B'ings: "Jeopardy!"

 

            Howdy, everyone, welcome (back, I hope) to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin, I am your guide, Tim Cubbin. Kay, we got that established, that’s one of the basics. Next is that this is a B’ing. I’ve done a whole bunch of these already, so if you’ve been here before you likely know what to expect, but for those who don’t, let me help you understand what a B’ing is. Look, this is a G-Rated blog, so using an actual word would go against my policy. Now do you have it? I hope so, or else you need to know American slang (Note, my snarkiness is still going to be used). Next thing to establish is that this is about the television quiz show “Jeopardy!” For those who read my first B’ing, this will likely seem similar, but we’re going to isolate and expand on my previous post. And finally, put it all together and we now have the conclusion that there is something about “Jeopardy!” that bothers me.

            Okay, let’s start with the fact that I LOVE the quiz show, “Jeopardy!” I literally watch it every weeknight on the local syndication network in New York State (although last night the New Jersey gubernatorial debate preempted it, so I couldn’t watch it last night seeing as how IT WASN’T ON!) I am a trivia buff, I have a lot of knowledge in my head, so I always play along from on my couch (I would love to be on the show, but I have to sell myself short here and say there are things I’m weak on, such as history of countries other than the United States, geography, advanced math, anagrams, and before-and-after, so I just don’t think I could quite be able to make my way onto the set). So I’m telling you this is not a complaint about the ENTIRE show in general, but on a few policies involving the show.

            My first complaint is the dollar amounts. For those who don’t know me (which probably most of you don’t, but I know there are a few of you who do), I have obsessive-compulsive disorder. I always have to keep things in order, like when watching movie series, I view in order of release date instead of chronological order because there are often details that contradict that I pick up on (I’m a true nitpicker), and don’t get me started on reading comic books, I literally used to take hours deciding on what to read and in what order, and those are just a few to name as I really don’t want to waste your time talking about this here because an OCD post is going to be forthcoming, so we’ll pick up on all that there, all you need to know here is that order is VERY IMPORTANT to me. So now, let’s get onto that. Any viewer of “Jeopardy!” knows that the clue come in money values. The Jeopardy round is $200, $400, $600, $800, and $1000, the double Jeopardy round is $400, $800, $1200, $1600 and $2000. What bothers me is that there is no rule as to which order to pick the dollar amounts in. A player can pick ANY clue on the board on ANY time they choose. So, yeah, if I were on, I’d go from lowest to highest as I am a stickler for order. But there are players who will pick from highest to lowest in dollar values. I will literally growl at the television when the contestants do that, no kidding. But while this does irritate me, going in order exactly from highest dollar value to lowest dollar value doesn’t completely push me over the edge. BUT! If a player starts at, say, $800, then $600, then $1000, then $200, then $400, I will literally scream profanities at the player at the television. This makes my OCD go berserk. I mean, COME ON, there’s ascending dollar value amounts for a reason, not for you to dig around and drive those viewers with OCD insane! Yes, there are the hidden Daily Doubles that can totally jack up your score, and yes they are never at the lowest value and the same category, but it just doesn’t seem right to those with OCD or seem right to how the game seems like it should be played. Now, we’re going to briefly talk about opinions. This is also going to come up in another forthcoming post, so we’re only going to touch on this briefly, but we’re all entitled to our opinions. So you may say that this is a brilliant playing style, and there are people who agree with this, heck I agree with this, but to me it feels like there should be ascending value playing rules, and I’m entitled to my opinion, you’re allowed to yours, so if you think going all willy-nilly on this is fair, you’re entitled to feel this way (“willy-nilly,” what, am I three-hundred years old, whatever?).

            Another complaint of mine is something I feel some viewers will agree on: champions. So the winner gets to keep all the money they win and come back the next day. But I think there should be a limit to how many games a champion should be allowed to come back to. There are people with total photographic memory that can recall instantaneously and can hit the buzzer quickly and make amazing wagers. But if you’re putting in two other contestants without these abilities, is it really fair to them? It’s supposed to be an equal competition, not where the players go into Final Jeopardy and the question is not “who’s going to win” but “who’s going to place second and who’s going to place third?” This totally ruins the show for me when people are on for thirty-some-odd days who just can’t be beat. It stops seeming like “Jeopardy!” and more like “The Ken Jennings Show,” The James Holzhauer Show,” “The Brad Rutter Show,” or “The Matt Amodio Show.” It just gets to be too much for me. And I don’t think a player should become a millionaire on “Jeopardy!” Enough is enough. A limit seems fair to me. Something like a five game limit, I think that would be sufficient. “Jeopardy!” is on five nights a week on my cable provider, so five feels like a good run. But if you like the format of a person keeping on playing indefinitely, that’s your opinion, I respect that. But to me, me personally, I think a cap would be a good thing. You can agree with me, you and disagree with me, that’s all you, I won’t fault you for disagreeing with me, you’re you, I’m me, all that jazz (do people say that anymore or am I just old?).

            Alright, I’ve stated my cases, take them or leave them. I honestly don’t really think there’s anything more for me to say now, but, Tim Cubbin… out!