
What’s it like to be one of the Jeopardy clue writers? - fern12
https://tv.avclub.com/what-s-it-like-to-be-one-of-the-jeopardy-clue-writers-1798277448
======
sdrothrock
> And you don’t want stand-and-stares; that’s the one thing we’re always
> trying to avoid.

This reminded me of this recent one:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h33u2eeVqXo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h33u2eeVqXo)

~~~
scoggs
Haha, when pop-culture knowledge meets specialized "high school clique-esque"
category of questions. This is kinda funny to me but I feel like it shouldn't
be.

I'm nearly 100% certain all three of the contestants would run circles around
me in 99 out of 100 categories but this entire group of questions made me feel
like I could be a Jeopardy champion.

~~~
baddox
It’s not surprising that this would happen occasionally, given that there are
only 3 contestants per show. Most shows will have someone who knows football,
but of course not all.

~~~
baddox
Entire category stumpers are probably somewhat but not extremely rare, but
this one is going to get more media coverage but it aligns well with the
narrative of “look how bad these nerds are at sports knowledge.”

------
settsu
It was an interesting read... that I couldn’t finish because the page kept
crashing until my browser (Safari, iOS 11.2.5, iPhone 8) finally gave up on
reloading it. Even made my phone warm up at one point.

Happens too often on Gizmodo Media Group sites (I’m on Jalopnik almost daily.)

~~~
peapicker
Same. Horrible user experience for what seemed like a decent article.

However, using reader mode on iOS Safari keeps all the ads out and it then
reads fine.

------
farnsworthy
It reminds me of the role of DMs in RPGs: creating a small world in each
question, category, and show for the player to interact with.

This is a trade site? It might have been interesting or helpful for readers if
they'd asked about salaries in the field (not necessarily what the subject
earns directly, more in general).

~~~
sdrothrock
> This is a trade site?

If you're talking about the A/V Club, it's not a trade site; it's a pop
culture review/etc. site.

------
j9461701
>I have areas of knowledge—I know literature, sports, a few others—but one of
the interesting things is that you’re always trying to write things that are
accessible, and if it’s a subject you know a lot about, then there’s a danger
of writing things that are too esoteric. Which might happen to me with English
literature. But if I’m writing physics then I can be pretty certain: If
there’s something I’ve heard of, then most people have heard of it, and so
it’s easier to write things that you don’t know about.

I've noticed Jeopardy placed massively disproportionate emphasis on sports and
the humanities compared to science, and I guess this reveals why. The writers
don't know anything about that sort of thing, and so their threshold for "too
esoteric" is extremely shallow for any STEM topic. Meanwhile, because they do
really intimately know classical novels or football or such, they don't
consider asking what team won the 1979 Superbowl or asking about a tertiary
character in Crime and Punishment as being the least bit excessive. I guess
there's really nothing that can be done - they even are aware of the problem
but still can't seem to fix it - and it's not too big a deal regardless. I
still try to catch the show every chance I can.

~~~
lopmotr
I suppose literature and sports are understandable to everyone. People might
not know the individual fact but they understand the meaning and can at least
try to remember something. In STEM, you'd get "stand-and-stare" with any
technical term where the entire field is completely alien to most viewers and
players.

The same effect happens in casual conversation. Arts majors have all kinds of
accessible topics they like to talk about with anyone, but a programmer can't
even begin to say something about stacks or garbage collection or whatever
with a non-programmer. It's a totally walled off other-world for most people.

~~~
kevinmchugh
Arts majors who talk about the details of a particular pigment, or chiseling
techniques will be about as well received as programmers rambling about
stacks. Technical details are rarely relevant to those outside the profession.

People outside tech have lots of questions and interest in talking about tech.
Product decisions are more accessible and meaningful than implementation
details.

------
dajohnson89
Jeopardy is awesome, I try to watch it every night if possible. The only
reason I use the TV antannae.

