It’s been a great week for Jeopardy! fans, as the half-hour show has been followed by a one-hour show featuring six recent “masters” – a group that contains a number of colorful characters. These latter games are high-intensity, with as much showmanship as is allowed by the format (thanks especially to Matt Amadio, Mattea Roach, Sam Buttrey, and James Holzhauer). And you see what a huge role fate plays in the proceedings. Last night Amadio missed an easy one – answering Peter O’Toole instead of Paul Newman as the actor with piercing blue eyes – that Roach then answered, and shortly after landed the Daily Double, which she got right, and went on to win the game – after having been in the hole at the start of Double Jeopardy! This also illustrated the game’s fatal flaw, which is that someone with prodigious knowledge can be tripped up by a piece of worthless trivia.
