Rachel Horn and Viewers in Jeopardy

Good news and bad news for Jeopardy fans: Rachel Horn from Walnut Hills High School plays in the $75,000 "Jeopardy!" teen tournament Thursday -- but you won't see it on Channel 9 Thursday.

Because of a prior commitment to air the "Cincinnati Auto Show" 7-8 p.m. Thursday, Channel 9 will pre-empt the first night of the two-night teen tournament. (Whoops!) Channel 9 made the agreement months ago, before it learned that Jeopardy had scheduled the teen tournament... or knew that the 15-year-old Hyde Park girl would make it to the finals...

So here's your viewing options:
--Wait until 7 p.m. Friday, and watch the two-part finals 7-8 p.m. Friday on Channel 9. (They'll pre-empt "Wheel of Fortune," and run back-to-back "Wheels" 7-8 p.m. Saturday.
--Set the DVR for 1:35 a.m. late Thursday/early Friday and record the Thursday Jeopardy. Make sure to give yourself extra time, since the show runs until 2:05 a.m.
--If you're in the northern 'burbs, you might be able to watch Jeopardy from Dayton's Channel 2 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, as usual.

Horn was impressive again Wednesday, though not nearly as dominant as she was in the first round. She answered 16 of 17 correctly, while last week she took control of the game by answering 28 questions. She started the Double Jeopardy (second round) in second place, but quickly jumped into the lead thanks to a category of Ohio trivia (called "Let's Go To Ohio"). Can you believe it? They used this category knowing they had an Ohio kid playing the game? One of the answers was Cincinnati.... You'd think they would have used a different category so not to give her an unfair advantage. (She got 3 of them right, and her competitors each got one of the Ohio questions right.)

There are many reasons to root for Rachel. She's been very calm and cool and confident. And smart. I'd root for her anyway if she wasn't from Cincinnati because she shares my love for Duke Ellington's sax player (Johnny Hodges) and the Marx Brothers (Harpo in particular). No, we're not related...

All the money won by Horn Wednesday, and last week, does not carry over into the finals. The teen champion with the highest two-day total on Friday is guaranteed $75,000. If he or she wins more than that in two days, the winner keeps the larger amount. The second-place finisher is guaranteed $25,000, and the third-place person gets at least $15,000.

One more guarantee: The phone will ring off the hook at Channel 9 tomorrow when people discover they can't see the teen tournament finals, or they can't see "Wheel of Forutne" as usual.
Go Rachel!