4 player Jeopardy

[reason1024]

Someone mentioned in another thread that Ultimate Jeopardy! would decrease the number of new players to get to play this taping season or year.

If the producers felt bad about that for some reason, would making J! a 4-player game for regular season (ala Super Jeopardy!) be a viable option?  Basically, I'm curious how having an extra player affected the dynamics of the game -- because I don't remember back that far :-p

Thanks!

[starcade]

I wouldn't suggest it.

As you found out on Super, it fundamentally changed the game.  I mean, then why not five or six?

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Dec 29 2004, 08:14 PM\']Someone mentioned in another thread that Ultimate Jeopardy! would decrease the number of new players to get to play this taping season or year.

If the producers felt bad about that for some reason, would making J! a 4-player game for regular season (ala Super Jeopardy!) be a viable option?  Basically, I'm curious how having an extra player affected the dynamics of the game -- because I don't remember back that far :-p

Thanks!

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WHat they COULD do I guess is ditch the Summer reruns next Summer and do a 52 week season. THat would open up another 60 contestant spots and make J! the first syndie game show to do a 52 week season(the Challengers would have done a 52 week season in 1990-91, but when the show was known to not be renewed for a second season, the last few weeks of the run were reruns). Of course it would probably hurt the prize budget a tad more and force more work for the staff, and six days more of studio time.

[SplitSecond]

I somehow don't think that anybody at Jeopardy! is going to feel particularly bad about slighting the potential contestant pool - at least, not enough to change the format of the show or schedule extra shows to mollify these folks.  It's not like people are going to start boycotting the tryouts in protest or anything.

That said, I'm still fundamentally bothered by the fact that one particular player out of the whole lot is getting a minimum of $250,000 for playing a maximum of one three-show match.  But of course, game shows aren't meritocracies.  I just wonder if 12.5 weeks of Ken-free foreplay is going to interest America.

[JasonA1]

I just wonder if 12.5 weeks of Ken-free foreplay is going to interest America.

My prediction is ratings staying the same. I too was bothered with Ken being plugged in there, but if more people are interested in "Jeopardy" as a result, then I guess more power to them.

-Jason

[davemackey]

Relax... Jeopardy! isn't in danger of leaving television very soon, so there will still be plenty of opportunities for us all to become contestants.

[gameshowguy2000]

I would make the TOC a 4-player thing. Look at Super Jeopardy. Two of the things about it, is also a thing about the current TOC: $250K Grand Prize, and the round 1 values of 200-1000 (Which is already in effect, so we can scratch that).

So, to equal Super Jeopardy's feat, I'd make the quarterfinals a 4-player affair, semi-finals a 4-player affair, and the finals a 3-player affair.

Looked neat in that format.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Dec 30 2004, 12:36 AM\']Looked neat in that format.
[/quote]
And just how long did it last?

[gameshowguy2000]

It lasted until the final show (where Bruce Seymour won).

[Chelsea Thrasher]

[quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Dec 29 2004, 11:56 PM\']It lasted until the final show

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It lasted until the final show?  I did NOT know that.  I always assumed they'd just kept it going for a few weeks AFTER the final show, just for the hell of it.

[/sarcasm]

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Dec 29 2004, 10:47 PM\'][quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Dec 30 2004, 12:36 AM\']Looked neat in that format.
[/quote]
And just how long did it last?

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Exactly the 13 weeks it was supposed to.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 30 2004, 03:36 AM\']Exactly the 13 weeks it was supposed to.
[/quote]
Correct, but it wasn't ever done again, leading me to think that it did poorly in the ratings; otherwise; it [or another game] might have been a perpetual summer replacement on ABC.

[rugrats1]

Of course it would probably hurt the prize budget a tad more and force more work for the staff, and six days more of studio time.

You could have a separate staff working on the summer episodes, including someone else hosting the show, filling in for Alex. When "The Challengers" planned on being a 52-week, all-new game show, there were plans on another host filling in for Dick some weeks (those plans were never realised, of course).

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Dec 30 2004, 04:47 AM\']Correct, but it wasn't ever done again, leading me to think that it did poorly in the ratings; otherwise; it [or another game] might have been a perpetual summer replacement on ABC.

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"Monopoly" wasn't a perpetual summer replacement either, though the theme rocked :-D

Keep in mind also that these were summer replacements on Saturday evenings.  I don't remember *any* show, rerun or first-run, that was on that Saturday evenings in the Summer of 1990 that produced any eye worthy ratings of note.

And as far as that summer replacement block of game shows goes, which came first: SJ! or Monopoly???  That is, wasn't SJ! slapped together at the last minute to be a pairing for the already committed-to-air Monopoly?

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Dec 29 2004, 08:14 PM\']If the producers felt bad about that for some reason, would making J! a 4-player game for regular season (ala Super Jeopardy!) be a viable option? 

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Wouldn't that be a case of Mo' Contestant Syndrome?