What is “Jeopardy!”?
If you’re unfamiliar with Jeopardy! you might think that I’m asking a a straightforward enough question and that you’re expected to answer. First of all, no, I’m not asking a question, and second of all, I never want to hear your input. Ever.
Jeopardy! is a game show where three contests are given an answer and are forced to come up with what the question must be. For example, if the answer was “This is the greatest game show in the history of the world”, I would say “What is Jeopardy!”? Get it?
All three contestants go head-to-head over two sets of six categories, with answers being worth anywhere between $200 and $2000.
Last month, Netflix took the daring step of uploading 45 episodes of Jeopardy! The move is risky because unlike fictional show and documentaries, quiz shows don’t necessarily have the same replay value. After all, once you know the answers, you don’t really want to learn them all again.
But Jeopardy! is so much more than a quiz show. Indeed, it’s the greatest quiz show.
First of all: direct, face-to-face competition with other, normal human beings. For some reason, at some point in history, British broadcasters decided that the way to go was to have normal people face off against brain-geniuses on shows like The Chase and Eggheads.
The Chase creates enough intrigue via its intense Final Chase and exposing blood traitors who take The Lower Offer, but you can definitely see Anne and Mark dilly-dally over questions and throw the odd game or two.
Having “Chasers” and “Eggheads” who are paid to be there by the network doesn’t match the cut-throat, bloodthirsty buzzer-bashing tension that comes with three competitors who need money. People whose rent and medical bills and college funds are on the line. That’s the real thing.
The show, which has been running since 1984, also balances audience involvement with difficult questions. Most people watching at home can participate to some degree, even if they miss out on the toughest questions.
Jeopardy! is challenging, but the questions vary widely in difficulty. Each category has five questions with a money value that correlates to the questions difficulty.
It’s not like a University Challenge situation where your whole family will look at you in mystified wonder if you get a single question right, but there will still be plenty of opportunities to impress whoever you’re watching with.
Excitement is further ratcheted up by The Daily Double. The Daily Double is like a ‘Chance’ card hidden beneath three answers per episode. Whether or not you end up selecting those answers comes down to luck. What’s much more strategic is the wager. Contestants who find a Daily Double can wager their entire winnings so far (called a True Daily Double) — essentially a double or nothing stake.
The element of wagering winnings means that the game can change on one question, and the Final Jeopardy category forces contestants to wager an amount of their winnings before they’ve even seen the question.
Most importantly, Jeopardy provides storylines. Narratives. Arcs. Unlike most one-and-done gameshows where you never have any time to get used to the contestants, Jeopardy! winners stay on the show for as long as they keep winning, meaning that the fans develop an emotional connection with them.
Ken Jennings rose to fame when he went on a 70-episode winning streak, the longest in the show’s history. His dethroning by Nancy Zerg literally led to full-on gasps and literal screams from the crowd, who quickly sprung to their feet to give both competitors a standing ovation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG2BWbpJRpc
Clip via UltraMaXAtAXX
Regional adaptations of the show have been produced in 33 countries — but never Ireland. The UK has tried to recreate the magic on three separate occasions. Channel 4, ITV and Sky each had a go. It never managed to stay on air for anymore than three years.
Clearly, a certain X-factor was missing. Or should I say AleX-factor? I say that because since its very inception, Alex Trebek has hosted the original iteration of the show. Now 80 years old, it seems only right that Trebek should intervene and help get the show off the ground in this part of the world.
The way I see it, we have three options. The first is that we kidnap Alex Trebek and force into starting and hosting an identical Jeopardy! on Irish airwaves. This is implausible, and hard to plan, and possibly against the law. Second, we could start our own Jeopardy! but remember when we tried to remake The Weakest Link and let Eamon Dunphy host it? I’m not leaving something this important in RTÉ’s hands.
Third, we could beg Netflix to upload all 10,000 episodes of the show to their service as soon as possible. Assuming each episodes lasts an average of 21 minutes, that could keep us going for 145 days and 20 hours. At that rate, we’d barely even need jobs or lovers any more. Just a healthy supply of food and decades worth of trivia.
This would immediately counter-act the worry that a game show like Jeopardy! wouldn’t have much replay value on a medium like Netflix. Assuming that you watched two hours a day, it would take almost five years to watch it all. And in that time, they’d still be making more Jeopardy! We’d never run out!
Hey Alex T, I’ll take Great Ideas for €2,000 please.
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