Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show features a quiz competition in which contestants are presented with general knowledge clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in the form of questions. The original daytime version debuted on NBC on March 30, 1964, and aired until January 3, 1975. A weekly nighttime syndicated edition aired from September 1974 to September 1975, and a revival, The All-New Jeopardy!, ran on NBC from October 1978 to March 1979. A daily syndicated version premiered on September 10, 1984, and is still airing, making it by far the program's most successful incarnation.

Both NBC versions and the weekly syndicated version were hosted by Art Fleming. Don Pardo served as announcer until 1975, and John Harlan announced for the 1978–79 show. Since its inception, the daily syndicated version has featured Alex Trebek as host and Johnny Gilbert as announcer.

With 7,000 episodes aired, the daily syndicated version of Jeopardy! has won a record 31 Daytime Emmy Awards and is the only post-1960 game show to be honored with the Peabody Award. In 2013, the program was ranked No. 45 on TV Guide's list of the 60 greatest shows in American television history. Jeopardy! has also gained a worldwide following with regional adaptations in many other countries. The daily syndicated series' 32nd season premiered on September 14, 2015.

Jeopardy! broadcast information

Jeopardy! is an American television quiz show created by Merv Griffin, in which contestants are presented with trivia clues in the form of answers and must phrase their responses in the form of a question. The show has experienced a long life in several incarnations over the course of nearly a half-century, spending more than 11 years as a daytime network program and having currently run in syndication for 30 seasons. It has also gained a worldwide following with a multitude of international adaptations.

Art Fleming era

Original series (1964–75)

The original Jeopardy! series, hosted by Art Fleming, premiered at 11:30 am Eastern (10:30 Central) on March 30, 1964, originating from the NBC headquarters in New York City's Rockefeller Center. NBC moved the program to 12:00 noon Eastern (11:00 am Central) after 18 months, making it accessible to businessmen coming home for their lunch break or else watching it on restaurant or bar sets, and college students departing their classes for the day. These two constituencies, who ordinarily did not have the time or interest to view other daytime programs, made the show a runaway hit, propelling its ratings to second place among all daytime game shows by the end of the decade—second only to its immediate lead-in, The Hollywood Squares. The show had practically no trouble whatsoever against soap operas such as Love of Life on CBS and mostly sitcom reruns on ABC.

Jeopardy! (UK game show)

Jeopardy! was a game show based on the US version of the same name. It was originally aired on Channel 4 produced by Thames from 12 January 1983 to 6 July 1984 hosted by Derek Hobson, it was then aired on ITV produced by Reg Grundy Productions and TVS (later Meridian) from 3 September 1990 to 9 April 1993 hosted first by Chris Donat in 1990 and then by Steve Jones from 1991 to 1993 and then finally on Sky 1 produced by Action Time in association with Columbia TriStar Television and King World Productions from 21 August 1995 to 1996 hosted by Paul Ross.

Transmissions

Channel 4 era

ITV era

Sky 1 era

Gameplay Notes

Unlike in the U.S. version, contestants have points (instead of money) added or subtracted for responses (or lack of) to questions selected.

Due to laws giving strict limits, the original point values were 5 to 25 in the Jeopardy! round and 10 to 50 in Double Jeopardy! By the time Paul Ross took over the show, the points had increased to the current 100 to 500 (Jeopardy! round), and 200 to 1000 for Double Jeopardy! The player leading after Final Jeopardy! won £500; five consecutive wins earned £3,000 with the undefeated champion retiring. The top three champions played Master Jeopardy! for the grand prize of a trip.