Whatever happened to the Seniors Tournament?

lbligh · Post by **lbligh** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:20 pm

Does anyone know why the Seniors Tournament was discontinued? I read somewhere that that tournament was Alex's idea, because he had noticed that older contestants tended to be slower on the buzzer. Now that I am 56, I am beginning to worry that if I ever do get The Call, I will be at a neurological disadvantage against those young whippersnappers.

Maybe the producers figure that they don't need to attract older people because we are the base viewers of Jeopardy! already?

georgespelvin · Post by **georgespelvin** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 2:14 pm

"Old people" are never an attractive demographic to get advertisers on board in commercial television. Television shows, including Jeopardy, are always trying to get a younger audience to attract advertisers. Visual bells and whistles, more pop culture categories and the Clue Crew are likely attempts to get a younger audience. I suspect that contestant selection is also made with that in mind so that you don't get a preponderance of older contestants in a single game or week. The Seniors Tournament doesn't fit in with that.

lbligh · Post by **lbligh** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 2:20 pm

But the commercials during Jeopardy! are definitely not skewed toward millennials!

Golf · Post by **Golf** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 2:41 pm

lbligh wrote:I will be at a neurological disadvantage against those young whippersnappers.

Conversely, a young whippersnapper could say they are at a knowledge disadvantage because you've had 30 additional years to learn facts and information. The age of your opponents should be the 184th thing you should be thinking about when competing.

georgespelvin · Post by **georgespelvin** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 2:54 pm

Very true. There was a clue in last night's game (which, of course, I can't repeat in this thread), which I only knew because of knowledge I knew from a news event in my lifetime.

With regard to the ads currently on Jeopardy, it doesn't matter--the quest for the younger viewer is the Holy Grail of commercial programmers whether they obtain it or not.

Kenny · Post by **Kenny** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 4:58 pm

georgespelvin wrote:"Old people" are never an attractive demographic to get advertisers on board in commercial television. Television shows, including Jeopardy, are always trying to get a younger audience to attract advertisers. Visual bells and whistles, more pop culture categories and the Clue Crew are likely attempts to get a younger audience.

That would explain why a preponderance of clues in music/TV/cinema are post-2000. It's frustrating when the answer to a pop-culture clue is a show or celeb I've never heard of.

Magna · Post by **Magna** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 5:41 pm

lbligh wrote:Does anyone know why the Seniors Tournament was discontinued? I read somewhere that that tournament was Alex's idea, because he had noticed that older contestants tended to be slower on the buzzer. Now that I am 56, I am beginning to worry that if I ever do get The Call, I will be at a neurological disadvantage against those young whippersnappers.

This might be part of a plan to sell more Aleve to prospective contestants.

pauerpoint · Post by **pauerpoint** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:21 pm

I seem to recall this question coming up (either on set or in the green room) when I was on the show, and either Alex or somebody else saying TPTB concluded that seniors did *not* after all need their own tournament, because seniors are just as capable of succeeding at regular games of J! as anybody else. I haven't done any analysis, so I have no idea if that claim is true, but I myself had a couple of close games against older contestants (most notably Margaret Miles, who had impeccable buzzer timing).

dhkendall · Post by **dhkendall** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:08 am

pauerpoint wrote:I seem to recall this question coming up (either on set or in the green room) when I was on the show, and either Alex or somebody else saying TPTB concluded that seniors did *not* after all need their own tournament, because seniors are just as capable of succeeding at regular games of J! as anybody else. I haven't done any analysis, so I have no idea if that claim is true, but I myself had a couple of close games against older contestants (most notably Margaret Miles, who had impeccable buzzer timing).

The Teachers Tournament would tend to disprove that.

Blue Lion · Post by **Blue Lion** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:23 am

georgespelvin wrote:With regard to the ads currently on Jeopardy, it doesn't matter--the quest for the younger viewer is the Holy Grail of commercial programmers whether they obtain it or not.

In Detroit, you can count on seeing at least two ads for prescription drugs on every episode of Jeopardy.

lbligh · Post by **lbligh** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:12 am

My teenaged daughter makes fun of the geezer ads but she also jeers at the teen tournament for pandering and trying too hard. She was particularly scornful of the opening design for the teen tournament. I think it's hard to win over the young people so coveted by TV producers and advertisers.

BobF · Post by **BobF** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:41 am

Blue Lion wrote:
georgespelvin wrote:With regard to the ads currently on Jeopardy, it doesn't matter--the quest for the younger viewer is the Holy Grail of commercial programmers whether they obtain it or not.
In Detroit, you can count on seeing at least two ads for prescription drugs on every episode of Jeopardy.

And how many for the non-prescription variety?

OrangeSAM · Post by **OrangeSAM** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:33 am

I know I left it around here somewhere.

triviawayne · Post by **triviawayne** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:07 pm

OrangeSAM wrote:I know I left it around here somewhere.

Did you look behind the couch?

Bamaman · Post by **Bamaman** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:38 pm

Personal injury lawyers make up a lot of ads on my station.

Post by **AndyTheQuizzer** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:53 pm

Bamaman wrote:Personal injury lawyers make up a lot of ads on my station.

I've seen some of those commercials. Those are... interesting advertisements.

Volante · Post by **Volante** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:54 pm

OntarioQuizzer wrote:
Bamaman wrote:Personal injury lawyers make up a lot of ads on my station.
I've seen some of those commercials. Those are... interesting advertisements.

LAW HAWK!

BobF · Post by **BobF** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:00 pm

Most of the commercials I see involve people named Leonard, Sheldon, Penny, Raj, Howard, Bernadette and Amy.

Who watches commercials any more? I simply flip to the next channel down and look at the Big Bang Theory repeat.

harrumph · Post by **harrumph** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:40 pm

triviawayne wrote:
OrangeSAM wrote:I know I left it around here somewhere.
Did you look behind the couch?

That's where I keep the remote.

Blue Lion · Post by **Blue Lion** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:48 pm

Bamaman wrote:Personal injury lawyers make up a lot of ads on my station.

Three Detroit-area personal-injury firms in particular carpet-bomb the local stations with ads. One of the three, the Sam Bernstein Law Firm, even bought the naming rights to the Tigers' pre- and post-game shows during baseball season (I think the firm does the same thing with Red Wings games). Those ads must bring in business; and even if they don't, they gave the Bernsteins enough name recognition to get one of Sam's sons elected to the state supreme court and another elected to the University of Michigan Board of Regents.

JBoard.tv