JEOPARDY Loves the 90s!
You know, no one talks about “Jeopardy!” as much anymore. Ever since that winning machine (Ken Jennings) was beaten by that IBM robot “Watson,” it feels like people just don’t have the same fondness for the answer and question game, its midi-like tones that play as the gamescreens fill with their dollar values (the ancient sounds of basic computing), Alex Trebek’s cold persnickety superiority, or the frenzied pace wherein a “Daily Double” provides a welcome respite to catch one’s breath. But the “Jeopardy!” people have shown they know how to catch up with the times, capitalizing on the instant nostalgia culture of the modern day (wherein it is now retro to reminisce about the Vh1 “I Love the 90s” specials). In their own variation, they have created a “Battle of the Decades” tournament. And this week they’re focusing on, you guessed it, the 90s (!) with champions competing against each other in the greatest hip nerdgasm of games (outstripping Risk and Settlers of Cattan in one fell swoop). Even better, is that we have the most condensed reduction of the “Jeopardy!” personalities through this lens, focused on the special kind of people who could not just win the game, but win it several times. AND even more glorious, is that when you meet each competitor you get a “Then and Now” moment with these delightfully kooky (and sometimes creepy) characters when they first won those many moons ago.
In revisiting the champions of the 90s, the biggest treat lies in the always-strange interview sections between the first two rounds of the show. We now have the pleasure of seeing how kind (or cruel) time and fate have been to these folks since their halcyon week behind that electronic podium / TV screen with their stylus signature displayed. Where else but in the “Jeopardy!” decade o’ champions would you find a common ground for the following contestants: a blind man whose Jeopardy championship made him desirable (he’s now a happy husband and father); an Indian professor from Texas named Babu who preemptively spent the $5,000 he would earn for reaching the quart-finals on a snazzy camera, to take pictures of his cat and post them on the internet (he may have been joking, but he never had a chance to win and ended the game with $0.00, thus not advancing); and a woman who once worked as a lawyer for biotech companies and is now pursuing a PhD in the sciences so that she can do research on aging and longevity as she’s pushing 60.
As if that weren’t enough, we can then see the winner of each round of the Decades competition in their original glory on the (previously unimpressive) Crackle app on streaming devices. If ever there was a reason to use Crackle, I had not heard it until now. Nevertheless, let me guarantee you, these old Jeopardy episodes are a time capsule like no other. How can you resist with categories like the all time favorite “Potent Potables,” or “French Menu” (where a woman despairs ever so slightly over the costly mistake of confusing onions for leeks, just when she was getting on a roll). Sample treasure: (from the category “Facial Hair”) Answer: When these are ‘raised,’ people are shocked. The question: “What are eyebrows.” It sounds like one of the jokes written by idiot children on Laffy Taffy wrappers, but these questions are worth real money to the right socially-awkward genius. Do yourself a favor and indulge in these lovely blasts from the past, as fast as your fingers can fumble with that undersized AppleTV remote (assuming you have found it yet) after watching the 90s champions duke it out this week.
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