Episode 28.11 - Return of the Brobot
November 21

Chico: I'm Chico Alexander... and I for one welcome our new computer programmer overlords.

*Brobot walks in*

Gordon: Again?
Brobot: I...am...a...Brobot.
Gordon: At least no one else is here to hose down the thing.
Chico: *gives brobot pound*. Damn right.

*brobot pounds back*

Gordon: Maybe the Brobot can explain some of the plays that were made this week.
Chico: Roger Craig and how he embarrassed all he surveyed this week, as from somewhere in America... WLTI... is... ON!
Gordon: Gordon Pepper here, and before we make the brobot's head spin, let's get to the cyborg that was Roger Craig.
Chico: And he was a cyborg.

*brobot nods in approval*

Chico: He just beat the ever-loving fool out of the 2011 Jeopardy! TOC and now secures himself a place AMONG the game's elite.
Gordon: You know, we always talk about how you play to win. Well Roger exemplified it this week, and I for one applaud him. This was a masterful way to play and win the tournament.
Chico: Agreed. Now you're probably asking... How'd he take it in the grand final? Glad you asked. HERE'S THE CLIP!



Chico: It was a combination of classic tactics, ruthless gameplay, killer knowledge, and just plain ol' dumb luck. In this clip, we see Roger find back to back Daily Doubles and lets them BOTH ride. My apologies, but I'm about to quote John Sterling. "It was a back to back... and a belly to belly."
Gordon: Dumb luck aside, this is what you do with Daily Doubles and $250,000 at stake. I've said this a billion times; when you have a chance to take the game out with a topic you're good at, go for it.
Chico: He took it out with TWO.
Gordon: You don't have to hinge your winnings on a random question in Final Jeopardy that you may know nothing about - especially if you're familiar with a topic in Double Jeopardy
Chico: And he does it so nonchalantly too.
Gordon: This is how you play and win Jeopardy!.
Chico: That's the ice water talking.
Gordon: Ice water in the veins. But you have to play like it if you want to win. Roger did it, and hence he gets this:



Chico: He earned every bit of that.
Gordon: The play after game 1 made day #2 academic, but just for shiggles, let's play the last Final Jeopardy clue, shall we?
Chico: Let's play it out. The category: 19th Century Poetry.

He wrote, "He looked upon the garish day with such a wistful eye; the man had killed the thing he loved, & so he had to die."

Gordon: Who is the less than great Jamarcus Russell, who killed the Raiders with his lack of brain muscle?
Chico: Wrong, but not incorrect.
Gordon: Do I get bonus points for making it rhyme?
Chico: Judges?

*Brobot dings*

Chico: Okay.
Gordon: Thank you, Brobot,
Chico: The real response is more than mild, it was "Who was Oscar Wilde."
Gordon: It didn't matter who got it right, as Craig rode a quarter mil into the night.
Chico: And no surprise here, he went to the book, but this week, he revealed a closer look. Call it a technological alliance, but he whittled the game down to a science.
Gordon: So we go from where trivia is in great demand and move to 9 morons on an island.



Chico: This week, ANOTHER DOUBLE TAP!
Gordon: Yes, but the people leaving at lease had an idea in mind. The real moron this week: Cochran.
Chico: For giving the people leaving said idea? Yeah.
Gordon: Well no. For not doing anything. As I said a few weeks ago, Cochran's strategy of moving because he was looking to finish in 6th was a great idea. However, he has made zero strides to find the crack in Upolu's alliance, and for not even bothering, he's going to finish in 7th.
Chico: Unless he wins immunity, and let's face it... Physical threat he isn't.
Gordon: No. What he really needed to do is to find the counter alliance instead of being Coach's lap dog. I thought Cochran would be smarter than that. I may be wrong.
Chico: I think he's overthinking this.
Gordon: Or in this case underthinking
Chico: He needs to build a coalition based on himself and Coach instead of watching the rain falling.
Gordon: actually, the better plan was to figure out that Albert wanted to get rid of coach. Him, Dawn, Whitney, Albert and all he needs was to flip someone else. Edna certainly would have gone along.
Chico: It would've taken some prodding.
Gordon: Edna? no. Edna is clearly in 6th place in her tribe.
Chico: Because think about it... decisions were either really easy, or the voting block is that tight. But Cochran's only hope right now, as in 100% assurance, is immunity. Otherwise, he's going to have to work a tribesman or two. We'll have to wait TWO weeks to figure out which plan (if any) Cochran decides to roll with, because next week is the obligatory clip show.
Gordon: Cochran may need 2 weeks to get out of the mess he's now in by doing nothing.
Chico: Yep. I have a feeling that Astro will take only one.
Gordon: And Stacy Francis has all the time in the world.



Chico: Because barring any unforeseen circumstances, he follows Stacy out the door NEXT WEEK.
Gordon: I don't disagree. If you're competing for America's Vote you do NOT do what he did last Thursday. Big Bored please?

Chico: Man I missed that.
Gordon: The Subject: How NOT to make Friends with America. #1, and most important: Be a brat. I think we all said at the start that Astro was going to have problems with the voting early because of his attitude.
Chico: I have another video. :-)
Gordon: Let's see it.



Gordon: That would pretty much sum it up.
Chico: It's a cold reminder. Yes, Astro is a talented kid. BUT... at the same time. He's a KID.
Gordon: Kid or no kid, you have manners.
Chico: He's very immature. For anyone.
Gordon: And more importantly, you're relying on America.
Chico: And Simon just echoes what you said. You're disrespecting yourself, the show, and America. And the thing that gets ME... This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, unless you're a media ho, But here's what Astro said, verbatim...

"If you're going to put me in the bottom two, I don't want to perform for people who don't want me here."

Chico: That. Speaks. Volumes. What was it we said? You play to win. This... is NOT WINNING.
Gordon: I have a feeling he'll be going back there. And I don't think he's coming out. Because I think he's leaving this week. Even if Astroboy was saved this past week, he's completely damaged his brand.
Chico: Bad boy press will come back to you.
Gordon: And even if he wins, there's way too many people who WON'T buy his stuff.
Chico: So he's a brat... 2) He's damaged himself. 3) The judges are sick of him. A + B + C = buh-bye.
Gordon: We'll by talking about this more next week, but the damage was done this week. Unless he pulls out the performance of a lifetime out of his as...tro jet pack.
Chico: Meanwhile we have to recognize greatness where we find it... and it seems that the horse we're riding to the finals GOT the theme this week, as only Josh Krajcik had what we would call "a moment".
Gordon: He did. And the moments going to carry him far.
Chico: Yessir.
Gordon: Will it carry him final 3 far?



Chico: I love the final three. We've got JR, who looks like there's no way he can lose this, we've got Rob, who's riding the dark horse to the finish, and Ricki Lake... the underdog.
Gordon: And we've got our predictions. Big Board Please?

Gordon: The Subject: Who Wins If... I think it's fair that if JR Martinez doesn't finish in last with the judges, he wins.
Chico: Agreed. He has America in the pocket.
Gordon: Cause I think he has the audience vote all wrapped up.
Chico: America loves his story. America loves his skill.
Gordon: and I think Ricki is in second.
Chico: And you know, I think the judges respect him.
Gordon: I agree
Chico: But just for fun... let's say Ricki DOES win with the judges. How does she win the whole thing?
Gordon: If its a Ricki / Rob / JR finish, she can win, because I think she has more audience vote than a Kardashian
Chico: I agree. She just needs to place atop with the judges. And by that, I mean with a comfortable margin.
Gordon: Rob needs a Rob / Ricki / JR finish to win.
Chico: Because you remember, the judges' score is a percent of all points scored.
Gordon: right, but it's 50%
Chico: Right. So you take THAT. Then you take the audience vote, which is ALSO a percent of all votes counted. Both scores have equal weights. So the bottom line is, the audience is going to decide it AGAIN.
Gordon: as usual.
Chico: So congratulations to the Muppets for winning Dancing with the Stars. :-) Gordon likes the Muppets.
Gordon: I do.
Chico: He also likes butter. So you can imagine his sheer ecstasy as the Race goes to Denmark. He's also a fan of rabbit. That was the OTHER Detour.
Gordon: And rabbit coated with butter :D
Chico: Because that's stupid... but smart.
Gordon: It's not stupid or smart. It's delicious.
Chico: Laurence & Zac get their rabbit coated in butter, because they get U-turned by Bill & Cathi, who ALSO got U-turned by the eventual winners of the leg, Ernie & Cindy.
Gordon: Who are also figuring out how to play to win
Chico: Yeah, they had it to start, and somewhere along the way, they lost it. I think it was when Andy & Tommy started to play for real. But they're getting it back. The key is now to hold onto it. As for the other end, this was a case of simply a bad day getting worse.
Chico: The Sunderlands Laurence & Zac started in 5th, near the bottom. Not only could they not catch up, but they had to watch as Jeremy & Sandy pass them. And that was because of the U-Turn.
Gordon: The painful thing is that they were ahead, and then got lost for 2 hours at the end of the leg
Chico: One of the rules of the race... and just good life advice: follow the map. Save yourself a good bit of time.
Gordon: The map is your friend.
Chico: Yes it is.
Gordon: The map won't help you when you don't use it properly.
Chico: Hence the two hour whirlwind tour of Denmark.
Gordon: And hence them going bye bye.
Chico: You know where else you can get a map?
Gordon: Where, Chico?
Chico: I'm glad you asked! You can get one at your local gas station. Know what else you can get at your local gas station? Especially if it happens to be, oh, a Sunoco in the Tri-State area?
Gordon: You can get pumped?
Chico: You can get Pumped! (presented by Sunoco).
Gordon: Whoo hoo!
Chico: This new game show takes place at your local gas station, where Greg Fitzsimmons pulls you over to the side and asks you trivia questions for cash money. It comes to you from Speed Channel, which is owned by Fox, so them copying Cash Cab, and Top Gear for that matter, isn't all too surprising. Let's start with the good. It's everything it is, it's nothing it ain't. Answer questions, win money.
Gordon: It's as simple as it comes.
Chico: And Greg, who hasn't hosted a game show since a little-known but well-received MTV quizzer in the 90s, seems to not have lost step. Equal parts host and enabler. You almost have to be given the timbre of the show.
Gordon: Well Greg was good. That doesn't help out the rest of the show.
Chico: Not really. Hold on, I need to get the Jason Block gas mask.
Gordon: You're too late (puts Jason Block Mask on)
Chico: Damn it!
Gordon: Zero originality here.
Chico: Nope.

	PUMPED Speed - 10p ET Thursdays
	GORDON	CHICO	AVERAGE-O-MATIC
	C-	C	C

Gordon: I used it for both the Xerox and gas fumes. Come on Speed, you can do better than this. C-.
Chico: Easy round, harder round, impossible round, one double or half question. With a bonus game thrown in. This show is what happens when Cash Cab gets into bed with Repo Games and does the horizontal game show nasty. Two great games that don't necessarily game great together. Together, it tastes like mediocrity. C. I almost want to give it an F on account of how bad "The Car Show" was, but that's not classy. Tell you what is classy: the Brobot piloting the Choppler.
Gordon: He's pretty darn good at the controls.
Chico: Yeah, you wouldn't believe how many weeks of code I had to hammer out. I don't envy your day job, dude. :-) Want Brobot to throw it?
Brobot: Roll that Beautiful Brain Footage, Dude.
Gordon: ...that works.
Chico: ..hee hee. :-)

(Doug: Live, local, and latebreaking... From the four corners of the globe to your frontal lobe, this is WLTI Brainvision News, and now here's Gordon Pepper, Chico Alexander, and the award-winning Brainvision News Team)

Chico: Thanks, Doug. First up, let's take a look at the old Datebook. And a very deserved entry.
Gordon: Well, I don't know about THAT, but...

You Deserve it shows up on Monday.

Chico: Chris Harrison comes full circle and hosts a game show with Brooke Burns, who's hosting her third. Well, technically, it would be her third as a host of SOME sort.
Gordon: So let's see. The Bachelor Host + a Hole in the Wall Reporter = Must see programming for Chico.
Chico: You forgot Mall Masters and Dog Eat Dog, homes. We'll talk about it more next week when we get the capsule review, but it's basically $250,000 at stake to someone for a loved one who deserves it. Game show altruism!
Gordon: well, actually it's $435,000 for a perfect game.
Chico: Ah. My mistake.
Gordon: There's 5 puzzles of increasing value: $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 and $250,000. We'll get more into that next week (yes, I saw the screener)
Chico: Glad someone did. :-) From that we go to a greenlight... One of our favorite non-TV indulgences is the NPR radio quizzer Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.
Gordon: Wait Wait - don't tell me they're making a pilot of it.

Well, BBC America is bringing the quiz show to TV as a year-in-review special. Host Peter Sagal will assume his regular duties from the usual venue, the Chase Auditorium in Chicago.

Gordon: I TOLD you not to tell me :P
Chico: It's what we call in the industry a "backdoor pilot". If the show does well, it could mean that BBCA will pick up more episodes. AND we all hope THAT happens. And as a real quick greenlight on a red couch, the show will tape December 2. Visit waitwait.npr.org for tickets. And in the couch... Hey, a bat! It's all gem-encrusted, but at the same time oddly shaped. HEY GORDON!
Gordon: Yes, Chico?
Chico: You know what an ace-king in the hole in hold'em poker is, right?
Gordon: AK is called Anna Kournikova. Very pretty, rarely, wins.
Chico: The same can be applied to...... Anna Kournikova.

After one season on "The Biggest Loser", she's not being invited back for a second season.

Chico: I'm guessing that her mannequin-like face, her mannequin-like body, and her mannequin-like demeanor leading to stiff ratings had something to do with it.
Gordon: And the personality of someone you wanted to hit with a tennis racket didn't help
Chico: Nope. Probably the first smart thing NBC did all season. For more "dummies"... we go to window dresser Gordon.
Gordon: Window Dressing For Dummies, eh? Let's start here...

Are YOU Smarter than...Gary Busey, who gets arrested after allegedly assaulting a woman while trying to catch a plane.

Chico: He's going from pulling out your endocrine system *puts on shades* to pulling out a prisoner.
Gordon: I'm not going to bother trying to figure him out. I'm just not.
Chico: Good idea.
Gordon: What about some Haterade instead. Now you know this is the time of Thanksgiving, when we need to be thankful. Right?
Chico: Right.

Well Ruben Studdard, Vienna Girardi, Ali Fedotowski, Roberto Martinez and Kasey Kahl, are all thankful to be single, as all of their relationships have gone kaput.



Chico: Sounds like the next cast of Bachelor Pad.
Gordon: You know, it could be. But I bet they're all going to get fully loaded.
Chico: Yup. Hey, remember when you played Family Feud on the Wii? How about Millionaire on the Xbox? How about Hollywood Squares on the PS2?

... Well, they're all coming to PSN.

Chico: So you can buy them from the comfort of your own home provided that the network isn't jacked again. And don't say it won't happen.
Gordon: I bet it will actually.
Chico: There you go.
Gordon: Is Steve Ho'vey going to be hosting it?
Chico: No, it's going to be hosted by the same guy who hosts the iPhone FF & Friends game. Which is mighty addictive.
Gordon: Sounds cool. Maybe we'll get new media hoes. (Luda)

In this week's Media Ho Report, Chris Jericho leaves the WWE, GSN goes Jewelry shopping, So You Think You Can Dance auditions start in January... Jimmy Carr goes to South Africa, Ben Bailey goes to Lebanon, PA, Warwick Davis hosts a pilot...

Chico: He would be one of the teachers from the Harry Potter series. Now on a reality show about dwarf actors.

Betty White turns 90, Howie Mandel gets mobbed, and Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog play Password.

Chico: on the set of Jimmy Fallon. ALSO sweet.
Gordon: But none of them is your Ho of the Week. The Ho is Regis Philbin, who retires from his show after 28+ years of hosting it.
Chico: He gets an honorary one of these.



Chico: And well deserved if I might add.
Gordon: Very well deserved. And those...are your hoes.
Chico: And finally, let's go global! To the UK, where we meet the new host of Countdown... I have a Conundrum.

Chico: .... and here's the clock.



Gordon: nice.
Chico: You have an answer?
Gordon: I'm guessing it's a new host.
Chico: You guess correctly. I have... Nick Hewer.

He's the FIFTH host of the show, the fourth since the passing of Richard Whiteley. He'll start in the new year.

Gordon: Sounds good. And that's BrainVision. Shut it down.
Chico: Got it. Brobot?
Brobot: Engaging shutdown sequence.
Chico: Still to come, we get a jump on Black Friday shopping. But what's first, G?
Gordon: First, we don our inner spinmeister. You're reading WLTI. You give us 22 minutes and we'll give you 22 minutes worth of fame that some people won't be getting back. Astroboy - I'm talking to you.

(BrainVision has been brought to you by Billion Dollar Password. If you can get 1 clue in a minute, you'll win a billion dollars. Your guests are Marcel Marceau, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Red Skelton.)

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