Welcome to another dose of Andy’s Weekly Thoughts! A couple of these items were pushed back a week after last Friday’s late-breaking news.
Yes, It’s December 23. No, There Won’t Be An Airing Of Grievances.
Happy December 23! A day known as Tibbs Eve in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Festivus in many other places. In case you are wondering if I would be partaking in the traditional Festivus “Airing of Grievances” today? Nope. There’s been more than enough negativity in the trivia community the last few months; I have no plans to add to that today.
I’m Considering A Newsletter: Thoughts?
One thing that I’m considering in 2024 is a newsletter. If you’re a regular here—or, if you’re not—would you subscribe? And, if you are interested in a newsletter, would you be interested in a “Here’s What Happened Yesterday?” newsletter? Or do you have other ideas? Leave them in the comments!
My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have introduced a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my Betting Strategy 101 page. If you want to learn how to bet in two-day finals, check out Betting Strategy 102. In case the show uses a tournament with wild cards in the future, there is also a strategy page for betting in tournament quarterfinals.
Are you looking for information on how to stream Jeopardy! in 2024? Find out information here on how to stream from most places in North America!
Do you appreciate the work I do here on The Jeopardy! Fan? Would you like to make a one-time contribution to the site? You may do so here!
You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 17 players, now including Adriana Harmeyer, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!
You can now listen to Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy! episodes from TuneIn Radio without leaving The Jeopardy! Fan — listen now!
The Next Milestone I Think We Should Celebrate
Eagle-eyed fans would note that Friday’s game was given Episode #9000. However, I did note in Friday’s game that it was actually the 8935th syndicated episode to be produced. Matt Carberry did note in the comments that if you include prime time episodes (1990’s Super Jeopardy!, 2020’s Greatest of All Time, 2022’s Jeopardy! National College Championship, the last two seasons of Celebrity Jeopardy, and Jeopardy! Masters), there have been 8,993 episodes of the show to air nationally on American television.
However, I don’t think that we need to celebrate the 9000th episode of the Trebek Era, as there’s an even better milestone to celebrate that respects the entire history of the program. Sometime in late June (the exact date, I think, will depend on Jeopardy! Masters Season 2), will be the 12,000th episode of Jeopardy! to air on American television since 1964. (Assuming, of course, that Merv Griffin’s statement in 1990’s The Jeopardy! Book was correct when he said that Art Fleming hosted 2,858 episodes—and I don’t see any reason why he’d be incorrect in that statement.) As of Friday, that count is at 11,851.
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Here are our current featured items, including our new Masters Season 3 Player List T-shirt:
A Harebrained Idea That I’m Going To Suggest Anyway
(Editorial note: A version of this idea was posted by a user to Reddit overnight on December 23, 2023. This is being posted anyway as it was already written independently.)
Back in Season 35, there were seven 4-time champions who didn’t win enough money to be invited to the Tournament of Champions that year: Dave Leffler, Jonathan Dinerstein, Alex Schmidt, John Presloid, Jackie Fuchs, Mary Ann Borer, and Kyle Becker.
With there being less regular play than normal in Season 40, wouldn’t it be an interesting idea to include Season 35 in next fall’s postseason? You’ve got seven players very deserving of a Tournament of Champions invitation, and a boatload of players who I’m sure would love to receive a second chance after having faced James Holzhauer that spring, among others. This would certainly be a way to increase the size of next year’s postseason to make it as long as a “normal” intended postseason would be.
In Closing
Merry Christmas—I hope you enjoy the final week of 2023’s games!
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OK, this may just be me that feels this way, but I’m actually hoping that you do not start a newsletter because I already subscribe to several (on different subjects from cooking to gardening to conservation to NPH’s Wondercade) and don’t have the time to spare to read any of these regularly (though I cannot stand to delete many of them that I haven’t gotten around to reading).
I would continue to visit TheJeopardyFan daily, but I would wonder if I was missing something that you had put in the newsletter instead. On the other hand, your motivation to MAINTAIN a newletter even when nothing much out of the ordinary is going on could be quite time-consuming and possibly limit the time you devote to your existing outlets. However, I assume that you are thinking about covering more “in the trivia world” than just Jeopardy!, so you may know that “there is always something” when I would not realize that because I am only interested in Jeopardy!
In all honestly, this feedback is just as valuable! Thank you!
Festivus: You’ll get no argument from me that no further Airing of Grievances is needed; you more than adequately took care of that two weeks ago. (There is “traditional Festival” in that section)
I’m of the same mind as Lisa regarding a newsletter; it seems, at least at first glance, duplicative of the daily recaps. And, while I don’t want to dictate how you should allocate your time, I submit that it might be better spent on other existing (?) aspects of TJ!F content. (::cough:: bringing back Complete the List ::cough::)
I like the idea of celebrating the 12,000th overall episode of the show. It would fit well with both the 60th anniversary of the franchise overall (and also the 40th of the current incarnation).
I am on board with bringing back those seven four-time champions in light of the particular circumstances. The big factor here for me, as one might surmise, is that doing so would not displace any regular play. Additionally, 29 of the 30 Teen Tournament players from that season have returned or will (and I’d be surprised if the 30th doesn’t also), so this wouldn’t really be breaking new ground. The show has some additional leeway in Seasons 41 & 42 to schedule the postseason; they’re each expected to have 58 episodes before Thanksgiving, vice 53. It seems like a good option to counteract any issues with playing a postseason after only 16-17 weeks of regular play. The show might not want to finalize any such decision until after all of Season 40 is taped, so it knows what the breakdown of champions is.
One more note: the post ends with “[postfooter]“.
I’m a longtime reader but first time commenter. I agree with Lisa’s and Matt’s comments regarding a possible newsletter. I come to the JFan site pretty much daily to catch up on the games and read your insights, and if you have more thoughts to share with us, I’d rather they be in a post on the site (i.e. included in the daily post, or in the weekly thoughts). I don’t really see the value in a separate email.
I am interested in any and all newsletters that you come up with as they would contain many more insights into the game and the players, etc.
Yes, this may sound like a grievance. Why stop with Season 35? As someone with a vested interest in Season 34, where exactly would you draw the line on bringing back previous contestants. No, we did not have a buzzsaw like James in season 34, but what about those who did not quite make it to Tournament, say, spots 16 through 20 or 25 out of a possible 15 contestants. Or what about a “seniors” tournament, for those beyond a set age, either at time of original play or since then? I did not fully understand the criteria for selecting all the returning wild-card champions, but i did get the feeling that it was a little bit like the Big Deal on “Let’s Make a Deal” – let’s poll all the previous winners and see who would like to come back (with some pre-screening being done to narrow the field a bit). IT seems like this is starting to take on an exponential growth factor and i don’t know how far the producers are willing to let it expand, clearly it will either go outside of the standard daily syndicated edition, and now even possibly offline with some play for the next tournament not even being recorded or televised. Yes, it was a good way to fill in during the writer’s strike so as not to disadvantage any new contestants who might have been on deck for season 40, but it could hurt viewing if there does not seem to be as great a chance anymore for someone to get their one (and only) shot at fulfilling a dream.
Not perturbed, just curious to see how long, and how far, this can play out. And a belated Festivus to those who celebrate that occasion.