Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Is Jeopardy dumbing down?

I've been distinctly disappointed by a couple of the Final Jeopardies I've witnessed recently. I remember a time, not too long ago, when I found pretty much every Final Jeopardy to be utterly obscure, but a couple of weeks ago my jaw dropped when I saw this one:
This Britishism is a homophone of one of the letters of the alphabet, and is spelled with a consonant followed by a line of four vowels.
One of the contestants actually missed this one.

And just now, I saw this one:
This elevated area, where the Dome of the Rock sits, is also called this, after a different religious building
Two of the three contestants (including the returning champion) missed this one.

I mean, OK, maybe they're a little tricky, especially when you're working under a time limit with that annoying theme music going, but they hardly require the heroic feats of arcane knowledge that were required of Jeopardy champions in the past.

Maybe Jeopardy is under pressure to dumb down, what with all the competitor game shows where you can basically win a million dollars for being able to count to 30. But, come on, Trebek, where's your pride?

It's just so sad.

7 comments:

Toby said...

Today's Final Jeopardy: "In 2006 this show based on a 1911 work became the longest-running show in Broadway history".

You might not know the right one for sure, but pretty much everyone has about a 1-in-3 chance of guessing it.

Another piece of my childhood is dead.

Anonymous said...

Well, only one person got the Fianl Jepordary question the other day about William Jennings Byran's "Cross of Gold" speech so "Toby" might be on to something.

Anonymous said...

This elevated area, where the Dome of the Rock sits, is also called this, after a different religious building>> so what's the answer then? I'm dumb.

Anonymous said...

The show has definitely been dumbed down. After watching tonight I was shocked soI typed "jeopary dumbed down" in my search engine and found this page. Tonights final question-
topic: country demographics- Because of a policy adopted in 1979, this country's young people are collectively referred to as "Little Emperors". Hmm could it be China?!
At least ask what the policy is.
Basically regular jeopardy shows are now like the dumbed down celebrity shows. So now are the celeb shows EVEN dumber?!? What is going on here?!?

Anonymous said...

Maybe we were a little slow to catch on, but Wow! Some nights I get so many correct, I actually believe I could be on the show! And what is with the 'question' practically being given away with hints in the 'answer'? Tonight a catagory is actually types of SUVs with plenty of hints to give it away. They are going the way of our schools - duh.............

Jordan Williams said...

Yes, I've noticed this too. and like someone who posted earlier... wanted to see if anyone else felt the same way. and i was thinking the exact thing... maybe I could be on this show! but then i remembered what Jeopardy used to be like and thought no way. but maybe if this continues...

Anonymous said...

I searched on this topic during the teachers tournament. I am a fan of jeopardy, and I often feel I could win if I was there live, but the teachers tournaments take the cake.