Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

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jeopardyfan939
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

MarkBarrett wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 7:06 pm

For a tradition to bring back I would nominate the yearly ToC. For whatever has caused the 2-year break pattern find a way to change things. Yes, for the staff it has to be extra work to work out everything from coordinated travel plans to sequester videos to sponsor participation to "harder" clues to whatever else goes into the event. I doubt that prize fund really matter for stretching the time between ToCs.

Emma was a 3x champ and had a very impressive tournament. Waiting to mostly get high-scoring 4x and above champs should not matter. A year is enough time to round up a worthy enough field. It was disappointing from a fan's point of the view that the most recent cut line of Alex Schmidt, Mary Ann Borer, Dave Leffler, Jackie Fuchs, Jonathan Dinerstein and John Presloid went too deep while on the flip side I do at times not sympathize well as thoughts of, "You should have won five games then" rest on my other shoulder.
I think there is a reason behind why there have been two year gaps between ToC's, and that is a lengthy amount of time between players who win 5+ games. But there are other reasons as well, and that pertains to special tournaments being held in milestone seasons. In Season 30 we had the Battle of the Decades tourney, and last season, the All-Star Games. I think in order for there to be a ToC next season, there needs to be more 5+ game winners this season in addition to Sam Kavanaugh, Jason Zuffranieri, and this season's College Championship and Teachers Tournament winners. So far there have not been 5+ day champions since Jason lost his 20th game (even his giant killer didn't win his next match). Or the producers can invite a few 4-game winners like Ryan Bilger into the ToC.

Last time there were consecutive seasons in which the ToC was held were Seasons 31 and 32.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by goongas »

Someone ought to make a website showing changes to the Jeopardy set from season to season
https://gameshows.fandom.com/wiki/Jeopardy!/Sets
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by goongas »

I have noticed myself a lot less alcohol related categories this season. They seem to have lessened at least a bit the emphasis on academic subjects, or things you can learn from memorizing lists, and have devoted more questions to lifestyle topics. It is one of the four subgroups of questions on the show according to a recent article.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by talkingaway »

One thing that's not quite true: Jeopardy! hasn't remained exactly the same for its entire run. Besides the doubleing of clue values and mega-champs being allowed, there have been some temporary, one-off changes to tweak the format ever-so-slightly.

1) "BONUS" category. I can't access the database now, so I can't reference this, but I noticed these categories one season when looking at past games. Every clue had two possible responses - ie "The {resident of the United States in 2017." If you give a correct response, you can either decline to finish and bank your cash for 1x the clue value, or go for double-or-nothing, getting a net total of either 2x for a correct response, or 0 for an incorrect resposne. I don't know if opponents were allowed to "steal" the second response if it was declined or answered wrong.

2) "Must do in order" categories. These often were cutesy categories where one response would lead to another clue - for example, "He starred in Footloose" would be followed by "Bacon comes from this animal". (Okay, way easier example than the actual show, but again, no access to the database.)

As far as other, more permanent strategy-changing twists, there's of course the ToC, which has a totally different wagering strategy, and the "team Jeopardy" games.

Are there any other ones that I'm missing that actually have an effect on in-game strategy?
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by SwanShadow »

Bamaman wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:13 pm I miss the players walking out during the introductions.
Speaking as one who slipped and nearly fell "entering the studio" for his first game, I don't miss the walk-ons at all. Having the contestants already placed at the start of the show makes the game friendlier to less physically mobile contestants, as well as to those who are simply clumsy (myself included).

I noticed that Mastermind, which in recent seasons employed contestant walk-ons (and, for that matter, walk-offs), stopped the practice with the current series. The program(me) now begins with the contestants seated. They still have to move from the row of contestant chairs to The Black Chair when it's their turn, but they now do so for a short distance on a flat floor. (The previous set had a lengthy entrance ramp, and a step down off the platform to exit.)
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by TenPoundHammer »

When was the last Johnny Gilbert category? Feels like it's been forever. (Not like I'm surprised; he's what, 95?)
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by goongas »

2) "Must do in order" categories. These often were cutesy categories where one response would lead to another clue - for example, "He starred in Footloose" would be followed by "Bacon comes from this animal". (Okay, way easier example than the actual show, but again, no access to the database.)
Also, back when their technology was more limited, they would tell contestants to do in order a category where all the clues were video clues.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Bamaman »

SwanShadow wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 12:08 am
Bamaman wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:13 pm I miss the players walking out during the introductions.
Speaking as one who slipped and nearly fell "entering the studio" for his first game, I don't miss the walk-ons at all. Having the contestants already placed at the start of the show makes the game friendlier to less physically mobile contestants, as well as to those who are simply clumsy (myself included).
Glad you got through unscathed.

I am also clumsy (my son once precalled me tripping over a wrestling mat) and am starting to have mobility issues. I would probably make a spectacle of myself coming on down on TPIR. So I understand why they don’t do it anymore. But I always thought it made a nice visual in a quaint sort of way.

But I agree it is for the best they no longer do it.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Magna »

Bamaman wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 4:47 pm
SwanShadow wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 12:08 am
Bamaman wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:13 pm I miss the players walking out during the introductions.
Speaking as one who slipped and nearly fell "entering the studio" for his first game, I don't miss the walk-ons at all. Having the contestants already placed at the start of the show makes the game friendlier to less physically mobile contestants, as well as to those who are simply clumsy (myself included).
I suppose they could use some kind of transportation technology to make it smoother, but there's always the risk of it coming across a bit creepy - e.g., contestants entering on conveyor belts.

Glad you got through unscathed.

I am also clumsy (my son once precalled me tripping over a wrestling mat) and am starting to have mobility issues. I would probably make a spectacle of myself coming on down on TPIR. So I understand why they don’t do it anymore. But I always thought it made a nice visual in a quaint sort of way.

But I agree it is for the best they no longer do it.
I suppose they could use some kind of transportation technology to make it smoother, but there's always the risk of it coming across as a bit creepy - e.g., contestants entering on conveyor belts.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by mas3cf »

goongas wrote: Thu Nov 28, 2019 9:58 pm I have noticed myself a lot less alcohol related categories this season. They seem to have lessened at least a bit the emphasis on academic subjects, or things you can learn from memorizing lists, and have devoted more questions to lifestyle topics. It is one of the four subgroups of questions on the show according to a recent article.
I've noticed all those same things. Also, their geography questions seem to have moved more towards things where you have to have a photographic memory of the map (e.g., the closest national capital to Paris, or the countries that border Tajikistan).
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by opusthepenguin »

Magna wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 5:05 pm I suppose they could use some kind of transportation technology to make it smoother, but there's always the risk of it coming across as a bit creepy - e.g., contestants entering on conveyor belts.
Oooohh! How about one of those giant claws depositing each contestant behind their podium?
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Linear Gnome »

I don't think this has been mentiioned yet. As of Season 29, the players were walked to mid-stage for the post-game chat with Alex. I remember the change being made to having the players stay at their places, but I don't remember when it was.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

Linear Gnome wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:06 pm I remember the change being made to having the players stay at their places, but I don't remember when it was.
It was Season 34 when contestants started remaining at their lecterns during the post game chat / end credits.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Ivoryface86 »

jeopardyfan939 wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:49 pm
Linear Gnome wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:06 pm I remember the change being made to having the players stay at their places, but I don't remember when it was.
It was Season 34 when contestants started remaining at their lecterns during the post game chat / end credits.
And that isn't a new thing, remember the first few seasons (especially when Alex was also the Producer and his daughter Nicky was there). It was also staged with the players who were visually impaired too.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by trainman »

opusthepenguin wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 5:46 pm
Magna wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 5:05 pm I suppose they could use some kind of transportation technology to make it smoother, but there's always the risk of it coming across as a bit creepy - e.g., contestants entering on conveyor belts.
Oooohh! How about one of those giant claws depositing each contestant behind their podium?
We just have to wait for Dr. Emory Erickson to invent the teleportation device, and then the contestants can be beamed in from backstage. Maybe that'll be the big heavily-promoted addition for Season 150.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

talkingaway wrote: Thu Nov 28, 2019 11:27 pm One thing that's not quite true: Jeopardy! hasn't remained exactly the same for its entire run. Besides the doubleing of clue values and mega-champs being allowed, there have been some temporary, one-off changes to tweak the format ever-so-slightly.

1) "BONUS" category. I can't access the database now, so I can't reference this, but I noticed these categories one season when looking at past games. Every clue had two possible responses - ie "The {resident of the United States in 2017." If you give a correct response, you can either decline to finish and bank your cash for 1x the clue value, or go for double-or-nothing, getting a net total of either 2x for a correct response, or 0 for an incorrect resposne. I don't know if opponents were allowed to "steal" the second response if it was declined or answered wrong.

2) "Must do in order" categories. These often were cutesy categories where one response would lead to another clue - for example, "He starred in Footloose" would be followed by "Bacon comes from this animal". (Okay, way easier example than the actual show, but again, no access to the database.)

As far as other, more permanent strategy-changing twists, there's of course the ToC, which has a totally different wagering strategy, and the "team Jeopardy" games.

Are there any other ones that I'm missing that actually have an effect on in-game strategy?
I totally did not know about some of these, but I remember the "bonus" category in some Season 14 episodes. Even then, these are nothing like the gameplay changes we've seen on Wheel of Fortune (toss-up puzzles being added in 2000, express wedge, wild card, winning contestant picking one of three bonus round categories, etc.)
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by yclept »

I used to like it when Johnny would announce the winnings for the TOC contestants during introductions. “Chuck Forrest, who won $72,800”.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by jpr281 »

Before & After categories used to be relegated to the far right column. Now, it seems like they can appear anywhere.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Bigdogstalfos »

It got mentioned here already, but Potent Potables used to be a common enough category that it was used on every Celebrity Jeopardy SNL skit. Now that I can actually get questions in it, I can’t remember the last time it came up.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by MarkBarrett »

Bigdogstalfos wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2019 12:48 pm It got mentioned here already, but Potent Potables used to be a common enough category that it was used on every Celebrity Jeopardy SNL skit. Now that I can actually get questions in it, I can’t remember the last time it came up.
The Archive tends to be helpful with such things as far as J! goes. If you meant SNL then no idea:


#7997, aired 2019-05-21 POTENT POTABLES $200: It's the main alcoholic ingredient in a pina colada
#7997, aired 2019-05-21 POTENT POTABLES $400: To make a Long Island iced tea, combine vodka, tequila & other booze with sour mix & this soft drink
#7997, aired 2019-05-21 POTENT POTABLES $600: A classic martini gets an olive, but a Gibson martini has a pearl one of these instead
#7997, aired 2019-05-21 POTENT POTABLES $800: This Greek liqueur is flavored with anise, a Mediterranean plant
#7997, aired 2019-05-21 POTENT POTABLES $1000: "Look out for the bull" was Schlitz' longtime slogan for this beer with a high alcohol content
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