"Jeopardy!'s" Top Winners to Compete in Alex Trebek-Hosted Primetime Special
by Evan Real
Nov. 18, 2019


ABC on Monday announced that the three highest money winners of "Jeopardy!" are set to compete in a consecutive night series hosted by Alex Trebek.

The returning winners of the long-running syndicated game show include Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer. The trio will compete in a series of matches; the first to win three receives $1 million and "Jeopardy!'s" "Greatest of All Time" title.

The event series, titled "Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time", will premiere on Jan. 7.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jeopardy-top-winners-compete-alex-trebek-hosted-special-1255718

Hopefully this is already filmed, I get the sense this is will be used as the ending of Alex Trebek's tenure as host.

Hopefully this is already filmed, I get the sense this is will be used as the ending of Alex Trebek's tenure as host.Jeopardy! isn't in any rush to get rid of Alex. When he does leave depends on when his health gets worse, if it doesn't in the next few months taping for this season could possibly be completed.

Jeopardy! isn't in any rush to get rid of Alex. When he does leave depends on when his health gets worse, if it doesn't in the next few months taping for this season could possibly be completed.

His health and skills are already diminishing according to his own admission a few weeks ago. I don't want to rush him out either but this would be a good way for him to go out on a high note, if that matters to him.

His health and skills are already diminishing according to his own admission a few weeks ago. I don't want to rush him out either but this would be a good way for him to go out on a high note, if that matters to him.

I hope for Alex to have good health outcomes, and be able to keep hosting - but it has struck me that this year overall would be a "high note" to go out on if it turns out he can't host much longer - with the two big mega-champs, who he obviously rooted for, and the effect they had on the show's ratings. I have read that Jeopardy was very "big" (talked-about) this year, although no doubt that was partly due to Alex's health, too.

I do think that the reason they decided to have this "Greatest of All Time" event so soon is, the longer they went, the more risk they would run that Alex wouldn't be around for it.

I hope James beats the snot out of Ken and Brad.

Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time tournament is really about appreciating Alex Trebek (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-01-07/alex-trebek-jeopardy-greatest-of-all-time)

James Holzhauer, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings are the stars of the ABC primetime tournament kicking off tonight. "But there is something more than usually significant about this event, given not just the status of the competitors but also the state of host Alex Trebek, who made his pancreatic cancer public in March, bringing — I’m going to say millions — of viewers along into his yet indeterminate endgame," says Robert Lloyd. "When speaking of it, he has balanced hope with realism, honesty with caring for his fans. He’s said that he will stay 'as long as my skills have not diminished,' but he has also indicated that he’s got a farewell speech ready in his pocket." Lloyd adds: "As the human embodiment of the show, Trebek has the knack of seeming actually to know the answers and more to all the questions — or the questions to the answers, in Jeopardy! parlance — independently of whatever information the writers have supplied him. But he never sounds superior to a player who might get something wrong: While winning demands a wide range of knowledge, there is nothing elitist about Jeopardy! An amused decorum, a puckish dignity reigns. There’s room for humor but not for attitude. This demeanor extends to the players, who dress the way people used to dress when traveling by air. They do not panic. They do not exult in winning, nor do they pout in losing. Whether this behavior is encouraged, or a natural outgrowth of the game itself and the sort of people it attracts to play it, is all the same. Jeopardy! contestants have the quality of being at once everyday people and a little out of the ordinary — our neighbors, our nerds."

ALSO:

Brad Rutter doesn't mind that he's less famous compared to Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/arts/television/jeopardy-greatest.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesarts): "“It bothers my friends a lot more than it bothers me. They’ll go ballistic about it.”
Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time tournament is like Jordan vs. LeBron vs. Kareem (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/1/7/21054043/jeopardy-greatest-of-all-time-james-holzhauer-ken-jennings-brad-rutter)

I did not like hearing whom I had believed to had been the host of the program presenting what I had believed to had been a certain clue for one of its game involving a certain word I would describe as "profane" (its spelling was similar to this one: " witchin' ") and did not like the music for the final rounds of those games (I was hoping one of the final rounds would have a certain kind of music originally used for the final rounds of games for a TV program like this one ("Jeopardy!") in years past since I had expected it ("Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time!") to be what some folks might describe as a "special").

There was a lot of Disney product placement in the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time Tournament (https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2020/01/jeopardy-greatest-of-all-time-categories-abc-disney-product-placement/)

Six of the 26 categories last night were connected to Disney, according to Reality Blurred, including categories devoted to American Idol and Toy Story.

Trebek: ‘Jeopardy’ Retirement Isn’t Imminent

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The brief farewell that Alex Trebek says will close his final “Jeopardy!” episode isn’t on the horizon.

“I don’t foresee that 30-second moment coming up in the near future,” Trebek said Wednesday, referring to his request for time to close out his decades-long run with the quiz show.

https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/243149/trebek-jeopardy-retirement-isnt-imminent/

Jeopardy! isn't as enjoyable when all the contestants are too good (https://slate.com/culture/2020/01/jeopardy-greatest-of-all-time-tournament.html)

Night 1 of the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time tournament was like a bloodless dunk contest, says Ruth Graham. "These men buzz in seamlessly, answer briskly, react calmly," she says of Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. "Collectively, I don’t believe the group missed a single question all night. In the first game, all three of them aced the Final Jeopardy question. It was like watching three Watsons competing against each other. But is that really what the home Jeopardy! viewer wants? Does an NBA fan want to watch Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James take turns trotting down the court and sinking perfect threes? Well, sure, maybe for a night or two. But (Monday's) bloodless dunk contest was a distinctly different experience from a regular night of syndicated Jeopardy. On a typical night, there’s usually at least one moment where the home viewer gets to sneer, 'Oh, come on, I would have gotten that one.' Meanwhile, part of the fun of a game show is the possibility of getting to watch someone win a life-changing amount of money. The GOAT competitors are three men who have already been made millionaires by the game."

ALSO:

Alex Trebek felt he was slower during the Greatest of All Time tournament (https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/alex-trebek-details-good-days-and-bad-days-amid-cancer-battle/): “I seemed a little slower in the ad-lib portions. I could still deliver the clues, but I feel that I was not having one of my best weeks,” he said at the TV press tour.
Trebek doesn't think the Greatest of All Time tournament can be topped (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-01-08/alex-trebek-jeopardy-greatest-of-all-time-tca): "We were talking backstage about how we would outdo this particular Greatest of All Time tournament. My suggestion was do Greatest of All Time seniors tournament in 10 to 12 years, or 15 years. Bring them (the contestants) all back again. I don’t know. I’m up for anything, if it makes sense.’”

I hope James beats the snot out of Ken and Brad.

I couldn't care less and I'm not watching it.

Ed.

Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time is a singular event that is unlikely to be successfully replicated (https://www.wired.com/story/jeopardy-greatest-of-all-time-tournament/)

Viewers who missed out on the GOAT tournament should watch "because you’ll never have another chance to witness this particular alchemy again—in Jeopardy! or any other contest," says Brian Barrett. I’ll take HYPERBOLE for $800, you might be thinking. Fair. Every sport has an All-Star game. TV competitions like Survivor bring back favorites every few years. Even Jeopardy! held an All-Stars team tournament recently, its first ever, featuring not only GOAT competitors Jennings and Rutter but 16 fan favorites from the past few decades. The format's been done. Except not like this. If you follow Jeopardy! even casually, you’ve heard of (James) Holzhauer and (Ken) Jennings. After a barnstorming run last year, Holzhauer holds every consequential single-game Jeopardy! record in the books, and reshaped how future generations will play it. Jennings' 74-game win streak, meanwhile, has proven unapproachable, and he still holds the record for single-season Jeopardy! earnings. (Brad) Rutter may be less familiar to the uninitiated, but he’s won more money playing Jeopardy! than anyone alive, despite first appearing in the days when the show imposed a five-game cap on winners. Mount Rushmore makes for an easy comparison here, those three lumped together with Alex Trebek as their adjacent Lincoln.... Respect to all the other Jeopardy! greats—and there are plenty—but these really are the three undisputed best to have played the game. And now they can play one another, a rare opportunity in the world of elite competition." But there's a problem, says Barrett: age and time. "Yes, next year could bring a primetime rematch," he says. "Or maybe another Jeopardy! champion will emerge who puts Jennings, Holzhauer, and Rutter to shame. (This is … not likely.) But don’t settle for the rerun. There’s never been anything like the Jeopardy! GOAT. There never will be again."

ALSO:


Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time looked like a bad idea, but it's been a welcome surprise (https://variety.com/2020/tv/columns/jeopardy-greatest-james-holzhauer-ken-jennings-brad-rutter-1203463590/): "It’s really fun!" says Daniel D'Addario. "The tournament is obviously not what Jeopardy! itself is — the semi-egalitarian entity described above and still airing in syndicated daytime or early-evening TV. It’s, first, a suspension of the typical, like Monopoly played using unorthodox house rules or a substitute teacher letting you watch a movie instead of doing the lesson. And it’s a genuinely rollicking thrill to see players who are frankly too good at Jeopardy! to make the show watchable against normal competitors go up against one another. Everything about this Jeopardy! event seems maximalist — the fast-reaction buzzer moves, the wagers, the drama. And yet because all three participants have already been made wealthy (and because, perhaps more crucially, all are already legends within the game-show universe), the show feels pleasantly lower-stakes than the nightly version. Jokes can be exchanged between competitors; the contestant running a distant third, Brad Rutter, is at least presenting the image of being unbothered."
Why Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time is the king of low-stakes TV (https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/14/21065863/jeopardy-the-greatest-of-all-time-alex-trebek): "Jeopardy! is fun to watch because it’s a game show you feel like you can play and win," says Joshua Rivera. "And maybe you could! As a combination of trivia, gambling, and reflexes, it’s the perfect combination of things no one can truly be the best at — just the best in a given room. It’s also easy to overestimate your performance: trivia always feels easy because when you know an answer, you know. This also makes it easy to overestimate your own performance."
Executive producer Harry Friedman on coming up with the Greatest of All Time tournament (https://slate.com/culture/2020/01/jeopardy-greatest-of-all-time-tournament-interview-harry-friedman.html): "We did debate a lot of different scenarios," he said. "ABC wanted each episode to be an hour. Two of our usual half-hour games could have worked. But we had to think in terms of energy and momentum. We had the advantage of a built-in format, the two-day final that we know works and that the players already understood from their own past experience. The most important thing was that we just wanted to make it fun, interesting, and competitive. And, of course, settle the question."
What if Brad Rutter comes from behind to win the Greatest of All Time tournament? (https://www.vulture.com/2020/01/jeopardy-goat-tournament-conspiracy-theory.html)
Read the result of Night 4 of Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time (https://ew.com/tv/2020/01/14/ken-jennings-wins-jeopardy-greatest-of-all-time/)


Ken Jennings on winning Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time: "I just remember feeling shock" (https://people.com/tv/ken-jennings-speaks-out-after-jeopardy-goat-win/)

"I’ve been in a lot of these Jeopardy! super tournaments and I have an amazing talent for finishing second,” he joked on GMA. “So I had no idea what to do when you actually win. It turns out you walk over and stand by Alex (Trebek).” Jennings also explained his decision to bet zero dollars in Final Jeopardy. “There’s a little bit of math that goes into wagering on Jeopardy!” Jennings explained. “And generally what happens is the person in second should often make a very small wager. You’re counting on the person in first to make a big wager, so it doesn’t matter at that point. If they get it wrong, they’re out. So it doesn’t matter what you wager, you want to risk as little as possible for that eventuality.” ALSO: Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time falls in the ratings with its final episode (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jeopardy-greatest-finale-tv-ratings-tuesday-jan-14-2020-1269853).

I knew that Ken would win.