# Jeopardy! Season 40 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [September 20, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427 "2023-09-20T16:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/1 "2023-09-20T16:35:31Z")
Anybody watching the “Second Chance” tournament? I think I’ve recognized _maybe_ two of the contestants so far. They’re apparently pulling not just from last season but from the past several years (possibly to get enough players who are willing to appear during the WGA strike). There’s been some fun game play with some… interesting wagering. On Monday’s show, Matt, in third place, hit a late Daily Double. His only real hope was to bet everything, but he wimped out. He got the question right, but his small wager handed Deanna a runaway. He had the only correct response in FJ and would have won the game if he’d bet big in the DD! Back on the season premiere last Monday, Jill had a big lead into FJ but not a runaway. She pulled a Cliff Calvin and bet _everything_. It worked out since she had the correct response, but a smaller wager would have still given her a chance to win if she had been wrong. And in a tournament format, she doesn’t get the extra money anyway. Dumb! ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/2 "2023-09-20T16:48:18Z")
I was wondering if new episodes had started yet or not – I’ve not really watched except I saw the final Jeopardy yesterday. brian ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/3 "2023-09-20T17:04:52Z")
Dorothy Parker! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/4 "2023-09-20T17:05:55Z")
Are these new second chance tournaments, or reruns of the last one? ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/5 "2023-09-20T17:12:57Z")
They’re new ones. I recognize very few of the players, also. Did I hear correctly that they are reusing old clues, possibly ones that never aired? Like potpourri-style? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/6 "2023-09-20T18:51:40Z")
They are being (I think purposely) vague regarding the provenance of the clues. My take is that they likely had plenty of clues already in the pipeline in addition to previous unread clues. I’d guess that re-using used clues will be a last resort. The longer the strike goes on, though, the deeper they’ll need to dive into the reject pile, so who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/7 "2023-09-21T02:30:28Z")
A couple of the clues seem to be of recent vintage, such as the Final Jeopardy! one today. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/8 "2023-09-21T17:04:52Z")
Ken with the Barbie joke! 😄 ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/9 "2023-09-21T22:05:28Z")
He stole my joke; I said pretty much the same thing to my wife, much to her unamusement. I like Ken saying he avoids a certain two-letter tax preparation service, after one of the contestants says he won’t send his kids to a Montessori school, having missed that in his FJ. Ken’s pretty quick witted, and it’s nice to see him back. My DVR started recording the new episodes, otherwise I would not have known the new season had started. I miss the final “ding” from the Sony studio logo, though. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/10 "2023-10-02T22:59:32Z")
Color me unimpressed with the contestants today in the first game of the ‘Champions Wildcard’ competition. ISTM that there was a lot of wild-guessing during the game, and Emily clearly didn’t understand how to form a correct question on a couple of her answers. Plus, they all missed FJ, which wasn’t obvious, but I got it right after thinking about it for a few seconds. My reasoning was what famous people died in April, and Lincoln was the obvious answer. Then 80 years later, it was FDR, which led me to Andrew Johnson and Harry Truman. All of the contestants didn’t seem to understand who the clue was referring to, based on their answers. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2023, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/11 "2023-10-03T11:44:19Z")
I thought it was quite clear that they wanted the presidents AFTER the dead ones. I got it right, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/12 "2023-10-04T00:30:40Z")
Did you guys see Ken do that human pyramid? 😍 I gotta admit, I like him more than I ever liked Alex. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/13 "2023-10-05T17:16:05Z")
A correction must be made for an answer on 10/4: The character opposite Bugs in Buccaneer Bunny is in fact Seagoin’ Sam. He _does_ bear a strong resemblance to Yosemite Sam. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/14 "2023-10-05T19:31:05Z")
Darn, and I thought I had found my category. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/15 "2023-10-05T19:41:59Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Did you guys see Ken do that human pyramid? 😍 Here’s a clip of the actual pyramid stuff: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ot_P8crvH0Q/maxresdefault.jpg "Jeopardy, Ken Jennings human pyramid - Champions Wildcard Day 1 (10/2/23)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot_P8crvH0Q) And here’s the backstory, which I unfortunately found only on Twitter: > ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/16 "2023-10-14T02:34:38Z")
Ted Baxter wasn’t too happy about messing up the King/Prince Rainier question. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/17 "2023-10-23T20:42:34Z")
The consistent thing for second chance and Champions Wildcard is that no one answers their phone for strange numbers. Either Jeopardy! should get a real caller ID, or the phone companies need to fix the caller ID problem. JAQ, who hangs up on every “potential spam” (but I do let strange number go to voicemail. Sometimes, I do get a message) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/18 "2023-10-23T21:35:54Z")
BTW, the writers’ strike is over; any idea when we’ll see new episodes? ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/19 "2023-10-24T16:30:10Z")
We are seeing “new” episodes. The second chance tournaments and the upcoming(?) wild card tournament are new. They are using previously written clues and reusing some clues and did not run afoul of the writer’s strike. The celebrity tournament is new as well. Not great imo, but new. I still watch. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427/20 "2023-10-24T16:32:27Z")
Thanks, but what I’m really wondering is when new episodes featuring new clues written by their writers will start to air. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-40/990427.md?page=2)