Jeopardy GOAT Series

[landtuna]

I am not a regular viewer of Jeopardy but there was so much advertising driving this unique series I had to watch.

For you not familiar with GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) it pitted the three current "champions" of the show (most winnings, most appearances and most money in a single appearance) against each other in five two-show contests this past week. Winnings were totaled to arrive at a winner.

I didn't think the answers were all that challenging. Some were very easy and others very obscure, as usual. What I did find different and very entertaining was the interplay between the host, Alex Trebek, and each of the three contestants. This is something missing from their usual shows and I find it makes a very dry show.

As a bonus, even with a million dollars at stake, each contestant seemed perfectly relaxed and frequently took lighthearted jabs at the others. It seemed all in all good fun and every now and then Alex would get into the hilarity with his usual dry wit.

The winner? Ken Jennings who seemed to be the best prepared. He also was the champion with the most total winnings (something over $4M).

 

[crainbebo]

I watched each part of the GOAT series. I loved the puns in the categories and the players going after each other. I was laughing hard at some of the jabbing and comments they made. James tonight making fun of Brad's 0 point score, for example. It has also been red hot in the ratings for ABC.
Congrats to Ken!

 

[umfan]

It was fun to watch and a great idea to bring it to prime time. The suspense last night was tempered by the fact that only one of the competitors had two wins and there were no more installments scheduled making it obvious that Jennings was going to win.

 

[anotherguyTN]

It was fun to watch and a great idea to bring it to prime time. The suspense last night was tempered by the fact that only one of the competitors had two wins and there were no more installments scheduled making it obvious that Jennings was going to win.

There were supposed to be possibly up to 7 episodes if needed, but the schedules I saw only listed 4 and it seemed obvious that it would only run that long. Ken seemed to adapt better to James's style of playing, but Brad had trouble doing it, and had some bad luck on the daily doubles that put him behind several times.

As it stands now Ken is the biggest winner ever in American game show history, and Brad is still the biggest winner on Jeopardy, and only behind Ken by about $100.000, and James is in third place overall. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_game_show_winnings_records

 

[landtuna]

I watched each part of the GOAT series. I loved the puns in the categories and the players going after each other. I was laughing hard at some of the jabbing and comments they made. James tonight making fun of Brad's 0 point score, for example. It has also been red hot in the ratings for ABC.
Congrats to Ken!

James is obviously gifted in humor no matter his very cool personality when answering the questions. He did have the best jab of the evening.

For those who didn't watch, James and Ken both had winnings but Brad had lost his and was down to zero after blowing a Daily Double. When Alex said they were going to go back to zero to begin the second half of the show James pointed out that Brad's score was still zero. The audience caught on right away.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Some program guides showed more episodes. Some didn’t. It was treated by ABC more akin to the NBA finals as an example. People read way too much into the guides.

The games were outstanding, the competition intense and the format unique.

And you can bet ABC isn’t done with this yet. Somehow, some way....

 

[Kelly A]

The games were outstanding, the competition intense and the format unique.

And you can bet ABC isn’t done with this yet. Somehow, some way....

Agreed. I really enjoyed the competition. Much better than the Team tournament(s).

Was surprised that Brad did so poorly as compared with James and Ken. Completely left in the dust.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

I did thoroughly enjoy the team games as a break/one-off twist. Certainly not for everyone.

There is almost zero chance with the numbers they got that ABC doesn’t do something more with this. A rematch? Put them in some other trivia battle?

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

There is almost zero chance with the numbers they got that ABC doesn’t do something more with this. A rematch? Put them in some other trivia battle?

Perhaps moving seasonal Tournaments of Champions and specialty tournaments to prime-time on ABC with a similar format as the GOAT games?

I also wouldn't be surprised if "Celebrity Jeopardy" makes a comeback with a similar format as GOAT. This time, making the network special J! run a weekly series rather than up to three times weekly.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Moving regular tournaments to ABC would dilute the value of the daily series. Have to be cautious about any contractual issues. Celebrity—ugh, sure. Maybe. But the driving force here was three brainiacs (and I mean that with the utmost respect) who also knew the game inside out. Nothing else would come close. And unlike the summer Celebrity Feud series, this is a different thing entirely.

A rematch a la boxing? Seems possible. Maybe plausible. But it will never match what we just saw.

 

[Kelly A]

What surprised me is that ABC didn't run GOAT during the February book. Maybe they will next time, because it got HUGE numbers.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

I don’t think they could/would choose to put up to seven nights of their regular 8 pm shows in, ummmm, jeopardy.

 

[landtuna]

Interestingly, Jeopardy airs here in Phoenix, in syndication, at 7:30 pm daily. When ABC aired the GOAT series it ran from 7-8 pm here competing with.....Jeopardy.