Question surprises Rodgers
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers got quite the surprise in his first episode as a guest host of “Jeopardy!”
Contestant Scott Shewfelt was stumped on the final question of the episode that aired Monday. He decided to reply by referencing a controversial Packers strategic decision in last season’s NFC championship game as he wrote, “Who wanted to kick that field goal?”
The Packers trailed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23 and had fourth-andgoal at the 8-yard line with just over two minutes when they opted to kick a field goal rather than going for the touchdown. Mason Crosby made the field goal, but the Bucs took the kickoff and maintained possession the rest of the way to win 31-26.
When Shewfelt’s question appeared on the screen, Rodgers paused before saying, “That is a great question. It should be correct, but unfortunately for this game today, it’s incorrect.”
The “Jeopardy!” Twitter account later posted a behind-the-scenes video in which Rodgers told Shewfelt, “I can see (your answer) out on the podium, and I was like, ‘Please put something about the field goal on there. You will always be all-time in my book, my friend.’ “
When Rodgers had been asked about the field-goal decision after the game, he said “I didn’t have a decision on that one.” Rodgers later added, “That wasn’t my decision, but I understand the thinking, above two minutes with all of our timeouts, but it wasn’t my decision.”
Rodgers is hosting “Jeopardy!” for the next two weeks as the show goes through a series of guest hosts to replace Alex Trebek, who died of cancer on Nov. 8.
— Associated Press
Nyong’o will miss actor’s leadership
Lupita Nyong ’o believes the upcoming “Black Panther” sequel will honor the late Chadwick Boseman and “his legacy.”
The actress, who stars as the spy Nakia in the Marvel franchise, said on Tuesday’s episode of “The Ellen Degeneres Show” that what she’ll miss most about Boseman as she makes the new movie is his “leadership.”
“He led the movie with such compassion and just presence,” Nyong ’o told Degeneres during the pretaped interview. “When Chadwick came on set, he was present, and he brought his entire being to that movie, and he was just so humble as well. That leadership will be missed.”
The film, slated to come out July 2022, will again be directed by Ryan Coogler.
“I do know for certain that (Boseman) would want us to do this, and I feel that what Ryan Coogler has planned very much honors him and his legacy,” Nyong’o told Degeneres.
Boseman died last year at age 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer.
The actor starred as the titular superhero in the first “Black Panther” film, which made more than $1.3 billion at the box office worldwide. Boseman also played Black Panther in several other Marvel movie.
— New York Daily News
Late British actor recalled by co-workers
Versatile British actor Paul Ritter, whose roles ranged from a hapless suburban patriarch in sitcom “Friday Night Dinner” to a Soviet engineer who helps cause a nuclear disaster in “Chernobyl,” has died, his agent said Tuesday.
He was 54 and had been suffering from a brain tumor.
A familiar face to British television viewers and theatregoers, Ritter also played ill-fated nuclear engineer Anatoly Dyatlov in the Emmy-winning HBO drama “Chernobyl;” the wizard Eldred Worple in “Harry Potter and The Half-blood Prince;” and a devious political operative in the James Bond film “Quantum of Solace.”
Those who worked with Ritter rated him highly. Robert Popper, creator of “Friday Night Dinner,” said Ritter “was a lovely, wonderful human being. Kind, funny, super caring and the greatest actor I ever worked with.”
“Chernobyl” screenwriter Craig Mazin said Ritter was “one of the most gentle, gracious and brilliant people I’ve ever known, much less worked with. We lost him today, and far too soon.”
Ritter was a compelling stage actor, a frequent and memorable cast member in productions at Britain’s National Theatre.
He also appeared in “Art” at London’s Old Vic and on a West End stage as Prime Minister John Major, performing opposite Helen Mirren’s Queen Elizabeth II in the royal drama “The Audience.”
Agency Markham, Froggatt & Irwin said Ritter died Monday night “peacefully at home with his wife Polly and sons Frank and Noah by his side.”