Jeopardy Fans Debate “Seinfeld Before & After” Category

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, December 12 episode of Jeopardy!]

As Champions Wildgame Tournament on Jeopardy! continues, Henry Baer, a software engineer from San Francisco, California; Julia Markham Cameron, an attorney from Brooklyn, New York; and Gary Hollis, a chemistry professor from Roanoke, Virginia, duke it out to potentially advance to the finals.

However, a certain television show-centric category during Double Jeopardy raised a point of contention with several fans online.

After the first break, Julia led with $2,800, $800 more than Henry. However, once the game continued and we transitioned into Double Jeopardy, Henry gained the lead with $4,800, $400 more than Julia, and Gary was able to add $3,000 to his previous score of $800.

When the game moved on, and Ken Jennings revealed the categories, one of them was “Seinfeld Before & After,” with clues based on the NBC sitcom starring Jerry Seinfeld. Gary tackled the category with no problem. He answered three more from that category and a few others before crushing the final Daily Double and raising his score to $13,200. As they went into Final Jeopardy, Gary led with a whopping $20,800, Henry with $9,600, and Julia with $800.

Everyone was able to answer the Final Jeopardy clue correctly with Moby Dick, but it was Gary who advanced with $20,812.

“Speaking as a “Seinfeld” fan who ran that category, it really belonged in the first round,” the original poster on the Jeopardy Subreddit said.

“A single clue that requires knowledge of a particular sitcom in DJ is fine. An entire category referring g to one particular sitcom? Too much, because if a player isn’t familiar with the show, they’re out of luck.” Then, the poster referred to a previous TV category on the show recently, noting, “But on the plus side, at least they asked about a show that was on broadcast television.”

Another Jeopardy! and Seinfeld fan agreed, commenting, “[…] I agree on keeping those specific program categories in the J round. Last season (9/26/22), there was a category titled FRIENDS in the first round. It wasn’t even word play, just basic clues like, “It’s the coffee shop where the friends hang out,” which only fans of the show would know.”

Another successfully blind guessed that “one of the questions in “Seinfeld Before & After” will be “What is the Julia Louis-Dreyfus Affair?”

How do you feel about the television-focused categories as of late?

Let us know in the comments below.

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