‘Jeopardy!’ is filled with teachable moments
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The theme music captures the show’s attitude: corny and confident.
Da, da, da, da. Da, da, da. Instantly recognizable, it was a lullaby before it signaled fans to take their seats.
The television show’s chief draw is in the insufferably difficult categories and answers that must be in question form.
But the star for so many years was its calm, classy Canadian host, Alex Trebek.
That he died in 2020 of pancreatic cancer still stirs bittersweet memories of a man who operated as if safeguarding an institution.
“Jeopardy!” remains an institution.
It’s a national classroom, a laboratory of continuing education coursework and, for some, a regimen that keeps the brain agile and fights memory loss.
It has earned a coveted spot alongside the New York Times crossword puzzle (I can’t finish one), Sudoku (never interested) and the latest puzzle craze, Wordle (yet to try).
Where else but “Jeopardy!” might we be exposed to a litany of details about the year “1922,” in which reigning champion Amy Schneider buzzed in for this daunting clue, “a 1922 compact divided the water of this river between Upper Basin states like Utah & Lower Basin ones like California.”
“What is the Colorado?” she said, according to super-fan site “J! Archive.”
In a Final Jeopardy category, “Words of Victor Hugo,” she also correctly answered “What is the guillotine?” to this clue: “This object is the ultimate expression of law, and its name is vengeance; it is not neutral, nor does it allow us to remain neutral.”
Schneider has answered correctly well over 1,000 times.
Developed by the late quiz show king Merv Griffin, “Jeopardy!” has made television history, no less through its longevity and ratings, and endured controversy after Trebek’s death with an unwise replacement now gone.
It settled on two permanent hosts, actress Mayim Bialik, who has a doctoral degree in neuroscience, and top-winning contestant Ken Jennings, whose rapport with contestants, including Schneider, has been noted.
I’ve watched a lot more “Jeopardy!” during the coronavirus pandemic than in a long time. It’s one of the perks of working from home, where CNN stays on most of the day, if at the lowest perceptible volume.
Schneider has made history in several ways. On Friday, she reached her 38th consecutive game and passed the $1.3 million mark in winnings.
She’s leading a movement to bring back the demure pearl necklace, yet before each show, in her head she calls on the lyrics of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”
“You better lose yourself in the music, the moment,” they say. “You own it, you better never let it go. You only get one shot.”
She’s the highest-earning female contestant in the show’s history, fulfilling a prediction by her eighth-grade classmates who voted her “most likely to be on ‘Jeopardy!’ ”
She has tied for second place with Jeopardy winner Matt Amodio, though host Jennings still holds the No. 1 spot with 74 consecutive contests.
She’s a software engineer manager from Oakland, Calif., who lives openly as a transgender woman.
News reports have noted she’s not the first openly trans woman to appear on the show, nor its first trans champion.
Her demeanor has made her stand out. She’s a gracious winner but is poised, focused and steely with superb strategic skills and an all-american smile. She has won over fans.
Mostly.
In December, some questioned whether she really is the first woman to join the ranks of the show’s four top winners, the rest male.
On Twitter, @Jeopardamy responded with aplomb, seemingly channeling Trebek.
“I’d like to thank all the people who have taken the time, during this busy holiday season, to reach out and explain to me that, actually, I’m a man,” she wrote. “Every single one of you is the first person ever to make that very clever point, which had never once before crossed my mind.”
Most of her tweets, however, are about the game. She self-reviews each performance.
“Once again, time for a big Final Jeopardy wager, and once again, I missed it! However, this is one that I don’t really feel that bad about; I simply had no idea what ‘The Paper Chase’ was about, and you can’t know everything.”
Through her appearances, she’s teaching us how to play the game. She has the courage to play on her own terms.
“Of all the things that have come out of my Jeopardy run,” she tweeted this week, “I will always be most proud of any good that I’ve managed to do for the trans community.”
She recently talked about the eventuality of losing.
I’m not looking forward to that episode.
The institution of “Jeopardy!” will keep teaching us through knowledge and trivia and in surprising ways that will keep us listening for that familiar jingle.