The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: GSWitch on March 30, 2004, 07:42:06 AM
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40 years ago today, NBC debuted a new game show that would become a legend, Jeopardy! Art Fleming was the host while Don Pardo announced.
The show started @ 10:30 am following Concentration. 18 months later, it would be on @ 11:00 (the deadly NOON slot to EST viewers).
Things were different compared to the current version.
1). There was a curtain that revealed the categories (the music cue can also be found on the Saturday Night Live sketch; Jeopardy 1999 hosted by Steve Martin).
2). Contestants could ring in anytime & not have to wait for the end of a question.
3). Contestants kept their winnings, even if it was only $10. As Art would say in those situations, "So sorry, but you do have cab fare home."
4). Cue cards were used to reveal the answers.
5). The DAILY DOUBLE was striped & The FAMOUS SHIP'S BELL was heard (also heard on The Match Game, Snap Judgment & Shoot for The Stars; Where can I find a wav of the ship's bell?)
6). Tournament of Champions were played for a grand prize of $10,000! Game show personality Jay Wolpert won a T of Cs!
Happy 40th anniversary to a legendary game show. Thanks Merv.
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We all know Alex won't make a reference to it tonight, right Witch?
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 30 2004, 08:14 AM\'] We all know Alex won't make a reference to it tonight, right Witch? [/quote]
Maybe.
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He has before.
So, I guess you can count year that it wasn't on the air also. Seems GSN did the same for Feud when it turned "25" in 2001, even though it was off a couple times before.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 30 2004, 09:14 AM\'] We all know Alex won't make a reference to it tonight, right Witch? [/quote]
And if he doesn't, then SFW. I actually enjoyed GSW's notes.
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[quote name=\'GSWitch\' date=\'Mar 30 2004, 07:42 AM\'] 5). The DAILY DOUBLE was striped & The FAMOUS SHIP'S BELL was heard (also heard on The Match Game, Snap Judgment & Shoot for The Stars; Where can I find a wav of the ship's bell?)
[/quote]
Would this be the same ship bell that was used on "Name That Tune"?
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[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Mar 30 2004, 04:09 PM\'] [quote name=\'GSWitch\' date=\'Mar 30 2004, 07:42 AM\'] 5). The DAILY DOUBLE was striped & The FAMOUS SHIP'S BELL was heard (also heard on The Match Game, Snap Judgment & Shoot for The Stars; Where can I find a wav of the ship's bell?)
[/quote]
Would this be the same ship bell that was used on "Name That Tune"? [/quote]
No, sort of a tinnier bell that was in the key of G.
If you have an episode of any of those NBC games (except Snap Judgment), you'll know what I'm thriving for.
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In the first couple of seasons of Alex's show, contestants can ring in anytime before he could finish the clue, but that prooved to be disadvantagious for the "slower" players who were trying to figure out the clue. So, they scrapped that rule & went with the host reading the entire answer BEFORE contestants can ring in rule. That rule change may have also helped viewers who were watching at home too.
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I seem to recall on the Fleming version, that the contestants could ring in as the answer was revealed, but Art would still read the entire answer. Hitting the buzzer would not interrupt Art in mid-sentence.
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In the first couple of seasons of Alex's show, contestants can ring in anytime before he could finish the clue, but that prooved to be disadvantagious... So, they scrapped that rule & went with the host reading the entire answer BEFORE contestants can ring in rule. That rule change may have also helped viewers who were watching at home too.
During the early days of Alex's Jeopardy, were there also any buzzers or bells sounding when a contestant buzzed in? I recall reading in "The Jeopardy Book" that they had buzzers that sound when a contestant buzzed in, but were later discarded in favor of silent buzzers.
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[quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 07:54 AM\']
During the early days of Alex's Jeopardy, were there also any buzzers or bells sounding when a contestant buzzed in? I recall reading in "The Jeopardy Book" that they had buzzers that sound when a contestant buzzed in, but were later discarded in favor of silent buzzers. [/quote]
THere was a very faint buzzer heard in part of the first season IIRC, but one had to listen closely to hear it.
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In the first couple of seasons of Alex's show, contestants can ring in anytime before he could finish the clue, but that prooved to be disadvantagious for the "slower" players who were trying to figure out the clue. So, they scrapped that rule & went with the host reading the entire answer BEFORE contestants can ring in rule. That rule change may have also helped viewers who were watching at home too.
I believe it was on the second-season premiere where they made this change. Alex mentioned that there was a light surrounding the game board that would light up when it was OK for the contestants to ring in. During the first couple of weeks of the second season, they also had the champion stand in the third position, rather than the first, but that was quickly changed so the champion would be in the first position again.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 08:03 AM\'] [quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 07:54 AM\']
During the early days of Alex's Jeopardy, were there also any buzzers or bells sounding when a contestant buzzed in? I recall reading in "The Jeopardy Book" that they had buzzers that sound when a contestant buzzed in, but were later discarded in favor of silent buzzers. [/quote]
THere was a very faint buzzer heard in part of the first season IIRC, but one had to listen closely to hear it. [/quote]
It was a quiet "bong" sound in Season One, if I remember correctly. A distant cousin of that "toot toot toot" time's-up signal.
The you-can't-ring-in-until-Alex-is-finished-reading-the-clue rule was instituted by Alex in Season Two to make it easier for the director, who could then stay on the clue until Alex finished reading it without having to cut to whichever contestant had rung in.
--C
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[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 06:16 AM\'] In the first couple of seasons of Alex's show, contestants can ring in anytime before he could finish the clue, but that prooved to be disadvantagious for the "slower" players who were trying to figure out the clue. [/quote]
Carlo was certainly in a better position than any of us to know the real reason why they changed the rule. Still, I thought that even in that first season, Alex would finish reading the clue anyway, so how did the change help the director?
I seem to recall reading in Harry Eisenberg's book that a reason for the change was because it reduced the number of wrong responses and the number of delays waiting for responses that never came. Good players often would ring in right away, assuming they'd be able to come up with the correct response even before they'd seen the clue. Great players like Chuck Forrest were able to make that gamble pay off. Still, on those times when the gamble didn't pay off we'd be left with awkward "I don't know" moments, moments that were dramatically reduced when the players got to hear the entire clue before deciding whether to signal.
At no point did I EVER hear that they made the change to help "slower" players, which strikes me as being against anything Jeopardy would ever try to do.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 11:27 AM\'] I seem to recall reading in Harry Eisenberg's book that a reason for the change was because it reduced the number of wrong responses and the number of delays waiting for responses that never came. Good players often would ring in right away, assuming they'd be able to come up with the correct response even before they'd seen the clue. Great players like Chuck Forrest were able to make that gamble pay off. Still, on those times when the gamble didn't pay off we'd be left with awkward "I don't know" moments, moments that were dramatically reduced when the players got to hear the entire clue before deciding whether to signal.
[/quote]
This makes sense. I distinctly recall in the one syndie year of the Fleming edition, players were ringing in the second the clue was revealed.
Other notes:
- Good thing Art isn't around today -- contestants would be very unlikely to be able to afford taxi fare home from 30 Rock (http://\"http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/30/nyregion/30WIRE-TAXI.html\") after winning $10.
- Wasn't Mel Gibson's father also a T of C winner?
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 09:27 AM\'] At no point did I EVER hear that they made the change to help "slower" players, which strikes me as being against anything Jeopardy would ever try to do. [/quote]
More to the point, not engaging the contestant lockout devices until after the question is read gives no advantage whatsoever to older players, who typically have slower reflexes in pressing the button regardless of whether they can come up with the right answer before the other two players.
I still like Sale of the Century's and Split Second's quiz formats better - no visual representation of the question, and jumping in early interrupts the question. There's more jeopardy than Jeopardy! in jumping in early, practically preventing signaling before the question is read, and leading to a better payoff even in the "I don't know" situations.
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[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 03:23 PM\'] I still like Sale of the Century's and Split Second's quiz formats better - no visual representation of the question, and jumping in early interrupts the question. [/quote]
From a competitive standpoint, I completely agree. Having played both (yeah, we'll get to that eventually...) I can tell you that it's much more interesting as a competitor to be able to interrupt as soon as you think you know. That's the way most quiz bowl competitions work as well.
However, the subtle genius that is Jeopardy is that the extra time that it takes to see and hear the clue being read gives those nice people at home more time to figure out the correct responses before someone answers. When someone good is playing $otC, the folks at home don't get nearly as much of a chance to play along.
Split Second, in its original format, was a perfect melding of the two styles, because the FIRST person could interrupt and score his points, but Tom Kennedy would then finish the question before the other two players responded.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 03:26 PM\']Split Second, in its original format, was a perfect melding of the two styles, because the FIRST person could interrupt and score his points, but Tom Kennedy would then finish the question before the other two players responded.[/quote]
And that got changed in the 80s revival, IMO, only because Monty wanted more camera time. Or so it seems to me.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 31 2004, 11:27 AM\'] I seem to recall reading in Harry Eisenberg's book that a reason for the change was because it reduced the number of wrong responses and the number of delays waiting for responses that never came. Good players often would ring in right away, assuming they'd be able to come up with the correct response even before they'd seen the clue. Great players like Chuck Forrest were able to make that gamble pay off. Still, on those times when the gamble didn't pay off we'd be left with awkward "I don't know" moments, moments that were dramatically reduced when the players got to hear the entire clue before deciding whether to signal.
At no point did I EVER hear that they made the change to help "slower" players, which strikes me as being against anything Jeopardy would ever try to do. [/quote]
Yes, that's right, it was also to minimize those premature ring-ins and embarrassed silences. As a bonus, it also minimized the subsequent score penalty for those contestants. Sorry, I had forgotten, but FWIW it has been almost 20 years (19, to be precise, later this month) since I was in that meeting where Alex told us about his new rule.
--C
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Yes, that's right, it was also to minimize those premature ring-ins and embarrassed silences.
It also worked to stop incredibly fast players from dominating the game...Eisenberg cited Michael Day, who managed to win 5 games thanks to his habit of buzzing in the instant a clue was revealed (it was also for this reason they changed buzzer system so that it required a coupla tenths of a seconds to reset itself.
Incidentally, when Day returned for the 1986 ToC, Eisenberg noted that he seemed surprised to first discover the buzzer worked differently than it used to.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")