Jeopardy Kids Week

[TLEberle]

Once again (is this twice in two months) we get a Kids Week on Jeopardy.  I was thinking about this, and I don't think they get the full benefits that other contestants do.  Teens and students can win a pile of money and a car in their tournament, then play for $250,000 more.  Regular players can win until they lose or decompose into carbon.  Even celebrities play for $20,000 or $50,000.  But kids play once and they're gone.  If memory serves, Scrabble did Teen and Kids Weeks, where the winner continued to play until s/he lost, making it just like regular play.

Can anyone think of a reason the Suits at Sony decided to not do a tournament thing for the Kids Week, or at least let them play in more than one game?  Yeah, I know I'm overthinking it, but that's merely par for the course in my case...

[Steve McClellan]

Nitpick: Teens don't get to play for $250,000 more.

As for the kids, perhaps said suits think that one week of jarringly-easy material is enough for the home audience, and they felt that a three-top-winners-come-back-on-Friday format was too gimmicky. Pure speculation, though.

[johnnyd1788]

Plus, last time I watched an episode, the questions were incredibaly easy for a kid. Poor kids study the dictionary and encyclopedias to find the questions are about pop culture and other questions they didn't need to studdy for...

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Oct 18 2004, 07:19 PM\']Once again (is this twice in two months) we get a Kids Week on Jeopardy. 

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Nope--the week was scheduled for Labor Day week, but got delayed at the last minute in deference to JenningsMania.  On the opener, Trebek, said something about "...we return to regular play after seven weeks off for our tournaments..."  It didn't get changed.

[GSWitch]

Let's hope Jeopardy! won't make us wait until Christmas to see the 76th & final game for Ken Jennings.

[sshuffield70]

Somehow I'm thinking the timing may prolong the run to the end of November.....

And what's November, boys and girls?

SWEEPS MONTH!!!

Excellent!

[Steve Gavazzi]

And thank you, GSWitch, for saying that without any sort of a spoiler warning.

[Jay Temple]

J! kids do get shafted--just ask the kid a year or two ago who lost a sudden-death tiebreaker--but J! is hardly the first show to do that.  The two worst offenders that I recall were Pyramid (1979) and TJW (around the same time.)  On Pyramid, instead of $10/15/20K, the kids played for $1/2.5/5K.  A kid could conceivably win more by winning three games and never getting to the top than if he had gone to the top on his first try.  On TJW, it was more subtle.  (1) They played for points, so a 650 win paid the same as a 500 win.  (2) Instead of $500 cash, they played for a $500 savings bond, which (a) costs only $250 and (b) is not guaranteed to ever reach $500 in value.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Oct 19 2004, 10:01 PM\']which (a) costs only $250 and (b) is not guaranteed to ever reach $500 in value.

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That said, when's the last time you saw a savings bond that DIDN'T reach face value on or before the end of the maturity period?

[Kevin Prather]

What I wouldn't mind seeing is a week of kids shows that's more rigorous, so only the really bright keds will excel. Then on Friday, the winner will return the next Monday and participate in the regular Jeopardy. It would certainly be interesting to see a kid dethrone a Jeopardy champion. I know that's highly unlikely, but that's why I mention making it tougher.

[reason1024]

I don't know... if you make the kids' questions harder, you might take away that magic feeling of "I could TOTALLY win everything!" from a good portion the kids that are watching, and perhaps start intimidating the adults.  Maybe a tougher quiz would be more entertaining to the overall audience though.  If I was a question writer, I'd definitely cut down on the pop culture though.

Speaking of "cheapness", am I remembering Card Sharks right?  I think I always wanted to go on there most when I was a kid because you could play for just as much money as the adults, you just had your parent on hand to help you with the gambling :-p

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Oct 20 2004, 05:51 PM\']What I wouldn't mind seeing is a week of kids shows that's more rigorous, so only the really bright keds will excel. [/quote]

I always wanted to see tougher stunts and physical challenges so only the really good British Knights would win

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Oct 20 2004, 08:45 PM\']
Speaking of "cheapness", am I remembering Card Sharks right?  I think I always wanted to go on there most when I was a kid because you could play for just as much money as the adults, you just had your parent on hand to help you with the gambling :-p
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The bonus prize was an exotic trip rather than a car, but you could still win $32,000 in the Money Cards.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Oct 20 2004, 11:05 PM\']The bonus prize was an exotic trip rather than a car, but you could still win $32,000 in the Money Cards.

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Another time they had a sailboat.

[zachhoran]

Speaking of "cheapness", am I remembering Card Sharks right?  I think I always wanted to go on there most when I was a kid because you could play for just as much money as the adults, you just had your parent on hand to help you with the gambling :-p

The NBC run had the two young players compete in two matches apiece and then both players were retired. The CBS and Syndie run had two new young players competing in each match. But the same amount could be won in a trip to the Money Cards.

[zachhoran]

Another time they had a sailboat.

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The sailboat was part of a $10K prize package they offered in the Xmas 1987 young player's week. Other prizes included an electronic keyboard, trip to Hawaii, computer, bumper pool table, VCR, and bicycles.