What is the greatest television game show of all time?

As I recently mentioned, I record Jeopardy! every night. When I have some down time I run through multiple episodes and keep track of how many questions/answers I get right. The plan is to keep track of my results for the entire calendar year (a spreadsheet is in the works) to gauge whether or not I show any sort of improvement. Two weeks ago I participated in the online Jeopardy! test and I actually think that I did pretty well. The test consisted of 50 questions (each of which you had 15 seconds to answer). The questions are obviously meant to test your base of knowledge so they come from a wide array of subjects. Think Shakespeare, composers, world capitals, European monarchs, rivers, current events, etc.

My main problems with the online test are that they 1.) don't give you your results and 2.) don't tell you how many questions that you need to get right in order to pass. What they do is contact a random sample of people that pass the test and invite them to Round 2 of the testing process. This too is troublesome because, in theory, you could ace the test and still not be picked because they only select a random sample of the people that passed. Even though the application process is flawed I have faith that one day I will recieve an email/phone call inviting me to Round 2, which consists of another 50 question test, a mock Jeopardy! round (buzzer and all), and a personality interview.

Well now that you know that I am going to continue to hone my Jeopardy! skills, here are 10 tidbits about the show:

1. The original name of the show was What’s the Question? After pitching it to the network brass, Merv Griffin decided to change the name to the catchier one we know today. The reason? One of the execs thought that the game was a great idea, but that the game needed more jeopardies. NBC ended up buying the show without even seeing a pilot.

2. One of the most popular Final Jeopardy wagers (everything but a dollar) was first done successfuly by Air Force Lt. Col. Daryl Scott. As popular as the move is on Jeopardy!, the $1 wager is much more of a The Price is Right thing, right? By the way, the question/answer wasn't even that difficult.



3. The infamous Final Jeopardy music has a name – it’s called “Time for Tony” and it was written by Merv Griffin as a lullaby for his son. If you’re familiar with the song, no doubt it’s not much of a lullaby to you – it serves more as a reminder that time is running out and you’d better hurry. It was tweaked a little bit and renamed “Think!” Over the years, Griffin estimated that royalties from the theme song earned him roughly $70 million.

4. The record for the largest one-day total ever belongs to Ken Jennings, of course.



He’s the only contestant to surpass $52,000 in one day, and he surpassed it by a landslide with $75,000. Jennings actually holds 11 of the top 15 earnings spots. One of these top 15 spots was actually earned during Jeopardy! Kids Week by a 12-year-old from Virginia named Kunle Demuren, whose knowledge and quick buzzer finger earned him $49,000.

5. Back in the pre-Trebek era when Art Fleming was the host, contestants could start the audition process by just giving the office in New York a call. They would pass preliminary tests over the phone and then set up a date and time to audition in person if the were eligible. Once they made it to the actual office, potential contestants went through a written test and a faux game. These days, the audition process often starts on the internet during designated testing times. Sometimes a “Brain Bus” also roams the country and tests Ken Jennings-wannabes.

6. In the show’s entire history, a three-way tie has only happened once. It happened fairly recently too – on March 16, 2007, every single contestant ended Final Jeopardy with $16,000. Alex Trebek seems quite pleased.



7. “I Lost on Jeopardy” was released by Weird Al Yankovic in 1984. Original host Art Fleming has a cameo as himself and original announcer Don Pardo shows up to tell Yankovic all of the fabulous prizes he failed to win. The funny thing is, Weird Al was actually on Rock & Roll Jeopardy and lost to Gary Dell’Abate, better known as Howard Stern’s sidekick Baba Booey.

8. If Alex Trebek seems a little condescending when he corrects players with wrong answers, as if he would know the answers himself, well… he just might. Trebek is pretty brainy, although Time magazine once asked him how he thinks he would perform if he were a contestant and he didn't seem too confident.

"If I were in a contest against my peers--senior citizens--I would probably do fairly well. In a regular game, a good 30-year-old would clean my clock. As you age, your reflexes tend to slow down. So against the younger contestants, Bye-bye, Alex. You're gone. Take home the consolation prizes."

Read more of that interview at Time.

9.) Alex Trebek famously shaved his mustache way back in the fall of 2001 (I know, it seems like it was just yesterday).



10.) Here is a review of former Jeopardy! Champion Bob Harris' memoir titled, "Prisoner of Trebekistan".



Although my birthday is coming up (It literally just dawned on me that it's a little more than a month away), I've already read this telling, insightful work.



Thanks to the K Man in Valhalla, NY for this link, which gave me most of the information for this post.