Friedman Harry - The Jeopardy! Book of Answers

The Jeopardy! Book of Answers

Copyright 2018 Jeopardy Productions, Inc.

Jeopardy! is a registered trademark of Jeopardy Productions, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact RosettaBooks at production@rosettabooks.com, or by mail at 125 Park Ave., 25th Floor, New York, NY 10017.

First edition published 2018 by RosettaBooks

Cover and interior design by Brehanna Ramirez

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018931963
ISBN-13 (print): 978-0-7953-5106-8
ISBN-13 (epub): 978-1-9481-2218-4

www.RosettaBooks.com

Introduction

if you remember 1984 , you might recall this was the year that Happy Days and Threes Company came to an end and the year that Miami Vice was born. The world was on the cusp of a high-tech revolution, though it would be at least seven years before most people knew much about the internet and thirteen years before the first DVD was sold.

Cable networks Lifetime and AMC were launched in 1984, as was the MTV Video Music Awards show. It was the year LeBron James was born, Marvin Gaye died, and Michael Jacksons hair caught fire while he was filming a commercial for Pepsi.

It was also the year that a new version of Jeopardy! launched in syndication with host Alex Trebek and announcer Johnny Gilbert.

The show, with its iconic answer-and-question format, has become a part of American pop culture, and an institution beloved and watched by millions. As it celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary, it can look back at a proud history filled with headline-grabbing moments, heartwarming stories, unforgettable personalities, and endless awards for being the best at what it does.

Whether elevating the stature of the teaching profession, presenting a historic challenge between man and machine, inviting celebrities to win hundreds of thousands of dollars for favorite causes, or merely entertaining with an endless river of assorted facts, Jeopardy! has gone where no other show has been before.

In this book, we look at the history and mystery of Jeopardy! by exploring in detail some of the most memorable games played during its first thirty-four seasons, as well as some of the most memorable playerspeople who had little in common except for a love of general information and a passion for a game that made it cool to be smart.

Legend has it that the first Jeopardy! clue, which was never televised, was 5,280. It was probably given at about thirty thousand feet above sea level, but thats just an educated guess. We do know it was spoken on a plane en route to New York City from Duluth, Minnesota.

Aboard the plane was Merv Griffin, once a big band singer and an actor, now better known as a talk show host and game show producer. Seated beside him was his wife, Julann. They were talking about concepts for a game show. Julann suggested a twist on the usual formatplayers would get the answer and then theyd have to come up with the question.

For example, she said, 5,280. And the question would be, How many feet in a mile?

Merv loved the idea. So did NBC; the network bought it just from his pitch without even making a pilot. The working title was Whats the Question? but the name was changed to Jeopardy! by the time it premiered on March 30, 1964, with host Art Fleming and announcer Don Pardo.

Just like today, it consisted of a Jeopardy! round and a Double Jeopardy! roundeach with five clues in six categoriesfollowed by Final Jeopardy! The value of the first clue was ten dollars. Stagehands pulled the printed cards to reveal each clue. The first Jeopardy! champion was Mary Eubanks from Candor, North Carolina. Her winning total was $345.

The original version of Jeopardy! ran until January 3, 1975.

That might have been the end of Jeopardy! , but, ironically, it was saved by another game show Wheel of Fortune .

Also created by Griffin , Wheel of Fortune had been a daytime staple on network television since 1975. In the fall of 1983, it was brought to the syndication market, where it quickly became an even bigger hit. The executives at King World, the company that distributed Wheel of Fortune , asked Griffin if he had another show to be a companion in syndication. It would be far more profitable if they had two successful shows that could be sold together as a one-hour block.

Thus was born the current syndicated version of Jeopardy! Alex Trebek was hired to be the new host. Jay Stewart was the announcer on the pilot; Johnny Gilbert took over after that.

Stations that carried Jeopardy! were not immediately convinced of its appeal. In Los Angeles and some of the big markets, it was on at two in the morning, Trebek recalled. As it proved itself, it got better and better time periods.

For the first three years, Trebek did double duty as host and producer. He traveled from city to city, promoting the show and offering tryouts to people who had expressed interest in becoming a contestant. At each stop, he tried to drum up interest for this new version of an old favorite.

At the same time, Trebek puzzled over how to modernize the show with new technology. Instead of stagehands pulling cards, projectors displayed the clues on screens. But that still looked clunky, Trebek remembered.

We needed to get a computer that could put the clues on the screens, he said. Fortunately, the Los Angeles CBS station on Hollywood Boulevard had a secondhand one to sell.

JEOPARDY! PREMIERE

In the Beginning

Alex Trebeks First Show

September 10, 1984

Contestants
Greg Hopkins
Lois Feinstein
Frank Selevan

we worked for many months to get the show to where it was on that first day, Trebek said.

Jeopardy! was reborn on September 10, 1984. The first three contestants were Frank Selevan, an advertising copywriter from Miami, Florida; Lois Feinstein, a freelance copywriter from Plainview, New York; and Greg Hopkins, an energy demonstrator from Waverly, Ohio.

Welcome to Americas favorite answer-and-question game Jeopardy! , announced Trebek. You know how we play it. We provide the categories and the answers, and then its up to our contestants to give us the right questions.

Alex Trebek introduces his first Jeopardy! board.

Hopkins selected Animals for one hundred dollars (values were doubled on November 26, 2001). These rodents first got to America by stowing away on ships, Trebek read. Hopkins entered game show history books by giving the new shows first correct response: What are rats?

During the conversation break, Trebek asked Hopkins what an energy demonstrator does. Hopkins produced a balloon, intended to represent a uranium atom. He blew it up, twisted it, and then made it explode. Greg, said a bemused Trebek, try and relax.

The original set, 1984.

It was good advice. By the end of the show, Hopkins had become the first champion, winning with $8,400. Feinstein, who finished second, got a vacation at the Ingleside Inn in Palm Springs, California, and a set of luggage. Selevan brought home his-and-hers Wimbledon tennis rackets.