Jeopardy! broadcast history
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The U.S. television game show Jeopardy! has experienced a long life in several incarnations over a period exceeding four decades.
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[edit] Origins
The Jeopardy! concept was originally created by Merv Griffin, who wanted to take the format of a television quiz show and make it more enticing by speeding up the game and putting a twist on the format.
The format was created shortly after the major quiz show scandals of the 1950s, when it was discovered producers had given contestants answers to questions being asked on the shows, thereby rigging the quizzes themselves. At the time, quiz shows were out of favour with networks because of the scandals, and the original twist was giving clues in the form of answers (originally with a bend toward comedy) and expecting replies in the form of questions, was originally the central concept of the show, which was pitched under the title What's the Question?. The name "Jeopardy" was coined when, according to Griffin, a skeptical producer rejected the show, claiming "it doesn't have enough jeopardies". Griffin thought the "Jeopardy" name sounded perfect, and immediately used it to generate puns, like naming the second round of the game Double Jeopardy! (after the legal concept).
[edit] Original personnel
Art Fleming hosted and Don Pardo served as announcer on the original version, which aired on NBC's daytime schedule from March 30, 1964 to January 3, 1975 for 2,753 shows in almost 11 seasons. Fleming also hosted a short-lived weekly syndicated version in 1974-75 (approximately 40 shows) and another short-lived NBC revival, The All-New Jeopardy!, from October 2, 1978 to March 2, 1979 for 105 shows. John Harlan was the announcer for that version of the show, as he worked out of Los Angeles (where the revival was taped), whereas Pardo remained in New York and no longer announced game shows by that time.
Robert Rubin was the original producer and Bob Hultgren was the first director. Later in the NBC run, packager Griffin promoted Rubin to a position of executive producer and replaced him as line producer with Lynette Williams. Hultgren was succeeded by Eleanor Tarshis, who in turn was replaced by Jeff Goldstein. Immediately after Jeopardy! ceased production in December 1974, Goldstein moved to southern California to direct Griffin's new Wheel of Fortune.
The 1964 to 1975 airings originated from the NBC headquarters in New York City's Rockefeller Center; it has been based in Los Angeles Area (at various studios) from the 1978-79 revival onward.
[edit] Original NBC version, 1964–1975
Jeopardy! began its first run on NBC at 11:30 a.m. Eastern/10:30 Central on March 30, 1964, replacing the Ed McMahon-hosted game Missing Links, which immediately relocated to ABC at that same timeslot. A housewife from Candor, North Carolina, Mary Eubanks, won the first game with $345.
To industry observers' shock, the hard quiz, thought by many of them to be entirely too difficult for viewers at such an early time of the day, began beating not only its dislocated predecessor, but even a variety show hosted by entertainer Jack Benny on CBS. Eventually, Jeopardy! led to the demise of the old favorite The Price Is Right, which ended its nine-year run (on ABC) against the quiz on September 3, 1965. Ironically, Price spent most of its early years on the NBC daytime lineup.
Sensing great possibilities for the show to become the network's lunchtime flagship, NBC programmers moved Jeopardy! to what became its best-known slot, 12 Noon/11 Central, three weeks after Price raised the white flag. This subtle but crucial shift down a half hour made it accessible, at least in the Eastern Time Zone, to businessmen coming home for their lunch break or else watching it on restaurant or bar sets, and college students departing their classes for the day. These two constituencies, who did not ordinarily have the time or interest to view other daytime programs, made the game a runaway hit, propelling its ratings to second place of all daytime games by the end of the decade, behind its lead-in, Hollywood Squares.
On CBS, it faced the mid-level serial Love of Life until September 5, 1969, when that network moved it ahead a half hour to launch a new soap, Where the Heart Is. That show ran until March 23, 1973; neither it nor Love of Life impeded Jeopardy!'s hold on the viewing public. ABC, for its part, did even worse, placing mostly sitcom reruns against it, with only two short-lived first-run shows: the game Everybody's Talking in 1967 and the soap The Best of Everything in 1970. For six straight years, Jeopardy! breezed through the Nielsens at Noon/11. Even those East Coast NBC affiliates that customarily broadcast news at that time of day usually tape-delayed the show for broadcast during the half-hour affiliate access slot at 1/Noon. Only ABC programmed in that slot, and no show the network attempted ran for a long time until All My Children debuted in 1970.
But, eventually, time and changing tastes caught up with the game, which only made minor changes to its rules and set during the entirety of its years on NBC. First, ABC settled its Hollywood-based revival of Password at Noon/11 on March 20, 1972, giving Jeopardy! serious competition for the first time in its eight-year history by draining off some of the college following. One year later, though, a more serious opponent emerged in the form of a surprise hit serial, CBS' The Young and the Restless, which began on March 26, 1973. Despite these threats, packager Merv Griffin remained obstinate in refusing to alter the format or consider a host other than Fleming.
With a new aggressive, young woman assuming the head of NBC's daytime division, Lin Bolen, the network began ridding itself of game shows hosted by middle-aged men and staged on technically obsolete sets, with Concentration becoming the first victim of the purge in March 1973. Even though Jeopardy! was still winning the Nielsens in the fall of that year, Bolen nonetheless decided to move the show in January to make room for a stylish, youth-oriented riddle contest named Jackpot. On January 7, 1974[citation needed] Jeopardy! moved to 10:30/9:30, in a scheduling shuffle with the Dick Enberg-hosted Baffle.
Bolen and NBC executives expected Jeopardy! to falter against Dick Clark's The $10,000 Pyramid on CBS. But, despite losing a good part of its professional/student viewership, the quiz proved resilient, topping the word-association game and unexpectedly provoking the rival network to cancel it after just a year's run (it would resurface, in another timeslot, some weeks later on ABC). CBS relocated Gambit there on April 1, and the two shows would divide the audience equally during the remainder of the spring. (Jeopardy!'s replacement in its original time slot, Jackpot, did not fare nearly as well against the new CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, which premiered on March 26, 1973; NBC never recovered its dominance in this time slot.[1])
Yet, Bolen was still not pleased with Jeopardy!'s performance, and, as if determined to rid the network of an embarrassing household item, apparently lost her patience with Griffin's continued intransigence about the decade-old game. Whatever her motivations, NBC decided to cancel Three on a Match, which had run for three years at 1:30 p.m/12:30 against the top-rated soap As the World Turns on CBS and a former NBC show, ABC's Let's Make a Deal, on June 28, 1974 giving the slot to Jeopardy! and putting the new Winning Streak on at 10:30/9:30 the following Monday. 3 on a Match and Streak were both packaged by Bob Stewart and hosted by Bill Cullen.
This final move proved fatal to the long-running game, as nearly all its fans began deserting it, the more sophisticated among them figuring out that NBC had in effect abandoned the show. Since losing Let's Make a Deal to ABC in 1968, NBC had placed no fewer than seven different programs in what experts termed the "graveyard" slot; only Three on a Match lasted longer than a year. Worse still, some stations, mainly in the Central Time Zone, had for years preempted the slot for news, women's/homemaker's shows, and even As the World Turns or Let's Make a Deal, if their viewing areas had no regular CBS or ABC affiliate; these stations largely did not bother tape-delaying the 1:30/12:30 program until later that afternoon or the next morning. By fall, it became all but obvious that Jeopardy!'s time had come and gone, and in November 1974, NBC made the cancellation announcement. In exchange for the remainder of the show's contract, which had been scheduled to expire in January 1976, the network would allow Merv Griffin to place a new Southern California-based creation of his, Wheel of Fortune, in its stead.
Thus, after 10 years and nine months as a weekday NBC feature, Jeopardy! broadcast for the final time of its original run on January 3, 1975. Veteran announcer Don Pardo introduced the final episode, to a camera shot of the audience and himself, in his trademark booming basso voice:
- Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great admiration that I present to you for the 2,753rd time the star of Jeopardy!, Art Fleming!
Before the beginning of the Double Jeopardy! Round, Fleming introduced clips of Daily Doubles from two charity episodes, Mel Brooks' appearance on the 2000th episode in February 1972, and the outcome of the 1967 Jeopardy! National College Scholarship Contest tournament, where an Alabama youth won a then-record $4,800. A New York-based singer-songwriter, Robin Grehan, won the final game with $700. After the last commercial break and the contestants and audience had been dismissed from the studio, Fleming gave a heartfelt but dignified farewell and appreciation to the remaining loyal viewers. Then, he walked off a darkening set, with only a spotlight shining in front of the contestants' podiums as the credits rolled to the tune of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile."
Although Wheel of Fortune debuted the next Monday, January 6, at 10:30/9:30, it replaced Winning Streak, not Jeopardy! Jeopardy! was actually replaced by the first-ever expansion of a daytime serial to one hour in Another World, through a shuffle with the soap How to Survive a Marriage, which became the last half-hour show scheduled at 1:30/12:30 before NBC expanded Days of Our Lives in April.
Meanwhile, Jeopardy!'s replacement at Noon/11, Jackpot, found the going increasingly rough against Y&R and lasted only until September 1975. NBC would never again lead the ratings in that timeslot, with only Super Password in 1984-1989 managing to contend against the CBS serial.
Announcer Pardo only missed one episode in 1967; fellow NBC voiceover artist Wayne Howell filled in. Fleming, on the other hand, appeared on every broadcast between the show's premiere and his last-ever episode as the program's host in 1979.
[edit] Syndication, 1974–1975
Distributed by Metromedia, the first syndicated version was mainly an attempt by Griffin to keep the show going in the face of its imminent doom on NBC (this had also been attempted the previous season by packagers of two cancelled network games, The Dating Game and Sale of the Century). Most contestants on this syndicated offering were previous champions on the NBC daytime version.
This version added a bonus prize feature. Early in the run, at the program's end after Final Jeopardy!, the winning contestant got a chance to select a prize hidden behind the thirty squares on the main game board (numbered 1–30, à la Concentration); later in the run, the contestant won a prize according to his or her final score. In both bonus games, $25,000 was the top prize. Cosmetic touches included the addition of flashing lights to the set and host Fleming attired in a tuxedo with check-patterned jackets, instead of his customary business suit.
None of these things helped this seemingly futile effort, and the show ran only one season, from September 1974 to September 1975; it is quite likely that most stations dropped the program even earlier than the end of the season, probably not long after the network version's demise (although Fleming referenced it in his farewell speech on the NBC version finale).
[edit] NBC revival, 1978–1979
The show did not sit idle long, however. In 1977, Merv Griffin, in an attempt to mend fences with CBS, which had cancelled his late-night talk show six years earlier, produced a pilot of Jeopardy! for that network. However, that network, because of the success of The Price is Right and Match Game, gave priority to Goodson-Todman Productions when considering ideas for new games, and let the option lapse. (In 1998, CBS purchased the syndicator of the current version, King World.)
Meanwhile, NBC had been experiencing considerable instability on its morning schedule in particular, with Wheel and the new Card Sharks being the only bright spots by 1978. The network, obviously regretting its actions which led to the demise of the original version nearly four years earlier, decided to bring the show back on daytime. It replaced a short-lived soap, For Richer, For Poorer, whose cancellation made room for the previous occupant of the 10:30 a.m. Eastern/9:30 Central timeslot, Hollywood Squares.
Harlan's energetic announcing style, every bit as powerful as Pardo's, was especially potent in his emotional cue to Fleming on the first October 1978 episode: After introducing the contestants with the "This is Jeopardy! Now entering the studio..." lines that would become a Jeopardy! catch phrase in the following decade, Harlan announced:
- Now entering the studio for the 2,754th time is the host of Jeopardy!, Art Fleming!
Fleming came out to a standing ovation from the audience at the NBC Burbank studio.
However, the network apparently stipulated format changes as a condition for airing the show, something Griffin largely refused to make during the original version; therefore, this version featured an elimination format and a different bonus game. Neither of these pleased a disappointed public, which, unlike viewers of other games, preferred an absence of gimmicks from Jeopardy!
Not learning from its mishaps five years before, NBC made scheduling mistakes with both of the show's timeslots. From October until January, the show faced the first half-hour of The Price is Right on CBS, which had been a solid hit for years by that point. But things got worse on January 5, when NBC dispatched it to what, ten years earlier, had been an impregnable slot for the program. However, by 1979, most American daytime viewers chose between $20,000 Pyramid on ABC and The Young and the Restless (interestingly, now owned by Sony, like Jeopardy! currently) on CBS at 12 Noon Eastern/11 Central, ignoring NBC's offerings. Two months later, Fleming gave his final performance as host of the show, and retired to a morning drive-time radio show on KMOX in St. Louis, where he spent the remainder of his career. Fleming, a veteran actor as well as media personality, died in 1995.
[edit] Present syndicated version, 1984–
In 1983, Griffin scored the syndication surprise of the year, and possibly the entire history of that aspect of the television business, with his night-time version of Wheel. Shown mainly in the prime-time access local station periods between 7 and 8 p.m. Eastern (6:30-7 p.m. Central), its success influenced him to once again consider trotting out the beloved trivia game. As with Wheel, he sold Jeopardy! to distributor Mike King's King World operation. With Fleming no longer available, Alex Trebek, a Canadian-born host best known for two stints on the 1970s NBC game High Rollers, won the audition to host, and journeyman announcer Johnny Gilbert assumed announcing duties (although Jay Stewart did the voiceover on one of the pilots). A set sporting glaring red neon lights and state-of-the-art video monitors greeted viewers on the show's debut, which took place on September 10, 1984. The first champion was Greg Hopkins, a utility employee from Waverly, Ohio; he won $8,400 on that episode.
Despite the skepticism (probably from the 1979 failure) from station managers, many of whom scheduled the show in unpopular morning or even late-night slots (namely WNBC in New York and KCBS in Los Angeles, the latter of which would wind up cancelling it after several months), the show struck a partly nostalgic, partly fashionable chord with the American public. Before long, it developed an intense, devoted following, far larger than was ever possible with the two earlier daytime network runs. It took advantage of two pop-culture trends in the mid-1980s: a fascination with the culture of the early and mid-1960s, and the popularity of games such as Trivial Pursuit and barroom parlor trivia games (later electronic machines).
Trebek produced the show himself for the first three seasons before handing over to George Vosburgh, who had produced the 1978-79 NBC version. Vosburgh was succeeded by several others; as of the 2006-07 season, Harry Friedman serves as the show's executive producer, with a team of Lisa Finneran, Rocky Schmidt, and Gary Johnson handling line producing duties. Dick Schneider was the original director; those chores are handled now by Kevin McCarthy.
For most of its present run, Jeopardy! has ranked second to Wheel in the Nielsen ratings of syndicated programs. When the 2006-2007 season began (its 23rd), it surpassed Hee Haw as television's third-longest-running syndicated show, behind Wheel of Fortune, which took second place in 2005.
On September 24, 2001, the show introduced the "Jeopardy! Clue Crew", a "team of roving correspondents"[2] assigned to introduce video clues, often from distinctive locations. The original Clue Crew members were Cheryl Farrell, Jimmy McGuire, Sofia Lidskog, and Sarah Whitcomb. Lidskog departed the Clue Crew in 2004 to become an anchor on the high school news program Channel One News, and a public talent search was held to replace her in early 2005.[3] The winners of that search were Jon Cannon and Kelly Miyahara, whose clues began airing in September 2005.
In 2005, Jeopardy! won its 10th Daytime Emmy for best game show, surpassing Pyramid. It earned its 11th the following year.
The show was the subject of great interest and increased ratings (often beating Wheel) in the second half of 2004, as contestant Ken Jennings, taking advantage of newly relaxed appearance rules, remained a champion for 74 appearances, winning over US$2.5 million, and breaking almost every record in TV game show history.
On September 11, 2006, with the start of its 23rd season, Jeopardy! began broadcasting in the HDTV format. King World and Sony indicated that as of August 10, 2006, some 49 of the 210 stations that carry the show in syndication were prepared for the transition. Sony uses the 1080i HD format to record the show, but because Jeopardy! is syndicated, stations using the 720p format had to manually transcode the show from an HD satellite feed before broadcasting it. This issue was remedied with the introduction of the Pathfire satellite system for high definition syndicated content distribution.[4][5]
By January 2, 2007, one-third of subscribing stations renewed Jeopardy! through its 28th season (2011-2012).[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Fabe, Maxene (1979). TV Game Shows. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 271. ISBN 0-385-13052-X.
- ^ King World (2001-09-24). "JEOPARDY! NAMES CLUE CREW MEMBERS - TEAM OF ROVING CORRESPONDENTS DEBUTS SEPTEMBER 24". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
- ^ King World (2005-01-06). ""JEOPARDY!" RINGS IN THE NEW YEAR SEEKING NEW CLUE CREW MEMBER - "What's The Ultimate Dream Job For $500, Alex?"". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
- ^ MacIntyre, April (2006-09-14). Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy break new HD ground: Behind the scenes. Retrieved on 2007-09-17.
- ^ Hibberd, James (2007-04-19). Syndication Ready for HD Boost: Pathfire System Capable of HD Delivery. Retrieved on 2007-09-17.
- ^ King World (2007-01-02). "‘WHEEL OF FORTUNE’ AND ‘JEOPARDY!’ RENEWED THROUGH 2011-2012: Syndication’s #1 show and #2 game show cleared by ABC, CBS, Post-Newsweek, Hearst-Argyle and Sinclair stations". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
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