2010s Decade Recap for Jeopardy!

[jeopardyfan939]

The 2010s was quite a decade for Jeopardy!, and here's what I think of it.

We start 2010 in Season 26. Jason Zollinger wins 6 games from January 12-20. On the April Fool's episode, Jeff Probst, Pat Sajak, and Neil Patrick Harris made cameo appearances; and an excerpt of a SNL skit was used at the start of FJ! Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational continued to be held the third Thursday of each month until May when the semifinals and finals are held the first week of that month; immediately it was followed by the 2010 ToC. Then we start Season 27. On 9/14/10, Roger Craig set a new one-day record with $77,000 breaking the previous record of $75,000 set by Ken Jennings on 7/23/04.

In 2011, we had the IBM Challenge, pitting Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and the Watson supercomputer head to head in an exhibition match. On 3/16/11, there's only one player for Final Jeopardy! The Teacher's Tournament debuts in May. Then in Season 28, Alex makes his entrance onto the set from behind the game board instead of through those sliding doors behind his lectern, and he also remains at his podium for most of the game. This was because he injured his achilles tendon while attempting to catch a robber in San Francisco earlier that summer. In the 2011 ToC, Roger Craig hits back-to-back Daily Doubles, goes all-in and responds correctly both times.

Come 2012, we had the College Championship and the Teachers Tournament held the entire month of February. The show goes to DAR Constitution Hall for the semifinals and finals of the Teen Tournament and Power Players Week. It had the infamous moment where Karim Abdul-Jabbar responded "What is X?" to the clue about the 5 MPAA ratings. Season 29 brought us more 5+ day champions such as Keith Whitener and Stephanie Jass. Teacher's Tournament is held in November.

Then in 2013, the Teen Tournament had some unforgettable moments. The first semifinal game had Jeopardy! round categories referencing Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe". The second semifinal match had no winners, which was the first time in any of the tournaments. And then Leonard Cooper wrote down "Who is some guy in Normandy but I just won $75,000?" as his FJ! response in the second match of the two-day finals. Colby Burnett won the 2013 ToC after winning the 2012-B Teachers Tournament. But Season 29 ended on kind of a sour note. Kids Week had an infamous moment where Thomas Hurley was penalized for a misspelling "emancipation" (he spelled it as "emanciptation") in his FJ! response. Season 30 was one of the best seasons ever, as it was a milestone. The current set was also introduced that season.

We kick off 2014 with Arthur Chu becoming the first 10+ game winner since David Madden, and he was notorious for implementing the Forrest Bounce strategy. Julia Collins wins 20 games and becomes the most successful female contestant on the show. And then we had the Battle of the Decades Tournament, where Brad Rutter regained the record for the biggest winner on game shows. We start Season 31 with Alex regrowing his mustache, only to shave it off a month into that season. Ben Ingram wins the 2014 ToC. As soon as regular games resume, the tiebreaker rule goes into effect on regular play, and there are no more co-champions from then on. Kids Week is held for the final time in December.

In 2015, a single-player Final Jeopardy! occurs for the second time in regular play. Alex Jacob won six games, and was the first gambler to be a contestant. Celebrity Jeopardy! is held for the last time in May; and in the last game, "The Pen Is Mightier"(a category used in one of the SNL skits) is used as a DJ! category. Then we kick of Season 32, which was more interesting than Season 31. On 9/16/15 challenger Talia Lavin gets Alex to say "Turd Ferguson" by putting it in her FJ! response. Matt Jackson wins 13 games, but in the 2015 ToC Alex Jacob steamrolls both games in the final round. For a brief time, Alex remains at his lectern during the whole game after a knee-replacement surgery.

2016 comes, and for the fourth time a game in regular play ends with no winner as everyone finishes with $0 scores. Philip Tiu bets $19,000 on a Daily Double, surpassing Roger Craig for the largest DD bet. Buzzy Cohen wins nine games, and in his later games he references the SNL Jeopardy! skits in his FJ! responses (saying things like "see you tomorrow Trebek", you ain't rid of me yet Trebek"). Semifinals and finals of the Teachers Tournament along with Power Players Week are held at DAR Constitution Hall. Season 33 came and the board fill sound was changed. Teen Tournament is held after a two-year hiatus. Cindy Stowell won 6 games but passed away a week before her shows aired.

2017 came, and there wasn't anything very memorable for the rest of Season 33, other than the usual tournaments. Then Season 34 came, which had more unforgettable moments. Austin Rogers won 12 games. Manny Abel won his third game with a $1 score. Then Buzzy Cohen won the 2017 ToC. The introductions in the first final match were hilarious because Alan Lin, Buzzy, and Austin did robotic gestures; Alex also did robotic movements when he walked onto the set.

We kicked off 2018 with Gilbert Collins and Rachel Lindgren winning 5 games, one right after the other. We had the first tiebreaker round in regular play on 3/1/18. Ryan Fenster won his first four games in late January and early February and was brought back in July to win his next four matches. Then Season 35 came and was another milestone. Alex had a beard for the first week but then became clean shaven. Drafting for the All-Star Games was streamed on Facebook on 9/24/18.

And finally 2019 came, and it didn't start off well. 2018 Teachers Tournament winner Larry Martin passed away on 1/25/19. There was the four-day "curse" where Anneke Garcia, Eric R. Backes, and Lindsey Shultz only won four games in each of their runs. In February, we had the All-Star Games. Team Brad won with the $1M top prize being split with Brad Rutter, Larissa Kelley, and David Madden. In March, Alex was diagnosed with stage-4 pancreatic cancer. Steven Grade ended the four-day "curse". Then right after that, James Holzhauer won 32 games and obliterated several records in the process. On 4/9/19 he breaks the one-day record with $110,914; he breaks his own record on 4/17/19 with $131,127. But he ultimately came up short of Ken Jennings's regular-game cash record when he lost to Emma Boettcher on 6/3/19. For the first time since Season 23, we had a two Teen Tournaments held in the same season. To close out Season 35, Jason Zuffranieri won his first six games. Season 36 came, and Jason won his next 13 matches and surpassing David Madden as the third-highest money winner in regular play. In November, James Holzhauer won the 2019 ToC, getting revenge on Emma Boettcher in the process.

What did you guys think of the 2010s so far?

[triviawayne]

What did you guys think of the 2010s so far?

so far? I think they're over, we're good to say overall.

[kablamfan11]

It was a good decade with James Holzhauer & all the special tournaments. Really fun then the 2000's, 1990's & 1980's

[kablamfan11]

What did you guys think of the 2010s so far?

so far? I think they're over, we're good to say overall.

The 2020's decade will start good with tomorrow night's documentary & special Jeopardy! The Greatest Show of All Time tournament.

[MarkBarrett]

If all of the other ToC winners get a mention then I cry foul at Vijay Balse not getting the same nod. Good job hitting so many highlights in short space.

[jeopardyfan939]

What did you guys think of the 2010s so far?

so far? I think they're over, we're good to say overall.

The 2020's decade will start good with tomorrow night's documentary & special Jeopardy! The Greatest Show of All Time tournament.

Is the documentary airing on ABC?

And I agree that the 2020s will kick off on a good note, especially with the GOAT tourney.

[Roadgeek Adam]

ABC at 8 EST

[kablamfan11]

What did you guys think of the 2010s so far?

so far? I think they're over, we're good to say overall.

The 2020's decade will start good with tomorrow night's documentary & special Jeopardy! The Greatest Show of All Time tournament.

Is the documentary airing on ABC?

And I agree that the 2020s will kick off on a good note, especially with the GOAT tourney.

Yes. The documentary is on ABC.

[opusthepenguin]

It was a fine decade for Jeopardy! and a few other things but awful in other respects. I still can't shake the feeling that I stumbled into the wrong timeline and I need to go back to the bifurcation point. Oh well. Maybe now that we're in a named decade for the first time in 20 years--The Twenties!--maybe things will get back on track.

[ElendilPickle]

Kids Week had an infamous moment where Thomas Hurley was penalized for a misspelling in his FJ! response despite responding correctly.

He didn't respond correctly; he misspelled his response. There is no such word as emanciptation.

[jeopardyfan939]

It was a good decade with James Holzhauer & all the special tournaments. Really fun then the 2000's, 1990's & 1980's

The 2000s were memorable but in their own way.

2000 began in Season 16. During the College Championship in February, the Rock & Roll Jeopardy! think cue is used for the FJ! segment. Robin Carroll becomes a 5-time undefeated champion and wins her ToC taped in Atlanta. On 7/5/00 Johnny accidentally says "Glen Trebek" when he introduces Alex. Season 17 came, and Brad Rutter became a five-time undefeated champion.

In 2001, the show went to the Las Vegas Hilton for Celebrity Jeopardy! and the International Tournament. The 2001-2008 theme debuted with these episodes, and was put permanently into use on 4/23/01. Season 18 saw the introduction of the Clue Crew, and Alex shaved off his mustache. Brad Rutter won his ToC. The clue values are increased to their current amounts on 11/26/01.

2002 came, and we had the Million Dollar Master's Tournament at Radio City Music Hall; Brad Rutter won the event. Runners up began receiving cash prizes of $2000 and $1000 for second and third place, respectively. Then Season 19 came, where Myron Meyer set a one-day record with $50,000. 11/8/02 was the last show to use the sushi bar set. The College Championship was held at Ohio State University. And the metallic set was introduced on 11/25/02.

2003 kicked off with Kids Week. But more memorable was Brian Weilke breaking the one-day cash record with $52,000 in his third game. Mark Dawson won the 2003 ToC. In Season 20, the five-day limit for returning champions was lifted. Sean Ryan became the first six-day champion.

2004 would be one of the best years for Jeopardy! Tom Walsh started off the year becoming the first seven-day champion. Kids Week and Power Players Week were both held at DAR Constitution Hall, and this began the tradition of holding the latter during presidential election years. Then Ken Jennings won his first 38 games and became the first multi-millionaire in regular-play. On the Season 20 finale (7/23/04), he broke the one-day cash record with $75,000. Season 21 picked up right where we left off. Ken continued his winning streak and won over $2.5 million overall. But on 11/30/04, he lost to Nancy Zerg.

2005 came, and the Ultimate Tournament of Champions was held. Ken Jennings was automatically a finalist because of his game show record at the time. He faced off against Brad Rutter and Jerome Vered. But Brad prevailed, claiming the game show record from Ken. David Madden won 14 games to conclude Season 21, and Season 22 came. David won his final five games. The set background changed to red when the lights dimmed during the FJ! segment.

2006 came, and we had back-to-back 7 and 6 time champions in Tom Kavanaugh and Kevin Marshall, respectively. Bob Mesko became the first 5-time champion where he was brought back later due to a ruling mistake. Michael Falk won the 2006 ToC. Celeste DiNucci won 5 games very late in Season 22. Season 23 came, and Jeopardy! began broadcasting in HD. The metallic set underwent a few changes to accomodate the 16:9 aspect ratio. On 9/25/06, the ring-in lights were changed from red back to white because of visibility issues. Two weeks of Celebrity Jeopardy! games were held at Radio City Music Hall.

2007 brought us a few infamous and memorable moments. In the third semi-final match Teen Tournament, Stephen Fritz says the f-word under his breath after responding incorrectly to the clue about the actress who played Queen Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. On 3/16/07 the first nonzero three-way tie occurred, with all three players finishing with $16,000 apiece. And on 6/15/07 Jared Cohen wrote "What is Kebert Xela?"as his FJ! response. Season 23 concluded with the Teen Tournament Summer Games. And for the first time, the Teen Tournament was held twice in the same season. Then Season 24 came. On 9/13/07, contestant Dave Henek, after hitting a Daily Double in the DJ! round, said "Alex I always wanted to say this I'd like to solve the puzzle". And on 10/25/07, there was the hilarious moment where Kevin Antonio wrote "What is Lady Godiva?"as his FJ! response. Celeste DiNucci won the 2007 ToC later in November.

2008 started with Dan Pawson becoming a nine-day champion. On the April Fools episode, Alex wore a fake mustache for the Jeopardy! round segment. On 5/1/08 Paul Thomas couldn't get his pen to function during FJ! and wrote his response on an index card with a permanent marker; and he was brought back on the next episode as an untied co-champion. Larissa Kelley became the most successful female contestant at the time, after winning 6 games and over $200K. Season 25 came and was a milestone season; and the current music package debuted. The original board fill sound and loading pattern were retired; the dollar figures were already present on the Jeopardy! round board following the introductions. There were champion updates and "Ask Alex"segments on select episodes. On 9/24/08, Brian Levinson impersonated Sean Connery from the SNL skits when he selected the top clue from the category "Starts with 'Feb' Trebek". The 2008-B Teen Tournament used the R&R J! think music for the FJ! round.

Finally in 2009, one celebrity match and the ToC were taped at that year's CES in Las Vegas. A new high-tech state-of-the-art set was used for those episodes. Then Season 26 came, and the new set was put permanently into use in Culver City. The dollar figures popped in on the Jeopardy! round board but with a new sound effect and new loading pattern. Million Dollar Celebrity quarterfinal matches were held the third Thursday of each month. On 11/23/09, categories from the SNL skits were used for the Jeopardy! round.

[kablamfan11]

It was a good decade with James Holzhauer & all the special tournaments. Really fun then the 2000's, 1990's & 1980's

The 2000s were memorable but in their own way.

2000 began in Season 16. During the College Championship in February, the Rock & Roll Jeopardy! think cue is used for the FJ! segment. Robin Carroll becomes a 5-time undefeated champion and wins her ToC taped in Atlanta. On 7/5/00 Johnny accidentally says "Glen Trebek" when he introduces Alex. Season 17 came, and Brad Rutter became a five-time undefeated champion.

In 2001, the show went to the Las Vegas Hilton for Celebrity Jeopardy! and the International Tournament. The 2001-2008 theme debuted with these episodes, and was put permanently into use on 4/23/01. Season 18 saw the introduction of the Clue Crew, and Alex shaved off his mustache. Brad Rutter won his ToC. The clue values are increased to their current amounts on 11/26/01.

2002 came, and we had the Million Dollar Master's Tournament at Radio City Music Hall; Brad Rutter won the event. Runners up began receiving cash prizes of $2000 and $1000 for second and third place, respectively. Then Season 19 came, where Myron Meyer set a one-day record with $50,000. 11/8/02 was the last show to use the sushi bar set. The College Championship was held at Ohio State University. And the metallic set was introduced on 11/25/02.

2003 kicked off with Kids Week. But more memorable was Brian Weilke breaking the one-day cash record with $52,000 in his third game. Mark Dawson won the 2003 ToC. In Season 20, the five-day limit for returning champions was lifted. Sean Ryan became the first six-day champion.

2004 would be one of the best years for Jeopardy! Tom Walsh started off the year becoming the first seven-day champion. Kids Week and Power Players Week were both held at DAR Constitution Hall, and this began the tradition of holding the latter during presidential election years. Then Ken Jennings won his first 38 games and became the first multi-millionaire in regular-play. On the Season 20 finale (7/23/04), he broke the one-day cash record with $75,000. Season 21 picked up right where we left off. Ken continued his winning streak and won over $2.5 million overall. But on 11/30/04, he lost to Nancy Zerg.

2005 came, and the Ultimate Tournament of Champions was held. Ken Jennings was automatically a finalist because of his game show record at the time. He faced off against Brad Rutter and Jerome Vered. But Brad prevailed, claiming the game show record from Ken. David Madden won 14 games to conclude Season 21, and Season 22 came. David won his final five games. The set background changed to red when the lights dimmed during the FJ! segment.

2006 came, and we had back-to-back 7 and 6 time champions in Tom Kavanaugh and Kevin Marshall, respectively. Bob Mesko became the first 5-time champion where he was brought back later due to a ruling mistake. Michael Falk won the 2006 ToC. Celeste DiNucci won 5 games very late in Season 22. Season 23 came, and Jeopardy! began broadcasting in HD. The metallic set underwent a few changes to accomodate the 16:9 aspect ratio. On 9/25/06, the ring-in lights were changed from red back to white because of visibility issues. Two weeks of Celebrity Jeopardy! games were held at Radio City Music Hall.

2007 brought us a few infamous and memorable moments. In the third semi-final match Teen Tournament, Stephen Fritz says the f-word under his breath after responding incorrectly to the clue about the actress who played Queen Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. On 3/16/07 the first nonzero three-way tie occurred, with all three players finishing with $16,000 apiece. And on 6/15/07 Jared Cohen wrote "What is Kebert Xela?"as his FJ! response. Season 23 concluded with the Teen Tournament Summer Games. And for the first time, the Teen Tournament was held twice in the same season. Then Season 24 came. On 9/13/07, contestant Dave Henek, after hitting a Daily Double in the DJ! round, said "Alex I always wanted to say this I'd like to solve the puzzle". And on 10/25/07, there was the hilarious moment where Kevin Antonio wrote "What is Lady Godiva?"as his FJ! response. Celeste DiNucci won the 2007 ToC later in November.

2008 started with Dan Pawson becoming a nine-day champion. On the April Fools episode, Alex wore a fake mustache for the Jeopardy! round segment. On 5/1/08 Paul Thomas couldn't get his pen to function during FJ! and wrote his response on an index card with a permanent marker; and he was brought back on the next episode as an untied co-champion. Larissa Kelley became the most successful female contestant at the time, after winning 6 games and over $200K. Season 25 came and was a milestone season; and the current music package debuted. The original board fill sound and loading pattern were retired; the dollar figures were already present on the Jeopardy! round board following the introductions. There were champion updates and "Ask Alex"segments on select episodes. On 9/24/08, Brian Levinson impersonated Sean Connery from the SNL skits when he selected the top clue from the category "Starts with 'Feb' Trebek". The 2008-B Teen Tournament used the R&R J! think music for the FJ! round.

Finally in 2009, one celebrity match and the ToC were taped at that year's CES in Las Vegas. A new high-tech state-of-the-art set was used for those episodes. Then Season 26 came, and the new set was put permanently into use in Culver City. The dollar figures popped in on the Jeopardy! round board but with a new sound effect and new loading pattern. Million Dollar Celebrity quarterfinal matches were held the third Thursday of each month. On 11/23/09, categories from the SNL skits were used for the Jeopardy! round.

I remember those memorable moments from the 2000's decade.

[kickerofelves]

What did you guys think of the 2010s so far?

I think it's safe to say, it will likely remain my favorite decade as far as the show is concerned.

[jeopardyfan939]

What did you guys think of the 2010s so far?

I think it's safe to say, it will likely remain my favorite decade as far as the show is concerned.

I can say the 2010s had more memorable moments than the 2000s did, especially Season 30 and later, because there were more big-time champions (Julia, Austin, Arthur, Seth, Matt, James, Jason).

[jeopardyfan939]

And I agree that the 2020s will kick off on a good note, especially with the GOAT tourney.

We start 2020 in Season 36, with Karen Farrell becoming the second 8-time champion after Jennifer Quail. Then we have the Greatest of All-Time showdown from January 7—14. Ken Jennings wins the event, the title, and the $1M grand prize, finally winning a tournament and prevailing over Brad Rutter (I had mixed emotions since I was rooting for James). MacKenzie Jones becomes the third 8-time champion in S36, followed by a 5-time winner in Paul Trifletti. But then COVID-19 hits and further production of new episodes is suspended indefinitely. The College Championship airs April 6—17, and uses the Sports Jeopardy! theme music. During the first two weeks of May, the GOAT tournament is reran although split up into 8 half-hour episodes, as well as the first and last games of Ken Jennings' original run. Season 36 ends on June 12 with Zach Newkirk winning his first four games. For the rest of the summer, select episodes featuring participants from the most recent ToC in their original runs (including eventual ToC champion James Holzhauer) were re-ran, leading up to a re-airing of the ToC itself. Afterwards, the Jeopardy! Vault is aired, featuring episodes mostly from the '80s and '90s (but also the early 2000s and early 2010s). And finally, four weeks of S36 are repeated, including the College Championship. In August, production resumes due to restrictions being lifted. Then Season 37 kicks off, and the globe intro makes another comeback, this time resembling the one from the mid-1990s. The set is slightly modified to accomodate social distancing measures. Mike Richards succeeds Harry Friedman as the executive producer. Ken Jennings joins the staff as a consulting producer and films video clues for some episodes. At first, only residents of Southern California were eligible to be on the show, which is why Zach Newkirk didn't return on the show for many months. Kevin Walsh becomes a 5-time champion in November; in his fourth game, there is another single-player Final Jeopardy! Then, alas; Alex passes away on November 8 after year-and-eight-month battle with pancreatic cancer. From this point on, episodes end with a title card reading "Dedicated to Alex Trebek / Forever in our Hearts / Always our Inspiration". The last two weeks of 2020 feature reruns of episodes where Alex gives video clues from various locations around the world.

2021 kicks off with Alex's final episodes, including the last two games of 5-time champion Brayden Smith (the last 5-time champ in the Trebek era). On January 11, Ken Jennings becomes a guest host. Brian Chang wins 7 matches, making him the first 5+ game champion in the post-Trebek era; he implemented some of James Holzhauer's strategies (mostly selecting clues at or near the bottom of the board). Zach Newkirk finally returns after a long wait and wins his next two games. Numerous other guest hosts finish off the season, including eventual co-host Mayim Bialik; many of them donate the total winnings to their respective charities. 2017 ToC winner Buzzy Cohen guest-hosts the 2021 ToC, which is won by Sam Kavanaugh. Courtney Shah wins 7 games from late June to early July. And then Matt Amodio wins his first 18 games to finish off the season. We then start Season 38 with Matt Amodio winning his next 20 games; and the main theme song is given a new arrangement, albeit based on the 2008 version. For the first week only, Mike Richards is the host but steps down; he is ultimately fired as the executive producer of both Jeopardy! and its sister show Wheel of Fortune. As a result, Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings split hosting duties for the rest of Season 38. Mayim is announced as "the host of Jeopardy!" while Ken is announced as "hosting Jeopardy!" On 10/1/21, Matt Amodio surpasses James Holzhauer for the second longest winning streak. But on 10/11/21, he loses to Jonathan Fisher, who goes on to win 11 games of his own. Tyler Rhode and Andrew He then become 5-time champions with only a short amount of time in between their runs. In November, Ken hosts for the first time this season, and Amy Schneider's streak begins. In December, the first-ever Professors Tournament is held, hosted by Mayim.

We begin 2022 with Amy Schneider becoming a 40-time champion and surpassing Julia Colins as the most successful female contestant as well as the first woman millionaire on the program. She is defeated by Rhone Talsma on 1/26/22. After Amy's streak ends we have a brief 4-game "curse" (similar to what happened in Season 35). But then Mattea Roach becomes a 23-time champion. And shortly after Mattea's streak ends, Ryan Long goes on a 16-game winning streak. Long is defeated by 6-time champion Eric Ahasic, who in turn is defeated by another 6-time winner in Wachspress. For Season 39, Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik are named permanent co-hosts. The ToC is reformatted.