Tag: Jeopardy

Ken Jennings Opened His First Jeopardy Episode as Host With a Tear Jerking Alex Trebek Tribute

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My tears weren’t even dry from the Alex Trebek tribute that Jeopardy ran on Friday following Trebek’s final episode before Ken Jennings came in and made my living room supremely dusty all over again.

Below is Friday’s tribute if you missed it.

Big Z is our in house game show expert so I won’t steal his thunder for a future blog on potential host options, but this is a reminder that technically Ken Jennings is guest hosting for the time being. With the thinking being that Jeopardy will try a few different hosts to see who would be the best fit long term. Obviously they would be wise to have a swift audition period because the No. 1 thing Jeopardy had going for it was consistency. People watched Jeopardy every night, not for the questions, but for Alex Trebek. I don’t know the numbers, but I would assume The Price is Right ratings took a hit after Bob Barker retired. Or even post-Regis Philbin on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Certain hosts are synonymous with the show they host so Jeopardy would be smart to find its guy quickly.

Jennings was a solid host in his first crack at the job and if nothing else you know he’s the smartest guy in the room and a Jeopardy fanatic; two of the qualities that made Trebek such a perfect fit. Nobody will ever match his charm, but thats an impossible task to conquer so Jeopardy will continue to search for the next best guy. Who knows, maybe Anderson Cooper is over politics after the last four years and after years of interest, Sony Pictures can finally lure the Silver Fox over to the game show!

In an impossible position, Jennings showed just how much Alex Trebek meant not just to fans across the country, but to himself personally. It was a touching tribute, one that perfectly read the room, and helped ease the transition to the next Jeopardy host.

Remembering Alex Trebek

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It’s a sad day at The 300s as we mourn the loss of Alex Trebek. He was a television legend, a first-ballot game show host hall of famer, and a prominent face on the Mount Rushmore of game show hosts. Trebek had been on U.S. television since 1973, and behind the Jeopardy! lectern since 1984. He fought pancreatic cancer over the last year and a half with courage, candor, and dignity. He passed away today at the age of 80.

It goes without saying that Alex Trebek was one of the greatest television game show hosts of all time. In 2014, Guinness World Records presented him with the world record for most episodes of a game show hosted, with 6,829 at the time.

Trebek was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host a record 31 times. His seven Emmys are second only to Bob Barker’s whopping 14. He is one of only two people ever nominated for this Emmy for two different game shows. The other was the undisputed Dean of Game Show Hosts, Bill Cullen. In 1990, he was the only person ever to be nominated for this award for two shows in one year (Jeopardy! and Classic Concentration). In 1991, he became the first person to host three American game shows simultaneously (To Tell the Truth, in addition to the aforementioned Jeopardy! and Classic Concentration).

As a game show fan, this is a very sad day. As a television viewer, it’s also sad for me to say goodbye to another person who has been on television every weekday of my life. With David Letterman’s retirement in 2015, and Bob Barker, Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw all retiring in the 2000s, I can’t think of many people left on television who have been on television my whole life. Pat Sajak and Vanna White may be the only people left on that list for me.

While game show hosts aren’t members of our families, and we don’t root for them the way we root for athletes and our favorite sports teams, they do come into our homes on a regular basis and can make profound impacts on our lives, as recent champ Burt Thakur shared:

Yet another cruel side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was the sidelining of Alex Trebek during the last few months of his life. The man was itching to get back behind the lectern, but it simply wasn’t feasible in the early stages of the pandemic. That’s not to sound greedy, as if I needed even more from him, but I know it was something Trebek loved to do. Maybe, for thirty minutes at a time, it allowed him to focus on something other than his health.

And unfortunately, as is all too common with game show hosts, his final words on television may very well be “we’ll see you tomorrow.” It’s not often game show hosts get to hang ’em up on their own terms. Barker in 2007 was more the exception than the rule.

But today we pause to remember Alex Trebek, are reminded of the indelible impact he left not only on television but on this nation, and are thankful for all of his contributions. We love you, Alex.

That Time I Got Boom Roasted By Jeopardy Legend Ken Jennings On Twitter

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You come at the king you best not miss.

So now that my nightmare has finally been realized and Jeopardy has run out of new episodes, they have started airing reruns and they played Ken Jennings’ first appearance earlier this week. As I tweeted out, Jennings was an absolute weapon from Day 1, but it was far from a runaway as he barely won in Final Jeopardy. On a sports question no less, which the Jeopardy nerds notoriously struggle with.

The Final Jeopardy category was 2000 Olympics and the clue was “She’s the first female track & field athlete to win medals in five different events at a single Olympics.” The answer was Marion Jones. Ken Jennings’ answer: Jones.

Like I know for a fact that Jennings wins this episode, but watching it I wasn’t sure if Trebek was going to bust his balls for not being specific enough.

So Ken sounded off on all of us for questioning his knowledge of trivia.

I actually went searching for the official Jeopardy rules and the full rulebook is not actually that easy to find. There are some basic rules and strategy guidelines on the Jeopardy website, but these debates continue to rage in the internet streets. Although I did learn that in the event of a tie after Final Jeopardy, Trebek will read one tiebreaker clue for no additional money and the first contestant to buzz in with the correct answer walks off with the win.

In fairness though, I’ve seen Trebek not give people credit on an answer for less egregious omissions. Maybe, thats just me remembering Trebek smoking people over the years for infractions that I thought the judges should have accepted.

But hey its not just me, Jon Tomase legitimately wrote an article about the same exact thing yesterday.

Jennings simply wrote “Jones,” which could’ve been interpreted as a guess of a common name. But after consulting with the judges, host Alex Trebek declared the answer valid because, “in terms of female athletes, there aren’t that many.”

“I had been trained by years of ‘Jeopardy!’ watching and college quiz bowls that you only give the last name,” he said. “Because there’s then an additional opportunity to introduce some kind of error. By default, I just wrote down ‘Who is Jones?’ I didn’t even think what a common last name that is. It wasn’t until Alex revealed my answer that I realized it looked like I just guessed a random last name. Who is Jones? Who is Smith? Who is Williams? There was what seemed like an eternity of a pause. He looked at the judges’ table. It didn’t take too long before he got a nod.

“I don’t think it was a tough judgment call. The ‘Jeopardy!’ rule is almost always ‘the last name is acceptable by itself’ unless there’s a particular ambiguity, like Benjamin Harrison versus William Henry Harrison or something like that. I did think for a moment, ‘There are probably a number of American athletes named Jones, is it not clear I meant Marion Jones?’ I remember feeling this wave of euphoria when Alex said it was correct. Somehow, against all odds in these 20 minutes, I survived.”

It’s crazy how after winning 74 games in a row and over $5 million in his Jeopardy career, Jennings nearly was a one and done Jeopardy contestant. That is some serious butterfly effect type stuff right there.

Celebrity Jeopardy Was Inexplicably Missing on Saturday Night

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Image result for snl trebek

Welp, there was no Celebrity Jeopardy on SNL this weekend. Judging by Twitter reactions, I wasn’t the only one who was disappointed.

And this guy gets it exactly right.

At least we’ll see one of the greatest sketches of all time on the Thanksgiving special Wednesday night…

 

Celebrity Jeopardy Is a Must Play on SNL This Week

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I could be totally wrong, but it feel’s like tomorrow night’s episode of Saturday Night Live will be something special. It’s the Thanksgiving show, Will Ferrell will be back, and he’ll be joining the Five-Timers Club. That being said, they have to do Celebrity Jeopardy. Celebrity Jeopardy not appearing on SNL tomorrow night would be an act of comedic malpractice.

If you’re in your thirties Will Ferrell is the best SNL cast member from your prime SNL viewing days and Celebrity Jeopardy was your favorite sketch. I watched every week in high school rooting for Celebrity Jeopardy to make an appearance and it never disappointed.

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In addition to Ferrell being back in Studio 8H, Jeopardy is having a moment right now. As Alex Trebek bravely wages his battle against Pancreatic Cancer, Jeopardy James Holzhauer is doing his part to keep Jeopardy front-page news. Next month’s GOAT tournament will be the most anticipated game show event since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire made its first return in November of 1999. With Darrell Hammond in the house handling announcing duties, and Sean Connery pushing 90, why not trot out Trebek , Connery and the rest for (maybe, hopefully not) one last rodeo.

Come on, Lorne, America needs this.

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Jeopardy! Giving the People Exactly What They Want

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USA TODAY – James Holzhauer just won the “Jeopardy!” Tournament of Champions, but you haven’t seen the last of him.

Holzhauer and the long-running quiz show’s two other biggest winners, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, will face off in a prime-time Greatest of All Time tournament on ABC in January…

But the GOAT tournament will be anything but typical: It consists of a series of two back-to-back games, airing weeknights (8 EST/PST) beginning Jan. 7. The player with the most combined winnings from the two games wins the “match,” and the play continues on successive nights (except Monday) until one of them has won three matches and takes home a $1 million prize. (The other finishers get $250,000 apiece). That means the tournament can last anywhere from three to seven days.

Sitting on the couch last Friday night after watching James Holzhauer win the 2019 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, I couldn’t help but wonder how Holzhauer would fare against Ken Jennings. Thankfully, Jeopardy! big wig Harry Friedman had the same thought. This January we’ll get to see Holzhauer and Jennings on the Jeopardy! stage together, along with Brad Rutter, in the ultimate best-of-seven Jeopardy! showdown.

It should be fascinating to see Holzhauer go up against Jennings. While both men won about $2.5 million in regular-season play, Holzhauer did it in just 32 games compared to Jennings’ 74. While Jennings gets the check mark for longevity, Holzhauer gets the check mark for absolutely steamrolling opponents. Holzhauer holds the record for the highest single-game total, $131,127, as well as the next 15 spots on that list. In other words, half of the 32 games he won were better than any other game played by any other contestant in the prior 35 years.

But while James Holzhauer and Ken Jennings may be the bigger household names, don’t sleep on Brad Rutter. Rutter is 21-0 in regular season and tournament Jeopardy! matches, having never lost to a human opponent (IBM’s Watson topped both Rutter and Jennings in a 2011 match, but the show considers that match to be an exhibition). Rutter’s only mistake was trying out for Jeopardy! before it eliminated the five-day limit for returning champions.

Since retiring as a five-day champ in 2000, Rutter has returned to the show and won the 2001 Tournament of Champions, the 2002 Million Dollar Masters Tournament, the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions and the 2014 Battle of the Decades tournament. Just for good measure, he also captained the winning team in the 2019 Jeopardy! All-Star Games. He is the Jeopardy Jordan and the king of American game shows.

While I’m looking forward to the Holzhauer/Jennings dynamic heading into the GOAT tourney, this could be a great grudge match for Jennings against Rutter. Rutter has topped Jennings in two tournaments and the 2019 team tournament. It’s hard to believe that the man who won 74 straight games in 2004 has never won a Jeopardy tournament.

Will the Greatest of All Time tournament be where Jennings takes back the ultimate Jeopardy! crown? Will Rutter continue to dominate and remain undefeated? Or will Holzhauer continue his torrid pace and assume the Jeopardy! throne? I’ll be tuning in every night,and rooting for what could now be the two greatest words in sports AND Jeopardy! GAME SEVEN

Alex Trebek Reveals He Is Fighting Pancreatic Cancer

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NPR – Alex Trebek, who has hosted the Jeopardy! game show since 1984, announced Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

I feel like I always drop the emotional blogs, for better or for worse. I suppose there is something to be said for being reminded once a week or so how precious life is and what’s important.

Alex Trebek, America’s favorite game show host, revealed yesterday that he is fighting pancreatic cancer. And I’m going to start with the facts so I can grow positive not bleak. Pancreatic cancer is one of the worst kinds in terms of survival rate. A glance at the article above tells me less than 10% of those diagnosed are still around five years later. Also, Trebek is 78. He would seem to be in otherwise fighting form and certainly does not appear “frail,” but you figure you have to account for that. So take all that as you will.

His announcement, made in a short video on the Jeopardy set, was particularly jarring. The usually all-business Trebek’s voice quivered a couple of times. He was emotional and with the risk of possibly looking too hard, he looked scared. Which is 100000% to be expected and even respected when facing such a fight as his.

Trebek’s message though was run-through-a-wall inspiring. He pretty much said “fuck prognoses I’m going to win.” The always elegantly dressed, put together, and professional host was downright curt and defiant in his declaration of war over a worthy adversary. It definitely gave a lot of hope.

So here’s hoping that Alex Trebek and what is surely a team of doctors find a way to beat this thing. We’ve already been promised he’ll fight. He even joked that he kind of has to stick around because he has three years left on his contract. Maybe it will help a little that he has every living room in America fighting alongside him.

I’ll take “Fuck Cancer” for eleventy billion, Alex.