''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'' is an American television game show created by
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own ta ...
, in which contestants are presented with trivia clues in the form of answers and must phrase their responses in the form of a question. The show has experienced a long life in several incarnations over the course of nearly a half-century, spending more than 12 years as a daytime network program and having currently run in syndication for 38 seasons. It has also gained a worldwide following with a multitude of
international adaptations.
1964–1975
Original series (1964–1975)
The original ''Jeopardy!'' series, hosted by
Art Fleming
Arthur Fleming Fazzin (May 1, 1924 – April 25, 1995) was an American actor and television host. He hosted the first version of the television game show ''Jeopardy!'', which aired on NBC from 1964 until 1975 and again from 1978 to 1979.
E ...
, premiered at 11:30a.m. Eastern (10:30 Central) on March 30, 1964, originating from studios at the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
headquarters in New York City's
30 Rockefeller Plaza
30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66 ...
. NBC moved the program to 12:00 noon Eastern (11:00a.m. Central) after 18 months, 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 watching it on student center or dormitory sets. These two constituencies, who ordinarily did not have the time or interest to view other daytime programs, made the show a runaway hit, propelling its ratings to second place among all daytime game shows by the end of the decade—second only to its immediate lead-in, ''
The Hollywood Squares
''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show piloted on NBC in 1965 and the regular series debuted in 1966 on the ...
''.
The show had practically no trouble whatsoever against soap operas such as ''
Love of Life
''Love of Life'' is an American soap opera televised on CBS from September 24, 1951, to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation ''Search for Tomorrow'' premiered three weeks before ''Love of Life''; he created ''Th ...
'' and ''
Where the Heart Is'' on CBS and mostly sitcom reruns on ABC.
In 1973,
Lin Bolen
Lin Bolen (March 21, 1941 – January 19, 2018) was an American television executive and producer. She was most noted for her role at NBC daytime television programming as the first female vice president of a TV network, a position she held from ...
, then Vice President of Daytime Programming at NBC, began eliminating longer-running game shows from the network in an aggressive attempt to bolster ratings among women aged 18 to 34, a
desirable demographic to advertisers on daytime programs of that day; ''Jeopardy!'' had not performed especially strongly among those viewers, despite its overwhelming success among men and young people. Refreshing the daytime lineup became especially imperative to Bolen when CBS launched a surprise success in the soap opera ''
The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...
'' at 12:00p.m. EST (11:00a.m. CST) in March 1973, drawing away younger audiences in particular. Although ''Jeopardy!'' continued to produce high ratings in the 12:00 noon time slot (also against the ABC revival of ''
Password
A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...
''), Bolen moved the game to 10:30a.m. Eastern (9:30 Central) on January 7, 1974, putting it up against
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
' ''
The $10,000 Pyramid
''Pyramid'' is the collective name of a series of American television game shows that has aired several versions domestically and internationally. The original series, ''The $10,000 Pyramid'', debuted on March 26, 1973, and spawned seven subsequ ...
,''
[NBC Master Books, Daily Broadcast Log, Motion Picture and Television Reading Room, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.] to make room for ''
Jackpot!,'' a stylish, youth-oriented riddle contest hosted by
Geoff Edwards
Geoffrey Bruce Owen Edwards (February 13, 1931 – March 5, 2014) was an American television actor, game show host, and radio personality. Starting in the early 2000s, he was also a writer and broadcaster on the subject of travel.
Background
P ...
, in ''Jeopardy!'' former timeslot. Bolen and other NBC executives were surprised, though, when ''Jeopardy!'' actually beat ''Pyramid'' for several weeks in February and March, prompting CBS to cancel ''Pyramid'' for failing to draw, according to packager
Bob Stewart (who also produced ''Jackpot!''), a 30 share that CBS daytime executives required a show to have in order to stay on its daytime schedule (''Pyramid'' returned several weeks later on ABC in an afternoon slot and went on to become one of the most popular games of the 1970s and 1980s). CBS relocated ''
Gambit
A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage.
The word ''gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe simi ...
'' to 10:30a.m. on April 1, which ran about even with ''Jeopardy!'' in the ratings, with ''Gambit'' having perhaps a slight lead, due to its more traditional housewife target audience. Remarkably, ''Jeopardy!'' stayed strong despite losing much of its core audience, who was usually either at work or in classrooms during that hour and thus could not watch the show then.
However, Bolen was not interested in seeing an aging show like ''Jeopardy!'' stand in the way of her plans for a more youthful image for NBC's daytime lineup, so she resolved to prepare it for eventual cancellation, a rare instance of a network deliberately trying to undermine one of its programs. So, on July 1 of the same year, NBC moved ''Jeopardy!'' to yet another timeslot, this time to 1:30p.m. EST (12:30p.m. CST) (replacing ''
Three on a Match
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 American pre-Code crime drama released by Warner Bros. The film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and stars Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis. The film also features Lyle Talbot, Humphrey Boga ...
,'' yet another Bob Stewart-produced game) and placed it against
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
's ''
Let's Make a Deal
''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is an American television musical comedy variety-game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created an ...
'' and CBS' ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
,'' both of which had easily beaten the ratings of several programs placed in that same time slot by NBC since December 1968. At that time, ''Deal'' moved to ABC from NBC, which had carried it in that very time slot during much of the 1960s, in a dispute by packagers
Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall over the latter network's refusal to make a weekly primetime version of the show permanent.
With the July move, many of the previously tenaciously-devoted viewers began abandoning the program; most of the remaining ones were either middle-aged housewives or elderly retirees, two groups undesirable to advertisers due to their usually fixed retail brand preferences, rendering them unpersuadable to try new ones. As such, advertising revenues fell, a scenario not helped by the
severe economic recession occurring in late 1974. ''Jeopardy!'' became the seventh show since 1968 to fail at 1:30p.m. EST (12:30p.m. CST), and a cancellation notice was issued by November 1974. Its replacement was the expansion of ''
Another World'' to a full hour, the first daytime serial to expand to that duration; in April 1975, another serial, ''
Days of Our Lives
''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...
'' began occupying that time slot and eventually brought success to NBC there. ''Jeopardy!'' broadcast the 2,753rd and final episode of its original network run on January 3, 1975. Some affiliates, including
KNBC
KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Corona-licens ...
in Los Angeles, aired reruns in various other timeslots through the first quarter of that year. To compensate Griffin for canceling the program, which still had a year left on its contract, NBC purchased ''
Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Art
* ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...
'', another creation of his, which premiered on January 6, 1975 (the following Monday) at 10:30a.m. Eastern (9:30 Central).
Weekly syndicated version (1974–1975)
Griffin secured the rights from NBC to produce new episodes for first-run
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
, with
Metromedia
Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMo ...
(who also syndicated Griffin's popular
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...
) as their distributor. Griffin took this action mainly to keep the show in production in light of the show's deteriorating ratings on NBC daytime that eventually led to the 1975 cancellation. NBC had repeatedly refused Griffin's requests to do so in the past. 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 about summer 1975. Most stations aired this during the
Prime Time Access slots in the early evening before network primetime programming began, usually in a "checkerboard" pattern with other weekly shows, meaning a different syndicated show aired each night, like the networks in prime time. By 1974, though, the market was flooded with evening versions of network games like the ''Hollywood Squares'' and ''
The Price Is Right
''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...
,'' and ''Jeopardy!,'' already on a popularity downswing for some time, did not get anywhere near nationwide clearance, thus dooming it to failure after one season.
Unique to this version was a bonus awarded at the end of the program, after Final Jeopardy! was completed. 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 (winning the prize on a second pick if it was not the latter half of the grand prize). In later episodes, the bonus board was dropped and the evening's champion received a prize based upon his or her final score, with a
Chevrolet Vega
The Chevrolet Vega is a Subcompact car, subcompact automobile that was manufactured and marketed by General Motors, GM's Chevrolet subdivision from 1970 to 1977. Available in two-door hatchback, notchback, station wagon, wagon, and sedan deliver ...
or
Chevrolet Caprice
The Chevrolet Caprice is a full-sized automobile produced by Chevrolet in North America for the 1965 to 1996 model years. Full-size Chevrolet sales peaked in 1965 with over a million sold. It was the most popular car in the U.S. in the 1960s ...
(or even additional cash prizes of $10,000 or $25,000) as possibilities.
''The All-New Jeopardy!'' (1978–1979)
Launching on October 2, 1978, the revived ''Jeopardy!'' took the spot of the soap opera ''
For Richer, For Poorer'' on NBC's daytime schedule and initially aired weekdays at 10:30a.m. From its debut until January 5, 1979, ''Jeopardy!'' aired against the first half-hour of the hit show ''
The Price Is Right
''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...
'', which aired on CBS. As such, the show found itself unable to build an audience.
On January 8, 1979, NBC moved ''Jeopardy!'' from 10:30a.m. to noon, the time slot the original series had occupied and done well in for many years. However, the television climate in 1979 was much different than it was in the 1960s and early 1970s. The 12:00p.m. hour was one that network affiliates often chose to preempt in favor of showing other programming such as a midday local newscast or a syndicated offering such as another game show or a talk show. In markets that did air ''Jeopardy!'' at noon, the show found itself losing the ratings battle against ''
The $20,000 Pyramid
''Pyramid'' is the collective name of a series of American television game shows that has aired several versions domestically and internationally. The original series, ''The $10,000 Pyramid'', debuted on March 26, 1973, and spawned seven subsequ ...
'' on ABC and ''
The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...
'' on CBS, two shows that, ironically enough, had competed against the original in 1974 and 1973, respectively. NBC decided to pull the plug on the revived ''Jeopardy!'' series shortly after the move, and its 108th and final episode aired on March 2, 1979. Its place on the schedule was taken by ''
Password Plus
''Password Plus'' and ''Super Password'' are American TV game shows that aired separately between 1979 and 1989. Both shows were revivals of ''Password'', which originally ran from 1961 to 1975 in various incarnations. With only subtle differen ...
'', which at the time had been airing at 12:30p.m., and the cancellation allowed NBC to expand its top-rated soap opera, ''
Another World'', to ninety minutes from sixty, later in the afternoon.
Originating from the
NBC Studios in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
,
this version featured some unique gameplay elements of its own. In the most notable of these elements, the lowest scoring contestant was eliminated from further play after the Jeopardy! round.
[Merv Griffin Productions. ''The All-New Jeopardy!''. Final episode. Starring Art Fleming. Featuring Charlie, Susan, and Doug. March 2, 1979.] The remaining two contestants played the Double Jeopardy! round. In a second major change, no Final Jeopardy! round was played. Instead, the leader at the end of Double Jeopardy! was declared the day's champion.
Most notable among the changes, Final Jeopardy! was replaced with a bonus game called Super Jeopardy!, played for a cash bonus. The round consisted of five categories (instead of six as in the main game), each with five clues numbered 1 to 5. The object of the round was to answer five questions to create a
horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line on the board.
Contestants had to create the line before accumulating three strikes, which were given if a contestant either failed to respond (passing was not allowed without penalty) or gave an incorrect answer.
If the contestant struck out, $100 was awarded for each correct answer given, but if the contestant was successful, he/she won $5,000.
For each successive time a champion played the Super Jeopardy! round, regardless of whether or not the contestant had won the round the day before, he/she played for $2,500 more than he/she had the previous time—a second trip was played for $7,500, a third $10,000, a fourth $12,500, and a fifth and final trip $15,000. A contestant could earn $50,000 from Super Jeopardy! alone, provided that the contestant won each Super Jeopardy! round over a five-day reign as champion.
[Merv Griffin Productions. ''The All-New Jeopardy!''. Premiere episode. Starring Art Fleming. Featuring Jim, Richard, and Emily. October 2, 1978.]
Fleming later stated that he disagreed with moving the show to southern California, as he considered the contestants there to not be as appealing as those who played the game in New York were. He cited it as one of the main reasons he did not return to the series when it was revived five years later.
What is Jeopardy!?
'', 05.01.89 – ''Sports Illustrated''
1984–present
Following the success of the nighttime syndicated version of ''Wheel'' which had premiered in 1983, Griffin sold a new syndicated version of ''Jeopardy!'' to its same distributor,
King World Productions
King World Productions, Inc. (also known as King World Entertainment, King World Enterprises, or simply King World) was a production company and syndicator of television programming in the United States independently established in 1964 until acq ...
(which much later folded into CBS Television Distribution, now
CBS Media Ventures
CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...
). This version introduced updated technology to the program, replacing the former manually-operated game board featuring clues printed on pull cards with television monitors to display clues. One significant difference from the 1964 to 1975 versions was that only the winning contestant kept his or her earnings, while the runners-up were awarded higher-end consolation prizes instead (changed in later years to $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third). After Fleming declined to return to the show because of his dissatisfaction with the changes, Griffin took the advice of
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...
, who recommended
Alex Trebek
George Alexander Trebek (; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He is best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show ''Jeopardy!'' for 37 season ...
for the position. Trebek, in turn, recommended
Johnny Gilbert
John Lewis Gilbert III (born July 13, 1928) is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various e ...
, whom he had met at a dinner party a few years prior, for the announcer position.
The Trebek version debuted September 10, 1984.
Trebek continued to host the program until his death in November 2020, with his final recorded episode airing January 8, 2021; Coinciding with the peak of popularity for the board game ''
Trivial Pursuit
''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question t ...
'' and the installation of electronic trivia games (e.g.
NTN Buzztime
NTN Buzztime is a company that produces interactive entertainment across many different platforms. Its most well-known product, simply called Buzztime, and formerly known as the NTN Network, since 1985, broadcasts trivia and other games via broa ...
) in pubs and bars, ''Jeopardy!'' was slowly becoming a major success despite some markets still airing it in unfavorable time slots. One such market was New York City, the largest in the United States. There, King World sold its new show to
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...
, which had been the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the original ''Jeopardy!''. When it premiered in the fall of 1984, ''Jeopardy!'' initially aired at 1:30a.m. on WNBC, following ''
Late Night with David Letterman
''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...
''.
Although the series was indeed proving to be a hit, its late timeslot in the country's largest media market began to concern its distributor. Even though Letterman's show and ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
'' were strong ratings winners and ''Jeopardy!'' was able to retain a good amount of the audience from its lead-in shows, a late-night timeslot is not usually considered beneficial for a first-run series. WNBC's more favorable
fringe time
In broadcast programming fringe time refers to two dayparts -
* early fringe - the hour lead-in prime time
* late fringe - the late night television program slot following late-night news
Definition
Fringe time is widely used in television to ...
and
daytime
Daytime as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the globe's hemis ...
slots were all filled with other programming, a situation that was also true at all of the other major stations in the city;
WABC and
WCBS also cleared their networks' schedules completely and had other programming, including other long-running syndicated game shows and reruns, filing the holes in their schedules, as did independents
WNEW-TV
WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship ...
,
WOR-TV
WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW (ch ...
and
WPIX
WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
, which also carried cartoons in addition to reruns. In addition, CBS and ABC at the time were still airing network programming until 4:30 p.m. Eastern, with ABC airing the long-running soap opera ''
The Edge of Night
''The Edge of Night'' is an American television mystery crime drama series and soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions.
It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that networ ...
'' and CBS running the game show ''
Body Language
Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
''.
On October 26, 1984, several weeks into ''Jeopardy!''’s first season,
Procter & Gamble Productions
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
announced that it would cease production of ''The Edge of Night'' after 28 years and that ABC would no longer offer regular programming in the timeslot, with ''Edge's'' last episode airing December 28. King World went to WABC, who now had an open spot on its schedule it needed to fill, and the two struck an agreement to move ''Jeopardy!'' to the station beginning December 31, 1984. WABC has aired ''Jeopardy!'' in the New York market ever since, initially in the 4:00 p.m. time slot. The switch helped more viewers find ''Jeopardy!,'' since they no longer had to stay up past midnight to see it.
In Los Angeles,
KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...
picked up ''Jeopardy!'' to air at 4:00 p.m. as a lead-in to its local news at 4:30 p.m. Two months later, however, due to low ratings, KCBS replaced ''Jeopardy!'' with reruns of ''
Quincy, M.E.
''Quincy, M.E.'' (also called ''Quincy'') is an American mystery medical drama television series from Universal Studios that aired on NBC from October 3, 1976, to May 11, 1983. Jack Klugman starred in the title role as a Los Angeles County med ...
''. Shortly thereafter, ''Jeopardy!'' was picked up by then-
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
KCOP-TV
KCOP-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet KTTV (channel 11). Both stations ...
, where it was paired with ''Wheel of Fortune''. ''Jeopardy!'' later returned to KCBS in 1989 along with ''Wheel''. Then three years later, both game shows were picked up by
KABC-TV
KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains stud ...
, where they remain as of October 2020.
Prime Time Access shakeup
WABC added ''
Oprah
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
'' to its lineup in the fall of 1986, and placed it at 10:00 a.m., following its locally-produced talk show ''
The Morning Show''. Having its roots in a local morning show at WABC's
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
in Chicago, ''Oprah'' was an immediate success and in December 1986, WABC decided to move it to the 4:00 p.m. timeslot. The move, which turned out to be permanent as ''Oprah'' remained at 4:00 p.m. for the next 24-plus years, displaced the game shows airing there and WABC needed to find a new home for ''Jeopardy!''.
At the time, and like its major competitors, WABC aired an hour of local news at 6:00 p.m. and followed it with the national newscast, in this case ''
World News Tonight'', at 7:00 p.m. For the 1986–87 season, WABC added another new syndicated offering in a revival of ''
Hollywood Squares
''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show piloted on NBC in 1965 and the regular series debuted in 1966 on the ...
'', which was placed at 7:30 p.m. ''Squares'' turned out to be a strong performer against the immensely popular ''Wheel of Fortune'' on WCBS and, seeing those ratings, WABC decided that it could draw equal or better ratings with ''Jeopardy!'' in the 7:00 p.m slot. ABC did not require its stations to air ''World News Tonight'' at a specific time, giving WABC the freedom to make the move if it wanted.
On December 15, 1986, the same day ''Oprah'' moved to 4:00p.m., WABC reduced the 6:00p.m. broadcast of ''Eyewitness News'' by 30 minutes and moved ''World News Tonight'' to 6:30, with ''Jeopardy!'' airing at 7:00 and ''Squares'' following it at 7:30. To alert viewers to the timeslot changes, WABC launched an advertising campaign entitled "Prime Time Begins At 7 On 7". In addition, WABC filled part of Oprah's vacated 10:00a.m. slot with a repeat of the previous evening's broadcast of ''Jeopardy!'' until September 1987.
The move produced a ratings win in both the 6:30 and 7:00p.m. time slots, as ''World News Tonight'' also benefited from the switch; this, along with the rise of WABC's ''Eyewitness News'' in the New York ratings books, paved the way for WABC to become the most-watched television station in the New York market. Eventually, WCBS and WNBC capitulated, and their networks' respective national newscasts moved to 6:30p.m. as well. After moving the ''
CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
'' to 6:30p.m. in the fall of 1988, WCBS picked up a nighttime syndicated edition of the NBC game show ''
Win, Lose or Draw
''Win, Lose or Draw'' is an American television game show that aired from 1987 to 1990 in syndication and on NBC. It was taped at CBS Television City (one of the few non-CBS game shows to tape there), often in Studios 31, 33, and 43 at various ...
'' to air at 7:00p.m. as a lead-in for ''Wheel'', while WNBC (which also moved ''
NBC Nightly News
''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
'' to 6:30) eventually began airing
newsmagazines (such as ''
Inside Edition
''Inside Edition'' is an American news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is n ...
'') and a new syndicated version of ''
Family Feud
''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes.
The show has had three separate runs, the ...
'' hosted by
Ray Combs
Raymond Neil Combs Jr. (April 3, 1956 – June 2, 1996) was an American actor, comedian and game show host.
Combs began his professional career in the late 1970s. His popularity on the stand-up circuit led to him being signed as the second host o ...
(who also hosted the show's daytime revival on CBS) in the hour preceding primetime.
WABC has aired ''Jeopardy!'' at 7:00 ever since. ''
Entertainment Tonight
''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...
'', which had been airing the previous two seasons on
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by Fox Te ...
(the former WOR-TV that had been sold the previous year in the midst of an unrelated
ownership dispute), replaced ''Hollywood Squares'' as the ''Jeopardy!'' lead-out in fall 1988. In 1990, '' Entertainment Tonight'' moved to WCBS as ''Wheel of Fortune'' went to WABC, as WCBS had opted to air newsmagazine and entertainment programming in the early fringe timeslot; ''Wheel'' was paired with ''Jeopardy!'' and the two shows have remained on WABC ever since.
WABC's successful access hour move eventually resulted in many Eastern and Pacific Time Zone network affiliates moving their network newscasts to 6:30p.m. Affiliates in the Central and Mountain time zones generally program ''Wheel'' at 6:30p.m., though, and air their networks' respective newscasts at 5:30 p.m., with ''Jeopardy!'' largely airing in late afternoon (and in some cases, morning) timeslots, as these stations typically air local newscasts in the half-hour following their networks' respective national ones.
''Jeopardy!'' has since become a staple syndicated show for ABC's
owned-and-operated station group, and seven of its eight stations (WABC,
KABC/Los Angeles,
WLS/Chicago,
WPVI
WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...
/Philadelphia,
KGO/San Francisco,
WTVD
WTVD (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Durham, North Carolina, United States, broadcasting the ABC network to the Research Triangle area. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, it maintains pr ...
/Raleigh-Durham and
KFSN
KFSN-TV (channel 30) is a television station in Fresno, California, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. It is owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, and maintains studios on G Street in do ...
/Fresno) have carried the show along with ''Wheel'' since 1992. The only exception has long been
KTRK in Houston, which had never carried both game shows in part due to an hour-long newscast in the Prime Time Access hour where ''Wheel'' is normally seen (and whose hour-long newscast predated parent company
Capital Cities
A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...
' acquisition of ABC in 1986); both game shows have aired on different Houston stations: first on NBC affiliate
KPRC from their respective start dates until 1986, and then to CBS affiliate
KHOU
KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe, Texas, Conroe-licensed Quest (American TV network), Quest station KTBU (channel 55). Both sta ...
which also carried ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' over its entire run (making KTRK the only ABC owned-and-operated station that never carried ''Oprah'' over its 25-year run). However, on September 14, 2015, KTRK began airing ''Jeopardy!'', making it the last ABC-owned station to do so, though ''Wheel of Fortune'' continues to air on KHOU, as KTRK still carries an hour-long block of local newscasts (both separate half-hour newscasts, for ratings purposes) in the 6:00p.m. access hour.
Ratings and critical reception
Since its debut, the syndicated version of ''Jeopardy!'' has gone on to win sixteen
Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show, achieving this honor most recently in 2017, and today it holds the record as the most honored program in this Emmy award category.
The show was the subject of great interest and increased ratings (often out-performing ''Wheel'' and even some primetime programs) in the early portions of the 2004–05 season as contestant
Ken Jennings
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, author, and former game show contestant. He is the highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,70 ...
, taking advantage of newly-relaxed appearance rules, won 74 matches before being defeated by Nancy Zerg in his 75th appearance. He amassed $2,520,700 over the course of his winning streak, as well as a $2,000 second-place prize in his 75th appearance, thus earning the record as the
highest money-winner ever on American game shows, and his winning streak led the show to become TV's highest-rated syndicated program.
On September 11, 2006, with the start of Season 23, ''Jeopardy!'' began broadcasting in
high definition. King World and production company
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...
indicated that as of August 10, 2006, some 49 of the 210 stations that carried the show at that time were prepared for the transition. Sony uses the
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. ...
HD format to record the show, but since ''Jeopardy!'' is syndicated, stations using the
720p
720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...
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.
On January 2, 2007, one third of the subscribing stations originally renewed ''Jeopardy!'' through Season 28 (2011–12), but by April 8, 2010, ''Jeopardy!'' was given an additional two-year renewal through Season 30 (2013–14). Then in 2012, Trebek and ''Wheel'' personalities
Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak ( , born Patrick Leonard ; born October 26, 1946) is an American television personality and game show host. He is best known as the host of the American television game show ''Wheel of Fortune'', a position he has held since 1981. Fo ...
and
Vanna White renewed their respective contracts when the shows' ABC-owned affiliates renewed both game shows through the 2015–16 season.
In November 2018, the ABC-owned-and-operated stations renewed their agreement to carry ''Wheel'' and ''Jeopardy!'' through 2023, rebuffing a larger contract offer from
Fox Corporation
Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated ...
.
CBS has long viewed stability as key to the shows' success, desiring to keep the shows on ABC stations to maintain continuity; it has declined to move the shows to
its own owned-and-operated station group for the same reason it rejected Fox's bid.
[
]
Syndication and reruns
CBS Media Ventures
CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...
currently offers stations up to two episodes of ''Jeopardy!'' to air each weekday: the first run (which airs new episodes from September to July), and a "classic ''Jeopardy!''" package consisting of episodes from the previous year.
Some local TV stations which carry ''Jeopardy!'' also hold in-market on-demand streaming rights to the five most recent episodes, subject to technical capability. For example, Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
's Stirr
Stirr is an American ad-supported video streaming service owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The streaming service is available on the web and via apps for iOS, Android devices and various streaming TV devices, including Amazon Fire TV, Roku, ...
service began to carry the program in the markets where Sinclair stations air the program, such as Washington, D.C. (WJLA
WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister to ...
) and Seattle ( KOMO), in late 2020. Outside of the U.S., ''Jeopardy!'' airs on Canadian stations Yes TV
Yes TV (stylized as yes TV) is an independently owned Canadian nonprofit and CRTC-licensed religious broadcasting television system in Canada. It consists of three conventional over-the-air television stations (located in the Greater Toronto Area ...
and CHEK.
Archival episode rights are held by Pluto TV
Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United Sta ...
, which like CBS Media Ventures is owned by Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
. Pluto launched a continuous linear channel of episodes from the Trebek era in August 2022. The Pluto deal covers 250 episodes of the series spanning most of Trebek's hosting run, with an emphasis on major tournaments; an additional 250-episode batch will be added to the rotation in 2023.[ Select episodes of ''Jeopardy!'' had been available intermittently on ]Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
until August 2021; the agreement with Pluto allows Sony to continue selling episodes of the series to subscription video-on-demand providers.[
]
Spin-off programs
''Jep!''
''Jep!'', a children's version of the show, aired first on Game Show Network
Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along with new, first-run original and revive ...
(now known by its abbreviated name, "GSN") throughout the 1998–99 season, and then on Discovery Kids
Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were ei ...
through late 2004. It was hosted by cartoon voice actor Bob Bergen
Robert Bergen (born March 8, 1964) is an American voice actor. He voices Warner Bros. cartoon characters Porky Pig and Tweety and has voiced characters in the English dubs of various anime. He formerly hosted the children's game show '' Jep!'', ...
, and produced by Scott Sternberg who had earlier produced a children's version of ''Wheel'', titled ''Wheel 2000
''Wheel 2000'' (also known as ''Wheel of Fortune 2000'') is a children's version of the American game show '' Wheel of Fortune,'' produced by Scott Sternberg Productions and Columbia TriStar Television (and the last version of ''Wheel'' of any sor ...
''. Contestants on ''Jep!'' were young children aged 10 through 12, who competed for merchandise packages instead of monetary prizes, with clue values in points rather than dollars.
''Rock & Roll Jeopardy!''
''Rock & Roll Jeopardy!'', a music-intensive version, debuted on VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
on October 8, 1998 and ran for four seasons, ending on May 12, 2001. Hosted by '' Survivor'' star Jeff Probst
Jeff Probst (; born November 4, 1961) is an American reality show host and executive producer. He is best known as the Emmy Award-winning host of the U.S. version of the reality television show '' Survivor'' since 2000. He was also the host of ' ...
, this version highlighted post-1950s popular music trivia rather than focusing on general knowledge. Announcers included Loretta Fox in seasons one and two, and Stew Herrera in seasons three and four.
''Sports Jeopardy!''
In fall 2014, Crackle
Crackle or crackling may refer to:
Foods
* Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats
** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snac ...
, an online video portal owned by Sony, began exclusively carrying ''Sports Jeopardy!'', a themed version of the show with material focused entirely on sports trivia. Sportscaster Dan Patrick Dan Patrick may refer to:
* Dan Patrick (ice hockey) (born 1938), Canadian ice hockey player
* Dan Patrick (politician) (born 1950), Lieutenant Governor of Texas and political and sports radio journalist
* Dan Patrick (sportscaster) (born 1956), Ame ...
hosts the series, which produces new episodes once a week. Kelly Miyahara, a member of the ''Jeopardy!'' Clue Crew, serves as an on-camera announcer. Howie Schwab
Howie Schwab (born 1960) is an American sports trivia expert and television personality. He is best known as the final adversary on ESPN's ''Stump the Schwab'' show.
Biography
Schwab is a native of Baldwin, New York. A 1982 graduate of St. ...
serves as off-camera judge and consultant. The series was picked up by NBCSN
NBCSN was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated t ...
for the 2016 season.
Each category has only four clues (250, 500, 750 and 1,000 in the Jeopardy! round, with those values doubled for Double Jeopardy!) compared to five in the parent series. The fewer clues allows Patrick and the contestants more time to interact during the interview portion of the show and during a "postgame" segment during and after the closing credits.
References
External links
Official Website of ''Rock & Roll Jeopardy!'' (via Internet Archive)
Official Website of ''Sports Jeopardy!''
*
*
{{Jeopardy!
Broadcast Information
History of television in the United States
Television in the United States