Who Is… DRACULA?

During our last trip to Haworth, when the kids surprised Jeanie for her birthday, we took a day trip to a little fishing village on the northeast coast of England called Whitby. Whenever I’m traveling—whether for vacation or for World Vision—there’s always some bit of information that I pick up and make a mental note of and later transmit to the writing staff. This was one of those occasions.

When I got home, I asked the writers: “What do you guys know about Whitby?”

They said nothing. They were stumped.

“Well,” I said, “that’s where Dracula first lands in England in Bram Stoker’s novel.”

When we were sightseeing, we came across a plaque that commemorated this.

“Great,” the writers said. “That’s a clue. We’ll work that into the show.”

We use so much material on our show. It pleases me if I can come up with something original to pass on to the writers. I don’t have such a big ego that I’m going to get my nose out of joint if they don’t accept my suggestions, but it always makes me happy when they do. It’s the same with regard to rulings from the judges. I’ll express my opinion, sometimes forcefully, about whether a ruling was correct. But if they don’t accept my opinion, I’m not going to go in the corner and sulk. I get past it immediately. We’ve got a show to do. I’ve always believed what Mark Goodson instilled in me: if it is a good idea, it doesn’t matter where it’s coming from. My prime allegiance is always trying to improve the program. If you’ve got a better idea than mine, I’m not going to let my ego get in the way and prevent the powers that be from accepting an idea because it didn’t come from a higher-level employee. In our business, you have to get your priorities right.

Once, it occurred to me that there had been a lot of different actors who portrayed Wyatt Earp. Will Geer played Wyatt Earp in Winchester ’73. James Garner. Kevin Costner. Kurt Russell. I said, “What if that was a category?” So they wrote it, and it played well.

There are some categories that have failed, sure. And some that have succeeded marvelously well. And there’s no way of knowing. It all depends on the three contestants who are on the show that particular day. You have a category that is dynamite. Dy-no-mite, as Jimmie Walker used to say. And it dies. No one comes up with the correct response. Played well in our production meeting but not in the taping. Those three players didn’t get it. Three other players might’ve mopped the floor with it. You never know.

A recent example of this, which ended up going viral, was a category we did all about football. Not all the clues were that difficult, but the three players who happened to be in that game clearly knew nothing about football. This was perhaps obvious given it was the last category left on the board that round. The contestants had been avoiding it all game, but now they had no choice. Here were the answers^*:

$200: YOUR CHOICE: DO OR DON’T NAME THIS PLAY IN WHICH THE QB RUNS THE BALL & CAN CHOOSE TO PITCH IT TO ANOTHER BACK

$400: TOM LANDRY PERFECTED THE SHOTGUN FORMATION WITH THIS TEAM

$600: BY SIGNALING FOR ONE OF THESE, A RETURNER CAN REEL IN A KICK WITHOUT FEAR OF GETTING TACKLED

$800: THESE “PENALTIES” ARE SIMULTANEOUS VIOLATIONS BY THE OFFENSE & DEFENSE THAT CANCEL EACH OTHER OUT

$1000: THIS DEFENSIVE LINE TOOK THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS TO FOUR SUPER BOWLS

The contestants didn’t get a single clue right. They didn’t even ring in. Not once. Nonetheless, we all had a good time with it, and it ended up being one of the funniest moments on our show. To follow that up, this season I suggested we do a category about the signals the referees use to indicate penalties. My idea was that I would perform the signals as part of the clues. I suggested clues and even sketched them out on paper, exhibiting each hand or arm movement. Thankfully, the contestants had better luck with this football category. But again, it all comes down to what you know, even the things that might seem out of left field. Yes, I know I’m mixing a baseball reference with football.

My sketch for the hand-signal football clues.

What is a touchdown?

What is fourth down?

What is a false start?

What is holding?

What is too many men on the field?

One of the little joys I have with some Jeopardy! contestants is challenging them with relatively obscure bits of information. For example, “These are the four defendants in the film Judgment at Nuremberg.” Now, I happen to know that. And I’ve known that for a long time. I don’t know why those names have stuck with me, but I happen to know them. Nobody else does. Nobody else cares. But if that came up on a show and you didn’t know, so what. Don’t feel bad about it.

Emil Hahn, Ernst Janning, Friedrich Hofstetter, and Werner Lampe. Just in case you were wondering.^I

I. And here are the correct responses to those football clues. How many did you get right?

$200: WHAT IS AN OPTION PLAY?

$400: WHO ARE THE DALLAS COWBOYS?

$600: WHAT IS A FAIR CATCH?

$800: WHAT ARE OFFSETTING PENALTIES?

$1000: WHO ARE THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS?