Wednesday, June 15, 2005

 

Proof That The Simpsons is the Smartest Show on TV

I've been posting about my favorite TV show, The Simpsons, for a while now. My posts tend to be a bit on the serious side for what I consider to be the most consistently funny show on TV. I've posted about content flags and "offensive" content in the show. Tonight, I'm staying on the serious side of The Simpsons but I'm coming at if from a little different angle.

Another favorite show of mine is Jeopardy!, a show I was lucky enough to be on in September of 2003. When you find out your going to be on Jeopardy! a lot of things go through your mind. When I received the phone call, the first thing I thought was "this phone call is worth a minimum of $1000!" Another thing I thought of was that I was going to get to meet someone who was depicted on an episodeof The Simpsons, Alex Trebek was in episode 5F07 Miracle on Evergreen Terrace.

Little did I realize that a Simpsons episode would actually provide me with a correct Jeopardy! response. More interestingly it was something I didn't really know, but something that was referenced in an episode. In episode 8F13 Homer at the Bat, Barney is having an argument with Wade Boggs in Moe's over the greatest Prime Minister in England's history, Lord Palmerstone or Pitt the Elder. Now I know nothing of Pitt the Elder other than he was a great Prime Minister of England. But in the category "Williams" on my Jeopardy! show, the clue "The Great Commoner" & "The British Cicero" were nicknames of this "elder" statesman appeared. Thank heaven's for an argument in Moe's (in which "Wade Boggs lay unconcious on the barroom tile..."), it allowed me to reason out the correct response before anyone else.

It happened again on Jeopardy! today. A clue asked for the common name of a Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome. I was able to get "Vulgate" from a reference to it in 3F01 Home Sweet Home- Diddily- Dum- Doodily. None of the contestents came up with the proper response. I would have. Maybe they need to get their noses out of the almanacs and watch more Simpsons. I don't think there's a single TV show that I get more little bits of knowledge from. I've always said that The Simpsons is incredibly intelligently written. Here's proof.

And let's see how many correct responses you get from Everybody Loves Raymond references.....

Author's Note - On Wednesday, 15 June, Jeopardy! had a clue that showed a graphic of "Comic Book Guy" requiring contestents to "name" him (though they provided the misinformation that we don't know his name - it was revealed this season).

All I have to say is:

"Worst Clue Ever!"



BOJ

Comments:
IMHO The Simpsons may be one of the most intellegent shows on television.

A lot of the humor is very subtle, but once you get it, it's quite hilarious.

Of course then again there is the slap happy dumb humor as well!

BTW, did Alex and the judges chase you with crowbars afterwards?
 
No crowbars, but then again, I went into final Jeopardy! with money. Hey, I read the rules......
 
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