When did "Jeopardy!" become "Jeopardy! for Dummies!" (1 Viewer)

Since the addition of my Replay TV, I have been recording this show as it comes on twice a day here in Dallas. The thing that strikes me as I get back into watching the show for the first time in a while is how much easier they have made the show today.
The show is almost a joke. They have tried to broaden its appeal, but in my mind The Weakest Link is a better trivia game show.
Some points:
1. The categories are too tricked up. You used to have "normal" categories like: "The Bible", "British History", "Authors", etc - but now they are trying to be cool with their play on words and ambigous categories. It ain't working.
2. Only the [$400,$500] and [$800,$1000] are even moderately tough. On the others you can see that all of the contestants know the question, and whoever is lucky enough to ring in gets a softball of a question. Boring.
3. They need to start upping the prize money. This show hasn't kept up with inflation since the 80's. Compared with Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and Weakest Link this show is cheap, cheap, cheap.

Is Jeopardy about the prestege or the money?

The questions are still way harder then most of the questions asked on the pseudo quiz show, "Who wants to be a Millionare?"
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I've been a big Jeopardy fan since the 80s and I'd have to agree with you. It seems lately they have made it much goofier and much easier. I have been getting a lot of final jeopardy and $800 and $1000 questions correct lately and I am not THAT smart ("don't kid yourself, you're a terrific slouch"-Fletch).
And they should bump those dollar amounts up. Its about time !
Has anyone else noticed the number of 5 time champions lately. They all seem to be 5 timers and why "in the name of all that is Holy" (-Better Off Dead) do the 5 timers always pick the two camaros ??? (dont answer that).
Anyway, after that little bickering thing between Alex T. and Regis P., I think they re-tooled Jepoardy to appeal to more people.
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Watch "Win Ben Stein's Money". The questions are HARD, and the top prize is only $5000. PLus it's funny (too bad no more Jimmy Kimmel )
Jeff Kleist

quote: ("don't kid yourself, you're a terrific slouch"-Fletch).[/quote]
You mean Ty Webb (Caddyshack)
I also think the prize money should be increased, although there is a difference between a daytime game show and prime time. Once when I had nothing better to do, I calculated the theoretical maximum Jeopardy payout to be $299,200.
This maximum assumes:
1. You answer every question correctly.
2. Each daily double is on the lowest dollar value ($100 in the first round and twice on $200 in the second round).
3. The daily double is the last question of the first round and the last two questions of the second round.
4. You bet your entire amount on the daily doubles and on Final Jeopardy.
It would take major luck and knowledge (and stones) to do this, but wouldn't it be cool?

Ya, Win Ben Steins Money is hard, frigging hard. I've watched it here and there and I've been pretty much stumped the entire program. Whereas on Jeopardy, I get some right.
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Joe Dahlen
"Take hold of the flame, you've got nothing to lose, but everything to gain."

Living out of the US "Ben Steins Money" is the only game show I miss being able to watch. I agree Jeopardy became much easier.
kd

I remember watching Jeopardy as a kid. My father knew almost every answer. I thought he was a genius and he was. My father is very very smart. He was a super crossword puzzle dude. That's where he gained a lot of knowledge. When I was 14 - 15, I was lucky if I could answer two questions in the first round. Now, even I can answer almost every question (85%, honest)unless the category is literature or opera. My wife and kids think I'm a genius. Ha !! It's funny how you guys say the questions are easier. I had convinced myself that I was getting smarter. Ha !
The worst thing about Jeopardy is the ringing in.
The first 5 questions in WWTBAM are so easy it's not even entertaining. They are a complete waste of air time.
On Saturday's there use to be some kind of game show for college kids. I can't remember the name of it. Scholastic College Bowl??...Collegiate Bowl or something. Man !! Those questions were hard !!!!
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I've noticed this too. Its as if they are using catagories intended for "celebrity" jeopardy eposides... but for non-celebs.
"Millionare" eased-up its qualification setup because of complaints that there weren't enough women and minorities on the show.

I was watching "Ben Stein" the other day and someone got ALL 10 of the final questions right. Ben got 7. I think I would have gotten 2 or 3 (and I can usually get at least 5). The questions were downright impossible.
I was obviously an old episode since Jimmy Kimmel was on it (he said "Hey Stein, you're screwed!" before he started reading the ?s to him) but they said it was first time someone's gotten all 10 right.

Hey I thought I was getting smarter, not that the questions were getting easier! ha There are some pretty obvious questions but it is still pretty tough sometimes, a lot harder than Weakest Link/Millionaire. I like the non-standard catagories too. Sometimes they're dumb but they make you think a little more sometimes. If you want a tough trivia show watch History IQ on the History channel. They ask some pretty obscure/tough things.

I find Rock N Roll Jeopardy kinda tough... but I'm not up on my music trivia unless it's somewhat recent.

MikeS:
I'm not sure but I think this is what Timmy meant. You know how at the beggining, when they start off with 10 people in the speed round or whatever they call it? In the period that I watched the show there were very few women and very very very few minorities, especially Blacks. So few that not only was it noticable but after a few weeks it seemed deliberate and finally offensive. I'm no extremist but that how I felt. I guess there's some kind of qualification round to get to be one of the 10. I think Timmy is inferring that that standards for that qualification round have been "relaxed" helping more women & minorities get to the speed round. I stopped watching the show but I bet he is probably correct.
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I haven't watched "Millionaire" in a while so I'm not sure if they're still doing it the same way, but when they first started the selection process was done over the phone. Prospective contestants would dial a toll free number and answer a series of questions by punching numbers on their phone. The contestants who made it to the show were those who got all the answers correct in the least amount of time. The selection process was completely race and gender blind. It stumped the producers of the show why they weren't getting more women and minorities. Regis even talked about it before one show. He practically begged the under-represented groups to pick up the phone and give it a try.

I'm reviving this old thread to talk about Ken Jennings, the man from Utah who has now won 12 days in a row and more than $400,000 in winnings.

It'll be interesting to see how far he goes and how much he wins. I don't think I've seen the guy get flustered at all. For him it's all about timing with the buzzer.

Rumor has it:

He wins 29 in a row and then loses on a mispronunciation. This from the comments on fark.com on a story linked there from the NY Post on him and his winning streak.

I think it's crazy that that guy keeps winning. I would think he would at least let someone else have a chance. This just shows that the new rule of going till you lose is stupid.

And yes, Jeopardy is way too easy.

Man oh man, do I ever hope that spoiler above is wrong. I can hardly stand to watch the show lately, that guy is getting on my nerves so bad.