Quiz Show

LANCASTER, Pa. - Brad Rutter is proof that the gods keep an eye out for slackers. The 27-year-old Johns Hopkins University dropout and former record-store worker beat quiz-show legend Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions on May 25, winning $2 million. Add that to the Jeopardy! booty he has scored since he first played the game in 2000, and his total is $3,255,102, making Rutter the biggest TV game-show winner in history, according to the show's people. Not exactly tied to the fast track - "I'm not ambitious and I don't need to work for The Man" - Rutter is an amiable guy with a "flypaper memory" that allows him to capture and keep stray facts that he then marshals for money.

The club is dark. Patrons line up at the bar. House music pulses, and strobe lights flash. It's just an ordinary night at Grand Central in Mount Vernon, until the techno beat fades into "Luck be a Lady Tonight" and a red velvet curtain lifts to reveal the night's hostess, drag queen Shawnna Alexander. Her flouncy black and white dress is decorated with a plush red crab pin that glitters in the spotlight. Welcome to "Buzzer," a new event at this Mount Vernon watering hole, where patrons can participate in quiz-show style games for cash and prizes.

BEIJING -- China's craze for books on current affairs has filled bookstores with volumes on wars and famines, trade disputes and dictators. But the topic that is probably the most important to China this decade is ignored: Hong Kong's return next year to Chinese rule after 150 years under the Union Jack.It isn't as though Beijing were purposefully ignoring Hong Kong. Under government orders, China is being flooded with television specials, radio shows, photo exhibitions, new textbooks, even a game show, all designed to interest people in Hong Kong's return.

This week, the man probably most responsible for boostin television's sagging sitcom genre eight years ago takes on a new role: game show host.Why would Bill Cosby, one of America's most popular comedians, decide to fill those shoes in a revival of the classic 1950s staple "You Bet Your Life"?"

Sarah Bart's run at the college championship on 'Jeopardy!' ended Tuesday with the senior  history major finishing second. But as runner-up, Bart left with $50,000 for her effort. Here's the release from the show: Sarah Bart, a 22-year-old history major at Goucher College, placed second in the “Jeopardy!” College Championship, taking home $50,000 in cash winnings.  Bart competed against 14 undergraduates from across the country during the competition.  This is the first time that the 1,446-student liberal arts and sciences college, located in Baltimore, Md., has been represented in the College Championship.

Justin Sausville of Mount Washington is a whiz at the brainy TV game show "Jeopardy!" - and he's proving just as stellar at "I've Got a Secret. " In effect, he has reigned as "Jeopardy!" champ for a staggering two weeks. He scored back-to-back wins on the July 28 and July 29 episodes. Then "Jeopardy" broke for summer vacation - and won't come back until Sept. 19. Sausville knows exactly what will happen that night. He recorded his return match on Aug. 2, because "Jeopardy!"

So many people know the voice. So few know the man. Carl Kasell is the man behind the voice millions listen to over their morning coffee or on their commute to work. He's a fixture at National Public Radio, the serious broadcast journalist who has done the hourly news updates for "Morning Edition" since the show went on air back in 1979. But for almost three years now, Kasell has had another gig at NPR, one where he gets to loosen up a little, have some fun, even let the actor in him come out to play.

Cal Ripken Jr. , baseball's Mr. Clean, aired a little dirty laundry on a radio quiz show. Appearing on NPR's "Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me!" last weekend, Ripken was asked about the infamous 1989 baseball card bearing the image of teammate-brother Billy Ripken holding a bat with an obscenity scrawled on the end. The Ironman went on to reveal that Billy isn't the only Ripken who knows how to curse. Peter Sagal , host of the show, asked Ripken if he ever gets tired of living up to his good-boy image.

Here are the results of our completely unscientific poll of Sun readers on who they think will win several major Academy Award categories on Monday, with the vote totals in parentheses. Sun film critic Stephen Hunter will reveal his selections in Sunday's Arts & Entertainment section.PICTURE:"Forrest Gump" (347)"Pulp Fiction" (187)"Four Weddings and a Funeral" (39)"The Shawshank Redemption" (37)"Quiz Show" (24)ACTOR:Tom Hanks, "Forrest Gump" (331)John Travolta, "Pulp Fiction" (152)Morgan Freeman, "The Shawshank Redemption" (70)

Columbia resident Joy Bell ended a three-day run on the nationally televised quiz show "Jeopardy!" last night with $15,700 in winnings and a one-week trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.Ms. Bell, a childbirth educator and lactation consultant at the Washington Hospital Center, won two games before coming in second in last night's broadcast. The shows were taped in Hollywood Aug. 2, and were broadcast on WMAR (Channel 2) the past three nights.The Owen Brown village resident led in last night's broadcast going into the final round, in which contestants choose how much to wager on one question.