https://deadline.com/2023/09/ken-jennings-to-host-jeopardy-for-season-40-amidst-strikes-1235543194/#:~:text=Ken%20Jennings%20will%20be%20hosting,per%20exec%20producer%20Michael%20Davies.

Ken Jennings will be hosting Jeopardy! as it returns for its 40th season. The show returns today, September 11, as part of a “changed” season 40, per exec producer Michael Davies.

Shame on anyone who was pressuring Ken Jennings to join Mayim Bialik in not crossing the picket line. Ken returned to host during a strike just like Alex Trebek did, nothing wrong with that.

Is there any idea when regular-play games will resume for Jeopardy!'s season 40, recycled clues or not? I don't think I want to see recycled contestants for the entirety of season 40. I imagine Jeopardy! fans are going to be upset about the prolongment of the current SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

Because of Mayim Bialik walking out of the Jeopardy! hosting gig in support of the WGA's strike, I guess an actor just doesn't look like the best choice for a permanent host of Jeopardy!. Would Ms. Bialik still have walked out if it was just SAG-AFTRA striking this year?

I don't care.

Ed.

This tweet (https://twitter.com/mfc248/status/1704672320067932229), by Matt Carberry (@mfc248), may give a good idea of how long Jeopardy!'s new "Champions Wildcard" thing will last. There will actually be FOUR "Champions Wildcard" Tournaments in addition to the three second Chance competitions this month. The Champions Wildcard tournaments will each have nine quarterfinal games, three semifinals, and a two-game final.

All this will take up just too much of Jeopardy!'s 40th season, to the point where that season's first regular-play game is not happening until 2024. I hope this "Champions Wildcard" is only a one-time thing and it never happens again, because this is only being done because of the current WGA Strike. Big waste of scheduling.

This is the timeline for when new questions and new contestants will return.

https://tvline.com/news/jeopardy-season-40-update-new-material-timeline-strike-date-1235054456/

I didn't mind regular play games with recycled clues, but Jeopardy! is really overdoing it with the recycled contestants with this S37/38 Champions Wildcard. I don't even know how long the Champions Wildcard for season 29 will last, or even the next Tournament of Champions (I remember hearing somewhere about another format change for the latter, but I'd rather see it go back to the original format). At this point, I'm just disappointed that another Champions Wildcard means the first regular-play game of Jeopardy!'s season 40 is being pushed further and further away.

Jeopardy! teasing Mayim Bialik's potential return divides fans (https://decider.com/2023/10/23/mayim-bialik-coming-back-jeopardy-new-jeopardy-promos-tease-bialiks-return-co-hosting/)

Bialik was featured alongside Ken Jennings as part of a "13 Nights of Jeoparween!" (https://www.instagram.com/p/CymflJARclT) promo posted on social media. But there is no word on when or if Bialik, who has been taking time off in support of the Hollywood strikes, will return.

There were mass preemptions of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune last Friday (November 24) because of several college football and basketball games on ALL of the Big Four U.S. broadcast networks. For example, my affiliate (KATV) shifted Jeopardy! to 2:30 AM and Wheel of Fortune to 3:00 AM. The first half of the Single Jeopardy! Round of the third Champions WildCard Clubs semifinal game was cut off completely by some religious program, and was joined in progress during the contestant interviews. Wheel of Fortune, however, got to air in its entirety. This left me to have to watch that first half of the Jeopardy! Round from last Friday's game on STIRR. KATV should have cut a half-hour of Paid Programming instead.

I don't care.Ya who gives a rats tail?

Scheduling update for Jeopardy!'s season 40:

The Second Chance Tournament for Season 39 contestants is being held from December 19, 2023 to January 15, 2024. Then the Champions Wildcard Tournament for Season 39 contestants will be held from January 16 to April 2, 2024.

I thought there was going to be three Second Chance competitions for Season 39; why did we end up with four? And at this rate, it's going to be a miracle to see a resumption of regular play confirmed for Jeopardy!'s season 40, and even then, there's not going to be any Second Chance or Champions Wildcard competitions for season 40 contestants.:lol::mad:

The truth is, I was (and probably still am) actually hoping that this Champions Wildcard thing would eventually be dropped before the first one started last Fall, one reason being that it's only being done because of the WGA strike. This is shaping up to be the worst anniversary seasons of any show ever. I won't be surprised if Jeopardy!'s ratings decline because of the Champions Wildcard competitions.

Scheduling update for Jeopardy!'s season 40:

The Second Chance Tournament for Season 39 contestants is being held from December 19, 2023 to January 15, 2024. Then the Champions Wildcard Tournament for Season 39 contestants will be held from January 16 to April 2, 2024.

I thought there was going to be three Second Chance competitions for Season 39; why did we end up with four? And at this rate, it's going to be a miracle to see a resumption of regular play confirmed for Jeopardy!'s season 40, and even then, there's not going to be any Second Chance or Champions Wildcard competitions for season 40 contestants.:lol::mad:

The truth is, I was (and probably still am) actually hoping that this Champions Wildcard thing would eventually be dropped before the first one started last Fall, one reason being that it's only being done because of the WGA strike. This is shaping up to be the worst anniversary seasons of any show ever. I won't be surprised if Jeopardy!'s ratings decline because of the Champions Wildcard competitions.Way too many tournaments this year. The strikes have been done for several weeks now, they should have been able to get fresh clues and contestants. But I won't be watching anyway while it is on against new episodes of Split Second on Game Show Network.

Actually, the Champions Wildcard competition for Season 39 contestants will end on February 22, 2024 (it has only two groups instead of four, meaning no spades/diamonds/clubs/hearts this time; group 2 began February 5), and then the Tournament of Champions will take place from February 23 to March 20, 2024. It doesn't look like the ToC will go back to its original format this year. :( The earliest when we can hope for regular-play games to start again for this season is Thursday, March 21.

When Will Jeopardy! Go Back to Normal? (https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/when-will-jeopardy-go-back-to-normal/)

Wild Card this, Second Chance that - when is Jeopardy! getting back to its usual schedule?

I saw yesterday on TVLine (https://tvline.com/news/jeopardy-new-contestants-return-regular-game-1235174018/) that there will be yet another tournament after the Tournament of Champions before regular play resumes. It's supposed to be an invitational tournament where Jeopardy! "brings back some favorite contestants from the past years, in some cases the past decades", according to host Ken Jennings in an interview with USA Today last Friday.

I thought regular play on Jeopardy! would resume right after this year's Tournament of Champions. Now I am disappointed because the first regular-play game of Jeopardy!'s season 40 is going to be pushed back even further. The only way that this new invitational tournament is a good way of celebrating the 40th anniversary of Jeopardy!'s current run is if the field of contestants for it is limited to the major Jeopardy! champions of just the past ten years (post-Battle of the Decades).

So, IceCream, what are your thoughts on the Tournament of Champions changes in the past two years (dropping the wildcard spots and making the final round a best-of-seven series instead of a two-game total-point affair). You like the format change, or should the ToC just return to the previous format already?

Here is the complete field for this new Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament, as confirmed on Jeopardy.com (https://www.jeopardy.com/track/2024/invitational):

Alan Lin - (6-day champion, 2017 ToC 1st runner-up and 2019 ASG 2nd runner-up) Total winnings of $258,933
Alex Jacob - (6-day champion, 2015 ToC winner) Total winnings of $426,802
Amy Schneider - (40-day champion, 2022 ToC winner and 2023 Masters quarterfinalist) Total winnings of $1,709,800
Andrew He - (5-day champion, 2022 ToC 1st runner-up and 2023 Masters semifinalist) Total winnings of $359,365
Arthur Chu - (11-day champion, 2014 ToC 1st runner-up) Total winnings of $398,200
Austin Rogers - (12-day champion, Biggest Money Winner of Season 34 and 2017 ToC 2nd runner-up) Total winnings of $488,000
Ben Ingram - (8-day champion, Biggest Money Winner of Season 29 and 2014 ToC winner) Total winnings of $444,201
Brandon Blackwell - (2008 Teen Tournament semifinalist) Total winnings of $10,000
Celeste DiNucci - (5-day champion, 2007 ToC winner) Total winnings of $339,601
Chuck Forrest - (5-day champion, Biggest Money Winner of Season 2, 1986 ToC winner, 2002 MDM & 2014 BotD semifinalist) Total winnings of $252,800
Colby Burnett - (2012-B Teachers Tournament & 2013 ToC winner, 2014 BotD semifinalist, and 2019 ASG 2nd runner-up; only Teachers Tournament winner to win the ToC) Total winnings of $408,334
Dan Pawson - (9-day champion, 2009 ToC winner and 2014 BotD quarterfinalist) Total winnings of $431,902
David Madden - (19-day champion, Biggest Money Winner of Season 22, 2006 ToC semifinalist, and 2019 ASG winner) Total winnings of $775,733
Dhruv Gaur - (2018 College Championship winner and 2019 ToC semifinalist) Total winnings of $110,000
Jason Zuffranieri - (19-day champion, Biggest Money Winner of Season 36 and 2021 ToC semifinalist) Total winnings of $544,496
Jennifer Quail - (8-day champion, 2021 ToC 1st runner-up) Total winnings of $330,800
Larissa Kelly - (6-day champion, Biggest Money Winner of Season 24, 2009 ToC 1st runner-up, 2014 BotD invitee, and 2019 ASG winner) Total winnings of $661,930
Leonard Cooper - (2013 Teen Tournament winner) Total winnings of $100,000
Lilly Chin - (2017 College Championship winner & ToC semifinalist) Total winnings of $110,000
MacKenzie Jones - (8-day champion, 2021 ToC quarterfinalist) Total winnings of $211,808
Matt Jackson - (13-day champion, Biggest Money Winner of Season 32, 2015 ToC & 2019 ASG 1st runner-up) Total winnings of $613,612
Monica Thieu - (2012 College Championship winner and 2019 ASG 1st runner-up) Total winnings of $205,000
Pam Mueller - (2000-B College Championship winner, 2001 ToC, 2005 UToC, 2014 BotD semifinalist, and 2019 ASG 2nd runner-up) Total winnings of $215,534
Sam Buttrey - (2021 Professors Tournament winner, 2022 ToC 2nd runner-up, and 2023 Masters quarterfinalist) Total winnings of $200,000
Sam Kavanaugh - (2021 ToC winner) Total winnings of $407,202
Terry O'Shea - (2014 College Championship winner & ToC semifinalist) Total winnings of $110,000
Victoria Groce - (David Madden's giant killer) Total winnings of $23,801

While I understand this new "Invitational Tournament" being a good way to celebrate Jeopardy!'s 40th anniversary, I thought this new Invitational Tournament would be restricted to major contestants who completed after 2005's Ultimate Tournament of Champions: This would make four choices questionable: Chuck Forrest; Pam Mueller; Victoria Groce; and Brandon Blackwell. The former two are pre-UToC major champions (in fact both of them have already competed in the UToC itself); and the latter two aren't even "major" champions (meaning they never appeared in a Tournament of Champions, regular or otherwise).

Jeopardy! returning with regular episodes (https://www.cinemablend.com/television/jeopardy-resuming-regular-episodes-soon-returning-champion#:~:text=People%20certainly%20are%20excited!,to%20clinch%20the%20Invitational%20Tournament.)

People certainly are excited! The last time three civilians brandished the buzzers was on July 28, 2023. That will end next week, with regular Jeopardy! starting back between Tuesday, April 9, and Thursday, April 11, depending on how long it takes someone to clinch the Invitational Tournament.

Okay, why the hell was the closed-captioning for the second game of the Invitational Tournament Finals rendered in all-capitals? I suspect this was by accident. If this turns out to be permanent, I'm going to be very pissed. I thought non-live-event programs were supposed to move away from all-caps CC for good.:(

EDIT: I guess the CC for last Monday's episode being done in all-caps was because of a technical error at Los Angeles Distribution and Broadcasting. The last Invitational Tournament Final game (yesterday) and the first regular-play game of Jeopardy!'s season 40 (today) had mixed-case CC.

It was Victoria Groce who won that Invitational Tournament early last April, earning herself a spot in the second edition of Jeopardy! Masters. And how did the second edition of Jeopardy! Masters end? VICTORIA GROCE ENDED UP REACHING THE FINAL AND WINNING THE WHOLE THING! She attained the first-place prize of $500,000, defeating James Holzhauer (who finished in 3rd place) and Yogesh Raut (who finished second).

Also, Yogesh Raut became the first major champion whose regular-play cash winnings did not exceed $100,000 to win the Tournament of Champions since Celeste DiNucci in 2007 (Mr. Raut's cash winnings were $96,403 plus $2,000, while Ms. DiNucci's were $83,601, plus $1,000).

And since the end of the "Tournament Season" that hogged 75% of Jeopardy!'s current 40th season, we've had six Jeopardy! champions cross the threshold of eligibility for the next Tournament of Champions. The total cash winnings for two of them didn't even exceed $100,000. The most significant regular-play champion of season 40 is Adriana Harmeyer, who won $349,000 over 15 days, plus the third-place prize of $2,000 in her 16th game.