Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

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jeopardyfan939
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Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

And these are things that have not changed gameplay in any way shape or form. I'm aware that the only two things that changed the game to some extent were the doubling of the clue values in 2001, and much more significantly, lifting the 5-day limit for returning champions (that set the stage for superchampions like Ken and James). Other than that, gameplay has always been the same – Jeopardy! round, Double Jeopardy! round, Daily Doubles, Final Jeopardy! round, phrase response in the form of a question.

What I'm talking about is certain traditions Jeopardy! implemented during its first 14 to 24 seasons that we have not seen in many many years. Things such as:

swooshing laser sound effect – For the first 12 seasons as well as the first two months of the 13th season, there was this swooshing sound effect at the top of the show when Johnny said "This...is...Jeopardy!". And before the grid set was in use, the sound effect also played at the start of the Jeopardy! round before the dollar figures popped in. The sound effect was dropped altogether starting with the first episode using the sushi bar set. During Season 17, a wind blowing sound was used in the intro until the 2001-2008 was put permanently into use. A month into Season 18, the swooshing sound was put back into the introduction, only to be retired again at the beginning of Season 25.

popping in the dollar figures on the Double Jeopardy! board – Midway into Season 14, this practice was dropped. It was the 1998 ToC when we first saw the dollar figures already being present at the start of DJ!, and then it became permanent in March of that year. But we somewhat saw this practice being revived in the All-Star Games last season, but it was only because the first matches were split into three episodes apiece. Mind you they didn't do that in the two-episode first match of the IBM Challenge.

the original dollar figure loading pattern and its accompanying sound effect – During the first 24 seasons, lot of us really loved the dollar figures popping in one at a time and the beeps that accompanied the pattern. Initially it was done at the start of the J! and the DJ! round; but from the middle of Season 14 onwards, it's only done at the start of the first round. But come Season 25, and the dollar figures are already on the game board following the introductions. Then in Season 26, the practice of popping in the dollar figures on the Jeopardy! round board is brought back; but now they pop in 5 at a time, and its accompanying sound effect is six chimes. The sound effect is changed again at the beginning of Season 33.

the set background changing from blue to red for Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy! – Beginning with the second season, the set would change its background color for the next two rounds of the game. But come October 6, 1997, the set stays blue throughout the whole show; however, the set turns red for DJ! and FJ! one last time on the Celebrity Jeopardy! sportscasters episode aired January 1998.

Then during the first week with the Ken Jennings set (my nickname for the 2002-2009 set), the set background changes to red when the lights dim during FJ!, but from the second week until the end of Season 21, the set goes back to staying blue throughout the entire episode. The set changing to red for the thinking period in FJ! becomes permanent starting in Season 22.


Does anyone wish for any of these practices to be brought back?
Last edited by jeopardyfan939 on Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:01 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by True North »

I miss the Audio Daily Doubles.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Bamaman »

I miss the players walking out during the introductions.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by jeopardyfan939 »

Bamaman wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:13 pm I miss the players walking out during the introductions.
I was going to add that too.

For the first season, the contestants made their entrances from in front of the game board. Then from Season 2 until the end of Season 7, there was an entrance arch in which contestants entered during the introductions. However, that was removed starting with the grid set; and from then until Season 17, contestants simply walked on to the set.

But before S17, there were a few instances where the contestants were already at their podiums during the introductions. Most notably, this happened when Eddie Timanus won five games, but also during a 1989 episode and an early episode from S14 (I think it was October 1997, shortly after the set stopped changing to red for DJ!)
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by mas3cf »

There seem to be less opera, Shakespeare, Those Darn Etruscans, and Potent Potables categories than there used to be.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by MarkBarrett »

Lights, colors and sounds are popular things that many notice while others pay no attention to and don't care one way or another. I find it fascinating all of the details there are to observe over the years of J! running.

For a tradition to bring back I would nominate the yearly ToC. For whatever has caused the 2-year break pattern find a way to change things. Yes, for the staff it has to be extra work to work out everything from coordinated travel plans to sequester videos to sponsor participation to "harder" clues to whatever else goes into the event. I doubt that prize fund really matter for stretching the time between ToCs.

Emma was a 3x champ and had a very impressive tournament. Waiting to mostly get high-scoring 4x and above champs should not matter. A year is enough time to round up a worthy enough field. It was disappointing from a fan's point of the view that the most recent cut line of Alex Schmidt, Mary Ann Borer, Dave Leffler, Jackie Fuchs, Jonathan Dinerstein and John Presloid went too deep while on the flip side I do at times not sympathize well as thoughts of, "You should have won five games then" rest on my other shoulder.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Vermonter »

The extended 1980s theme (used for big events like TOC Finals) is one of the all-time great pump-up songs

Raw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6rHqrLA7aw

In action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JrNMYP75I
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Ivoryface86 »

There were a few pre-Season 17 instances I can think of where the players were introduced already in their positions, one was from Game #521(aired on December 1 or 8, 1986 depending on station) and Johnny Gilbert had to alternate his opening, the famous foreign tournament taking place in Stockholm, Sweden and of course the 3000th episode celebration(when the door stayed blue for FJ! due to the rest of the set being red and the FJ! category hasn't begun displaying on the upper left corner of the screen yet), and the 1997 Teen Tournament episodes from Washington D.C. and the entire week of episodes prior to the 1990 College Tournament as well as any other instances with players who were visually impaired or had polio.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by seaborgium »

Vermonter wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 7:30 pm The extended 1980s theme (used for big events like TOC Finals) is one of the all-time great pump-up songs

Raw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6rHqrLA7aw

In action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JrNMYP75I
They started out using the full intro on every game. Most of the time the music wouldn't get to the main theme before Alex came out and it faded out.

The first video has the ending of the theme, and I just heard it for literally the first time in over twenty years. Does anyone else remember ever hearing the song end on the show?
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by Ivoryface86 »

Another thing I miss is Alex reading all the answers in the episode, those were somewhat phased once Alex shaved off his mustache and simultaneously, the Clue Crew was brought in. Yeah, on October 6, 1997, the set continued to change colors but now only the door changes color, with the set staying blue, the door changes back to red for FJ!, the set then is only blue and purple all over the rest of the set. With Season 17 looming, they changed the door to white shaded. It was Harry Friedman who made the choice of keeping the set blue for DJ! and FJ! IIRC though, that was unannounced.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by John Boy »

I miss the seniors tournament, if only because it might give me a chance to get on at long, long last....
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by CasketRomance »

mas3cf wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:48 pm There seem to be less opera, Shakespeare, Those Darn Etruscans, and Potent Potables categories than there used to be.
is that a bad thing? doesn't seem like less shakespeare to me...seems there is a category every week involving that...too much bible imo...need to do away with that since this is a secular show...save that for that bible trivia show that used to air
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by mas3cf »

CasketRomance wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:57 pm
mas3cf wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:48 pm There seem to be less opera, Shakespeare, Those Darn Etruscans, and Potent Potables categories than there used to be.
is that a bad thing? doesn't seem like less shakespeare to me...seems there is a category every week involving that...too much bible imo...need to do away with that since this is a secular show...save that for that bible trivia show that used to air
Never said any of it was a bad thing... except that Shakespeare and opera are relatively easy to study for, and they seem to have been replaced with more stuff about movies, where there are about 50 gazillion things to know.

There does seem to be less Bible stuff than in the past, probably just like you say - to not favor one religion over others. You won't see me complaining about that.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by CasketRomance »

mas3cf wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:17 pm
CasketRomance wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:57 pm
mas3cf wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:48 pm There seem to be less opera, Shakespeare, Those Darn Etruscans, and Potent Potables categories than there used to be.
is that a bad thing? doesn't seem like less shakespeare to me...seems there is a category every week involving that...too much bible imo...need to do away with that since this is a secular show...save that for that bible trivia show that used to air
Never said any of it was a bad thing... except that Shakespeare and opera are relatively easy to study for, and they seem to have been replaced with more stuff about movies, where there are about 50 gazillion things to know.

There does seem to be less Bible stuff than in the past, probably just like you say - to not favor one religion over others. You won't see me complaining about that.

any is too mich
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by talkingaway »

seaborgium wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 7:58 pm
Vermonter wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 7:30 pm The extended 1980s theme (used for big events like TOC Finals) is one of the all-time great pump-up songs

Raw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6rHqrLA7aw

In action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JrNMYP75I
They started out using the full intro on every game. Most of the time the music wouldn't get to the main theme before Alex came out and it faded out.

The first video has the ending of the theme, and I just heard it for literally the first time in over twenty years. Does anyone else remember ever hearing the song end on the show?
I miss the old theme. It was daunting, and appropriately intimidating for those who wish to enter the hallowed halls of J!. The "new" theme is a little flowery for my taste.

Speaking of the complete theme....hum the victory theme to "The Price is Right" to yourself. (If you don't know which one - it starts out the same as the "losing horns" theme, but happy.) See if you can get it all. Here's a hint: It's about a minute long, and has four parts: the first, second, and fourth part are all similar, with a third part that's a "bridge". But...what comes AFTER the fourth part?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13tnjh3dZw4
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by davey »

mas3cf wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:17 pm
CasketRomance wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:57 pm
mas3cf wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:48 pm There seem to be less opera, Shakespeare, Those Darn Etruscans, and Potent Potables categories than there used to be.
is that a bad thing? doesn't seem like less shakespeare to me...seems there is a category every week involving that...too much bible imo...need to do away with that since this is a secular show...save that for that bible trivia show that used to air
Never said any of it was a bad thing... except that Shakespeare and opera are relatively easy to study for, and they seem to have been replaced with more stuff about movies, where there are about 50 gazillion things to know.

There does seem to be less Bible stuff than in the past, probably just like you say - to not favor one religion over others. You won't see me complaining about that.
By a very rough count in the archive there are over 300 hits for Shakespeare so far in 2019, and over 200 for Bible. Those counts are similar for all of 2009. So I don't see any evidence that either subject is diminishing on the show. Nor should they.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by cinemaniax7 »

Bamaman wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:13 pm I miss the players walking out during the introductions.
I was just saying the very same thing to my wife earlier this week.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by opusthepenguin »

mas3cf wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:17 pm There does seem to be less Bible stuff than in the past, probably just like you say - to not favor one religion over others. You won't see me complaining about that.
Has nothing to do with favoring one religion or not. Jeopardy! has always favored one CULTURE over all others and continues to do so. The Bible is an important part of that culture and therefore part of the J! canon. So are Shakespeare and western "classical" music. If those things are making fewer appearances in the clues, or if the pool of expected knowledge about them is shrinking, that's because they've become less important and less known in our culture. More's the pity, say I.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by squarekara »

I miss the "board shuffle" Beep Beep Boop Boop audio effect that preceded the category reveal.

Not coming out to center stage after FJ was fine by me. Not only did it save time, it allowed me play in my Crocs.
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Re: Long-standing Jeopardy Traditions That We haven't seen in a long time

Post by floridagator »

Someone ought to make a website showing changes to the Jeopardy set from season to season
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