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I like this show, some of the questions are pretty darn easy, but others are impossible. It's fun to watch. The other night only one contestant made it to Final Jeopardy. Wonder how many times that happened?
I am beginning to ponder what will become if the show when Trebek retires. I am trying to think if a logical replacement. Price is Right was never the same, for me, after Bob Barker left.
Trebek even more so adds to the whole feel of Jeopardy.
Agreed! My entire family loves Jeopardy and looks forward to watching it six days a week (they run Saturday episodes where I am).
It wasn't a first, but it's rare enough to be noteworthy. Another weird rarity is when three new contestants return because, after Final Jeopardy, the three playing end up with "0." I saw that once, but don't remember whose hand Trebek shook first at the game's conclusion.
I missed seeing that happen. There used to be 3 new contestants fairly regularly. That was when you had to leave after winning 5 games in a row.
There are many older episodes on YouTube that I watch - I just love the dated references! I was just talking about what will happen when Trebek retires. As time goes on, he has gotten less jovial and now is barely masking his contempt of the guests (which is pretty fun in of itself, to be fair).
I missed seeing that happen. There used to be 3 new contestants fairly regularly. That was when you had to leave after winning 5 games in a row.
Oh, yes, the 5-game limit. I remember that. Jeopardy! has undergone a number of changes. I remember when everyone took home their winnings. Unfortunately, though, some contestants "quit playing" by wagering zero in order to take home something, especially if the final category wasn't one they felt confident about.
About the 5-day limit--occasionally, on the 5th day, the champ would wager so that, if the second-place contestant answered correctly in Final Jeopardy, the two would tie scores. That way, the 4-day champ still became a 5-day champ, but one of his fellow contestants returned as the new champ. I always thought that was nice.
I still love Jeopardy! but I do see what posters are saying about the increase in pop culture questions. Those are the ones I get wrong anyway (anything about new TV shows, newer music, current celebrities). Give me geography, Shakespeare, or Tudor history any day over that junk.
I also think they've dumbed down some of the questions on the more esoteric topics. In the "old days" the content of the question was difficult enough. But nowadays, many questions on esoteric topics are worded in a "trick question" kind of way, so that a lot of people can guess them correctly. For example, I know almost nothing about opera or ballet, but in the typical category on opera or ballet, I can get at least 3-4 of the questions right. That's because they do something "cute" with the question that leads us to an answer. So of course, I'm happy I got the question correct, but I'll admit that it's not because I knew the actual answer.
They also seem to have more and more "gimmick" categories, for lack of a better term. Sure, "Before and After" is a gimmick category, but it's a longstanding one, a classic even, so I'm fine with it. But now they have weird categories that make players do things like flip the spelling of a word, string together two or three unrelated words, or pick a response that "also the name of a body part" or "also the name of a sport" or some such nonsense. You can even see Trebek sometimes grimace at some of these weird items. I'm okay with some mental gymnastics, but I really like the questions to test actual knowledge, not the ability to do mental gymnastics like figuring out the chemical abbreviation for an element on the periodic table, converting it to Roman numerals, and then using those letters to give the name of a TV show.
They also seem to have the obligatory Canada questions every week. Maybe not every day, but several times a week. I'm pretty sure Trebek had that written into his contract, as he does love to shake his head and look disappointed when they get the Canada questions wrong. "Ooooh, soooorrry, it's Saskatoon. Saskatoon."
Not to worry! Alex Trebek just signed a contract extension. He'll be doing the show for a few more years.
Does anybody know if the thing with only one contestant left for final jeopardy was a first? I don't ever recall seeing that happen before.
I read that Alex Trebek makes $10 million per year to host Jeopardy while Pat Sajak makes $12 million to host Wheel of Fortune. I honestly think Alex is worth a lot more than Pat.
Also, anyone see the episode last week where there was only one player left to play the final question. The other players both had negative sums so they were eliminated from the final question. Not sure how often, if ever, that happens. Jay
Yeah, the OP mentioned that. That was the only time I ever saw it happen. When I was watching, I was saying "wouldn't it be funny if..." because the one guy was betting so badly and kept going more and more negative, then the other person went into the red and then she kept going down.
I seem to remember years ago seeing it happen. I also remember hearing about a time when all three lose. I've noticed every round has at least one pop culture category. Years ago I passed the test and was going to go to the show until I read I'd have to lay for my expenses and no guarantee if I went to California that I would even get on the show. This was before the 5 game limit was eliminated.
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I saw that once, but don't remember whose hand Trebek shook first at the game's conclusion.
