Knock Knock—This is “Jeopardy!”

It has been a lifelong dream of mine to be on “Jeopardy!” Maybe it’s something about the glare of the lights, the roar of the music, and the enthusiasm behind the clicker. But it’s more likely the fact that I’m just a massive trivia nerd.

Despite my dreams, I hadn’t started seriously rewatching “Jeopardy!” until my boyfriend got me back into it. It’s now kind of a routine thing. And in my hiatus, I realized that the show is actually much more engaging and dramatic than I remember. First, there’s the facts people give about themselves (the most interesting I have heard to-date is a person who listed their occupation as “water sommelier”), then you have the “Final Jeopardy!” drama of losing by one dollar.

Sometimes it’s all about the bets.

But, ultimately, at the heart of it, there are the categories. Some of them are so obscure you could never prepare for them, such as “The Lake Show,” where every answer had a type of body of water in the answer. Then, there are the more common ones, such as “Sports,” even if it isn’t any of the contestants’ strong suit.

Since I have yet to be on “Jeopardy!”, I like to daydream about possible categories on the show. Following this week’s prompt, we can go with “Knock Knock.” But the fun is just starting, since the theme can present itself in a few ways:

• “Knock” on Wood
• “Knock, Knock,” followed by a “Who’s There?” category
• “Knock-Knock Jokes”
• “Knockout”

But I digress. The best part is trying to figure out what the questions would look like. I’d like to think that my writing experience is up there with “Jeopardy!” clue developers. Here’s a few:

200 – This Nobel-prize winning musician has one of his hits, “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.”

400 – This musical tells viewers about the hard knock life of a curly red-headed orphan.

600 – This 2007 comedy, starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen, is titled after a common phrase for being pregnant.

800 – In “Mortal Kombat,” you may often see this phrase on the screen, which is short for “knock out.”

1000 – This Major League Baseball player holds the single season record for knocking it out of the park.

I still like to think that Trebek would allow the writers to slip in a joke or two, specifically this one:

“This knock-knock joke contains the phrase: Who’s there? To.”

“What is ‘To who?’” any contestant replies.

And then, with that sly smile and calming tone, Trebek politely replies, “I’m sorry, but the correct response is: ‘To whom.’”

ANSWERS:

200 – Who is Bob Dylan?

400 – What is Annie?

600 – What is Knocked Up?

800 – What is “Finish Him”

1000 – Barry Bonds

How did you score today? Tweet at @thepromptmag and we’ll retweet the best performers.