Welcome back to my latest weekly editorial, where I talk about things in my head from the world of Jeopardy! over the past week.
Jeopardy Has Changed A Lot Since The ’90s
Something that you come to realize when entering a boatload of old episodes from 1996 and earlier into J! Archive: The show really has changed a great deal. And I’m not talking about rule changes or judging changes—certainly, there are rulings made in Season 1 that wouldn’t be made in Season 39—the material has gotten significantly more diverse in the 2020s. Over the past week, I’ve seen multiple DRAMA categories that are guaranteed to have clues about Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and various clues about Tennessee Williams; the “canon” is significantly larger in today’s game. And, when it comes to classical music, having Archived multiple clues about Antonín Dvořák’s “From The New World” symphony certainly helped me in LearnedLeague this week!
Jeopardy! And TuneIn Are Perfect For Each Other
Another thing I’m realizing, having input hundreds of early-season games over the past six months: TuneIn Radio has been such a great partnership for Jeopardy! in terms of the broadcast of old episodes. One thing that you quickly realize is that about 75% of the episodes in the first five-plus seasons contain an Audio Daily Double, where the writers have basically found some excuse to shoehorn some audio clip, usually a hit pop song from some era, into the category. Which, quite frankly, makes having to clear music rights an absolute headache. However, I believe that Jeopardy! has found a great partner in TuneIn Radio. Presumably, the Audio Daily Doubles can fit into TuneIn’s general music rights that they already would have, which means that Jeopardy! doesn’t need to worry about having to re-clear a song like Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle” (which appeared as an Audio Daily Double in 1989).
On “Negative Records”
In a game that played very difficult for both the studio contestants and the home audience, Wednesday’s game saw the tabloids use the number of Triple Stumpers as an excuse to shame the contestants for clicks. And that’s why I am incredibly reluctant to mention negative records in my coverage: I don’t think it’s fair that the contestants should be negatively covered like that, when I think that the large number of Triple Stumpers on Wednesday’s game was potentially more the fault of the writers, or even bad luck, than the intelligence level of the contestants.
Preemptive Lectures
At least one person was upset on Friday at what they deemed to be a “preemptive lecture” regarding LGBTQIA+ rights in my write-up on Friday’s game. And I really wish we lived in a world where I felt that it wasn’t necessary. Even where I’m based locally, there was a planned protest on Friday against teaching inclusivity in schools. (Though, very thankfully, the counterprotest outnumbered the protest locally by a factor of about 100 to 1.) But, as long as bigots feel the need to make their feelings known in society, I feel the need to be outspoken against bigotry using my own platform. (And sometimes, that requires the preemptive lecture.)
One Thought I Had After The Last Two “This Is Jeopardy!” Episodes
The last two weeks of the “This Is Jeopardy!” podcast talked about Ken Jennings’ lengthy run on the show. One of the people who was briefly interviewed was Earl Cahill, Ken’s friend who tried out with Ken in 2003 but was not Called. He later asked Maggie Speak about not having been Called, and according to the interview, he said that he would have been Called had Ken lost—but Ken never lost. As someone whose chances of getting on would be somewhere around zero if I tried out at this point (being that I worked for Ken as a volunteer grader on his Tuesday Trivia from 2006 through 2008, and Standards & Practices generally takes a dim view on such matters) sometimes I wonder if I ever want to know what went wrong on my own auditions in 2008, 2015, or 2017. Part of me wants to know how close I came, and part of me also is fine not knowing—because I feel content not knowing. If you were me, would you want to know? Or would you be fine not knowing?
In Conclusion
We’ve got 35 episodes left this season. Let’s enjoy them!
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I’ve been a huge diehard Jeopardy! fan since I was born. Jeopardy! had came a long way as the material got significantly diverse. The one thing that I miss on Jeopardy! is not only Alex Trebek, but the set turns red for Double Jeopardy round.
I apprececiate the trend towards more diversity in material. The show still has a long way to go to ensure greater success for women and minorities. Even in season 39 wih only 35 episodes left there are , to my knowlege, no African Americans in the top tier to qualify for the TOC. Likewise, there is only one woman and even they are LGBTQIA+.
Action needs to be taken to make the show more equitable but just how to do it is the question.
“Part of me wants to know how close I came, and part of me also is fine not knowing—because I feel content not knowing. If you were me, would you want to know? Or would you be fine not knowing?”
Before I made the cut with Maggie and got The Call in 2016 for Jeopardy!, I had this EXACT feeling you described here after I had what I thought was a slam-dunk interview with Millionaire years earlier. After a successful in-person quiz, I got the standard in-person interview later that day, followed by a rare SECOND interview that was recorded. I thought I was in great shape for an invite to Millionaire after that, but nope, I got the rejection postcard in the mail a few weeks later.
For YEARS I kept wondering what I did or didn’t do in that second interview, and since you never get any actual feedback on that from the coordinators who decide on these things, it can indeed drive you crazy.
But the thing is: as much as the “what could I have done differently” gnaws at you, I surmise the “actually knowing” might be worse—at least for me.
I have been a die hard fan of Jeopardy since the Art Fleming days. I watch Jeopardy! now with the same excitement as in the beginning.
I loved watching old Jeopardy shows with Art Fleming. One thing that has not changed over the years …Double Jeopardy is crucial. It’s ” where everything doubles and the scores can really change”.
Hey Andy! I appreciate the work you do. Personally, I’m always on the “team know” regarding auditions. As a teacher, I find constructive feedback to the key in learning. It honestly irks me a bit that Jeopardy won’t provide you answers in their tests (I understand why, and I record my screen and do my own research, but there are still the occasional rare questions where I wonder what they were looking for exactly, or if alternate answers would be accepted)… and I believe learning from mistakes is the key to learning. After taking the test over the years since 2015, I got an audition on Zoom in 2021. Thought I crushed it and had a great shot to be on… and never heard from Jeopardy again. Still hoping to get another shot, but would love to know if it was pure luck that kept me off that first time or something else. Fingers crossed for my future. Again, I appreciate your work and read your writing. It helps me take stock of the show, as well as prepare for that hopeful day.
-Alex
PS- end of my school year was crazy busy, hence the “I’m a month behind Jeopardy time” comment.