Final Jeopardy: Writer/Directors (12-25-20)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (1/15/2009) in the category “Writers/Directors” was:

His headstone, using a line from one of his scripts, says, “I’m a writer but then nobody’s perfect”

This week wraps up with the game that originally aired on 1/15/2009, featuring a category filmed at “Niagara Falls.” The contestants were: new champ Greg Jones, a college instructor from Chincoteague Island, VA, who won $23,201 in his first game; Meagan Grote, a bookseller from Lakeland, FL; and Bill Menezes, a non-profit director from Denver, CO.

Round 1 Categories: Books & Authors – Car Talk – A Series of Unfortunate Events – Elvis Costello – Pump It “Up” – Niagara Falls

Greg found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Books & Authors” under the $800 clue on the 4th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $800, twice as much as Bill in second place. He bet the $1,000 allowance and drew a blank so he was WRONG.

The first line of his 1951 novel mentions a “lousy childhood … and all that David Copperfield kind of crap”. show

WHO IS J.D. SALINGER?

Bill finished in the lead with $5,200. Meagan was second with $4,600 and Greg was last with $3,600. No clues went uncovered.

Round 2 Categories: Medieval Philosophy – Dance! – I Was His Veep – Fun with Astrology – Missing Elements – You Get an “F”

Meagan found the first Daily Double in “Medieval Philosophy” under the $1,600 clue on the 11th pick. She was in second place with $6,200 now, $1,800 less than Greg’s lead. She bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.

A major figure in logic & semantics, he’s best known for falling in love with a student. show

WHO IS ABELARD?

Meagan got the last Daily Double in “Fun with Astrology” under the $2,000 clue, with 10 clues left after it. In the lead with $13,800, she had $3,800 more than Greg in second place. She bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.

The 2 signs made of of 2 separate but identical creatures. show

WHAT ARE PISCES & GEMINI?

Meagan finished in the lead with $17,400. Greg was next with $14,400 and Bill was in third place with $10,800. No clues went uncovered.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS BILLY WILDER?

The “nobody’s perfect” part of the inscription on Billy Wilder’s headstone is the last line of his 1959 hit movie, “Some Like It Hot”. Jerry (Jack Lemmon), disguised as “Daphne”, is trying to convince Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown) that they can’t marry. Osgood won’t take no for an answer even when Jerry reveals that he is a man. That ending line is No. 48 on the American Film Institute’s Top 100 Movie Quotes.

Billy Wilder got more Oscars and Oscar nominations as a producer, screenwriter and director than we can possibly list in this short space. He was, in fact, the first person to get Oscars in all 3 roles for the same picture (1960’s “The Apartment”). Check all that out on IMDB.

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Bill thought it was Alfred Hitchcock. That cost him $10,798. He finished with two bucks.

Greg got it right. He bet $14,399, almost doubling his score to $28,799.

Meagan got it right, too. She bet $11,500 and won the game with $28,900. Meagan Grote became the new Jeopardy! champ.

A triple stumper from each round:

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS ($200) It ain’t no walk in the park; in 2004, England’s Dept. of Health said 1,839 people–78% of them kids–fell out of these

I WAS HIS VEEP ($1200) Millard Fillmore (not the duck of comics fame)

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: ONE out of two players got this FJ in “Geography & the Movies”

Named the first U.S. National monument in 1906, it was featured prominently in a blockbuster movie 71 years later show

WHAT IS DEVILS TOWER?

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