European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 6, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse This game show can jeopardize your Home life by Elise t. Chisolm the Baltimore evening Sun they say that television game shows Arentt As popular As they used to be but jeopardy is still going Strong. Id rather watch talk shows which seem to be proliferating like rabbits because i love to talk and i hate games unless they Are out of doors and i have a front seat or am part of the action. If there is one thing that makes me feel inferior it is jeopardy and its answers that have to be put in the form of questions by three contestants who you know have been boning up for weeks on reference books and almanacs. The same goes for trivial Pursuit dictionary a any game that requires incidental intelligence when All you really wanted to do was relax have a Beer put your feet up and Tell your spouse How bad your Day was. My husband meanwhile has this incredible infatuation with jeopardy no matter where we Are a he could be in a catamaran off Haiti or at an Academy award ceremony silting next to Michelle Pfeiffer a he must get Home for jeopardy if we Are at a party he whispers in my car around 7 30 a not a you look great tonight dear a but a a in a missing jeopardy a Why Are we infatuated with answers we May never have to use in a lifetime i mean there s nothing so obnoxious As a know it All a person at a gathering who knows the capital of every state or knows who invented the Apple corer. Right anyway i am Here to Tell you the secret of winning at jeopardy a at my House anyway. Done to memorize anything. Learn to guess go with your intuition. Take the other night. We had raced Home. We were in our usual watching positions chained to a chair. The final big question was Worth big dough. The question went something like this the two largest Rivers in Idaho that Start with s and their names arc animals. What did i care would i Ever need to Cross either of those Rivers a i yelled out Quot what Are the Snake and the Salmon Rivers a he was furious. He got up and jumped up and Down. A How could you know that a he screamed. Guess what it was an on the spot guess. I Tell him that it is easy. I always think of snakes because i hate them and although i thought of Squirrel and squid i figured Salmon is More indicative of Rivers in Idaho right he was done in by Little Ole me and what a More he is the one who was born in and lived in the West. It happened again last week. We were at a party and played trivial Pursuit. Having been an underachiever at this too i was a lacklustre participant. Especially intimidating was the presence of a few , editors English majors men who part their hair in the Middle and women who Wear Horn rimmed glasses and no makeup. The crucial question was. Quot How Many seams Are there on a football a no one knew. I screamed a four Quot Camelo the Alex Trebek shows Campaign theme. That was it. Our team won. Now ask me How i knew. 1 guessed. Life is full of chances and i take Mem As they come. I May try to get my own talk show a at least you done to have to know How Many dimples there Are on a Golf Ball. Since the jeopardy episode he does not like it when i watch the show with him so i am Able to get Back to my knitting. How Many stitches does the average Knitter take in her lifetime who cares Murphy Browne a looming baby helps show Booby Ellen Goodman the Boston Globe this is nothing against Murphy Brown mind you. She has handled the whole thing wonderfully with grit and Good humor. From the time a the Little stick turned blues and Murphy decided that 10 pregnancy testing kits and a dead Rabbit be All wrong sitcoms favorite female Anchor Hasni to hit a false note. Everyone in the shows office is freaking out at the very idea of an unwed 42-year-old a puffing up on network television. But she has remained True to her Quirky aggressive and ambivalent soul. After All just because she a a hard driving journalist a that does no to mean i done to have a nurturing caring Side. I once Ted the cat next door. So these Days in Murphy Brown s stateside series Murphy Candice Bergen wakes up hugging a toilet bowl instead of a Coffee Mug. But As the real life producers in Hollywood have discovered its a Small Price to pay Tor prime time ratings that landed the program in the boffo sphere. Even an executive producer As nervous As Murphy co Star Miles would let up on the Wylanta. Frankly i did no to expect the producers of Murphy Brown to join the four b club baby Boomers baby boosters. And while we Are on the subject what about the people who gave a biological clock to the Over adolescent Sam Malone in a bar named cheers ? suddenly Sam and Rebecca Are exchanging vows. Quot do you still want to be a Mommy a a do you still want to be a daddy a a i a i skip the rings and go directly to the ovum. I Haven to seen such an unlikely candidate for fatherhood since us Warren Beatty. Which is the Point. This seasons big concept a if you will forgive the expression a comes from the Fertile mind of producers who heard the demographics ticking. The Candice Bergen baby Boom Echo has finally become deafening. Babies talk literally and financially in the movies and on television. They Are even a Staple on ads that suggest the Only reason you might want a Safe tire is if you have a baby on Board. 1 myself am a Veteran of the baby bust Era. During that Era those of us in maternity clothes were subject to diatribes by Quot the those people were not As they said pointedly contributing to ecological disaster and not creating fodder for the Pentagon a War machine. Having Given birth at the very end of the a hos i hardly heard of a baby Shower for another 10 years. Then suddenly there were to shirts sprouting the slogan Quot of no i forgot to have a soon the most examined and self examined cohort group in american history began to reproduce and the trend watchers began to produce treatises movies television. The first time a pregnant woman appeared on television it was a truly pregnant Lucille Ball. In the intervening years we had real life with Jane Pauley Joan Lunden Deborah Norville and Katie Couric. We saw Kathleen Sullivan single and without children replaced by Paula Zahn. As a to executive put it Paula had that extra career boosting warmth that came with kids. The current image of the unwed Unm other Isnit auntie Marne. Its somewhere Between Holly Hunter in broadcast news and Glenn close in fatal attraction. Murphy Brown was the last of a Tough funny and unapologetic ally Una eternal Breed. Now she a a provisional member of the four b club. On to it May be risky to have a baby without a husband. But it turns out that its demographically riskier to stay out of the family Way. After years of stars hiding pregnancy Well have a Starjak ing pregnancy. What next a would something happen to me if i became a Mother a Murphy asked Hersell. Quot i mean would i lose my Edge Quot Namaah. It could even be worse. Sam Malone could be the 6, 1991 sunday a Page
