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Jeopardy! Contestant Guest
Jun. 3rd, 2006 09:03 amThis is the badge of honor worn by the privileged folks:
Athena's fellow, F, and I had made our acquaintances in line and as we sat together during the audience warm up. We verified one thing Athena had not kept to herself; we are both geeks. We watched the Monday episode play out with Dan Sander behind the champion podium. We both reacted, quietly, at a gutteral level to answers about physics. And we both kept looking over to our right at Athena and the other prospective contestants.
There were more prospective contestants than there were likely to be open spots, except maybe in the unlikely case that several episodes in the row had all three contestants end in the negative. The contestants interacted with each other quite a bit. Some of them had already met on previous days of practice and/or when sitting in the same place as alternates. Some of the contestants looked toward us in the contestant guest sector.
Athena never looked our way at any point when I was watching. Yes, that's Athena, following the rules strictly, maintaining total focus. There was one point when F managed to catch Athena's eye. Athena's response was immediate, she turned, and the contestant handler interposed his body. No contact between the contestants and any of the audience, that's the rule, even when they are not in the contest.
The episodes are taped pretty much in real time. That is, the breaks between the action in the studio correspond exactly in length to the commercial breaks which will happen during broadcast. This true for all but the break preceding Final Jeopardy! The final break takes as long as is necessary for the contestants to calmly reason out how much they wish to bet.
There is one other quirk of production. In the episodes as broadcast, Alex Trebek never makes a mistake, no matter how many sequential vowels or consonants are in the words he pronounces. In real life, the production staff shushes the audience during breaks and Alex re-reads any clues which were not delivered perfectly. When there is no looping to be done, Alex breaks from the on-camera composure and tries to cut up the audience with laughs, only to drop back into form just barely before the director counts down to restart the action.
At the end of the first episode all the prospective contestants vanished. After a short break some returned. Athena was among those who returned, and the missing ones walked on to the stage for their Hometown Howdies. A Howdy, a Final Jeopardy, the second episode.
Well, not quite. At the end of the second episode the cameraman with the handheld walked up the aisle and pointed at the Contestant Guests. I kept my gaze on Alex and the departing contestants. Like a trained seal I applauded in response to the studio Applause lights. But my attention was on the monitor, for I could clearly see F and myself taking up a lot of the screen.
I have been on TV before, in a gameshow studio audience, in a news clip, and in an episode of Nova filmed at the AAS meeting in Atlanta a decade ago. That last is perhaps the most indicative of me, for in the Nova episode it is plainly evident that as soon as I entered the plenary session room and saw the camera lights I exited, stage left, to be out of the FOV. Nevertheless, on Tuesday's episode of Jeopardy! F and I may be visible next to the roll of the credits. (Dare I type it?) W00t!
But the best was after that. The prospective contestants all filed out. They filed back in. Athena was not among them. A moment later she walked up and onto her little riser to be Jeopardy! challenger. We grew up together, and I can hardly describe how big my smile was. F and I exchanged more than just glances, but that story comes later...
Athena's apperance will be on Wednesday's episode. In the mean time Athena will hopefully show up on the Hometown Howdies web page, but I'll not see her there until later. I'm headed south to be with my dad in the skilled nursing facility for his 75th birthday. Athena, maybe I'll pass by your zone, maybe not.
Athena's fellow, F, and I had made our acquaintances in line and as we sat together during the audience warm up. We verified one thing Athena had not kept to herself; we are both geeks. We watched the Monday episode play out with Dan Sander behind the champion podium. We both reacted, quietly, at a gutteral level to answers about physics. And we both kept looking over to our right at Athena and the other prospective contestants.
There were more prospective contestants than there were likely to be open spots, except maybe in the unlikely case that several episodes in the row had all three contestants end in the negative. The contestants interacted with each other quite a bit. Some of them had already met on previous days of practice and/or when sitting in the same place as alternates. Some of the contestants looked toward us in the contestant guest sector.
Athena never looked our way at any point when I was watching. Yes, that's Athena, following the rules strictly, maintaining total focus. There was one point when F managed to catch Athena's eye. Athena's response was immediate, she turned, and the contestant handler interposed his body. No contact between the contestants and any of the audience, that's the rule, even when they are not in the contest.
The episodes are taped pretty much in real time. That is, the breaks between the action in the studio correspond exactly in length to the commercial breaks which will happen during broadcast. This true for all but the break preceding Final Jeopardy! The final break takes as long as is necessary for the contestants to calmly reason out how much they wish to bet.
There is one other quirk of production. In the episodes as broadcast, Alex Trebek never makes a mistake, no matter how many sequential vowels or consonants are in the words he pronounces. In real life, the production staff shushes the audience during breaks and Alex re-reads any clues which were not delivered perfectly. When there is no looping to be done, Alex breaks from the on-camera composure and tries to cut up the audience with laughs, only to drop back into form just barely before the director counts down to restart the action.
At the end of the first episode all the prospective contestants vanished. After a short break some returned. Athena was among those who returned, and the missing ones walked on to the stage for their Hometown Howdies. A Howdy, a Final Jeopardy, the second episode.
Well, not quite. At the end of the second episode the cameraman with the handheld walked up the aisle and pointed at the Contestant Guests. I kept my gaze on Alex and the departing contestants. Like a trained seal I applauded in response to the studio Applause lights. But my attention was on the monitor, for I could clearly see F and myself taking up a lot of the screen.
I have been on TV before, in a gameshow studio audience, in a news clip, and in an episode of Nova filmed at the AAS meeting in Atlanta a decade ago. That last is perhaps the most indicative of me, for in the Nova episode it is plainly evident that as soon as I entered the plenary session room and saw the camera lights I exited, stage left, to be out of the FOV. Nevertheless, on Tuesday's episode of Jeopardy! F and I may be visible next to the roll of the credits. (Dare I type it?) W00t!
But the best was after that. The prospective contestants all filed out. They filed back in. Athena was not among them. A moment later she walked up and onto her little riser to be Jeopardy! challenger. We grew up together, and I can hardly describe how big my smile was. F and I exchanged more than just glances, but that story comes later...
Athena's apperance will be on Wednesday's episode. In the mean time Athena will hopefully show up on the Hometown Howdies web page, but I'll not see her there until later. I'm headed south to be with my dad in the skilled nursing facility for his 75th birthday. Athena, maybe I'll pass by your zone, maybe not.
