foolish watcher

A salute to ‘Jeopardy!’ champion Amy Schneider as her record-breaking reign comes to an end

Therese Odell
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Regrets, they have a few.

All Other TV News

Today’s big TV news is that after 40 wins and $1.4 million, Amy Schneider’s record-breaking run on Jeopardy! has come to an end. She lost to librarian Rhone Talsma on the clue: “The only nation in the world whose name in English ends with an H, it’s also one of the 10 most populous.” The question? “What is Bangladesh?” Schneider will be return for the “Tournament of Champions.”

Talsma was just as surprised as anyone, noting that he couldn’t believe he was the one to “slay the giant.” NOTE TO ALL MEN: Do not refer to any woman as a “giant” who needs to be “slain.”

Schneider wrote a lovely essay on the Jeopardy! blog about her experience, how she grew up on the show, and what she gained from her time on the show (besides the $1.4 million), notably this:

And while, as I’ve said, my trans identity is only one part of myself, it has also been the source of easily the biggest rewards I’ve gotten from this experience. The first one is personal: a few months ago, deep down, I simply did not believe that I could ever really be accepted for who I was. That is, I had come to believe (not without some difficulty) that at least some people accepted me: my family, my girlfriend, my inner circle of friends. But I always believed that most people would see me as trans people have so often been seen: a freak, a pervert, a man in a dress, a liar, mentally ill. And as the days counted down to my episodes airing, I braced myself for the rejection I was sure would come. And then… it just didn’t. Sure, there have been a few isolated voices trying to bring me down, but the overwhelming reaction has been of support and acceptance. People actually believe me when I say who I am. They don’t think there’s something wrong with me. And because of that, for maybe the first time in my life, I’m starting to think there really isn’t anything wrong with me either.

In other important game show news, Pat Sajak has no idea who Benedict Cumberbatch is.

If you ever wondered, like me, if the SNL writers ever write sketches during off weeks so they don’t have to scramble to write everything during a show week, the answer is “no, they do not.” Of course, based on just how shitty the episodes always are after a long break, this surprises absolutely no one.

We’re still knee-deep in awards season. We have nominations for the Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards today. It was a big day for Succession and Ted Lasso.

And Rita Moreno was announced as the recipient of the  2022 Stanley Kramer Award at the 33rd annual PGA Awards.

Peacock is now at 24.5 million active accounts (but still losing money); HBO and HBO Max combined is at 46.8 million (and licking their chops while watching Netflix struggle).

The Video Advertising Bureau claims that Nielsen’s bad counting cost the networks upwards of $700 million in the past 16 months.

Of the top 10 most-watched comedies on network TV, six of them are on CBS, and two more of them are reruns of comedies on CBS. People love them some Young Sheldon. (Or maybe Nielsen is just counting wrong again.)

Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton weirdly talked up NFTs on The Tonight Show the other night, possibly violating NBC’s policy against conflicts of interest. Also, just stop it with the NFTs, y’all. Gross. 

Some casting directors are geniuses.

But you know who aren’t geniuses? The insurrectionists.

From chapter 679th of the book Don’t Be Racist.

The big non-TV news is that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced that he is retiring. President Joe Biden, who promised on the campaign trail that he would appoint the first Black female justice, said that he will make his decision by the end of February. As you can probably imagine, conservatives are shrieking that President Biden planning ahead of time to appoint a Black woman is “affirmative action.” Never mind that Ronald Reagan made a similar promise on the campaign trail to nominate a woman (which he followed through on); and never mind the Republican appointments of Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett were also made with an eye towards demographics. But I digress. And never mind that of course a diversity of perspectives and opinions — and not just white men’s — is beneficial to the judiciary as a whole. BUT I DIGRESS.

Renewals

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

Fox has announced its spring premiere dates:

 

R.I.P.

Morgan Stevens, Actor who appeared on Fame and Melrose Place

Barry Cryer, British comedian and TV writer

WATCH THIS

Truth and Lies: The Last Gangster: A look at the infamous Gambino family, including an interview with Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. 7 p.m., ABC

Gomorrah: Season five and series finale. HBO Max

grown-ish: Zoey turns to Pops and Ruby for advice in the winter season premiere. 9 p.m., Freeform

The Legend of Vox Machina: In this animated series based on the popular RPG, the Vox Machina, a band of misfits goes on a quest to save the realm of Exandria, and to pay their exorbitant bar tab. Series premiere. Amazon

Late Night:

THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Truth and Lies: The Last Gangster
(new)		 Promised Land
(repeat)
CBS Young Sheldon
(new)		 United States of Al
(new)		 Ghosts
(new)		 B Positive
(new)		 Bull
(repeat)
CW Walker
(new)		 Legacies
(repeat)		 News/Local
FOX Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer
(new)		 Call Me Kat
(new)		 Pivoting
(new)		 News/Local
NBC The Blacklist
(repeat)		 Law & Order: SVU
(repeat)		 Law & Order: Organized Crime
(repeat)
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