Tag: Jeopardy

Larissa re: Amy

Larissa Kelly offers her congratulations to the latest Jeopardy! champion, Amy Schneider.

Amy is the first openly transgender J! champ, and the Twitter exchange between Larissa and Amy has received some media coverage, including on People.com.

As I have been saying, the big stuff associated with this weblog all happened within its first few years, and Larissa remains the all-time ratings champ. Larissa was so immensely and immediately popular that the site went from nothing to tens of thousands of daily hits overnight, and her every subsequent appearance on Jeopardy! had the same effect. I owe her, big time!

The return of… Larissa!

Larissa Kelly update on the Jeopardy! web site.
Larissa Kelly update on the Jeopardy! web site.

Collectively, a few things on this site attract most of the attention, including my Prue Bury posts, Jonathan Ross’ “In Search of Steve Ditko” (especially when it could be viewed nowhere else), and the MP3 copies of the Merry Marvel Marching Society records. But in terms of sustained popularity, nothing compares to the posts with Larissa Kelly on “Jeopardy!”

Like sort of a blogging equivalent to the Voyager spacecraft, requests for transmission of the Larissa videos continue month after month, right up to today. Larissa says hi, and if you are wondering if her return to the “Jeopardy!” studio has already happened, the answer is yes.

The 2000s Battle of the Decades shows taped a few weeks ago. I can’t discuss any of the games, but it was very nice to have the chance to meet the other contestants and spend a few days in Los Angeles.

Let’s talk numbers

Click the picture to see the blog stats for May.

This is yet another record month for the site. I have almost none of the videos posted that got me into trouble with my former hosting service, for using too much of my “unlimited” storage. I’m now streaming video from YouTube as much as possible, and yet nearly 30 GB of bandwidth was consumed. Why? Because of one set of videos I uploaded after switching the hosting service. I wanted to be sure they were online before the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions aired. The hits and the bandwidth were, once again, for Larissa Kelly.

The last time the site stats set a new record was when Larissa’s appearance on the 2009 Tournament of Champions was re-run. Before that, the tournament with Larissa blasted the previous record, which was set when her original appearances were re-run, and before that…. well, you get the idea. You know how Stephen Colbert likes to boast about the Colbert Bump? This site gets the Larissa Bump.

JEOPARDY! Endgame

Larissa Kelly played an excellent game in the finale of the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, but at the end she lost to Dan Pawson, who played an even better game. Larissa has had a couple of months to get over her disappointment, but for her fans the loss still stings.

Every so often somebody appears out of nowhere and catches the public’s fancy. One example is Joe the would-be plumber, who turned out to be a fake in the first degree. Another example — a smaller and quieter one, who is no fake — is Larissa Kelly. A genuine American Sweetheart, Larissa is instantly likable, charming and disarming, and she’s somebody who most people just naturally want to root for. Larissa is the ultimate girl you want to bring home to meet your mother.

Congratulations to Dan Pawson for his victory, and congratulations once again to Larissa Kelly, whose place in Jeopardy! history is assured. Thank you, Larissa, for the inspiration of setting such high standards for yourself, and for meeting them. You’re obviously headed for further success, but everybody needs a little luck too, so best of luck to you, Larissa.

I live near Boston, and since Dan and Larissa are both from the Boston area, in this video of the deciding game in the tournament I’ve left in a commercial for Massachusetts tourism.

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