Season 36 Changes & Predictions

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jeopardyfan939
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Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

Now that Season 35 is less than two months away from wrapping up, I think it would be a good time to discuss changes and predictions for Season 36. The new season will tape on July 23, and the first episode will air either September 9 or September 16. As always, the opening title graphics will change. And here are some changes and predictions that I see as possible:

- There may be new theme and think music for next season. I say this because the current music package debuted during Season 25 and has been in use for a little over a decade already; and music packages tend to run for a round number of years or seasons. And my guess is John Hoke will likely be in charge since he did the current music package for sister show Wheel of Fortune just two years ago, as well as the theme music for Sports Jeopardy.

- There may also be a new set; Jeopardy! tends to update the set every 4-7 seasons. The longest-running set lasted from 2002-2009 but underwent several minor changes when the show transitioned to HD in 2006. The CES set lasted only four seasons, and the current set has been in use since Season 30. So it may be time for a new set. Perhaps start the new season with the current set but introduce the new one in November or mid-season.

- A special tournament in which James Holzhauer is automatically in the finals and the other two Jeopardy! giants, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, receive byes to the semifinal rounds. The event can be called the "Jeopardy! Battle of the Superstars", "J! Holzhauer Challenge", or they can call it the second "Ultimate Tournament of Champions". However, unlike the UToC that was held during Season 21, this event will only last for three weeks from May 4-22, 2020. In addition to the three J! giants, there would be 21 contestants competing to face Holzhauer in the finals (all of whom played after Ken Jennings' winning streak and before the 2017 ToC), and such champs would include - Matt Jackson, Ben Ingram, Julia Collins, Seth Wilson, Larissa Kelley, Roger Craig, Colby Burnett, Dan Pawson, Buzzy Cohen, Austin Rogers, Tom Nissley, Joon Pahk, Jason Keller, Arthur Chu, David Madden, Kristin Sausville, Joel Pool, Alex Jacob, Jason Zollinger, Kara Spak, Justin Sausville. There would be four rounds, and the contestants not receiving byes start in that round. Seven winners advance to the quarterfinals along with five wild-card spots among non-winners. Quarterfinals are four matches, but because Ken and Brad are automatically in the semifinals, no wild card spots, it's win or go home. Ken and Brad would win their respective semifinal matches, setting the stage for the greatest matchup in Jeopardy! history. Because of his strategies he used during his 32-game winning streak in Season 35, James Holzhauer would be a giant killer himself becoming the first human opponent to defeat Brad Rutter. The winner receives $1M while second place gets $200K and third place $100K. But James would still be third overall behind Ken and Brad in terms of total winnings earned on the show. However, if Ken doesn't make it to the finals but Brad does, and James wins the tournament and takes home the $1M prize, he surpasses Ken for second-highest all-time money winner; but Brad, despite being defeated by a human for the first time, still holds the number-one spot for highest all-time winnings. Brad's total earnings go up to $4.8M if he's the runner-up, and $4.7 if he finishes third.
Last edited by jeopardyfan939 on Sat Jun 08, 2019 3:15 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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triviawayne
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by triviawayne »

Music...maybe

New set? Not until there is a new host. Too expensive to do twice in a few years.

With no TOC this season, and having had a special tournament, I see a regular TOC in which we could see a big upset. JH hasn’t necessarily played against the top level competition, along with TOC level questions.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by MarkBarrett »

I predict a regular TOC in November since it will have been two years since Buzzy won the previous one. James Holzhauer will play in the QF round like the other 14 players.

February and May sweeps will have College and Teachers. If there is another Teen Tournament then that can go in June or July.

The All-Stars Games just happened this February making me think no returnees in S36 other than the ToC.

Graphics will of course change, no argument.

Set and music? I'll guess same and definitely the same as why mess with Alex with a bunch of new things?

If a Sausville gets an invite to play again I would go with Kristin over Kristen. I don't see a Colby Lewis in the Archive. Did he play in un-archived games? How many?

Joel Pool on your list makes me glad I never have a glass of anything near my keyboard and monitor.

For season start date I'll go with September 9th after six weeks of replays instead of seven weeks.

Fun thread and it will be a good one to revisit after more information comes to light about next season.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

jeopardyfan939 wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2019 10:25 pm and the first episode will air either September 9 or September 16.
September 9
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

I was anticipating there may be new music next season because:

1) Two seasons ago, Wheel of Fortune retired its music package it had been using since 2006/2007 at the end of the calendar year 2016, and debuted the current one January 2, 2017. Interestingly, I had an anticipation that Jeopardy! would follow the same path this season, but turns out I was wrong.

2) Which brings me to my next point. The previous theme and think music cues (composed by Steve Kaplan) lasted from Season 14 to Season 24. They retired it after Season 24, not just because of the 25th anniversary, but also because I think rights for that package expired after Season 24. I would say the original music package (1984-1997) lasted for 13 seasons because Merv Griffin was executive producer.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by jev15 »

I have been wondering if they might make some rule changes to counter the analytic approach to the show. The easiest one I can think of would be to truly randomize Daily Doubles so that they could legitimately be under any box in any category, making it impossible to hunt them.

I'm not saying they should do so, but it seems like something they might consider.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by Le Master »

jev15 wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:48 am I have been wondering if they might make some rule changes to counter the analytic approach to the show. The easiest one I can think of would be to truly randomize Daily Doubles so that they could legitimately be under any box in any category, making it impossible to hunt them.

I'm not saying they should do so, but it seems like something they might consider.
That wouldn’t be a rule change.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by floridagator »

1. The new host will be Jennifer Morrow. Every day viewers will be wondering what's in her scabbard.

2. Whenever a contestant says "carrots," ping pong balls will drop from the ceiling and flood the set with their bouncing.

3. Instead of solid blue, the cyclotron will regress down the spectrum until fj is played in red. Tiebreakers will be referred to as "going infrared."

4. The clue board will finally adopt proper English Style with commas and periods inside quotation marks.

5. It will be made official the categories can only be played straight down. This will eliminate the necessity of calling out a dollar amount, saving a minute in every round to make sure all clues are played.

6. Audio Clues and audio Daily Doubles will be brought back.

7. For Season 36 there will be no special tournament. Most will be happy with the outcome of the November Toc.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by JayK33 »

Chris Harrison will be the new host. He will ask "Is that your final answer?" every time a contestant responds to a clue, which will waste valuable seconds and clear an average of just 50% of each round's board from now on.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by seaborgium »

floridagator wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:27 am 4. The clue board will finally adopt proper English Style with commas and periods inside quotation marks.
English style is outside.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by Stanislaus Jacob »

I think James's streak (not his money winnings!) ended at a low enough number that he will play in a regular ToC, which I don't think would have been the case if he had won 50-60 games (as seemed very likely just a few days ago). That said, I don't know about "we could see a big upset. JH hasn’t necessarily played against the top level competition, along with TOC level questions." He is not guaranteed to win, but if he loses, it will not be because he was fazed or stymied by a slightly higher clue difficulty level.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by GoodStrategy »

seaborgium wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:49 am
floridagator wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:27 am 4. The clue board will finally adopt proper English Style with commas and periods inside quotation marks.
English style is outside.
The long-term trend appears to be moving towards "outside" style (since it eliminates ambiguity in technical contexts, etc.). Wikipedia uses "English" style despite being located in the USA for example.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by opusthepenguin »

Stanislaus Jacob wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:12 amJH hasn’t necessarily played against the top level competition, along with TOC level questions." He is not guaranteed to win, but if he loses, it will not be because he was fazed or stymied by a slightly higher clue difficulty level.
Definitely. From what we've seen, I'd say a higher clue difficulty level will work in his favor.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

Stanislaus Jacob wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:12 am I think James's streak (not his money winnings!) ended at a low enough number that he will play in a regular ToC, which I don't think would have been the case if he had won 50-60 games (as seemed very likely just a few days ago). That said, I don't know about "we could see a big upset. JH hasn’t necessarily played against the top level competition, along with TOC level questions." He is not guaranteed to win, but if he loses, it will not be because he was fazed or stymied by a slightly higher clue difficulty level.
The reason Ken Jennings didn't play in the 2004 ToC was because his streak was still ongoing at that point. After his streak ended, he was originally guaranteed a spot in the 2006 ToC which was held in Season 22; and had he chosen that option, I don't think the UToC would have taken place at all.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by gnash »

GoodStrategy wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:16 am
seaborgium wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:49 am
floridagator wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:27 am 4. The clue board will finally adopt proper English Style with commas and periods inside quotation marks.
English style is outside.
The long-term trend appears to be moving towards "outside" style (since it eliminates ambiguity in technical contexts, etc.). Wikipedia uses "English" style despite being located in the USA for example.
The "inside" style is an abomination invented by someone who thought the printed page was a work of abstract visual art without intelligible content.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by spell4yr »

Count me as another who prefers "outside style" and uses it exclusively instead of "inside style".
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

Suppose we have this scenario:

- Emma wins 5 games but loses her 6th
- there are a few other 5-time champions towards the end of Season 35 and the beginning of Season 36, before November
- or they select 3-time and 4-time winners from Seasons 34 (after the 2017 ToC) and 35.
- the producers give James the option of playing in the regular ToC or in the aforementioned tournament where he along with Ken and Brad receive byes to the finals and semifinals respectively.
- if James were to choose the latter option, I would say have the ToC in November 2019, the 3-week UToC in May 2020, College Championship in February 2020, and Teachers Tournament in April 2020.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by gnash »

Le Master wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:16 am
jev15 wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:48 am I have been wondering if they might make some rule changes to counter the analytic approach to the show. The easiest one I can think of would be to truly randomize Daily Doubles so that they could legitimately be under any box in any category, making it impossible to hunt them.

I'm not saying they should do so, but it seems like something they might consider.
That wouldn’t be a rule change.
Making them truly random would be a rule change. Even making them randomly selected with something other than a uniform distribution would be a rule change. Currently you go into the game expecting the DDs to be clues for which that format is appropriate, usually because they have something to tease out or connect the dots. That also makes some categories more likely. If this were not so, it would be a somewhat different game.

Deliberate change in the distribution of DDs by row, while keeping the same general principles of their selection, would not be a rule change.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by alietr »

In a bid to generate more excitement from Holzhauer's run, contestants will be able to bet TRUE Daily Doubles, where they can bet all of the money they've earned to date, including from previous wins.
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Re: Season 36 Changes & Predictions

Post by triviawayne »

opusthepenguin wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:18 am
Stanislaus Jacob wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:12 amJH hasn’t necessarily played against the top level competition, along with TOC level questions." He is not guaranteed to win, but if he loses, it will not be because he was fazed or stymied by a slightly higher clue difficulty level.
Definitely. From what we've seen, I'd say a higher clue difficulty level will work in his favor.
Except that he would only be against TOC level players. Obviously from his coryats, it would be foolish to bet against him winning in a regular TOC, but we haven't seen him play boards with strictly that level of questions, or strictly against that level of players.
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