This is the end of my Jeopardy! trip recaps, but I’ll be writing a few more things for ToC and I may start doing weekly outfit highlights throughout the regular season.
I’d like to say I left yesterday’s newsletter on a cliffhanger for dramatic effect, but really it’s just that I was very sleepy and couldn’t write anymore. Here’s how the rest of taping day unfolded.
Steven the Wardrobe Guy
Because of Covid protocols, they couldn’t bring me backstage, but Steven came out to the audience for a quick chat. We mainly talked about Ken’s wardrobe, like the one time when he accidentally had Ken wear the same tie in consecutive shows (12/31/21 and 1/3/22 airdates). I think Ken saw my tweet and mentioned it to him, and Steven didn’t believe him until he checked his records! I asked him how many ties Ken has now (about 50). He talked about buying a bunch of ties for Ken and then testing which ones looked best on camera. He also tried checkered shirts for a while but gave up because they never work well on camera (the last time Ken wore a patterned shirt on Jeopardy! was 2/23/22). I wish I had gotten to talk to Steven more, I had a lot of questions that I completely forgot in the moment. But it was great to meet him, and now when someone tells me the “wardrobe guy” made them change their outfit, I know who to blame! (j/k)
This brings me to an important point. I say things on the internet and pretend I know what I’m talking about, but I really have no professional experience with television wardrobe. There are many things that I like, especially prints, that just don’t work well on camera. I’m learning this by watching, observing, and gathering data, and I hope my insights are helpful, but they should definitely come with a “not medical advice” disclaimer. (Except when it comes to quarter-zips — my rulings on quarter-zips are gospel!)
John Barra
Another Jeopardy! staffer I was hoping to meet was John Barra. If you’re involved in the Jeopardy! contestant community at all, you know everyone loves John. I’m sure there are multiple people involved in the contestant search & casting process, but John is arguably the “face” of that process. He runs many of the Jeopardy! Zoom auditions/mock games (including mine in June 2021!), and calls contestants to tell them when Jeopardy! picks them for the show. So I hoped I could thank him for making me feel like a star at my audition even though I said boring things like “One of my hobbies is walking around Target by myself while my kids are in school.” I had seen him at Jeopardy! Honors and at taping, but hadn’t gotten a chance to introduce myself. But during a break in the final game, he walked over to the audience and introduced himself to ME! He said - and I quote - “Hi Lilly, I love your work!” Maybe I played it cool and sincerely thanked him, maybe I screamed “NO, I LOVE *YOUR* WORK!” who can say for certain? The point is… actually I’m not sure what the point is besides I was very excited to meet John Barra. (I’m technically in the contestant pool for 24 more days, call me, John!)
Inside Jeopardy!
At some point during the day, Sarah Foss told me to stay in my seat after taping and someone would come get me for the podcast. Being on the podcast was one of the things I was most nervous and excited about. I’m much better at writing than I am at talking, so podcasting is pretty far out of my comfort zone! But I was also excited to talk to Buzzy and Sarah, and I felt like a total celebrity being asked to guest on the official Jeopardy! podcast!
After the final game, the crew wrapped things up and Alexa, the podcast (& more) producer, walked me to a back hallway where I met up with Buzzy & Sarah and headed to the podcast studio. When they record video content for the podcast (like Sarah’s interview with Mayim & Ken), they use a showy Jeopardy! newsdesk in the Alex Trebek Stage. But for the audio podcasts there is a separate podcast studio, where we sat around a circular table. They said I could sit in Michael Davies’ chair since he wasn’t there, and the chair height was a little low but I didn’t want to mess up the boss’s chair so I left it alone (He probably wouldn’t have minded, but I’m like the Princess and the Pea with chair adjustments and can always tell somebody messed with it even if they put it back “exactly the same”)
It wouldn’t be a OneEclecticMom newsletter with a Vibe Check, so here’s my impression of Buzzy and Sarah…
Buzzy Cohen - Everyone knows how funny and charming Buzzy is on the internet, but in person it’s like there’s a forcefield of glamour surrounding him and when you run into it you just swoon. But then after you get your smelling salts and put your wits back together, you realize he is actually really lowkey and friendly despite being intimidatingly tall, devastatingly handsome, and impeccably dressed. It’s a very Hollywood kind of vibe.
Sarah Foss - Literally the most bubbly person I have ever met. She is so friendly but in that way that makes you feel comfortable rather than overwhelmed. She is an expert interviewer (Most people watching on TV probably know her best from the Clue Crew, but consumers of online Jeopardy! content see her now in post-game contestant interviews and podcast video features), and I get the feeling that she has a particular knack for reigning in nonsense before things go off the rails (an important mom superpower!)
It was such an honor to get to spend a few minutes with these awesome people who made me feel like one of the crew, like this is something I totally do every day.
We talked about the Jeopardy! Honors Blue Carpet™ fashion, mentioning Brian Chang, Cindy Zhang, Sam Kavanaugh, & Buzzy (of course). I had several more “best dressed” on my list that I neglected to mention (Jessica Stephens, Emily Fiasco, Mattea Roach!), and there were a couple bits that got cut (we talked about Zach Newkirk’s bee socks & Michael Davies’ Jeopardy! Honors outfit, and I gushed even more about how star-struck I was by Buzzy on the blue carpet.)
My one regret is that when Buzzy asked me what item of clothing I wanted to call out for Season 39, I didn’t take the opportunity to cancel “anything olive green”. I was not expecting this question at all and instead went for one of my pet peeves - light shirt and dark neutral blazer with no tie, no pocket square, no “flair” whatsoever! (Which, if you’ve worn this on Jeopardy! I apologize profusely for calling you out! You looked great! It’s not you, it’s me!)
I was surprisingly happy with how this interview came out (shoutout to the editing team!) — if you missed it in September you can listen to it here.
It was almost 8pm by the time we were finished and walked across the Sony lot chatting a bit more. When we got to the parking garage, I realized that I had no idea how I was getting back to my hotel. I started to text Cindy and see if she was around to give me a ride so I didn’t have to walk all the way back in the dark, but Buzzy very kindly asked where I was staying and offered to drive me back to my hotel since it wasn’t too far. I was relieved to not have to figure out logistics, but also completely geeking out about getting to see his car in person. I had seen photos of his ‘66 Dodge Dart wagon on Twitter and had to take a picture. (Also “old car” is one of my favorite smells, shoutout to my dad’s ‘68 Camaro!)
I say this not to brag that I got to ride in Buzzy’s car (ok, a *little* bit to brag. I mean, look at it! It’s iconic!) but to appreciate how incredibly kind and caring Buzzy and everyone at Jeopardy! was to me. As I wrap up my recaps, I just want to say thank you to everyone at Jeopardy! (crew & contestants) for being kind, professional, smart, amazing, good people who made me feel so welcome and special.
Special thanks to Michael Davies (who I am forever grateful noticed my work on Twitter), Sarah Foss (whose voicemail calling to invite me to Jeopardy! Honors I will save forever), Ken Jennings (who let me grade Tuesday Trivia for 15 years and never fired me when the scoreboard was late), Danielle (who wrote the article about me for the website back in February), the whole social media team (who are impossibly young and cool), Christy Myers (who booked my travel), John Barra (who makes nerds feel like stars), Buzzy Cohen (for the ride and everything else)… is that music? Are they playing me off my own newsletter? Thank you Cindy Zhang for ice cream and rodent memories! Sam Kavanaugh for book recommendations and wise words! I never imagined this in my wildest dreams, thank you everyone for everything! I love you all! Goodnight!