‘Pop Culture Jeopardy!’ champs knew they had film covered. TV? Not so much.

‘Pop Culture Jeopardy!’ champs knew they had film covered. TV? Not so much. How former Harvard classmates binge-watched and buzzed their way to victory On their first day of preparation for “Pop Culture Jeopardy!,” contestants Jack Goldfisher and Henry Johnson realized they had a problem. Neither of them had watched much television. The 2018 College graduates had met in the course “Men to Boys: Masculinity in Postwar Hollywood Film,” where many of their classmates had encyclopedic knowledge of both forms. Now the pair were living in Los Angeles, and Goldfisher was sure Johnson — who had co-written a kids’ show for Apple TV — would have the category handled. It turned out they both knew much more about film. “We thought that each other knew a lot of information because we know a lot of the same information,” Goldfisher said, “which is probably not the way to optimize the team.” Goldfisher and Johnson hadn’t planned to compete as a duo. When they were selected for the show, they didn’t even know each other very well. Their mutual friend Jack Stovitz, who took the same course under Professor of the Practice in Media and Activism Michael Bronski, had recruited them to a three-person team before the first season of the “Jeopardy!” spinoff. When the show cut team sizes by one for its second season, Stovitz, who had just sold a script to Netflix, bowed out for convenience and left the acquaintances to fend for themselves. On a large screen in Goldfisher’s apartment, the “AMC B-Listers,” as Goldfisher and Johnson would be known, began to prepare. They took online quizzes on their weak subjects, like anime and country music, while reviewing the results of decades of major award shows. The goal was not mastery but modest familiarity. They skipped detailed synopses on shows like “The Wire” and practiced identifying the two main characters, the setting, and the theme song. They created several dozen flashcards, many of which just included names of bands and all of their members. Season 2 of “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” was set to stream on Netflix, so they spent extra time reviewing content on that platform, just in case. On the first day of filming, the two showed up early in the morning at Sony’s Culver City lot not knowing when they might compete in the five episodes recorded that day. When they weren’t called for game one, they waited in the green room with teams who all seemed to know the answer to every question asked by host and 2004 Harvard College graduate Colin Jost. “Well, everyone here seems to know everything, so we were like, whatever happens, happens.” Jack Goldfisher “Well, everyone here seems to know everything,” Goldfisher said, “so we were like, whatever happens, happens.” Their goal was to win one game before losing — “because you inevitably lose,” he added, “which is the worst part about ‘Jeopardy!’” They felt lucky that their jitters had subsided by the time they were selected for the day’s final taping. When their educated guesses led to a near-sweep of a category about the pop culture podcast “The Breakfast Club,” they realized that aggression would play a big part in their success. Not knowing everything about television was fine; in “Final Jeopardy!,” each knew half the background knowledge required to identify which ’80s song became a top-selling digital hit decades after its release, thanks to its use in two series finales. (“Don’t Stop Believin’” from “The Sopranos” and “Glee.”) After the relatively narrow win in the first game, Goldfisher and Johnson dominated the second and third, clinching a spot in the season’s final tournament. They attributed part of their success simply to enjoying the game and not burdening themselves with expectations. “I think Henry and I both love games so much that we’re able to separate the stakes from the game,” Goldfisher said. “We were having fun. I think that’s a big element of it.” A large part of the fun was becoming closer friends. On their day off before the playoffs, they had to keep their success a secret. “It’s not like a sporting event where the game is airing that night and everyone can see how you do,” Johnson said. “The fact that we had to go through this really condensed boot-camp period where we’re obsessively excited about this thing that no one else knows about is a really fun bonding experience.” In the semifinals, the pair found themselves in a distant second place after the first round. “I think, looking back, we probably could have prepared better,” Johnson told Jost between rounds. “I was really convinced there’d be a category about Borscht Belt comedians.” They were kept in the game partly through their dominance of the “Real Housewives Wit and Wisdom” category, about a show they didn’t watch. Entering Final Jeopardy!, they were in second place. The last prompt: “The last to garner nominations in all four major acting categories at the Oscars were both directed by him.” For 30 seconds, the other groups struggled, but Johnson knew the answer cold. Naming “David O. Russell” earned them a spot in the finals. As the camera flashed to them, Goldfisher gave Johnson a kiss on the cheek. The championship didn’t start so well. After part one of the two-episode final, they fell nearly 30,000 points behind the dominant “One Baddie After Another” team. Before game two, they agreed they’d have to dial up the aggression. Every guess deserved a buzz. Botching a couple of early questions only encouraged them; they’d have to risk making mistakes if they wanted a chance to win. Tides started to turn when they doubled up their earnings on a Daily Double! question about the actress Awkwafina. Then, right before their second Daily Double, they nailed a question about Balatro, a game their friends had frequently played until 3 a.m. “It felt like an enchanted moment,” Goldfisher said — like a scene from “Slumdog Millionaire.” Still nearly 20,000 points behind their competitors, they risked everything to double their 21,200 total on the category “Headlining the Festival.” In 2022 J. Cole had a good time headlining this Tennessee musical festival whose name is Creole slang for “a real good time.” Goldfisher, focusing on the rapper J. Cole, thought back to the music festival the rapper’s label put on in North Carolina. But that didn’t seem correct. “It can’t just be Bonnaroo, right?” Johnson whispered to his partner. It felt too obvious. The major festival takes place in Tennessee but didn’t hold an exceptionally close tie to the rapper. “If we’d had a semi-reasonable alternative to Bonnaroo, we probably would have guessed it,” Johnson said, “but we came up so empty that it was like, ‘We have to say a word.’” Bonnaroo was right. The two pushed into the lead as the crowd, and even one opposing team, broke into applause. “I told you anything could happen!” Jost exclaimed. The duo couldn’t have been disappointed when the category of Final Jeopardy! popped up: 21st-century movies. Edith Macefield’s refusal to sell her house to developers, who built around it, was said to inspire the makers of this Oscar-winning film. The two baseball fans plan to use some of the money to attend a Cubs vs. Mariners game together. Goldfisher has already put some of the money toward completing a low-budget feature he co-wrote and directed this February, and Johnson plans to put money toward the scholarship fund of a high-school classmate who died.