KenJennings-related stories
Posted Aug 21st 2008 10:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Game Show, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
When I read
AOL's Top 20 Best Game Shows of All Time, I pretty much agreed with all the choices. I might have moved
Password up a bit, and dropped
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire to a lower slot, but the one selection that really made me glower was
The Price Is Right as number one.
No, no, not to me. For me, the only choice for numero uno is
Jeopardy. It's not a game of chance or luck or random spins of a wheel. It's all about brains and thinking on your feet. And maybe having really fast thumbs. Merv Grifffin's creation remains the best gameshow ever in my book.
As I was thinking about
Jeopardy, I realized that for me, the best
Jeopardy is not today's Alex Trebek version. I mean, it's great -- don't misunderstand me. It's the one I still prefer to watch today, but my favorite
Jeopardy remains the pre-syndication edition, the one that played on NBC daytime from 1964-1975. No, I'm not nuts. I have five very good reasons why I prefer the original, classic
Jeopardy.
Continue reading Five reasons I prefer classic Jeopardy - VIDEO
Posted Feb 13th 2007 12:30PM by Brett Love
Filed under: OpEd, Game Show
There is an interesting post over at
YesButNoButYes on ten infamous game show moments. There are a couple good ones, like the guy who lost on the first question of Millionaire, and a couple classic
Family Feud and
Newlywed Game answers.
Unfortunately, it's more a good idea for a list than an actual good list, because their definition of "Game Show" is insane. I just don't get the reasoning behind adding moments from
The Bachelorette, Big Brother, and
Top Chef. Especially when there are so many great moments from actual game shows that could have been added.
Some non-reality show contenders for such a list: From
The Price Is Right, recently there was a guy who kept bidding 420 (video after the jump). Going back in the
TPIR archive there was the time when a rather buxom woman was so excited to be comin' on down that she didn't realize her boobs had bounced right out of her tube top.
Continue reading Ten infamous game show moments... kind of - VIDEO
Posted Dec 13th 2006 7:44PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Video, Animation, Web, Festivus, Celebrities
You know, I'm really starting to appreciate how good a writer Ken Jennings is. Every time I go to his blog, he's been consistently sharp and funny (who knew Mormons could be that snarky?). Today, he has an especially good entry: he
breaks down the dancing styles of everyone participating in the infamous "Linus and Lucy" dance from
A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Some of his pithier observations? "That "Frankenstein" is pretty lame, but the head-bob makes it semi-work," he writes of Shermy's dance. "Jumping Joseph on a pogo stick, is this a train wreck. Elbows flailing, wildly off the beat, staring at her feet in sheer panic, she looks like Benny at the L.A. Law Christmas party," he clucks about Violet. But he has nothing but praise for Linus: "Man, watch him stomp, even with the blanket limiting his mobility."
By the way, he mentions an old video that mashes together the "Linus and Lucy" dance with OutKast's monster hit "Hey Ya!" Since the video is fun and I'm in a good mood, I embedded it after the jump, just for poops and giggles.
Continue reading Ken Jennings breaks down the Linus and Lucy Dance - VIDEO
Posted Oct 15th 2006 7:16PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV Royalty, Industry, Programming, Celebrities, Ratings
On the cover: Borat!
- Take the poll: Which TV characters are so bad they're good? Included are Michael Scott (The Office), Edie (Desperate Housewives), Sawyer (Lost), and many others...including Dipsy from the Tele-Tubbies??
- Which little six year old girl just turned 50 and has a new TV show?
- Is it really fair to call Barbie the plastic Paris Hilton? I thought Paris Hilton was the plastic Paris Hilton?
- Last week I told you about Stephen King's essay about Nancy Grace. It's now online.
- DVD reviews: the fourth season of Scrubs gets an A-, while the 1996 TV version of Pride and Prejudice gets a B-.
- Book reviews: Simpsons veteran Harry Shearer has a new novel, and EW gives it a C. But they like Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings' book Brainiac. They give it a B+, and I'll second that. It's an interesting look at the world of trivia.
Posted Jul 25th 2006 6:45PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Syndicated, Web, Celebrities, Game Show
There's a phrase that Dave Barry uses to describe people who don't understand his columns are supposed to be funny. He calls them "humor impaired." I love that phrase, and use it often, and famous Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings used it quite appropriately when responding on his blog to a recent article in The New York Post that accused him of bashing the show that made him a millionaire. Here's the thing: Jennings did no such thing. His post titled "Dear Jeopardy" was a hilariously scathing tongue-in-cheek indictment of the show that suggested Alex Trebek had actually been replaced by a robot called the "Trebektron 4000" and that the Clue Crew "look like they beamed in from some 1970s PBS show." He also suggests ideas for better categories, such as "Skanks from Reality TV Who Got Naked in Men's Magazines." It's funny, very vicious, and nothing more than a good-natured barb in the "Don Rickles" vein.
Continue reading Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! and the humor impaired
Posted Aug 19th 2005 2:51PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Talent, Industry
That's the name of Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings's new column for Mental Floss magazine. If you're not familiar with Mental Floss, it's actually a very cool, clever magazine about...well, just about everything. Check out the site and the back issues.
And for the record, Jeopardy! should always be spelled with an exclamation point, and Mental Floss should be spelled mental_floss.
[via TV Tattle]
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
