Final Jeopardy: 20th Century Authors (1-28-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (1/28/2021) in the category “20th Century Authors” was:
In a 1959 article he wrote, “People began to call themselves beatniks, beats…bugniks &…I was called the ‘avatar’ of all this”
7x champ Brian Chang, an attorney from Chicago, IL, has now won $163,904. In Game 8, he finds himself facing: Zach Newkirk, a 4x Jeopardy! champ and attorney from Alexandria, VA; and and Jill Tucker, a development director from Mulino Muhlieno, OR.
Round 1 Categories: The 5 W’S, Historically – The Song Title on My Radio Display – Literature – The White House – Clothing Time – Call a “Cab”
Jill found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Literature” under the $800 clue on the 9th pick of the round. The players were in a 3-way tie with $2,000 each. Jill made it a true Daily Double and she was RIGHT.
An unfinished sequel to “The 3 Musketeers”, Dumas’ “The Red Sphinx” continues the story of this real-life Cardinal. show
Brian finished in the lead with $7,400. Zach was second with $5,000 and Jill was last with $3,800. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: Words & Phrases – Science Class – The Comics – Biographies – That’s So Gorge! – Responses in the Form of a Question
Zach found the first Daily Double in “Biographies” under the $1,600 clue on the 4th pick. He was in second place with $5,800 now, $1,600 less than Brian’s lead. He bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.
Hayden Herrera’s “Frida” tells of Kahlo’s love affair with this Russian. show
Zach got the last Daily Double in “That’s So Gorge” under the $1,200 clue on the 13th pick. In the lead with $15,000, he had $6,000 more than Brian in second place. He bet $5,000 this time and he was RIGHT again.
Wadi AL-Muluk is the Arabic name of this narrow gorge where Tutankhamen was laid to rest. show
Zach finished in the lead with $23,600. Brian was next with $12,600 and Jill was in third place with $10,600. No clues went uncovered.
ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS JACK KEROUAC?
“On the Road” author Jack Kerouac is credited with coining the term “the Beat Generation” in 1948, to describe nonconformists who chose to free themselves from societal norms and follow their own creative paths. Over the ensuing years, the term came to be associated with “offbeat” behavior. In 1958, when humorist Herb Caen coined the term “beatnik”, more negative connotations, such as lazy good-for-nothing, attached themselves. Kerouac voiced his objections to being the inspiration for beatniks, etc. in a June 1959 Playboy article. That’s where the quote comes from. According to Kerouac, what he really must have meant was spiritual. He associated “beat” with the Beatitudes.
An old clue from Ken Jennings’ 18th game in 2004: COINED WORDS & PHRASES ($1600) In 1958 columnist Herb Caen coined this word; Maynard G. Krebs on “Dobie Gillis” was one — Ken got it right. Bongo-playing, work-hating Maynard was played by Bob Denver before he became forever known as Gilligan.
Jill bet $10,500 for a $21,100 finish.
Brian bet $11,001, which brought him up to $23,601.
Zach bet $1,601 and won the game with $25,201. That gave him a 5x total of $110,870.
Upon saying goodbye to Brian, Ken Jennings told him, “we’ve already passed the cutoff for this season’s Tournament of Champions, but we’ll be seeing you for sure in next season’s tournament.”
A triple stumper from each round:
LITERATURE ($200) Former NFL tight end Roberta Muldoon is a character in this John Irving novel
RESPONSES IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION ($800) The illustrator of this series thought “the reason why he was lost was… he was slightly idiotic & didn’t know where he was going”
2 years ago: BOTH players left in Final Jeopardy! got this one in “U.K. Prime Ministers”
He was the first U.K. Prime Minister born after Elizabeth II became queen show
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Imo this was one of the best matches I have seen in a long time. Great game. Congratulations Zach
I always liked Zach. Sure looks like his game didn’t get rusty with his prolonged absence.
Very good game for all contestants.
I didn’t know about the Frida Kahlo connection with Leon Trotsky. It seems pretty obscure for a Daily Double clue, but the contestant got it, so maybe it’s more well known than I thought.
I don’t think he knew it. It’s just how quickly his mind made the connection. Kahlo-Mexican. Trotsky-murdered in Mexico. “Russian” in the clue makes Trotsky the first name to pop up. That’s how I got it right away. I’m sure the connection is very obscure but it’s a testament to how amazingly well-written J! clues are (most of the time), that they inform as well as give enough hint to make an educated guess.
Today, we got to have returning co-champions for the first time since January 18, 2016, which is now a rare occurrence due to the co-champion rule removed in early Season 31.
It turns out that the 7 month wait was worth it get to Zach Newkirk into the Tournament of Champions, and I’m very happy about it. I know it’s the next TOC, not this 1, but still.
Now with Zach back, he could definitely get his sixth win.
Congrats for Zach our returning player from the end of season 36 wins his 5th game and he is now qualified for the TOC. Speaking of TOC we will be seeing Brian again in the TOC.
Why was Zach back on the show? I guess I need to know why he left.
Hunter, the show stopped taping new episodes back in March due to the pandemic. Zach was the champ when they ran out of the episodes they had in the can.
VJ, they had filmed new episodes with Alex that ran through December. You’ll notice that Alex never walks over and shake hands, and the contestants were six feet apart and they have shields between the contestants. They ran reruns for a few months, but started showing Alex’s last episodes in November. Zach couldn’t come back originally because he was quaratined somewhere.
Rich, you may also recall there was a lapse in production between March and July and that when filming resumed, only local contestants were being called upon.
We’ll also be seeing Zach in the TOC