Welcome to my latest “Andy’s Weekly Thoughts” installment, where I give some of my thoughts about happenings in the world of Jeopardy!.
Congratulations, Ryan Seacrest!
The Jeopardy! Fan wishes to congratulate Ryan Seacrest on being named host of Wheel of Fortune, replacing Pat Sajak for the 2024-25 season. In hindsight, I wish that Jeopardy! had been able to undergo such a smooth transition; unfortunately, Mike Richards pulling the wool over the eyes of the bosses at Sony left Jeopardy! unable to properly transition its hosting duties.
On Jeopardy!’s Average Winning Total
Since the loss of Cris Pannullo on December 6, the average Jeopardy! winning total has been $21,718.13, similar to the average winning totals in Season 36 ($21,432.14) and 37 ($21,768.65). I just think that because Jeopardy! had been blessed with so many long streaks in Matt Amodio, Amy Schneider, Mattea Roach, and Cris Pannullo that it feels weird “going back to normal”.
Twitter’s Further Woes
Obviously, Twitter’s network issues have been at the forefront of the news once again. As that ship slowly sinks, it’s only a matter of time before major brands start jumping ship to whatever happens to replace Twitter. And quite frankly, no matter what the tech heads on TikTok try to tell you, there’s no need to be an early adopter of a platform. Wait and see where the general public goes—that will inform accounts like @Jeopardy (and, by extension, the community) on where to go next.
The Judging Has Become Significantly Better Since 1985
I’ve been spending a lot of time entering Season 1 games into J! Archive as of late, and the number of times I have cringed at 1985-era judging is very high. It’s obvious that the show had some growing pains, and I am certain that everyone working on the show in 1985 would be shocked if they’d realized then that it was still incredibly strong nearly 40 years later. But, still, there are times when Alex flat-out missed responses failing to be in the form of a question—on Daily Doubles to boot—in 1985. The social media outcry would have been deafening. It’s no wonder many TV critics wrote scathing reviews of the show in its early weeks (Mike Duffy of the Detroit Free Press famously called it “a pitiful echo of its former self“.) Still, watching some of the judging mistakes of the show’s early years have made me realize that the judges in 2023 do a really good job, despite what the vox Twittuli articles would have you believe.
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With regards to “Twitter’s Future Woes”: I hope you’ll consider giving Mastodon a try one of these days. It’s not as complicated as people make it out to be. (if I can figure it out, anyone can)
In all honesty, me not switching to Mastodon isn’t a matter of “it’s complicated” as much as it’s “I don’t think enough of my potential audience is there for it to be worthwhile as of yet”.
Thanks for the insight on average winning totals and judging quality, both enlightening. For the latter I think it is not just about lack of social media back then, but also from memory “looking back through rose-colored glasses” (probably due to the viewers then not caring as much about that rule/gimmick as just about the clue and response facts).
I read your articles everyday on jeopardy and I love your work.