The long - lead plot show is adored by millions . But there was a time — and another time , and one more time — when questions swirled around its survival .
When he welcomed a reporter into his Southern California home , the 44 - year - old Alex Trebek was on a roll . Trebek was an industry veteran . For years , he ’d work out as a newscaster and sports announcer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation while examine to kick - start his life history as a television receiver personality . So far , nothing had deposit . But at the beginning of the 1984 TV season , he landed something promise — a job as the boniface ofJeopardy !
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regrettably , the programme had a checkered account . rating had soared in the sixties and early seventies , but the show had also been cancel — twice . Now the high - paying trivia competition was being update for a new coevals . And as Trebek had quickly learned , Jeopardy ! ’s liberal vault was convincing post manager that a smart plot show merit premium melodic phrase time . It was a hard line to make . Programmers knew that install secret plan record likeThe Price Is RightandFamily Feudcould reliably draw a mass audience . But a show this cerebral was a gamble . In several major markets , admit New York , Jeopardy!was relegated to a 2 a.m. time time slot , a evaluation waste . Trebek and the producers were pressured to dumb down the course of study and make the clue easier so viewers would n’t feel left out . Still , he remained optimistic .
As he and the reporter claver , Trebek suavely flipped on his TV . At the time , Los Angeles was an outlier , airing the show at the comme il faut hour of 3 p.m. But rather of seeing himself trot out to recognize the audience , Trebek saw Jack Klugman . The local affiliate had replacedJeopardy!with reruns ofQuincy , M.E.“The fact that Quincy was a coroner seemed appropriate , ” Trebek would later write . His optimism instantly vanish .
What a deviation three decades make . Trebek no longer worries about job security measure . But before looker grew accustomed to shouting answers at the screen , its master of ceremonies and crew had to dissolve one nagging question : WasJeopardy!too smart for its own goodness ?
CreatingJeopardy!
In the other days of TV , biz shows were a web ’s secret weapons . The programs were cheap to produce , with no extremely pay role player , and they draw rabid fan base — daily citizenry who could identify with the Adam that came from bring home the bacon a new oven . According to Olaf Hoerschelmann , Ph.D. , director of the school of mass communicating at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock , “ One successful quiz show could get a 50 percentage evaluation share or more — one-half of all households watching . ”
At the height of the music genre ’s popularity in the 1950s , Twenty - OneandThe $ 64,000 Questionbecame interior obsessions . metropolis streets , Hoerschelmann say , were muted when they aired . But with ratings and revenue at stakes , producers became hungry for melodrama , so they manufactured suspense by feed answers to contestant . It was all play and plot until 1956 , when one contestant blew the whistle , and Congress abuse in to investigate .
Having broken the audience ’s trust — and inviting a Union law that prohibited the fixing of game shows — the literary genre all but disappeared . This did n’t sit well with Merv Griffin , a television host , producer , and game show developer for NBC . On a flight to New York in 1963 , Griffin was discussing his worry with his married woman , Julann : How could he convince a meshing to take another fortune on trivia ?
“ Why not just give them the answers to start with ? ” Julann mused .
She was joking , but Griffin ’s eyes lit up . Back in his federal agency , he sketch a template : 10 subject class , each containing 10 reply of varying difficulty , with a dollar value assigned to each . Griffin invite friends over to his Central Park West apartment for rill - throughs . Although he was n’t the first to use the turn back solution format—1941’sCBS Television Quizhad a similar assumption — Griffin was certain he could create something extra . He hollo his showWhat ’s the Question?and presented it to NBC executive director .
The internet was connive , but skittish . To convert the execs , Griffin reminded them that , unlike in 10 retiring , there was little money at wager . Instead of ten-spot of thousands of dollars in trophy money , some clew were deserving just $ 10 . Before long , he start the green visible light .
As Griffin refined the format , the web wanted to ensure that the show was compelling enough . What the plot needed , one administrator advise , was “ more jeopardies . ” “ I did n’t hear another Holy Scripture he order , ” Griffin afterwards write . “ All I could think of was the name : GoodbyeWhat ’s the Question ? , helloJeopardy ! ” After months of tinkering , he pose his show for final approval .
The game was streamline into six categories . The rhythm moved from Jeopardy , to two-fold Jeopardy , with harder questions worth more cash . In NBC ’s boardroom , Griffin pasted envelope onto poster board and filled them with index cards revealing the answers . He emcee the run - through himself .
“ It ’s too hard ! ” Mort Werner , the head of NBC , cried , confound up his weapon in defeat . He had n’t gotten one dubiousness right . Werner ’s supporter run over to him and state , “ purchase it . ”
Soon enough , Griffin had ironed out the details . Art Fleming , a biz show novice , was take to legion , and for background medicine , Griffin composed a rather suspenseful line . But the veridical proof of construct was the ratings , andJeopardy!found itself in an ill-fated spot , pitted againstThe Dick Van Dyke Show . Jeopardy!made its first appearance at 11:30 a.m. EST on March 20 , 1964 , and it was an almost instant smasher . Within calendar week , it had grabbed 40 percent of the looker in its clock time time slot . People were playing along on college campuses and during luncheon breaks . Despite its success , NBC mat less demanding clues would reap greater rewards : They wanted 13 - yr - old to be able-bodied to keep up . Griffin refused . He want the syllabus to stay smart . This was a contention between adult , and he saw little sense in dilute a game mean to highlight intellect .
“ Griffin ’s champion in designing biz was , if you ’re deepen channel and hit one , you do n’t need anything explained to you , ” says Bob Harris , a multi - clip dissident and strategy expert who penned a memoir about his experiences , Prisoner of Trebekistan . “ The shows that have failed spend half their fourth dimension explaining what ’s happening . ” Griffin ’s inherent aptitude were spot - on . Between 1964 and 1975,Jeopardy!taped more than 2,500 episode . The show regularly beat rerun and soap operas .
Then , in 1975 , the web suddenly draw in the plug . Despite solid rating , NBC want to invoke to a younger , female demographic . The show was reinstate in 1978 , then canceled again less than six months into its run . Daytime soaps had come to rule good afternoon clock time slots . bad , internet inquiry show that viewers were n’t concerned in another incarnation ofJeopardy!The show was at risk of becoming a footer in Griffin ’s life history .
Jeopardy!in Jeopardy
In 1983 , Griffin met with executive at King World Productions about doing a syndicate translation ofJeopardy!Though the show had taper off , Griffin ’s career had not . bike of Fortune — a game that had grown out of his childhood Passion of Christ for Hangman — had become a goliath strike by the twilight of 1983 . Griffin had other success too , includingClickandRuckus . But for all his hits , Griffin could n’t allow go ofJeopardy!He still think his quiz show had legs . Luckily , King World White House check , and they had reason for their optimism : The board game Trivial Pursuit , which had debuted in 1981 , had grow into a phenomenon , show consumers had a respectable appetite for triviality . Additionally , they knew if they pairedJeopardy!withWheel , it would be easy to sell web on the programing cube .
As Griffin visualize updating his show for the 1980s , a decennium nictate wildly with VCRs , video recording games , and MTV , Griffin daydream up a glossier , flash show — one with a hightech plot add-in made up of video monitors instead of newspaper publisher calling card . Decades remove from the quiz scandals , he also want higher monetary stakes , with single clues deserving up to $ 2000 . The original theme song would be rerecorded with synthesizer .
Sir Alexander Fleming was the revamp ’s earliest casualty . King World indicate that Griffin hire the younger , more refined Trebek to helm the faster - incite game show . “ He ’s like a buffer for the show , ” Harris says . “ He sleep together how to keep the timbre decent and when to lighten it up . ”
Trebek ’s charms notwithstanding , King World executives parroted the same fear as their predecessors , advise Griffin to dumb down the question . Again , Griffin refused . But this fourth dimension , he had an friend in Trebek .
“ We were getting feedback saying , ‘ It ’s too sturdy , ’ ” Trebek recall later in an audience . “ I told them , ‘ Well , I ’ll ease up on the fabric . ’ And I did n’t ease up . ”
Rather than gentle the mob , Griffin and Trebek raised the intensity of the secret plan . moon-curser - up would no longer be allowed to keep their winnings . The original show essay that players sometimes wanted just enough to make a specific purchase and would block bombinate in once they met their goal . ( One objector involve money for an engagement band and stood silent as soon as he gain enough . ) Now , players would be influence to wager on Final Jeopardy , ensuring the entire game would remain suspenseful .
WhenJeopardy!reappeared in the fall of 1984 , the makeover was n’t noticed by many . The show , perceived as a warmed - over keepsake of the 1970s , was stuck in deadend time slot . Then , presently after its debut , New York ’s ABC station try it out in the former evening . Ratings immediately improved . Other affiliate noticed and followed suit . WhileJeopardy!was still a poor convulsion for daytime , its pace try out utterly suitable for evening airings .
Trebek suggest spectator could be drawn in better if they experience more like participants . In its earlier iteration , contestants could ring in before the host finished giving the answer , which made for a frenzied plot . By 1985 , the show prevented players from hitting the bell until Trebek complete reading so the home audience could shout out answers too . As they tweaked the formula , King World and Griffin realized they ’d struck gold . The degraded tread , the consortium ’s patience , and Trebek ’s seamster - made master of ceremonies skills all turnedJeopardy!into a lasting and profitable fixture on the dial .
Five yr later , Jeopardy!was being watched by more than 15 million people daily , and 250,000 applicants lend oneself each season for one of the show ’s 500 available slot . As the show went on , its ritual — the permeative theme music , phrasing answers in the material body of a dubiousness — became cultural measure .
A last significant tweak was the remotion of the five - game limit for give champions . With that roof removed , Ken Jennings splendidly exit on an unprecedented 74 - show winning run in 2004 , earn headline across the commonwealth and further embedding the show in the cultural consciousness . Jennings ’s celebrity , Hoerschelmann enunciate , meant that the quiz show genre had add up full circle . “ It was no accident the show get more popular once it lift the terminal point , ” he says .
The current 2013–14 season isJeopardy ! ’s 30th in syndication . Pulling in an average of 25 million viewers a workweek , it shows no signs of slowing — though Trebek has hint he ’ll abuse down in 2016 . While producer will present a challenge happen a successor , it would seem a sure bet thatJeopardy!will continue to lionize a make of cognitive aptitude rarely incur on television . In the smartphone earned run average , when information is instantly accessible , it ’s more impressive than ever to keep an eye on someone conjure answer without Wi - Fi .
“ Jeopardy!is a very Hellenic hero ’s journeying , ” Harris , the former player , say of the show ’s enduring appeal . “ The contestant is achieving end with escalate wager and obstacle . There ’s even a three - act social system . The only difference between this and what Joseph Campbell laid out is there are three heroes . ” Four , if you count the viewer at home , a pen standing in for a doorbell , take in they live a lot more than they thought they did .
