Angie getting that daily double right was a heart-stopper, with that agonizing pause between "double helix" and "What is a double helix?"

Yeah that's not how I would characterize a 2-1 comeback win, with Algeria leading at halftime.

I started watching Battlestar Galactica, starting with the miniseries. The miniseries is rather expositiony, but I really like the characters, themes, and setting so far. So I'm pretty excited. I didn't think the religious themes would be so prominent, but I think they work really well. Along with Veronica Mars, this…

3,000 years??? Literally nobody in history, certainly not European history, has ever been able to trace their bloodline that far. 100 years to push a claim would be pushing it.

Last time I was at the mechanic, I tuned the TV to France24, which is broadcast over the airwaves in DC. So that was a fairly educational morning, watching in-depth international news on the French equivalent of BBC.

This was a good final. The trick is that there are many countries that span two continents, but only one that covers a whole continent (Australia). So you need to think of Australia, think of Australia's capital, and then think of another capital that ends with "A," which would be Ankara. I feel good that I got the…

Molly's answer of 200 years for Nevada statehood was crazy. The Viceroy of New Spain would have been pretty shocked to see the nascent American Republic try to annex some of his territory, let alone make it an actual state. 100 years makes a lot more sense. That's about when Arizona and New Mexico became states, the…

Glad to hear a positive response. I'll have to catch up on that once I get back from work.

I knew the est clue from The Americans, and the EEG clue from Orphan Black. At this rate I'll soon know more from basic cable than I do from college.

That movie was about George III, not George II. George III went crazy in his old age, leading to a regency by his son and various shenanigans. George II, by contrast, was a boringly competent guy from Germany, which was great for Britain but terrible for future storytellers. He was lucid and drama-free until he was in…

I watched Iron Man 2. It was a solidly entertaining movie; not as good as the first one, but still quite good. I was gonna write something about the problematic idea of having a virtually infallible Great Man solve all of our problems and the problems that presents, but this film presents a more collaborative vision,…

Yeah this is kind of a useless argument. Just because it's a sci-fi setting, it doesn't mean characterization, plot, internal consistency, and so forth can't be looked at. If you say "I don't understand Anakin's choices as a character in this season of The Clone Wars," I can't reasonably say "Well lightsabers are…

If you watch it live, they made that exact comparison in the ads, with the typical AMC bluntness and desperation. "You know how Mad Men has a computer? Well computers are also a big deal in this other show we're airing soon!"

Did anyone else think Wendy (Wendi?) really looked like Keri Russell? Or more specifically, Elizabeth from The Americans going undercover with a wig and glasses.

The guy referenced in the Final is Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's running mate in 1864. That's another convoluted and contentious story from 19th Century politics. The Northern Republicans fought a brutal civil war against slavery, only to end up with a Southern Democrat and former slaveowner as president. This lead to…

Do you mean the World War I centenary clue? Because even if you're unfamiliar with the famous recruitment poster, "big events in 1914" is a fairly straightforward line of reasoning.

Harris Faulkner has been on Fox News for years now.

They gave Heritage Awards to The Sopranos, The West Wing, and The Wire the same year those shows ended.

Maybe after Trebek needled her about her $400 daily double wager, she decided to troll him by betting the same amount on Final Jeopardy?

You could make the case that Lucia was as significant a character as Sandra this season, and she's also gone for good.