestant later on said, "I meant to bet X again, not bet it all again". Granted, in this case, he couldn't bet X, as he had less money. And Ken -DID- respond with "True Daily Double!", but we never heard the contestant confirm it.

(For the record, I hate the phrase TDD anyway, so I'm biased.)

But, overall, I thought Ken did a great job. There are very few hosts that would be deal-breakers for me, and there's only one host who would be perfect...and, sadly, we saw his last episode on Friday.

I did notice Ken walked to the lectern after his intro, right before he started introducing the categories - you never saw Alex do that in recent years, probably after the time he tore his Achilles? Alex just always seemed teleport from his "Hello to the contestants" location to behind the lectern while he reads the category names.
MarkBarrett wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 5:15 pm Now that I have had time to rewatch today's opening and compare it to one from last week I can see there are slight changes. While Alex is still seen, the larger images of him in a more close-up view are gone. It's so subtle that it's barely noticeable from the previous weeks this season.
I never watch the intros, but I was watching for Alex in this one...and I only saw him in one little picture with the Clue Crew. I thought there might have been more, but I wasn't sure. It'll be interesting to see if the others have been changed.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by econgator »

TenPoundHammer wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:32 pm Knights for $1200 was MASSIVE negbait for Paul McCartney.
Nope. Not with a 2018 date it wasn't. He's been Sir Paul for decades.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by triviawayne »

Ken was reading fast, and while that was strange after being used to Alex, it wasn't bad.

I know Tanay's background, I'm guessing he was going for anticipation buzzing in at the start instead of reacting to the light. He caught on quick though, and had the result I was expecting to see. He'll be a good champion.

instaget on FJ, don't know if it would've been so instant if I hadn't just dealt with a question over the weekend about Las Vegas being The Meadows.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by zakharov »

Pretty damn good for a host without the usual background for a job like this. A little fast, I guess, but I'd rather clear the boards than not.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by davey »

I was moved by Ken's tribute. I agree with him, "grace" is the word.
As others have said, got a little bogged down by "The Meadows" till realizing translating the first part was easier and led to the correct response...
I grew up near a racetrack in PA called The Meadows. Now I realize it was probably a subtle call-out to Las Vegas...The only translation of the place I ever heard before is "Lost Wages"... ;)
I feel obliged to report for those who read the Reretaken Down thread that "Viva Las Vegas" has been rated on IMDb only 6,817 times...
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by econgator »

Also, repel and rappel are homophones? Ok.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Bamaman »

Thanks for the video. That was well done by him. Johnny’s intro was just...different. I know it was hard for him.

Ken did seem to be rushing but some of that could have been nerves.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Woof »

Yes, I thought that Ken did a quite creditable job of guest hosting. My wife was less convinced, comparing his performance to Vanna White filling in for Pat on Wheel. I thought that was a bit unkind, but whatevs. I’ll wait and see how his performance changes with practice. Got no farther than Viva and the article in FJ.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by floridagator »

Nice! I have a feeling we will watch this episode again in 36 and a half years when Ken surpasses Alex's tenure, and we will all laugh. I have no doubt that that Ken will smooth out any rough edges he has now. What was jarring to me, and which I hadn't noticed before, is that his voice is considerably higher than Alex's.

As of today, Ken and Pat Sajak have hosted an identical number of episodes.

I got quire right away. It's a word I use in my work because we have these sets of papers that come in bundles of 30. I call them that name mostly to be a show-off. Same way I drop words like aliquot and hypnopompic into conversation. (I know 30 != 24. Don't flame me.)

FJ was an instant. Instead of starting with long live, I started with The Meadows.

I fell for the neg bait on the knighted beatle. Of course I instantly knew Paul McCartney was a knight, and I rang in before considering the year was too recent.

The new champ was impressive. I hope he'll be around for a little bit.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by davey »

econgator wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:27 pm Also, repel and rappel are homophones? Ok.
They don't have to be, and some dictionaries list other pronunciations, but the Google dictionary says they are and they sure sound alike when I say them...
re·pel
/rəˈpel/
rap·pel
/rəˈpel/
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by cinemaniax7 »

Ken J comported himself well. 'Nuff said for now.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by dude33 »

Ken did great. I also thought that he read a bit fast, but considering it's his first episode, it could have been much shakier.
Tenay is also very impressive and could have a good run.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by MarkBarrett »

floridagator wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:59 pm Nice! I have a feeling we will watch this episode again in 36 and a half years when Ken surpasses Alex's tenure, and we will all laugh. I have no doubt that that Ken will smooth out any rough edges he has now. What was jarring to me, and which I hadn't noticed before, is that his voice is considerably higher than Alex's.
...
On The Voice this past season one of the singers on Blake's team had a deep voice. Comments about that trait included gargling with broken glass and DNA from a lion. There must be some kind of exercises or mild practices that could get Ken's voice a little more toward traditional game show host that do not involve alcohol intake.

For you to only discover tonight that Ken does not have the "pipes" of Alex surprises me since Ken has played so many games of J!
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by jeff6286 »

triviawayne wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:57 pm Ken was reading fast, and while that was strange after being used to Alex, it wasn't bad.

I know Tanay's background, I'm guessing he was going for anticipation buzzing in at the start instead of reacting to the light. He caught on quick though, and had the result I was expecting to see. He'll be a good champion.
I think this may be less to do with buzzing and more to do with knowledge. Lots of buzzer races in the first round but DJ has more difficult clues in areas like art, history, and geography, and not everyone's going to be able to keep up with a solid trivia player like Tanay.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by SBurrus »

Ken did a great job, considering it was his first time out. The game went very fast; when I clicked stop on the DVR recording to delete the episode, it showed the game, plus commericals, lasted 24 minutes; usually the show lasts anywhere from 25 to 27 minutes.

I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO far out in orbit around another planet on FJ...that's all I'm going to say about that.
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Re: Monday, January 11, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by ParrotRob »

econgator wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:27 pm Also, repel and rappel are homophones? Ok.
Yes, at least according to Oxford.

re·pel
/rəˈpel/

rap·pel
/rəˈpel/
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