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Jeopardy! is a quiz show featuring trivia in topics such as history, literature, pop culture and science. The show has a decades-long broadcast history in the United States since its creation by Merv Griffin in the early 1960s. It first ran on NBC from March 30, 1964 until January 3, 1975; concurrently ran in a weekly syndicated version from September 9, 1974 to September 7, 1975; and subsequently ran in a revival from October 2, 1978 to March 2, 1979.
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Encyclopedia
Jeopardy! is a quiz show featuring trivia in topics such as history, literature, pop culture and science. The show has a decades-long broadcast history in the United States since its creation by Merv Griffin in the early 1960s. It first ran on NBC from March 30, 1964 until January 3, 1975; concurrently ran in a weekly syndicated version from September 9, 1974 to September 7, 1975; and subsequently ran in a revival from October 2, 1978 to March 2, 1979. Its most successful incarnation is the Alex Trebek-hosted syndicated version, which has aired continuously since September 10, 1984. It has also been adapted internationally.
The current version has consistently placed among the top-rated shows in syndication. In January 2001, TV Guide ranked it #2 among the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time. Esquire magazine readers named it their "favorite game show", and in the summer of 2006, it was also ranked #2 by GSN on their list of the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time. The show holds the record for number of Emmy Awards in the category of Best Game Show, with 11.
Gameplay
Three contestants, one of whom is typically a defending champion (and occupies the left-most podium from the viewer's perspective), compete in three rounds: the Jeopardy! Round, the Double Jeopardy! Round and the Final Jeopardy! Round.
Jeopardy! Round
Six categories are announced, each with a column of five trivia clues (phrased in answer form), each one incrementally valued more than the previous, ostensibly by difficulty. From 1964-1979, only five categories were featured per round. Category names range from standard subjects such as "History," "Television" and "Headlines" to pun-laden titles and wordplay categories.
The value of each clue within categories has increased over time:
1964-
1975 | 1978-
1979 | 1984-
2001 | 2001-
Present |
|---|
| $10 | $25 | $100 | $200 | | $20 | $50 | $200 | $400 | | $30 | $75 | $300 | $600 | | $40 | $100 | $400 | $800 | | $50 | $125 | $500 | $1,000 |
The contestant at the left-most podium, usually the returning champion, begins the game by selecting a category and dollar value. Contestants are free to choose any unselected clue, although gameplay usually progresses one category at a time from least to most-valuable clues.
The host then reads the clue after which any of the three contestants may ring in using a hand-held signaling device. The first contestant to successfully ring in following the host's reading of the clue must then respond generally in the form of a question (see Phrasing below).
A correct response earns the dollar value of the clue and the opportunity to select the next clue from the board. An incorrect response or a failure to respond within a 5-second time limit (shown by the red lights on the contestant's podium) deducts the dollar value of the clue from the contestant's score and gives any remaining opponent(s) the opportunity to ring in and respond. If none of the contestants give a correct response, the host reads the correct response and the contestant who has most recently given a correct response to a previous clue chooses the next clue.
Daily Doubles
One clue hidden on the Jeopardy! Round game board and two clues hidden in the Double Jeopardy! round are designated a "Daily Double" (a term also used in horse racing). Only the contestant who selects a Daily Double may respond to its clue. The contestant may wager any part or all of their current score on the clue, with a minimum wager of $5. If the contestant has a negative score or their score is less than the highest-value clue in the current round (currently $1,000 in the Jeopardy! Round and $2,000 in the Double Jeopardy! Round), the contestant may wager up to that amount.
Contestants may also indicate that they wish to make it a "True Daily Double", meaning that they are risking all the money that they have accumulated up to that point.
Daily Doubles are occasionally designated with special tags, such as "Audio Daily Double" (in which a sound clip is played as part of the clue), "Video Daily Double" (in which a video clip is played as part of the clue), "Celebrity Daily Double" (in which a celebrity delivers the clue), etc. Such tags are displayed as soon as the Daily Double has been revealed.
Ringing in
Contestants must wait until the host finishes reading the clue before ringing in. Lights mounted around the game board illuminate to indicate when contestants may ring in. These lights are unseen by the television audience. Additionally, a tone sounds in conjunction with the illuminated lights on episodes that feature visually impaired contestants. Ringing in before this point locks the contestant out for approximately one quarter of a second.
Prior to the 1985–1986 season, contestants were able to ring in at any time after the clue had been revealed.
Phrasing and judging
All responses must be phrased in the form of a question. During the Jeopardy! Round, contestants are not penalized for forgetting to phrase a response in the form of a question, although the host will remind them to properly phrase their responses to future clues. During the Double Jeopardy! Round, adherence to the phrasing rule is followed more strictly, but contestants are still permitted to correct themselves before their time runs out.
If the response itself is a question (e.g., a clue related to Abbott and Costello routine "Who's on First?"), the contestant is permitted to omit "What/Who/Where is..." ahead of their response.
At times, the show's producers determine that an answer previously given by a contestant was wrongly ruled correct or incorrect. When this happens, the scores are adjusted at the first available opportunity. If, after a game is over, a ruling change is made that would have significantly altered the outcome of the game, the affected contestant(s) will be invited back to compete on a future show.
Double Jeopardy! Round
The second round, Double Jeopardy!, is played just as the first round, with the following exceptions:
- Six new categories are presented.
- The value of each clue is doubled.
- Two Daily Doubles appear in the round, each in different categories.
- Contestants' responses must be phrased in the form of a question (see phrasing above).
The contestant with the lowest amount of money at the end of the Jeopardy! Round makes the first selection in Double Jeopardy! If there is a tie for second place, the contestant at the left-most podium selects first.
Finishing Double Jeopardy! with $0 or less
Contestants who finish Double Jeopardy! with a $0 or negative score are automatically eliminated from the game and not allowed to participate in the game's final round, Final Jeopardy! In this case, the contestants still receive consolation prizes, which (since May 16, 2002) are $1,000 for third place and $2,000 for second place.
On rare occasions, two contestants have finished Double Jeopardy! with negative scores, leaving the first-place contestant to play Final Jeopardy! alone.
On episodes of Celebrity Jeopardy!, in which celebrities compete against each other for charity, contestants are granted nominal scores in order to compete in Final Jeopardy! should their score fall below $0. These episodes also feature a house minimum that will be donated to the celebrity's charity of choice, which is currently $10,000.
If a returning champion finishes with a score below $0, that amount is not deducted from their previously accumulated winnings; any cash they had previously won is theirs to keep.
On at least one Fleming-hosted episode, all three contestants finished Double Jeopardy! with $0 or less, thereby disqualifying everyone from Final Jeopardy! The time normally used for the final round was filled with chitchat between Fleming and the contestants. Three new contestants were featured on the following episode.
Final Jeopardy! Round
A category is announced by the host followed by a commercial break (during which the staff comes on stage and advises the contestants while barriers are placed between the contestants to discourage cheating). During this period, the contestants write down a wager based on the category of as little as $0 or up to as much money as they have accumulated.
After the final commercial break, the Final Jeopardy! clue is revealed and read by the host. The contestants have 30 seconds to write a response, again phrased in the form of a question. With rare exception, the "Think!" music is played during this 30-second period.
Since 1984, contestants use a light pen to write down their Final Jeopardy! wager and response. Contestants are also provided with an actual pen and index card in the event that the light pen malfunctions. The light pen is automatically turned off at the conclusion of the 30-second period.
A keyboard with Braille keys is provided to visually impaired contestants. Responses and wagers are displayed in a typed-font when the keyboard is used.
Cash prizes
The top-scorer on each show keeps his or her winnings and returns on the next show. Non-winners receive consolation prizes. The current prizes are $2,000 for the second-place contestant and $1,000 for the third-place contestant. Since the show does not provide airfare or lodging for most contestants, these cash consolation prizes alleviate the financial burden of appearing on the show. Prior to May 16, 2002, the second-place contestant typically received a vacation package or merchandise and the third-place contestant received lesser-value merchandise.
Prior to 1984, all contestants kept their winnings and contestants who finished with scores below $0 received consolation prizes.
Returning champions
If no contestant finishes Final Jeopardy! with a positive total, nobody wins and three new contestants appear on the following show; in such cases the three new contestants participate in a backstage draw to determine their positions at the contestant podiums. Such procedures are also used in the Teen and College tournaments to determine positions on the podia. A three-way loss has happened three times since 1984, the first occasion being on the second episode.
If two or more contestants tie for first place, they are declared "co-champions," they each keep their winnings and come back on the following episode. Three contestants have each finished two consecutive games as co-champions.
A three-way tie for first place has only occurred once since 1984, and only one contestant in the same period has won a game with the lowest amount possible, $1.
Special considerations are also given for contestants who are unable to return as champion due to medical concerns. This occurred for the first time in Season 25, as three new contestants appeared on the January 19, 2009 episode due to the previous show's champion, Priscilla Ball, taking ill. At the top of the episode Alex Trebek explained that in such a case, the contestant would return at a later date as a co-champion. Again, on the episode in question, the three new contestants drew for position.
From 1984 until 1990, champions kept all winnings, capped at $75,000. Any amount above $75,000 was donated to a charity of the champion's choice. The cap was increased to $100,000 in 1990 after Bob Blake ($82,501) and Frank Spangenberg ($102,597) exceeded the $75,000 cap. In 1997 the cap was raised to $200,000 and then eliminated altogether in 2003. Prior to 2003, a contestant who won five consecutive days was retired undefeated, with a guaranteed spot in the next Tournament of Champions.
From 1997 until 2001, an undefeated champion was also awarded his or her choice of Chevrolet cars or trucks (Corvette, Tahoe, Suburban, or two Camaros). From 2001-2002, the winner won a Jaguar X-Type. Similarly, as part of the deal with Ford Motor Company for the 2001-2002 season, Ford also added a Volvo to the Teen Tournament prize package.
In September 2003 the show not only dropped the winnings limit but also the number of episodes on which a champion could appear. Champions can now remain on the program indefinitely until defeated, although champions who appear on five or more consecutive episodes no longer receive an automobile.
Recurring categories
Some categories have special rules pertaining to them. In each case, contestants and viewers are told the specific format required to get the clue correct.
Other versions
1974-1975, Syndication
Core gameplay remained similar to the NBC version of the show with slight changes. Most contestants featured on this version were previous champions from the daytime show. Also, any contestant who correctly answered all five questions in a category received a bonus prize, originally a Chevrolet Vega, later a trip to London (as opposed to a cash bonus on the daytime edition).
Originally, the winning contestant picked a number from 1-30 from the "Jeopardy Jackpot Board." Possible prizes included a new car, a luxury vacation, or bonus money, with the grand prize being $25,000 (though the latter took up two spaces, each corresponding one half, and could only be won if the contestant found the second half on an additional pick). Later in the show's one-season run, the Jackpot Board was dropped and the champion's bonus prize was based on his or her final score. It was also at this point that the aforementioned "category sweep" prize was changed from a car to a London holiday, since the Chevy Vega was now one of the bonus prizes.
However, this version failed to catch on in the ratings, mainly due to a glut of other weekly versions of network daytime games that stations ran in their Prime Time Access early-evening time slots (such as The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal). The show was canceled after only one season. During the previous season, packagers of Dating Game and Sale of the Century had tried to keep their shows alive in syndication as well; neither of those games were successful either.
1978-1979
The All-New Jeopardy! was a short-lived series with significantly different rules than the 1964-75 versions. The lowest-scoring contestant was eliminated after the Jeopardy! Round and the contestant who was ahead at the end of the Double Jeopardy! Round became the champion.
Instead of playing Final Jeopardy!, the winner then played a bonus round called Super Jeopardy! This round featured a new board of five categories with five clues in each, numbered 15 (and unlike the main game, not necessarily increasing in difficulty down the column). The object was for the contestant to provide any five correct responses in a straight line in a Bingo-like fashion (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally).
Giving an incorrect or no response earned the contestant a "strike" and blocked that space on the board; three strikes ended the round. Super Jeopardy! was played for $5,000 on a champion's first attempt, with the jackpot increasing by $2,500 each day that champion successfully defended his/her title. Contestants received $100 per correct answer if they struck out.
Rock & Roll Jeopardy! was a music-intensive version of Jeopardy! that aired on VH1 from 1998 to 2001. Hosted by future Survivor host Jeff Probst, clues on this version of the show highlighted post-1950s popular music trivia. Though the phrasing rule was less strict than on the syndicated program, gameplay was basically identical to Jeopardy!
The game was played for points rather than dollars during the first two seasons, with each day's winner receiving $5,000 regardless of their score. The final season was played for cash instead of points, with champions receiving a $5,000 house minimum. Three new contestants competed on each program.
Jep! was a children's version of Jeopardy!, hosted by cartoon voice actor Bob Bergen. The show aired in 1998 on Game Show Network (now GSN), and up to late 2004 on Discovery Kids. It did not fare well with either critics or viewers and the show was canceled after one season. Starting in 1999, just after Jep!s cancellation, Jeopardy! began a "Back-to-School Week", which has easier clues and more accessible material for the younger contestants, but is otherwise identical to the adult version.
Tournaments
Tournament of Champions
Starting in 1985, a Tournament of Champions has been held more or less annually, featuring the top fifteen champions and other biggest winners who have appeared on the show since the last tournament. The tournament format was devised by Alex Trebek, and plays as follows:
Quarterfinals (shows 1-5): Three new participants compete each day. The winner from each of the five programs advances to the semifinals and the four top-scorers among non-winners advance as wild cards, with ties broken by their scores after the Double Jeopardy! Round.
If two contestants tie for first place at the end of either a quarterfinal or semifinal match, a special Tie Breaking round is played between those tied contestants. A category is presented followed by a clue. The contestant who rings in and provides the correct question wins the tie breaker and advances in the tournament.
Semifinals (shows 6-8): The five quarterfinal winners and four wild cards compete in a single-elimination tournament, with three contestants competing each day. The winner of each of the semifinal games advances to the finals.
Finals (shows 9 & 10): All three semifinal winners compete both days, with their total score from both days added together to determine their final score. The contestants start with $0 at the beginning of each game; the score from the first finals game is not added to their second game score until after that episode's Final Jeopardy!
The winner of the tournament receives a grand prize, currently $250,000. The two runners-up are also guaranteed a minimum cash prize ($100,000 for the second place contestant and $50,000 for third place), however if their two-day final score exceeds this cash amount they receive the additional money.
Teen Tournament
First aired in 1987, the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament features competition between high school students, with the winner receiving $75,000 and, in some years, a new car. Until 2001, the winner was also invited to participate in the Tournament of Champions.
College Championship
Beginning in 1989, the College Championship features college students competing for a $100,000 prize. The tournament pits 15 full-time undergraduate students from colleges and universities in the U.S. against each other in a two-week tournament, identical in format to the Tournament of Champions. Since 1997, the College Championship has been taped on location at college campuses.
The winner earns $100,000, a trophy and a spot in the next Tournament of Champions.
Seniors Tournament (1987-1995)
Ten Seniors Tournaments were held between 1987 and 1995 featuring contestants over the age of 50. This tournament was discontinued after December 1995.
Other special tournaments
There have been a number of special tournaments featuring the greatest contestants during the history of Jeopardy!
Super Jeopardy!
The first of these "all-time best" tournaments, Super Jeopardy!, aired in the summer of 1990 on ABC. It featured 37 top contestants who had competed on the program from 1984-1990, plus one notable champion from the original 1964-1975 version.
This tournament featured a number of gameplay changes, including featuring four contestants in each of the Jeopardy! round of each of the quarterfinal games. Points were scored instead of dollars, with the following values used in each of the two rounds:
| Jeopardy! | Double Jeopardy! |
|---|
| 200 | 500 | | 400 | 1,000 | | 600 | 1,500 | | 800 | 2,000 | | 1,000 | 2,500 |
Bruce Seymour won the tournament and the top prize of $250,000.
Tenth Anniversary Tournament
The Tenth Anniversary Tournament was a five-day tournament aired in 1993 following the conclusion of the regular Tournament of Champions. The winner of that tournament, Tom Nosek, received a bye into the Tenth Anniversary Tournament; the other eight spots were awarded by lottery from among Tournament of Champions finalists and semifinalists of the previous decade (one chosen from each of the eight years the tournament was played). Frank Spangenberg won the tournament with a two-game score of $16,800 plus a $25,000 bonus for a total of $41,800.
Teen Reunion Tournament
In November 1998, contestants from the 1987, 1988, and 1989 Teen Tournaments (including the champions) were invited to Boston to play in a special Teen Reunion Tournament. 1989 Teen Tournament winner Eric Newhouse won the tournament.
Million Dollar Masters
In May 2002, to commemorate the Trebek version's 4,000th episode, the show invited fifteen champions to play for a $1 million bonus, under the standard 2-week tournament format. Tapings took place at Radio City Music Hall. The tournament was won by Brad Rutter.
Ultimate Tournament of Champions
Jeopardy! televised the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005. This tournament, which was the largest (and longest) in Jeopardy!s history, pitted 144 former Jeopardy! champions against each other, with two winners moving on to face Ken Jennings in a 3-game final.
The final winner was Brad Rutter ($62,000 for the tournament final), winning $2 million, the second-largest single-game prize in game show history. Jennings placed second (with $34,599) and took home $500,000. Jerome Vered finished third ($20,600), collecting $250,000. As a result, Rutter is the all-time Jeopardy! winner with $3,270,102 (plus two Camaros), with Jennings a close second at $3,022,700. Rutter's win also made him the highest total winner in American game show history, a distinction he held until Jennings surpassed him in October 2008 with a $500,000 win on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Kids Week Reunion
Jeopardy! celebrated its landmark 25th anniversary season by holding a special Kids Week Reunion tournament featuring 15 former Kids Week alumni from the 1999 and 2000 Kids Weeks competing against each other. The format was the same as the Kids Week tournament, with the winners keeping whatever they win with a minimum guarantee of $25,000. The cash prizes for second and third place have also increased to $5,000 for second place and $2,500 for third place.
Audition process
Unlike the audition process for many game shows, the Jeopardy! contestant audition process is in part merit-based, with 50-question contestant tests administered at local audition sites and, as of 2006, over the Internet.
Theme music
Since the debut of Jeopardy! in 1964, there have been many different iterations of the theme music for the show, a majority of which has been composed by Merv Griffin.
Set
Like the theme music, the Jeopardy! set has also changed over the years. The original version of the show, hosted by Art Fleming, and debuting on NBC on March 30, 1964, was taped in Studio 6A at NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. No electronic sound effects were used; a ship's bell was rung to signify a round's conclusion, and when a Daily Double was revealed, a Bermuda carriage bell was rung quickly several times to alert Fleming and the selecting contestant. In addition to Studio 6A, Studio 8G was also frequently used to record the show.
The 1978 revival version of the show, The All-New Jeopardy!, was taped from NBC Studio 3 in Burbank, California, with set design by Henry Lickel and Dennis Root.
When the syndicated Jeopardy! premiered in 1984, it was taped at Metromedia Stage 7, KTTV-TV, on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. (This studio was torn down in 2003 to make room for a public high school.)
From 1985-1994, Jeopardy! was taped at Hollywood Center Studios' Stage 9.
In the syndicated TV show hosted by Alex Trebek, the set included a large "JEOPARDY!" logo until 2002. The logo was first shown in red neon, then changed to white the following season, and finally to yellow which remained until 1991. From 1991-1996, the Jeopardy! logo alternated colors with flashing red-to-white neon in the "Jeopardy!" round with a blue background and flashing blue-to-white neon with a red background for the "Double Jeopardy!" round.
TV executive Bob Boden received the "J" logo sign from the 1986-1991 version of the set after it was retired.
After the final shows of Season 10 were taped on February 15, 1994, the set was disassembled and reconstructed at Sony Pictures Studios' Stage 10 on Washington Boulevard in Culver City, California, where the first shows of Season 11 were taped on July 12, 1994.
On the episode aired November 11, 1996, two months after the start of Season 13, Jeopardy! introduced an entirely new set by production designer Naomi Slodki, which was also constructed on Stage 10 on the Sony lot. While Slodki intended the set to resemble "the foyer of a very contemporary library", its purple-backlit gridded walls and wooden accents earned it the nickname of the "sushi bar" set amongst fans.
On the episode aired September 21, 2001 during the 18th season, Alex shaved off his trademark mustache. Beginning on November 26 2001, the clue values were increased to $200-$1,000 in the Jeopardy! Round and $400-$2,000 on the Double Jeopardy! Round.
Shortly after the start of the 19th Season in 2002, Jeopardy once again changed its set. In 2006, the set was changed slightly when Jeopardy! and its sister show Wheel Of Fortune became the first game shows to air in the HDTV format (further explanation to follow).
After the previous set was dismantled in 2002, portions of it were placed on eBay by Sony Pictures between December 8, 2002 and December 15, 2002, with auction proceeds donated to charities World Vision and the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Some past contestants participated in the auction, including Bob Fleenor, who used some of his Jeopardy! winnings to buy a piece of the set. College Champion Pam Mueller bought the rightmost podium. Million Dollar Masters winner Brad Rutter was outbid for the leftmost (champion's) podium.
Several virtual tours placed on the official Jeopardy! web site in 2003 were based on the 2002–2006 set.
The 2002 set received slight modifications for the 2006-07 season, when Jeopardy! and its sister show Wheel of Fortune became the first game shows to air in high-definition. The Jeopardy! game board, which had appeared as a wall of individual video monitors since 1984 and had not been updated since 1991, was replaced with a nearly seamless projection video wall. New HD-friendly podia were added, but the basic set was still unchanged. Between Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, the various HD improvements represented an investment of about $4 million, 5,000 labor hours, and 6 miles of cable. Both shows had been shot using HD cameras for several years prior to the production, post-production, and distribution upgrade. On standard-definition television broadcasts, the shows continue to be displayed full-screen (i.e., not letterboxed).
Image:1984-09-10Season1Set1.jpg|Season 1
Image:1987-04-21Jeopardy!Set1.jpg|Season 3
Image:1992-05-18Jeopardy!Season8Set1.jpg|Season 8
Image:2002-06-21Jeopardy!Set1.jpg|Season 18
Image:2006-07-28Season22Set1.jpg|Season 22
Image:2006-11-07Season23Set1.jpg|Season 23
International adaptations
Since the early days of Jeopardy!, versions of the show have been produced in foreign countries worldwide.
Episode status
Art Fleming
1964-1975, NBC
It is believed that only a small number of the 2,753 episodes from the original NBC Daytime version of Jeopardy! survive, mostly as black-and-white kinescopes of the original color videotapes. In all likelihood, the original tapes were wiped as they were recorded over by NBC with new programming in an era when videotape was an expensive commodity.
Some episodes from 1967, 1971, and 1973-1974 exist in the UCLA Film and Television Archive while various episodes are in the Paley Center for Media (including the 1964 "test" episode) and incomplete paper records of the NBC-era games exist on microfilm at the Library of Congress.
After the original series ended, several NBC stations continued airing Jeopardy! as repeats of previous episodes for a few months in 1975, including NBC owned KNBC, according to TV Guide listings from that time.
Episodes #2,000 (from February 21, 1972) and #2,753 (the 1975 Finale), along with a few others, are held by GSN and have been rerun.
1974-1975, Syndicated
The status of this version is unknown; The opening of one episode is held in audio form by several collectors.
1978-1979, NBC
This show's status is also unknown. The Premiere and Finale are known to exist in broadcast quality; GSN holds the broadcast rights to these two episodes (and presumably any in between, although only the two mentioned have been rebroadcast on the channel). Additionally, UCLA has a copy of the 1977 pilot, which featured a "sub-Round 1", in which each contestant "played solo" for 30 seconds; an incorrect question was not deducted from their score.
Alex Trebek
1984-Present, Syndicated
The Trebek version is completely intact, including the pilot (a 1983 pilot, featuring a set more akin to the 1978 series, also exists). GSN—which like Jeopardy! is an affiliate of Sony Pictures Television—has rerun 9 seasons to date. Since July 28, 2008, GSN is airing the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons (Season 20 and Season 21), including all of Ken Jennings' original games.
There is a 66 game disparity between the show numbers assigned new Jeopardy! episodes and the actual number of Trebek-era games played. To assist subscribing affiliate stations in airing episodes in the correct order, a show number is read by announcer Johnny Gilbert just prior to the taping of each game; this number is audible on the episodes as received by the affiliates and visible on the slate attached to them, however this slate is trimmed from the show prior to broadcast.
Each new episode receives an integer show number 1 greater than the previous episode. However, all 65 reruns in Season 1 (1984-1985) were given new show numbers despite not being new games, and a retrospective clip show that aired May 15, 2002 was also given a show number (#4088). As such, the game with show number #5000 aired on May 12, 2006, but the 5,000th game hosted by Alex Trebek did not air until September 25.
Two episodes (College Championship games taped at Yale University) are available in Minisode format on Crackle.
1990, ABC
Super Jeopardy! is completely intact, however all episodes except the Finale have not been re-run since their original broadcast. GSN has rerun the Finale as part of a special in the past.
In popular culture
The show has been portrayed or parodied in numerous television shows, films, and works of literature over the years, frequently with one or more characters participating as contestants, or as a television show the character(s) watch and play along with. A few cultural references stand out among the most popular, having been referenced, in turn, in categories, clues, or interview segments on Jeopardy! itself.
- In an episode of the series
Cheers, trivia buff Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy! Clavin reached the Final Jeopardy! Round all but assured to win, but lost due to a foolish bet.Saturday Night Live has parodied Celebrity Jeopardy! matches, frequently with a twisted version of Sean Connery as a contestant."Weird Al" Yankovic wrote a parody of Greg Kihn's song "Jeopardy" called "I Lost on Jeopardy" set in the original Art Fleming version of the game show.In the Family Guy episode "I Take Thee Quagmire" Mayor Adam West banishes Trebek "back to the fifth dimension where he belongs" by writing down "Kebert Xela" (Alex Trebek backwards) during the Final Jeopardy! round; the banishment itself is a reference to longtime DC Comics character Mr. Mxyzptlk, who is sent back to the fifth dimension by heroes including Batman, the hero once played by the real-life Adam West. On an episode of Jeopardy! that aired 6/15/07, contestant Jared Cohen wrote "What is Kebert Xela?" as his Final Jeopardy! response, after wagering his entire score of $1. Cohen lost his other winnings after betting it all but $1 on a daily double in the Double Jeopardy! round.
Awards and honors
Jeopardy! has won a record 28 Daytime Emmy Awards since 1984. 11 of these have been for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show. Another 5 awards have been won by host Alex Trebek for Outstanding Game Show Host. The remainder of the Emmy Awards have been won by the show's directors and writers in separate categories until 2006, when the Emmy Awards for Outstanding Direction for a Game/Audience Participation Show (for the directors) and Outstanding Special Class Writing (which the show's writers competed for and won the award perennially) were merged into the Outstanding Game/Audience Participation show category.
Merchandising
The Jeopardy! brand has been used on products in several other formats.
See also
- Merv Griffin Productions
- Wheel of Fortune
External links
- on Nelonen
- - results of over 2,000 games from 1983 to present
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