Jeopardy! fans vow to boycott 'nonsense' tournaments as regular episodes won't return until April

June 19, 2024

JEOPARDY! fans are tired and concerned about the never-ending parade of past-player tournaments dominating their beloved game show.

Regular episodes of Jeopardy! have been conspicuously absent all season, and the hiatus is expected to persist until April 2024.

The Writers Guild of America strike significantly impacted many beloved TV shows, Jeopardy! included.

Without its writers, producers chose to recycle clues and bring back past contestants to keep the game show afloat for Season 40.

While the WGA strike is now a thing of the past, new questions have finally returned.

But new contestants are nowhere to be found.

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And that's not all.

Following the $250,000 ToC, a brand-new tournament, the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament, will air from March until early April.

This event will see returning contestants from any year competing to qualify for May's Jeopardy! Masters in primetime.

Counting the strike-based Season 37 Second Chance and Season 37/38 Wildcard, there will be six tournaments in total this season (five to populate the ToC) before regular episodes resume.

This is a massive break from the past when the ToC used to have 15 past champs and be the only annual tournament.

'16 WEEKS OF REGULAR JEOPARDY'

On the podcast Inside Jeopardy!, showrunner Michael Davies and longtime producer Sarah Foss defended the updated timeline.

Davies emphasized: "Our No. 1 imperative is tournaments, and then after that, we'll get to our regular season.

"We should have 16 weeks of regular Virginia Jeopardy! at the end."

That means regular episodes will return in April 2024 and air until July 2024.

'THIS IS GETTING OLD'

On social media, fans expressed frustration with the ongoing tournament format, especially with the strikes over.

Many are questioning the need for endless second chances and long-running tournaments, urging a return to the tradition.

One disgruntled fan posted on X (formerly Twitter): "How many damn second chances are we giving? #jeopardy This is getting old.

"Getting?" replied a second.

Another wrote: “ How long is this nonsense going to go on? No gimmicks. No tricks. Just regular old Jeopardy!, 'til 26."

A fourth posted, referring to Mayim Bialik’s firing: "I know there’s hotter Jeopardy! news, but we have to talk about the bizarre endless tournament structure they've been doing. There have been dozens of semifinal episodes. Where does this end? Where is it going? Where am I?"

A fifth chimed in: "Not sure if this has been discussed recently. Is anyone else getting tired of weeks-long tournaments featuring past champions all vying for a spot in the TOC?

“I would like to see new contestants trying to start their own new streaks."

A sixth wrote: "It was fun at first but now I'm annoyed. I don't think a normal episode has aired this season."

INTEGRITY IN JEOPARDY?

New executive producer Davies (formerly EP of Millionaire), took over from the disgraced Mike Richards in 2021, and has not been shy in tweaking tradition.

Aside from creating all of these Second Chances and Wildcards, some of Davies' other changes, like adding cash bonuses to regular games, faced severe backlash never making it to air.

Other moves, like forcing contestants to say the entire names of categories each time they select a clue this season, have been enacted, infuriating fans.

Some people fear the show's integrity might be compromised for ratings and buzz.

One fan recently posted on X: "Who Wants to be a Millionaire, under host Regis Philbin and EP Michael Davies, was canceled in 2001, and most experts agree it was because of overexposure.

Too much of a good thing is a bad thing."

Jeopardy! fans vow to boycott 'nonsense' tournaments as regular episodes won't return until April

Read more on Jeopardy!

Most read in Entertainment

'16 WEEKS OF REGULAR JEOPARDY'

'THIS IS GETTING OLD'

INTEGRITY IN JEOPARDY?

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