Jeopardy

[adamjk]

How is it determined, when the 1st commercial break is taken on Jeopardy in the middle of the Jeopardy round? Is there a designated number of clues that need to be played before the first break or what?

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Jul 1 2004, 01:13 PM\'] How is it determined, when the 1st commercial break is taken on Jeopardy in the middle of the Jeopardy round? Is there a designated number of clues that need to be played before the first break or what? [/quote]
.....the break is taken whenever Matt Ottinger has the momentum......

[whewfan]

I've noticed the first commercial break is usually done when half the board's answers have been used.

[pianogeek]

And here's another thing, if I remember for only a few seasons, wasn't there a time when after the 1st commerical Alex would go straight back to game and then interview the contestants either when the 1st round is done or out of time?

[adamjk]

I think that happened in the early to mid 90's. I remember seeing some episodes from 1996 with that happening. I coulda sworn though I had seen some where he would interview the players before the first commercial.

[leszekp]

The switch from interviewing after the first break to interviewing at the end of the first round occurred in Season 9 (1992-1993). In my Season 8 shows, the interviews were after the first break, while during my TOC shows during Season 9, the interviews took place after the end of the first round. I don't remember when they switched back to after the first break, but I'm glad they did - IMHO, that's the best place for them.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Jul 1 2004, 02:17 PM\'] [quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Jul 1 2004, 01:13 PM\'] How is it determined, when the 1st commercial break is taken on Jeopardy in the middle of the Jeopardy round? Is there a designated number of clues that need to be played before the first break or what? [/quote]
.....the break is taken whenever Matt Ottinger has the momentum...... [/quote]
 They typically play fifteen clues before taking their break.  Often, that will be three cleared categories, but if the players have been jumping around a bit, the break is a lot more awkward.

Time is a factor, though, so if the game has been running slowly, or especially if the Daily Double appeared early, they'll usually take their break before fifteen clues have been exposed.  In our game, they stopped us in the middle of the third category, even though we had been playing quickly and the DD hadn't been revealed.  That gave me a hunch -- which turned out to be correct -- that my next pick was going to be the DD.  Now you know that my decision to go for it all wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing!

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'leszekp\' date=\'Jul 1 2004, 02:06 PM\'] I don't remember when they switched back to after the first break, but I'm glad they did - IMHO, that's the best place for them. [/quote]
 Jerry Seinfeld thought the same thing. :-)

[Robert Hutchinson]

I've noticed that they'll occasionally go to 16 or 17 if the round's been moving quickly, and if doing so will finish out a category. Also, they've been known to stop short of 15 if they believe one (or more) of the contestants is having serious trouble signaling.

[chris319]

Get a stopwatch and time the segment. I bet you'll find pretty consistent times. It's the nature of the game that it takes X amount of time to play 15 or so questions and that's when they go to commercial.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Jul 4 2004, 06:06 PM\'] Get a stopwatch and time the segment. I bet you'll find pretty consistent times. It's the nature of the game that it takes X amount of time to play 15 or so questions and that's when they go to commercial. [/quote]
 Finally, the voice of reason. Thank you.

[Craig Karlberg]

In terms of playing time, it usually takes about 5 or 6 minutes depending on how fast Alex reads some rather long clues or how one category has only a word or two in it.

[JenKennings]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jul 4 2004, 09:17 PM\'] [quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Jul 4 2004, 06:06 PM\'] Get a stopwatch and time the segment. I bet you'll find pretty consistent times. It's the nature of the game that it takes X amount of time to play 15 or so questions and that's when they go to commercial. [/quote]
Finally, the voice of reason. Thank you. [/quote]
 I was told explicitly by a contestant coordinator that they go to break early when a contestant or two needs some crash buzzer training.  A lopsided score will often mean the first commercial comes after 10-12 clues.

[sshuffield70]

I thought the one that aired a few days ago went a full 15 (yeah, the one where the ladies had no score.)

[Card Shark]

[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Jul 1 2004, 02:13 PM\'] How is it determined, when the 1st commercial break is taken on Jeopardy in the middle of the Jeopardy round? Is there a designated number of clues that need to be played before the first break or what? [/quote]
 On a semi-related note, when did the season end for J!? Or, are they continuing through the rest of the summer because of this unstoppable Jennings fella?