Jeopardy Observation this season

[Ian Wallis]

After a couple of years of not watching regularly, I've gotten into watching Jeopardy almost every evening again.

One thing I've noticed this season, which is something that didn't seem to be the case the last time I watched regularly, is that very rarely do they finish the whole board anymore.  It seems in most games, there are at least a few scattered clues unused.  In a show from earlier this week, a whole category remained untouched.  Can't say I recall something like that since the early days.

I guess we probalby have increased commercial time to thank for this.

[clemon79]

I guess we probalby have increased commercial time to thank for this.

So that's common now? I watched Tuesday and Wednesday night for the first time in a while, and I thought that the players on Wednesday were just playing very slowly. Have the rounds indeed gotten shorter?

[narzo]

I guess we probalby have increased commercial time to thank for this.

A few years ago, out of curiosity, I timed out an episode and it came in at 19 minutes.  That's open to close, every thing that would have been recorded that day at Sony studios.  I sincerely hope they haven't cut it even further.

[Unrealtor]

I'm a fairly regular watcher, and it felt like they were leaving a lot of material behind at the start of the season, then that abated, and this week it was definitely back, but it felt like the game itself was moving pretty slowly--not a lot of correct responses, which slows things down a lot. I could see that being down to tougher writing, Alex's pacing slowing a bit, or lost time, but I don't know which.

[gameshowcrazy]

I've noticed the same, but I also have noticed many incorrect answers or unanswered clues.  These take up much more time than when someone rings in with a correct answer immediately.

So far this season, players are averaging $10551 going into FJ.  Last year it was $11726, the year before, $12063.
Just for comparison, my average (straight score, no betting on DD's):  $18041, $18249, $19,769.

Yes, fewer clues means lower scores, but tougher questions equal more wrong answers, which equals lower scores.

[Twentington]

Some contestants lately also seem to be ungodly slow, especially when it comes to picking the next clues. ("Uuuuum.. I'll take.... It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time... fooooooor... $800.") Alex has also gotten rather gabby at times.

[SuperMatch93]

Adding to it as well are the "Alex at the ________" categories, which not only take twice as long as the other categories but include an extra clip after the commercial outro, which cuts into gameplay time.

[Twentington]

Still better than those celeb games a few years ago where they only got to do about half the board, thanks to stupid stuff such as bringing out singers to perform a good portion of a song before a Daily Double.

No, really. Just LOOK how many clues they left on the board there.