Final Jeopardy: Radio History (3-8-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (3/8/2021) in the category “Radio History” was:
A 1949 broadcast in Spanish of this drama from 11 years before caused mass panic in Ecuador & the destruction of the radio station
New champ Laura Portwood-Stacer, an author & editor orig. from Livonia, MI, won $19,400 last Friday. In Game 2, she is up against: Justin Yaeger, a high school history teacher from Studio City, CA; and Matt Wierman, an aerospace engineer orig. from Lake Mary, FL.
Round 1 Categories: History According to Herodotus – Real Reviews of the Novel – TV Shows in 2 Words – D Middle of the Word – The Bourgeoisie – Curve Your Enthusiasm
Laura found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “History According to Herodotus” under the $600 clue, with 2 clues to go after it. She was in the lead with $6,000, $2,200 more than Matt in second place. She bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
Skeptical for once, Herodotus doubted the accuracy of this poem, questioning why Greeks would fight for so long over one woman. show
Laura finished in the lead with $8,000. Matt was second with $4,600 and Justin was last with $3,000. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: Composers – Science Time – Strange Bedfellows – You Can’t Have Just One – Port “L” – The Cake Is a Lie
Matt found the first Daily Double in “Port ‘L'” under the $1,600 clue, with 8 clues left after it. He was in the lead with $15,400 now, $3,800 more than Laura in second place. He bet $4,000 and came up with “Le Ber.” That was WRONG.
Meaning “the harbor”, this French port was the seat of the Belgian government for a time during World War I. show
2 clues later, Matt landed on the last Daily Double in “Composers” under the $1,600 clue. Still In the lead, he had $13,400, $1,800 more than Laura in second place. He bet $3,000 and took a shot at it with Strauss. That was WRONG.
Nicknamed “Papa”, this 18th century man composed more than 100 symphonies. show
Laura finished in the lead with $15,600. Matt was next with $11,600 and Justin was in third place with $10,200. No clues went uncovered.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS “THE WAR OF THE WORLDS”?
Weird New Jersey’s website has a sensational account of the effects of the Orson Welles’ October 30, 1938 “The War of the Worlds” broadcast. The alleged mass hysteria caused by the broadcast has since been largely dismissed as an urban legend. However, that didn’t stop residents of West Windsor, NJ from commemorating the time their area was thought to be invaded by Martians.
Skepticality.com, on the other hand, has an account of the very real riot that occurred in Ecuador after the 1949 War of the Worlds broadcast: “The year was 1949, the date February 12th and the place Quito, the Ecuadorian capital city and home at the time to some 250,000 people. It should have been just another routine dramatic broadcast by the city’s principle radio station, but by the end of that evening, the local newspaper office (home to the radio station) would be a smouldering ruin and at least six people dead at the hands of an enraged mob.”
Justin left the “s” off “Worlds” in his response so, unfortunately, it could not be accepted. He lost his $5,100 bet and finished with $5,100.
Matt got it right. He added $10,014 to his score and finished with $21,614.
Laura got it right, too. She bet $7,601 and won the game with $23,201. Her 2-day total is $42,601.
A triple stumper from each round:
REAL REVIEWS OF THE NOVEL ($600) “Characterization in general is weak… nor is the commander strongly drawn. Again, the aunts are best… it lacks imagination”
THE CAKE IS A LIE ($1200) This make-up, a trademark of the Noxell Corporation, is applied with a damp sponge & used as a foundation
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Word Origins”
This 8-letter word for a reaction against a trend comes from an engineering term for a jolt caused by a gap in machine parts show
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I CRY FOUL!!!
If you are going to knock Justin for leaving off the “s” in “Worlds” then you have to rule that Matt got it WRONG as well for leaving off “THE” at the beginning of the title!!!
The show will not take much off for spelling regarding the final question, but it will typically do so if something is omitted which would be crucial as to its accuracy. In this case, “War Of The World” could clearly refer to something other than H.G. Well’s 1898 novel.
It’s a well known rule, on the Jeopardy website and communicated to the players, that leading articles (‘a’, ‘and’, and ‘the’) may be added or omitted without penalty, so long as the resulting (abbreviated) answer is not a well-known work in its own right.
So the decision is well within the standard rules of the show, which have been publicly known for many years.
I was wondering how Lisbon is the westernmost capital in Europe. If the question had said continental Europe I would agree. Reykjavik is 21.9462 degrees west while Lisbon is 9.1393 degrees west.
That is a good point – it probably would have been better to include “continental” in the clue. I guess they felt it was unnecessary given the category and information in the rest of the clue.
sloppy clue writing
If Matt had answered either of those two DDs correctly, he’d likely have won the game. Le Havre and Papa Haydn aren’t that well known, generally, although I happened to know both. (I knew the latter only because we have a local restaurant Papa Haydn’s famous for its desserts.) Very sharp group tonight, though.
I think the easier route to Haydn was probably the mention of the 100+ symphonies. No famous composer comes close to that symphonic output, and that fact has appeared on the show a number of times.
If I recall correctly, James answered “Le Havre” for a Daily Double in the GOAT tournament.
Yes, JP, James got that Le Havre DD in the GOAT about the old name of the port. There is a city in Maryland with the old name. It was also the name of an episode of Boardwalk Empire
The final question was only too easy.
I like Katie couric she Actually did really well
The total Coryat score between the three of them today is $43,000 out of $54,000.
When spoken together, the categories “Port’L'” and “The cake is a lie” are supposed to be a play on words. But I don’t get it. Can anyone please explain? Thanks.
Maybe this wikipedia article will help, klm — the cake is a lie
yes, very helpful. thank you VJ.
I had no idea they were supposed to be a play on words, thanks Kim and VJ.
The Atwood novel was the only one I missed in the category. I guess “commander” and “aunts” were supposed to be the giveaways? I would be very difficult to convince to read that particular novel.
It was 4,000 that Matt bet on his first DD, he missed it but then gained 2,000 lost 3,000 on another DD. This marks the first time that we have the first female guest host Katie Couric and her money will be donated for her charity.
Matt didn’t have much luck with the daily doubles in the second round but it did give Laura the advantage today. Still can’t even believe no one knew the Margaret Atwood novel. A good start for our returning champ but I hope she can build up on her win