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Broadcast of Jeopardy!

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The American television game show Jeopardy! has experienced a long life in several incarnations over a period exceeding four decades. The show has spent more than 11 years as a daytime network program and more than 26 years as a daily syndicated program. It has also had several spin-offs.

Personnel

File:1974Jeopardy!Art1.jpg
Art Fleming, the original host of Jeopardy!', from a 1974 NBC episode.

Art Fleming hosted both NBC versions and the 1974–1975 syndicated version and was joined by Don Pardo as his announcer. When NBC launched a revival in 1978, John Harlan took over announcing duties from Pardo as this version was taped in Burbank, California as opposed to New York City, where Pardo resided.

Since 1984, Alex Trebek and Johnny Gilbert have served as host and announcer, respectively, for the current syndicated version of the program.

NBC, 1964–1975

Jeopardy! premiered at 11:30 AM Eastern (10:30 Central) on March 30, 1964, originating from the NBC headquarters in New York City's Rockefeller Center. NBC moved the program to 12:00 noon (11:00 AM Central) after 18 months,[citation needed] making it accessible to businessmen coming home for their lunch break or else watching it on restaurant or bar sets, and college students departing their classes for the day. These two constituencies, who did not ordinarily have the time or interest to view other daytime programs, made the game a runaway hit, propelling its ratings to second place of all daytime games by the end of the decade behind its lead-in, The Hollywood Squares.[1]

However in 1973, Lin Bolen, then Vice President of Daytime Programming at NBC, began ridding the network's game shows in an aggressive attempt to bolster ratings among women aged 19–34. Although Jeopardy! continued to produce high ratings in the 12:00 noon time slot, Bolen moved the program to 10:30 AM (9:30 Central) on January 7, 1974 (replacing the Dick Enberg-hosted game Baffle),[1][2] and placed a stylish, youth-oriented riddle contest named Jackpot! hosted by Geoff Edwards in Jeopardy!'s former time slot. CBS relocated Gambit to 10:30 AM on April 1, and the two shows divided the audience equally during the remainder of the Spring.[citation needed]

On June 28 of the same year, NBC moved Jeopardy!'s time slot again, this time to 1:30 PM (12:30 Central) (replacing Three on a Match) and placed it against ABC's Let's Make a Deal, which had easily beaten the ratings of several programs placed in that same time slot by NBC. Jeopardy! fared no better, and a cancellation notice was issued by November 1974. Jeopardy! broadcast the 2,753rd and final episode of its original network run on January 3, 1975.[3] Some affiliates, including KNBC in Los Angeles, aired reruns in various other time slots through the first quarter of that year. To compensate Merv Griffin for canceling the program, which still had a year left on the contract, NBC purchased Wheel of Fortune, another creation of his, which premiered on January 6, 1975 at 10:30 AM (9:30 Central).

Syndication, 1974–1975

After receiving the cancellation notice from NBC (but prior to the final network episode), Griffin secured an opportunity to produce new episodes for first-run syndication, which were distributed by Metromedia. These episodes began airing weekly in September 1974 and featured many contestants who were previous champions on the NBC version. Thirty-nine episodes were produced, with reruns of this version also airing in syndication through summer 1975.

Unique to this version was a bonus round played after Final Jeopardy!. The episode's champion selected a prize hidden behind the thirty squares on the Jeopardy! board. Among the prizes was a $25,000 cash award which was hidden behind two squares; in order to win the top prize, the champion had to find both $25,000 cards in succession. In later episodes, the bonus board was dropped and the night's champion received a prize based upon his or her final score, with a Chevrolet Vega or Chevrolet Caprice (or even additional cash prizes of $10,000 or $25,000) as a possibility.

NBC, 1978–1979

File:Jeopardy 1978 Bonus.PNG
Art Fleming and a contestant prepare to play the Super Jeopardy! bonus round.

NBC again picked up the program in 1978, placing it on their schedule at 10:30 AM (9:30 Central), where it replaced For Richer, For Poorer. From October 2 through January 2, 1979, the program was placed against the first half-hour of CBS' powerhouse The Price Is Right, which had been a solid hit for years by that point. NBC moved the program to noon on January 5, causing it to face off against The $20,000 Pyramid on ABC, The Young and the Restless on CBS, and local news on many NBC stations; Jeopardy!'s audience dwindled and the program ended on March 2 of that year.

This version was produced at NBC's studios in Burbank, California[4] and featured additional game elements unique to this version in which the lowest-scoring contestants were eliminated at the end of the Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! rounds.[5] Instead of playing Final Jeopardy! alone, the champion played a new bonus game titled Super Jeopardy! (not to be confused with the 1990 summer tournament that aired on ABC) and faced a game board consisting of five categories with five clues each.[5] The champion selected questions and attempted to provide correct responses crating a row either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally on the board.[5] Giving an incorrect response, or a pass, earned a strike, and three strikes ended the round.[5] If the contestant was successful on their first day, they received $5,000.[5] Each subsequent visit to the Super Jeopardy! round was worth an additional $2,500 to the previous day's jackpot.[6] Contestants received $100 for each correct answer if they struck out.[7]

Syndication, 1984–Present

Fueled in part by Griffin's success with a syndicated version of Wheel of Fortune in 1983, he sold a new syndicated version of Jeopardy! to King World hosted by Alex Trebek, which premiered on September 10, 1984.[8] The new version featured updated technology at the time, replacing the former manually-operated game board featuring clues printed on pull cards with television monitors to display clues.

Initially relegated to unpopular morning, afternoon, or late night slots by managers of some television stations, the new program built upon early ratings success in the Cleveland and Detroit markets, where it had been slotted in the same 7:00–8:00 PM period in which Wheel of Fortune also appeared, and soon developed a strong following among viewers.[9] Coinciding with the peak of popularity for Trivial Pursuit and the installation of electronic trivia games in pubs and bars,[10] the program found great ratings success.

After initial shuffling between affiliates and time slots in New York City, in December 1986 WABC-TV cut half an hour from its 6:00 PM local news and moved World News Tonight, then anchored by Peter Jennings, from 7:00 to 6:30, and placed Jeopardy! into the 7:00 slot with Wheel following at 7:30. This put Jeopardy! in direct competition with The CBS Evening News on WCBS-TV and NBC Nightly News on WNBC. The experiment brought ratings success to both shows for WABC, and the CBS and NBC affiliates eventually capitulated, rescheduling their evening news broadcasts to the 6:30 slot as well.[11]

Trebek produced the show himself from 1984–1987, before handing over to George Vosburgh (who had previously produced the 1978 revival) while Trebek simultaneously hosted Classic Concentration on NBC during the next four years. Vosburgh was later succeeded by several others; since 1999, Harry Friedman has served as the show's executive producer, after first serving as producer from 1997-1999. Merv Griffin, the show's creator, was also executive producer from 1984-2000. Dick Schneider, who had directed episodes of the earlier version also initially directed episodes of the current syndicated version; those duties are handled now by Kevin McCarthy, who was associate director from 1984-1992.[12]

The show was the subject of great interest and increased ratings (often beating Wheel) in the second half of 2004 as contestant Ken Jennings, taking advantage of newly-relaxed appearance rules, remained a champion for 74 appearances, winning over $2.5 million and breaking almost every record in game show history.

The syndicated version of Jeopardy has won 11 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show, achieving this honor most recently in 2006, and holds the record as the most honored program in this Emmy award category.

On September 11, 2006, with the start of Season 23, Jeopardy! began broadcasting in HDTV. King World and Sony indicated that as of August 10, 2006 some 49 of the 210 stations that carry the show in syndication were prepared for the transition. Sony uses the 1080i HD format to record the show, but because Jeopardy! is syndicated, stations using the 720p format had to manually transcode the show from an HD satellite feed before broadcasting it. This issue was remedied with the introduction of the Pathfire satellite system for high definition syndicated content distribution.[13][14]

On January 2, 2007 one third of subscribing stations originally renewed Jeopardy! through Season 28 (2011–2012),[15] but by April 8, 2010 Jeopardy! was given an additional two year renewal through Season 30 (2013–2014).

Other versions

Super Jeopardy! (ABC, 1990)

Main article: List of Jeopardy! tournaments and events § Super Jeopardy!

Super Jeopardy! was a special thirteen week invitational tournament that aired weekly on Saturday nights in summer 1990 on ABC. The special tournament featured 36 notable champions from the Trebek years, plus one from the Art Fleming era, who then competed for a top prize of $250,000.

This version was the first to use points instead of money, with clues worth from 200–1000 points in the Jeopardy! round and 500–2500 in Double Jeopardy! (making this the only American version in which second round clue values were not double that of the first). In addition, the quarterfinal matches featured four contestants instead of three.

Jep! (GSN, 1998–1999)

Main article: Jep!

Jep! was a children's version hosted by cartoon voice actor Bob Bergen which featured several tweaks to the basic format. The show aired first on Game Show Network (now GSN), and through late 2004 on Discovery Kids.

Rock & Roll Jeopardy! (VH1, 1998–2001)

Main article: Rock & Roll Jeopardy!

Rock & Roll Jeopardy! was a music-intensive version aired on VH1 from 1998–2001. Hosted by Jeff Probst, this version highlighted post-1950s popular music trivia and featured largely identical play to its parent show. The game was played for points during the first two seasons, with each day's winner receiving $5,000 regardless of their score, while the final season used cash with winners receiving a $5,000 house minimum. Three new contestants competed on each program.

References

  1. ^ a b Fabe, Maxene (1979). TV Game Shows. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-13052-X.
  2. ^ NBC Master Books, Daily Broadcast Log, Motion Picture and Television Reading Room, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  3. ^ David Schwartz, Steve Ryan & Fred Wostbrock, The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, 3rd Ed., Checkmark Books, 1999, p. 113.
  4. ^ Schwartz, David (1999). "Jeopardy!". The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows (3rd ed.). Facts on File. p. 112. ISBN 0-8160-3847-3. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e Merv Griffin Productions. Jeopardy!. Final episode. Starring Art Fleming. Featuring Charlie, Susan, and Doug. 1979.
  6. ^ Merv Griffin Productions. Jeopardy!. Premiere episode. Starring Art Fleming. Featuring Jim, Richard, and Emily. 1978.
  7. ^ Merv Griffin Productions. Jeopardy!. Starring Art Fleming. Featuring Stuart, Todd, and Philip.
  8. ^ Richmond, Ray (2004). This is Jeopardy!: Celebrating America's Favorite Quiz Show. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. pp. 12, 15, 33. ISBN 0-7607-5374-1.
  9. ^ Eisenberg, Harry (1993). Inside "Jeopardy!": What Really Goes on at TV's Top Quiz Show. Salt Lake City: Northwest Publishing, Inc. pp. 52–53. ISBN 1-56901-177-X.
  10. ^ Ken Jennings examines the waves of American trivia mania in his book, and points to 1984 as a zenith for the phenomenon. Jennings, Ken (2006). Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs. New York: Random House. pp. 215, 220. ISBN 1-4000-6445-7.
  11. ^ Eisenberg, first edition, page 54.
  12. ^ Richmond, page 239.
  13. ^ MacIntyre, April (2006-09-14). "Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy break new HD ground: Behind the scenes". Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  14. ^ Hibberd, James (2007-04-19). "Syndication Ready for HD Boost: Pathfire System Capable of HD Delivery". Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  15. ^ "'WHEEL OF FORTUNE' AND 'JEOPARDY!' RENEWED THROUGH 2011–2012: Syndication's #1 show and #2 game show cleared by ABC, CBS, Post-Newsweek, Hearst-Argyle and Sinclair station" (Press release). King World. 2007-01-02. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
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