J! in the Media

[Trevor807]

1 episode of Picard, and mailbox money from BBT.

So in other words: no arc.

I think his rep today consists mainly of being the Ready Room host ridiculed in redlettermedia review videos.

I don't know if that show ended up being produced by Michael Davies, but initially, it was supposed to be (as Talking Trek).

Actually, that was a different podcast Davo produced (After Trek). The Ready Room replaced it.

[Robert K S]

Actually, that was a different podcast Davo produced (After Trek). The Ready Room replaced it.

I knew Davies produced After Trek, but wasn't sure whether its successor (originally titled Talking Trek, renamed Ready Room) was still produced by Embassy Row. (Sorry to actually your actually.)

[Trevor807]

Yeah, I can't find anything connecting Davies/Embassy Row with Ready Room.

[Robert K S]

You know what? I had it wrong. Talking Trek was the original name for After Trek, not Ready Room.

[floridagator]

Some Jennings-Holzhauer banter makes the Huffington Post

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeopardy ... 0612ed7980

[floridagator]

A final jeopardy subject is happy with the fame

Screenshot_20230516-112019_Chrome.jpg (325.82 KiB) Viewed 663 times

[Trevor807]

Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/jeopard ... ialik.html

One of Davies' quotes caught my eye:

There's a very healthy pushback against me.

Gee, maybe there wouldn't be such a pushback if you were actually not an idiot.

[alietr]

Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/jeopard ... ialik.html

One of Davies' quotes caught my eye:

There's a very healthy pushback against me.

Gee, maybe there wouldn't be such a pushback if you were actually not an idiot.

He's not an idiot, but he does seem to have a different vision for the show than many of us.

[Trevor807]

And that vision will end up felling the show and likely his career in the long run, unless Sony has enough sense to fire him and promote a staffer who actually knows enough about the show.

[Anachronism]

Those of us who remember when WWTBAM was a prime-time phenomenon know exactly what happened. It got produced. Everything that gave it character became produced, with "vision".

The result was something that still had appeal, since the concept was a good one. But it was a shadow of its original self.

Is this what's happening to Jeopardy the last couple of years? I think so. And this masters concept is as bad as all the second chances and celebrity chances. They won't kill the show - it's too big and Davies seems to understand that changes that affect whether the boards are completed 98% of the time amount to a line that can't be crossed. It's just not what it was with Alex.

It's not that Ken Jennings or even Mayim (long, awkward pause, that's right) Bialik aren't good at this, and can take the mantle moving forward. It's all the new production - the move away from what made the show special to begin with.

I've got a week or so on the DVR right now, and it feels like a chore to get through - might just hit the delete button to catch up.

[Trevor807]

He's doing literally everything we were all fearing Mike Richards would do back in 2020.

[MinnesotaMyron]

And this masters concept is as bad as all the second chances and celebrity chances.

Strongly disagree. Extra Jeopardy on ABC Primetime is only a good thing, and the Masters Tournament has been a ratings blockbuster. I'm much less a fan of the Second Chance stuff, and even less of a fan of what they're apparently going to do next season.

[Trevor807]

If Davies truly "got" the show as I once thought, he would've decided against the Second Chances altogether. Or at least after seeing Jessica and rowan get creamed in the ToC. He certainly wouldn't have gone through with his dream postseason idea.

[OntarioQuizzer]

If Davies truly "got" the show as I once thought, he would've decided against the Second Chances altogether. Or at least after seeing Jessica and rowan get creamed in the ToC. He certainly wouldn't have gone through with his dream postseason idea.

With all due respect, in what universe does a 5-digit Coryat in a ToC quarterfinal constitute getting "creamed"?

[Trevor807]

Okay, after some remembering, I can accept that rowan stood out. Jessica, though... yeah... that gimmick wasn't exactly thought through all the way. Anyway, moving on.

[Robert K S]

I've enjoyed the Masters tournament. All the contestants have charm and wit and have shown (or have been permitted to show?) more personality than we get in regular play. It helps that they all (as far as I can tell) like each other and that some of them have gotten chances to hang IRL prior to the tournament, fraternization that might be disqualifying in regular play. The Tournament has given us a number of funny, memeable moments that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. My only complaint about it is the predictability of who's taking home the big purse.

Jeopardy! could be killed by overexposure, but I don't think 2-4 primetime tournaments is going to do it. I don't really understand the wisdom of the SCC+CWC+TOC+JIT+Masters construct like was parodied(?) over on reddit, but I'm willing to give it a try.

[Anachronism]

And this masters concept is as bad as all the second chances and celebrity chances.

Strongly disagree. Extra Jeopardy on ABC Primetime is only a good thing, and the Masters Tournament has been a ratings blockbuster. I'm much less a fan of the Second Chance stuff, and even less of a fan of what they're apparently going to do next season.

There's something to be said for Masters and Celebrity going prime-time, but what Masters is doing is creating cultivated celebrities out of the organic Jeopardy mix. Once that happens, once they've been on a few times and become a brand, they're no longer amateurs. They're professional game show contestants. It has a very different feel.

With the Celebrities, you have the watered-down boards (and the amusing denials of the obvious) and part of the fun if you watch is making fun of them (doesn't work for me). With the Masters, it's more a perverting of the concept. Obviously, the ratings show immediate success, but what's the cost?

I don't think they'd have the extra tournaments if they weren't trying to produce more characters for the Masters concept, more professionals.

It sounds a lot like "get off my lawn", but why is it necessary to change something that's become such an extraordinary part of our culture?

[morbeedo]

Ack. So much disdain for Jeopardy! Second Chance. I thought last year's SCC was good tv and the ratings were pretty good, too.

Just saw that WOF is bringing people back for another spin of the wheel. Everyone is doing it!

[mfc248]

And this masters concept is as bad as all the second chances and celebrity chances.

Strongly disagree. Extra Jeopardy on ABC Primetime is only a good thing, and the Masters Tournament has been a ratings blockbuster. I'm much less a fan of the Second Chance stuff, and even less of a fan of what they're apparently going to do next season.

I'm exactly where Myron is on this. Davies stated that he feels 30 weeks of regular games per season is enough. Aside from the 111 special-play games in Season 21 due to the UToC, the most in any other season to date is 55 (Season 30, which included Battle of the Decades). He now proposes to make 70-80 special-play games per season the norm. I think this is a more fundamental change to the structure of the syndicated program than he does. And throw on top of that what was mentioned in the last paragraph.
Masters has given us exciting and entertaining high-level play, worthy of being showcased in primetime.

The quote that drew my attention, and caused me in fact to laugh out loud, was this one:

The quality of the writing has never been stronger. I see it improving constantly.

Contrast this with another view, from OntarioQuizzer on May 3, the day after the "Eros/Cupid" issue, and in response to it:

It’s become clear to me—and I’m honestly surprised that this hasn’t caught up to the show by this point, with the show having gone through months of different hosts after Alex Trebek’s death—that having Alex Trebek’s 35+ years of experience caused the show’s writers and researchers to let bad trivia-writing habits creep into their writing.
…
It appears that the writers & researchers have been finalizing incomplete material. If your material is incomplete to the point where your moderator needs to know the similarities between Eros and Cupid to save your bacon, then that is a critical writing flaw that needs to be rectified.

The Final Jeopardy! clues on March 24, January 11, and of course November 16 this season alone poke holes in Davies's evaluation of the quality of writing on the show. (This decline in quality is why I don't think expanding production to year-round would be a wise decision to compensate for the truncation of the regular season, as has been suggested.)

Okay, after some remembering, I can accept that rowan stood out. Jessica, though... yeah... that gimmick wasn't exactly thought through all the way. Anyway, moving on.

FWIW, the Coryats alone sufficed to give John a lock game in ToC QF4.

[Leander]

I will admit I’m enjoying the Masters tournament, and I didn’t really intend to watch much of it, but I do think it’s running a few episodes too long given that it’s the same pool of contestants every night.