Host and Scorekeeper Updates on Wait Wait Stats Page

I have updated the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Stats Page with a couple of minor changes that correct how some of the hosts and scorekeepers are displayed. Originally, the code would highlight the listed host and/or scorekeeper if the host was not Peter Sagal and the scorekeeper was not Carl Kasell. That code needed to be changed to reflect that Dan Coffey was the original host of the show prior to its reboot, where Peter Sagal took over hosting duties. Also, with Bill Kurtis becoming the official judge and scorekeeper of the show after Carl Kasell becoming “Scorekeeper Emeritus,” the code also needed to reflect that change. The code also had to handle the fact that Bill Kurtis was a guest judge and scorekeeper for a period of time before becoming the official judge and scorekeeper. So, to handle some of those exceptions …

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me! at the Warner Theatre

On Thursday, May 15th, NPR and WBEZ held a very special live taping of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC. The live taping marks Carl Kasell’s final show as the the official judge and scorekeeper of Wait Wait. With huge thanks to Ian Chillag and the Wait Wait team, they had set aside two tickets to the show for me. Originally, a friend of mine that works for a certain automaker with US headquarters around Herndon, VA with a logo that contains a set of four rings, was going to go with me. Unfortunately, work beckoned and he was not able to attend. So, I put the call out to DC Tens fans (for those that don’t know: Tens are fans of a certain podcast called “Too Beautiful To Live”, hosted by a certain Wait Wait guest host …

Wait Wait Stats Page Version 3.1 is Now Live

I have been working on a couple of changes and new features for the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Stats Page over the past weeks and decided to publish the changes the weekend that Carl Kasell’s farewell show airs. Now that that day has arrived, I have finished making last minute changes and pushed out the new version. The first change to the Stats Page now includes Carl Kasell’s new title, SE for Scorekeeper Emeritus, included after his name on the Stats Page. Once an official announcement has been made on the long-term replacement for Carl, I will make the necessary code changes to reflect that. The new feature that I have added to the Stats Page is the addition of a new graph for each of the panelists. The existing graph displays a scoring breakdown for each panelist (if the panelist has any scoring …

Updates to the Wait Wait Stats Page Coming Soon

During the weekend of May 17th and 18th, I will be rolling out a few updates to the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Stats Page, on the heels of coming back from Carl Kasell’s scorekeeper finale in Washington DC. The updates to the site will include adding a new graph for each of the panelists. I won’t spill all of the details, but below is a sneak peek at what the graph would look like, without obfuscations of course.  

Going to Carl’s Last Wait Wait Taping in DC

Just a quick blog post… I am very excited, and a wee bit sad, that I will be going to Carl Kasell’s last taping of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! in Washington DC on May 15th. The live taping will be held at the Warner Theatre at 7:30 PM Eastern Time. If any of you guys will be at the live taping and want to meet up before the show, just send a tweet to @questionlp or contact me using the site’s Contact Me form.

Minor Updates to Wait Wait Stats Page

While listening to the last Thursday’s edition of Too Beautiful To Live, Luke Burbank made a snarky remark that he hasn’t won on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! for something like 35 shows. Even though that comment was not intended to be a factual statement, it did make a light bulb flicker in my head. The panelist statistics box includes the last time that he or she last won or was tied for first place and it would take a bit of time to go through the full appearances list to count the number of shows since the panelist has won or tied for first. That afternoon, I started playing around with a couple of SQL queries to pull that information and filter out things like Best Of and repeat show appearances and got something that gave me a proper result. That night, I …