Happy 40th Anniversary Jeopardy!

[GSWitch]

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.

[zachhoran]

We all know Alex won't make a reference to it tonight, right Witch?

[GSWitch]

[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.

[passwordplus]

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.

[BrandonFG]

[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.

[Dbacksfan12]

[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"?

[GSWitch]

[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.

[Craig Karlberg]

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.

[Jimmy Owen]

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.

[rugrats1]

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.

[zachhoran]

[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.

[Ian Wallis]

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.

[carlopanno]

[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

[Matt Ottinger]

[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.

[calliaume]

[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 after winning $10.

- Wasn't Mel Gibson's father also a T of C winner?