The syndicated quiz show Jeopardy has been on the air, off and on, since 1964. Jeopardy was introduced by Merv Griffin after the quiz show scandals of the late 1950s and aired in its original weekly format until 1975. Jeopardy was re-introduced, with current host Alex Trebek, in 1984 and has been aired nearly continuously ever since. Jeopardy has been critically praised for maintaining its intelligent and difficult questions despite many other game shows being made simpler for higher ratings. Jeopardy has remained consistently popular despite many quiz shows being introduced with bigger prizes. For example, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was introduced with a splash in 1999. Regis Philbin hosted the show with a $1 million grand prize to very high ratings and critical and commercial buzz but was shunned to syndication in the daytime (and lower ratings than Jeopardy) very quickly. Other shows, without the hype of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, have also faired poorly trying to beat Jeopardy as the pre-eminent quiz show. The current format of Jeopardy has 3 rounds and features 3 contestants competing. 2 of the contestants are new to the show along with the champion from the previous day. The first round, the Jeopardy round, features 30 questions in 6 categories with clues ranging from $200 to $1000 (with the higher valued questions being progressively harder). The Jeopardy round also features one “Daily Double” clue. This allows the contestant who selected that clue to wager up to $1000 or their dollar amount, whichever is higher. The second round, known as Double Jeopardy, features clues ranging from $400 to $2000 and 2 hidden “Daily Doubles.” Final Jeopardy, the 3rd round, allows each player to wager up to full amount of their total score on one question that the contestants know the category of in advance. The champion wins the total amount of their final score. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers win $2000 and $1000 respectively which ensures every player competes to win as opposed to locking in their prizes by making small bets in the Final Jeopardy round. Up until 2003, Jeopardy winners could only compete on 5 shows and after that would retire as undefeated champions. One year after that rule was changed, a contestant named Ken Jennings won 74 consecutive Jeopardy episodes, eventually being defeated after winning over $2.5 million and increasing the show’s ratings significantly. Jeopardy also features 3 annual tournaments. The Tournament of Champions features the 15 longest reigning champions of the previous year competing for $250,000. The Teen Tournament has 15 high school students from around the country competing for $75,000 and in some cases a new car. The College Championship features 15 college students competing for $100,000. Each of these tournaments concludes with a 2-episode finale that ends with the player’s scores from each day being added for a final total. Jeopardy has now aired for 24 consecutive seasons and has entrenched itself as the most popular quiz show. Despite having a lot of questions that seem incredibly difficult to most people, Jeopardy has remained a fixture in syndicated daytime programming and will likely remain there for years to come.
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