Welcome back to another week of editorial thoughts here at The Jeopardy! Fan!
- I’ve been asked by some parties to comment further on Pop Culture Jeopardy‘s format; I think that editorially it will be more prudent to wait a few weeks before publishing those thoughts further.
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.
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- Looking ahead a few weeks to the start of the season, I think that the hype that Wheel of Fortune will get from people hearing about Ryan Seacrest’s debut will probably end up helping Jeopardy!‘s early-season ratings as well, as the general viewing public will hear in general that new episodes have resumed. I also expect to see a ratings bump for Wheel of Fortune—this does not mean that Jeopardy is in trouble.
- I’m not sure why Ken should “feel slighted” by Colin Jost as host of Pop Culture Jeopardy (as the tabloids have been reporting the last few weeks); after all, Alex Trebek didn’t host Rock & Roll Jeopardy or Sports Jeopardy; it’s clearly very much well within the past history of the show for someone else to host the show’s “spin-off”s.
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- In terms of more comparisons between Alex and Ken—people blamed Alex for exactly the same “mistakes” they’re blaming Ken for now. The only difference now compared to before is that these blames are being amplified on a nightly basis by tabloid media. So, to the writers like Darian Lusk who are happy to heap all of the blame upon Ken Jennings: when you’re writing these articles about how Ken feels like he’s a scapegoat, do you not realize that you are the reason why he is feeling like the scapegoat? This is 100% your fault, and you are doing nothing to help the situation. And, to the people within the Jeopardy! offices and the Sony offices themselves: maybe stop talking to Alex Diaz.
Have another great week; we’ve only got two weeks left of encore presentations!
I would have already agreed with the last paragraph had I not had the experience of watching the tapings, but since I have, I agree with it even more. I’d go as far as to say that being the host of Jeopardy is probably one of the hardest jobs in show business, just because of how many things there are to keep track of. Is Ken Alex Trebek? No. Nobody will match Alex Trebek. But Ken has been doing an absolutely exceptional job since he was first brought to host in January 2021, and I wish the tabloids would recognize that Ken has a lot of supporters, instead of just jumping on the first handful of negative comments they see on whatever night they’re looking for new material.
For those of you reading this that haven’t been able to attend a taping live… when people say that each episode takes little more time to tape than it does to air, that’s not a joke. Aside from incidents where the Daily Double graphic doesn’t show for whatever reason, each taping goes so fast that it’s almost like watching the show on your TV when it airs. Other than the blunder I mentioned yesterday, I don’t remember seeing Ken make more than one or two minor mistakes per game, and any mistakes he made were corrected in less than a minute during a commercial break. Seeing how everything happens live has given me a “newfound” respect (in quotes, because I already had this respect beforehand) for Ken and the production crew, and it pains me to see so many articles criticizing Ken for the most trivial (pun intended) of things because a handful of commenters posted slightly negative comments on Reddit or Instagram. As far as I’m concerned, Alex Trebek’s choice to not use any social media becomes more and more justified every time one of those stupid tabloids puts out a new nothingburger article.
Well said, Master Doge. Yes, the game is a great team effort and it was fun to sit through a day’s taping to marvel at how well everyone does their part. I was even on-set and involved in one of Alex’s rare miscues, and we had to stop tape, reload the board with a new clue, re-wind the tape and resume play. This was so well done that when we watched that episode at home, I turned to wife at one point (she had been at the taping, too) and asked, “Isn’t that where the edit was?” So, even as experienced as he was, Alex occasionally had an “I can’t believe I did that!” moment, but the show still, literally, went on. Ken has always seemed the most logical choice to me to carry on the hosting duties. Second to Alex, Ken has spent the most time on that stage and should be the most comfortable at taking on a new responsibility like hosting. I don’t follow too much on-line chatter, either, so i don’t give much weight to some of the opinions that some people may feel entitled to share. It’s the old adage about “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes”. I still remember watching the original shows with Art Fleming (and the inimitable Don Pardo), and there was some adjustment when the “new” version started with Alex, so change is part of life (even on “just a game show”), and give the show a chance to grow and evolve. What works will continue, what doesn’t, will not.
Maybe Andy knows if Ken was even offered the job as host of “Pop Culture Jeopardy.” IF he was, it’s possible he turned it dwon, feeling like he has enough on his proverbial plate, hosting Daily Jeopardy, and, nowClebrity Jeopardy, as well as any prime time events. Or, maybe Jeopardy productions didn’t want to ask him for that reason, going witha different Jeopardy, a different host theme, like they with Jeff Probst, Dan Patrick, Bob Bergen, model. (Rock & Roll Jeopardy, Sports Jeopardy, Jep! [Kids Jeopardy.]
I don’t know Ken in any sense, but from what I’ve read, he enjoys the time he spends with his family, so I doubt if the clickbait headlines are even closetobeing right.
I’ve been to 2 morning tapings (3 shows) and Ken was there both times and I had a blast! From looking at Jeopardy’s website, I see that there are 6 days of tapings coming up in September. I am sure that I’ll ask for a day off of work and go to 1.
When were the tapings for the newest shows to start Season 41? I never did see any tapings occuring in August and I was thinking that’s when they’d be.
The last week of Season 40 was taped on May 29. There were five further tapings — May 30 & 31, and June 3, 4, & 5. This put enough episodes in the can until October 11, as a precautionary measure against a potential strike by IATSE (the union that covers television and movie stage crew personnel).
Thank you Matt for confirming. I thought it was something like that. I knew of the possibility of that strike and had wondered if that had happened to some tapings.
I’m surprised people don’t remember that the show very recently reminded everybody that Jeff Probst hosted Rock & Roll Jeopardy, during the Drew Basile run since Drew was on Survivor last year. Ken mentioned that the producers had contacted Jeff about Drew’s winnings and Jeff was unsurprised. Ken noting Jeff’s connection to Jeopardy should have served as a reminder to the community that Ken’s job is not in danger because he didn’t get (or want) a side gig. The tabloid articles that keep appearing in my feed (even though I blocked two of the fake news sites) are just disgusting. Thank you for calling them out.
Also I’ve never been to a taping. Way too expensive for me to get to Studio City. While it would be cool to see, I feel that watching it on TV is good enough given how my budget is. I went to The Price Is Right back when Bob Barker was host and it was much the same way MasterDoge describes – aside from one or two retakes, it was the same as you see on TV. Minimal edits were made. Very impressive to watch, especially since they had to change out pricing games. I’ve heard that show is a lot more edited now than it was back then, and films more slowly. Jeopardy still sounds very old school in the best way – it feels more authentic in that regard. Would love to go someday.
Don’t go to Studio City if you go though. It’s in Culver City! 🙂
Just lined up to go to the morning shows on Monday, September 23. Third time will be very fun! 🙂
Have a great time!
Thank you Andy! I definitely will. 🙂