Berenstain Bears

Just a quick survey here, out of nothing but curiosity.  Tonight we were watching a pre-recorded episode of Jeopardy!  The question was, "It's the last name of the bear family seen here, as well as their creators Stan and Jan."

The contestant answered BerenSTEEN, as did I.  My husband agreed with me.  Alex agreed with her.  Then, a few clues later, Trebek informs her she answered incorrectly and the real pronunciation is BerenSTAIN, therefore they could not accept the answer.  I mean, what the what?!  We were infuriated. I grew up adoring the Berenstain Bears books, tv shows, etc. and so did he.  AND THAT'S HOW WE PRONOUNCED IT, TREBEK!  BerenSTEEN.  I do not whatsoever recall ever having ever pronounced it BerenSTAIN.  Psshaw.

Also, why are the judges so inconsistant with pronunciation?  I understand if your mispronunciation means something else entirely, but let's face it.  When Badger says "ri-cote-ah" instead of "ri-cot-ta", you correct him but at least understand that he's talking about the same thing/knows how to spell it in order to save $1,000 on his Jeopardy! score.

Later, the same contestant was robbed some more money for adding an 's' on the end of a name and also lost the game by a mere $200.  Poor girl.

So I just want some input on this.  If you can remember, did you pronounce this family as BerenSTAIN or BerenSTEEN?  If you could so kindly reply at the top of the page to your right.....

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Interesting. Very interesting.

Last night, we watched a recorded episode of Jeopardy!  Say what you will, laugh and sneer, but we love that show and look forward to watching it every night.  So the particular episode we watched last night was Celebrity Jeopardy!, featuring Anderson Cooper, Aisha Tyler and Cheech Marin.  I kid you not, it started out just like the classic Saturday Night Live Celebrity Jeopardy! skits.  You know the kind, where "Sean Connery" and "Alex Trebek" bicker and Connery throws out "that's not what your mom said last night, Trebek" burns?  Or how "Burt Reynolds" would change his name to Turd Ferguson or come out wearing an oversized hat that he "found backstage". 

Anyway, this episode really started out that way.  Nobody was following directions, Aisha buzzed in and said the correct answer AFTER she already buzzed in once with the incorrect answer.  It was funny, to say the least.  But what really, really baffled me was this.  Cheech Marin beat Anderson Cooper with flying colors.  At his own categories too.  Categories that Mr. Cooper should have owned.  I loved it.  Seriously.

I just wanted to share because I find it so awesome.  Congrats, Cheech!  Way to show the world that guys like Cheech & Chong are smart! 

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