By Dan Rosenberg
We are fortunate to have a lot of “alone time” with our granddaughter, Penelope. At the time of this writing, she is completing second grade. She will have her eighth birthday in late summer.
When Penelope stays overnight at our house, we allow her to have some screen time or watch part of a television show before bedtime. We record shows that she might enjoy. On her current list is Chopped (she always roots for the women chefs), American Ninja Warrior, The Wall, and America’s Funniest Home Videos.
After she has her screen time or choice of a television program, my wife and I stay with her, sometimes watching a show that is not interesting to her, while she falls asleep. Usually, that ritual includes a few minutes of backrubs from my wife (grandmother’s backrubs are superior to grandfather’s backrubs in her opinion).
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One night my wife and I decided to watch an episode of Jeopardy that we have previously recorded as Penelope went to sleep. She had seen parts of Jeopardy before and didn’t seem to like it, as you would expect since she couldn’t answer the questions, or as the show works, she couldn’t come up with the right questions.
However, on this night, acting like a typical kid that will try anything to stay up later, she declared, “I love Jeopardy.” We figured she would get bored and go to sleep. But somehow, she watched the entire show. She didn’t say a thing until we got to Final Jeopardy.
Anderson Cooper, the celebrity host for this game, which aired on April 29, 2021, revealed the Final Jeopardy category as “Paintings” before breaking for commercials. After I fast-forwarded, the Final Jeopardy answer was then revealed, “The New York Times noted “balls of orange-yellow light” and “the town off in the distance” from the artist’s window in this piece.” Penelope said, “I only know one painting, Starry Night.”
After the thirty-second theme song, Anderson called on the contestant in third place. Her response was displayed on the screen in front of her, “What is The Banquet??” Anderson said, “I’m sorry that is incorrect.” After her wager was subtracted from her total, Anderson moved to the returning champion, who responded “What is Starry Night”.
When Anderson said, “That is correct, well done,” Penelope went crazy, jumping up in bed, “I got the Final Jeopardy!” All my wife and I could say were, “O-M-G.”
It turns out that our son, a terrific guitar player, gave Penelope a small guitar during the previous holiday season. The body of this unique guitar has a rendering of Van Gogh’s Starry Night on it, which our son explained to her. And of course, this episode of Jeopardy was the only one she’s watched in its entirety, as a ruse to stay up late.