Im on your side, he assures them with a big smile.
But in some ways, todaysJeopardy!is very different.
There are more subtle changes, too.
Ken Jennings was elevated to sole primetime host in 2021 after a rocky, three-year search.Jessica Lehrman for Rolling Stone
Even Jennings informal greeting is a departure.
Its like youre seeing hologram Tupac or something: How cantheAlex Trebek be right over there?
The original version, hosted by Art Fleming, ran on and off from 1964 through 1979.
Trebek was one big reason for that.
when a player made a wildly wrong guess, it often felt like Trebekwasthe series.
By the time of his death, he was something of a national monument.
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The addictive sense of pride in shouting out a correct answer.
A passion for learning specifically, for mastering a broad swath of obscure knowledge kindled at an early age.
The specifics vary slightly from person to person.
But at 7:30, we had to miss a few innings to switch over toJeopardy!.
Those clues are assigned a prize value based on difficulty.
Theres just so much variety that people stick with it.
They figure therell be something for them soon.
Everyone, from high school dropouts to Ph.D.s, goes to the supermarket.
Everyone knows that T is more likely to appear in a word than Q. ButJeopardy!,with its air of intellectualism, should have a higher barrier to entry.
Youre theJeopardy!guy!
So manyJeopardy!fans will tell me, I watch every day, I maybe get two questions right.
And yet theyre still really invested.
But just as a game, she adds, it is really well-designed.
In terms of the arc within any given game, theres drama more often than not.
There is one absolute stinker of a Double Jeopardy!
round, filled with incorrect guesses and clues when nobody even buzzes in.
The studio audience frequently winces, and Jennings lets out a relieved cry of Yes!
after someone breaks a long streak of futility for all three contestants.
The next two games, though, feature close matchups and big dollar totals, including a Double Jeopardy!
round with two successful instances of contestants betting all of their money in a true Daily Double.
Well,almostas excited.
Its incredible, he tells Jennings in a post-episode conversation.
Ive waited for this moment my whole life.
Jennings describes the production as uniquely stable for Hollywood.
Even the shows lead public-relations executive is a former contestant who still takes pleasure predicting Final Jeopardy!
answers in a notepad before theyre revealed to the contestants.
It was protected for years to just go and be its own little world.
ROTATING HOSTS FELT WEIRD.
THIS IS THE POSITION OFJEOPARDY!HOST.
THIS IS A NATIONAL INSTITUTION.
ITS NOT A GAME.
It was very scary.
Youre aware that the audience does not want you there.
Theyre like me, they want the other guy, and I was missing him too.
Im like, I dont want to be here.
I would give anything to not be here right now.
By some standards, Jennings was the perfect candidate for the job.
The Greatest of All Time.He also had Trebeks implicit endorsement.
But he was not an experienced broadcaster, which made some fans skeptical.
Others rolled their eyes at another white guy in a profession full of them.
Some, like Burton, obviously wanted the full-time gig but struggled with the distinct rhythms of the game.
Still, the roller coaster didnt sit well with manyJeopardy!fans including a future super-champion.
It just felt weird, says Schneider.
I understood the thought process, but I was like, This is the position ofJeopardy!host.
This is a national institution.
Its not a game.
The show can survive not being the force of personality of one lovely man.
(Jennings later apologized for all of these.)
Its a bad look, man, says Schneider.
If youre gonna do that, it better be a slam dunk.
Amodio, who was a contestant during the Richards kerfuffle, says the actual taping went fairly normal.
I went in and talked to the Sony employees, Amodio says.
They were clearly freaked out, which I dont blame them, because this is their livelihood….
But for me, it was a realization that I am definitely living through history right now.
Amodio jokingly refers to him as He Who Shall Not Be Named.
Loud politely declines to talk about Richards at all.
It was just uncomfortable, McGuire says diplomatically.
No one really knew what was going to happen.
Our leadership was in question at the time.
And it came on the heels of Alexs passing, so it was just one bad thing after another.
I think there was a panic amongst the troops.
The U.K.-born Davies was a TV veteran who had broughtWho Wants to Be a Millionaireto America in 1999.
Initially, it was that stark.
The show had been through the trauma of Alexs passing.
The center that the whole show rotated around was Alex.
Bialik declined to comment for this story.)
For a while,Jeopardy!had stability again.
But soon enough, fans and even players began picking favorites.
Very nice, very fun.
And as Ken got more reps, I think he got better and he earned the job.
It was such a thoughtful, warm answer.
He never acted like he was smarter than anybody although he is, right?
I think he brings a level of humanity to it that maybe Alex didnt always have.
Im a change agent.
Davies, though, sees tremendous upside to turning repeat contestants into characters in whom viewers can emotionally invest.
Amy changed a lot of minds, he says, because Amy was superb on this program.
To protectJeopardy!,we have to expand, argues Davies.
We cant just leave it exactly where it is.
But we have to expand or its going to be in trouble.
He even speaks here and there with Friedman, who he says has endorsed his vision.
This is a place where nobody says, Why are you doing a category about dinosaurs?
Or, Why are you mentioning the moon landing?
We never went to the moon.
For whatever reason,Jeopardy!seems to be immune from that, and maybe thats a good sign.
What a dream for America!
