08/11/2004 Archived Entry: "uh-oh!"

I'm sure most of you have heard by now of Ken Jennings, the man with the most winnings ever on Jeopardy, who left dozens of dead contestants on the side of the road, figuratively, on his way to becoming one of the most famour game show contestants ever. This was possible due to a small change in the way Jeopardy is played. There is no longer a five day limit for the number of times a winner can appear on the show.

This was a pretty smart move, it was a small change that made the game quite different and the show runners don't lose any more money from having the same contestants coming on over and over again. Even if they did, the soaring ratings more than make up for it.

The problem though, is that this isn't sustainable. Ken will one day lose (maybe he already has? I haven't watched), he'll lose to someone faster and with more knowledge of trivia (trivial knowledge?) than he. And one day, that guy will lose. And so it will go until such a day that there'll be a contestant so fast and so full of knowledge that no one could ever beat him. Unless maybe, he was having a bad day.

The point of the game has essentially changed, it is no longer about beating all the other players, proving yourself, or even winning money, but about beating the champ and becoming the new King of the Hill. Will people despair though? Every game that goes by, the champ gets more and more practice with the buzzer, and better than those who are just coming into the game. There'll be no hope for the regular shmoes that appear on Jeopardy now, everyone who comes on from this point forward has to be superb or just become cannon fodder.

Replies: 4 comments

ken hasn't lost yet .. and they took a break for the summer (no new shows right now) ... but he's bound to have a bad "day" some time ... they tape 5 shows in a row in a day ... that's gotta get tiring at some point .. or maybe he'll just walk away .. you never know

and maybe he'll play against someone who's having a great day, where all the categories fit their knowledge, etc ... but then the next time they'll be just a regular schmoe ... you never know

(or there could be a re-enactment of the whole quiz show controversy ... that'd be interesting)

Posted by melpie @ 08/12/2004 09:50 AM EST

I think the "Jennings" character will be a rarity after his stint is over. I think it was just a planned publicity move on the part of Jeopardy execs. to boost ratings, or at least maintain their existing market share. Everyone likes a winner, until they win. Its fun watching him try to reach a million or whatever, but after that, you really just want him to lose.

If you think about it, how probable is it to be able to find someone with such a wide range of knwoledge anyways, it what seems like every discipline. Even if you could, it it unlikely, i think, for this person to be able to answer such specific questions, which Jeopardy seems to ask (or answer, whatever). Dates, names and events i can see, but c'mon, knowing 5 letter synonyms for earings made in africa on thursdays that start with the letter p, just doesn't seem like a general knowledge question. I mean I can name them, but can you?

Posted by Doug @ 08/12/2004 10:24 AM EST

but the beauty of jeopardy is that you don't HAVE to know .. half the time they give you enough of a hint within the "answer" to make a good guess at what the question is. although, jennings does seem to know a lot ... his mastery of the buzzer certainly doesn't hinder him either.

Posted by melpie @ 08/12/2004 02:14 PM EST

Heh, there was a big discussion on Slashdot a few weeks back. I learned that "KenJen" has already made it onto Wikipedia....

Posted by Will @ 08/12/2004 08:46 PM EST