Jeopardy! Season 42. It is what it is

Cafe Society
1

Season 42 is coming, and there are changes, lordy, there are changes,

In some misguided attempt to fix something that isn’tt broken, they are changing the set, and most notably changing the set color from blue to red. Why? WhoTF knows.

They also say they are adding “set pieces”, but I’m not sure if that means like, a bust of Trebek, a fountain dispensing potent potables, or a monument to the Etruscans, or if instead it means singing and dancing breaks.

But the most significant change is an increase in branded categories. From the producers:

But there will be new set pieces and, unfortunately for the fans, there will be some, perhaps even an increase, in sponsored categories.

“Producers know that’s not popular with fans, and quite frankly, a lot of the production team doesn’t like it either.

“But it’s part of the game. It helps with revenue and cross promotion so it is what it is.”

Celebrity-promo categories are bad enough, but I can just imagine the worst:

“Our categories are soda pop brands, TV Shows, Celebrities pushing their new projects, car models,…”

“Please choose your category, just like Pepsi, the choice of a new generation.”

2

Line must go up.

3

As it is, they have categories tied to new movies or television shows, often with one of the stars reading the clues. They’ve been doing that for years, and I never liked it.

4

Indeed. I even had trouble with “commercial slogans”, but in its own way it is pop culture trivia.

Now they’re not just embracing it, they’re openly admitting it.

“I’ll take ‘Michael Strahan’s Skin Grooming Routine for $1000, Ken.”

“Double Jeopary!, brought to you by double-strength Clorox.”

5

We watched every night for years, but got out of the habit a couple of years ago. We like Ken just fine, and think he’s about the best host possible to follow Alex, but after the whole kerfuffle with Richards and the new management team, we just lost interest.

Can’t say we miss it much. (And I’m speaking as a former one-time champ, circa 1991).

6

“What is…Pepsi?”

“Partial credit!”

7

They have done a lot of things over the years to increase how well known and (more importantly) money-making Jeopardy! is. Are you aware of how many international versions of Jeopardy! there have been? There’s a chart of them in the Wikipedia entries linked to below. In several countries, there have been several attempts at a version of Jeopardy! for their country. The U.K. has had four attempts, for instance. For the past year, there has been a version of Jeopardy! in the U.S. called Pop Culture Jeopardy? on a streaming channel.

Even in the U.S. on broadcast channels, Jeopardy! has not been running continuously. The original run was from 1964 to 1975. There was then a version from 1978 to 1979. The current version has been running since 1984.

There have been various spin-off items, like books, board games, and video games.

One claim is that the changes this season and the upcoming changes next season have to do with updating the show for a younger audience. It appears that they don’t really care that this means that they will lose some of the older audience. They have decided that they need to do things that appeal to the viewers over the next few decades, not those who have been watching for the past few decades:

8

They’ve made other changes lately as well. For example, I remember the Tournament of Champions running over a two-week period, with five quarterfinal matches, three semifinal matches and a two-game final match. Now it’s some ridiculous thing with weeks of quarterfinal matches and a best of seven final match. There are also many other tournaments, like the masters and the second chance ones.

9

Yeah, crap like that contributed to our disinclination to watch continue watching regularly.

10

It’s not that I’m Abe Simpson, complaining to the clouds that they took Matlock off the air. I think making it more commercial is a problem in itself. If younger audiences want that, prefer that, then I guess “it is what it is”.

11

The average age of the viewers of Jeopardy! is 64.6 years. The owners of the Jeopardy! franchise know that they have to gradually make the show more acceptable to younger viewers. If they don’t, the viewers of the show will gradually die off. That’s how it works for the sales of any type of merchandise or service.

12

I actually don’t mind the “clues read by stars of the new movie we are promoting” categories, but I could see getting sick of them if they happened frequently.
“Set Pieces” is pretty vague – hopefully it isn’t like the old Wheel of Fortune when they used their winnings to buy merchandise :stuck_out_tongue:

Brian
(hopes he didn’t give them the idea)

13

That the show still only airs on traditional broadcast television is one reason its audience is so old. I think many younger people have cut the cord and no longer watch linear television. They are going to make it available on a streaming service but not for a couple of years.

14

Is it true that it doesn’t air on a streaming service? Look at the webpage linked below. It seems to say that it does air on on some streaming services:

15

I’m not up to date. According to the New York Times

New episodes of “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” will be available on both Hulu and Peacock beginning in September, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the owner of the popular game shows, announced on Tuesday [June 3].

The episodes will hit the streaming services the day after they air on broadcast television, Sony said. This will be the first time that newer episodes of either show will be available on a streaming platform.

And in 2028, the existing syndication deals end and the two shows might be streaming only

16

No idea what those weird scammy sounding links are, but as of now it’s not streaming. Sounds like that may change with the new season but as of now, if a new episode is preempted and you miss it on TV, the only watch to see it is to look for uploaded copies on YouTube. Usually with odd cuts added to get around the automatic YouTube music censor I’m guessing. Those always get pulled after a day but it’s the only way to see it if you miss it.

17

Is there any decent source out there about these changes because everything I can find goes back to “an insider” giving a quote to The Sun.

18

I believe Ken Jennings posted photos of the new set to his Instagram account and that’s the source of the news.

19

Well, there’s one picture of the set lit up with red lights (although I doubt that means the set will be red all the time). Nothing about any other changes.

20

I don’t have an Instagram account so I can’t see the actual posts but there might be more there.