Ken Jennings

[Guest SelfHighFive]

People will do anything to keep something that's slowly failing afloat. If the ratings were going down and magically after the 5 win rule disappeared this guy comes long.... too fishy. I used to remember a time where everyone I knew watched Jeopardy every night, and now I don't know anyone that's watched it in the last year.

If they need to do something to save the show, they'll do it, regardless of legacys.

Hell, look at the Price Is Right, they have weekend specials 4-5 times a year now with ungodly huge prizes to draw in some audience back.

[Big Red Fury]

To expand that niche audience...

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Yea but when they get found out(they always do) then they would be fucked.

[sahyder1]

This guy works as a editor for a trivia competition. Obviously he has a crazy memory and spends his life with trivia. There have been guys on Jeopardy in the past who would've done something like this if not for the fact that they had a 5 day limit.

[Lowerdeck]

I remember watching this one day when I had the day off. I was saying how the other two contestants were the sacrificial lambs to the guy cause they had no chance.

[Corizzle]

Ken needs to lose, he's already won a million, he doesn't need anymore money

[Boulder]

Ken needs to lose, he's already won a million, he doesn't need anymore money

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Why not? It's not like he has enough to live out his days. He wants to buy a house, send his kids to college (and Mormons typically have a lot of kids), the million goes pretty fast.

[Fitzy]

Why not?  It's not like he has enough to live out his days.  He wants to buy a house, send his kids to college (and Mormons typically have a lot of kids), the million goes pretty fast.

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You also got to remember that he won't even end up with a full million dollars once taxes are taken out.

[Corizzle]

The fact is he can buy a house, send like 5 kids to college with a million, and work for the rest of his life for everything else. I think he's just getting greedy now

[Boulder]

The fact is he can buy a house, send like 5 kids to college with a million, and work for the rest of his life for everything else. I think he's just getting greedy now

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I disagree. People win 200+ times what he's won in lotteries. Plus, his streak is leading to increased ratings for the show, which leads to higher add revenue, which leads to more money for those who work on it.

KEN JENNINGS=GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY!

[punky]

If you were on a show that you were winning a shitload of money at.. why the fuck would you stop?

I know I'd ride it out for all it was worth.

[A-Dub]

I disagree.  People win 200+ times what he's won in lotteries.  Plus, his streak is leading to increased ratings for the show, which leads to higher add revenue, which leads to more money for those who work on it.

KEN JENNINGS=GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY!

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HAHA, I like your way of thinking, sir. I haven't watched it, I used to, but I got bored. I tried to watch it one day, but I forgot what channel it was on, and I didn't care to look to be honest.

[Guest homerjfry]

The guy is amazing, albeit getting cocky it seems. But no matter what he is doing something spectacular. Much like Gange's 84 consecutive saves except much, much nerdier.

Edited July 16, 2004 by homerjfry

[Guest The Man with a Plan]

This reminds me of Michael Larsen's run on Press Your Luck. He won $110,000 and dominated the board leaving the other two people dumbfounded. Though, I remember being in High School and playing Classroom Jeopardy for a competition. Completely dominated the competition. All you have to do is watch Jeopardy and pick up on the type of the questions likely to be asked, study those subjects and go there and win the money. Kind of like how Larsen memorized the light patterns.

[Guest SelfHighFive]

Yes, his winning streak is bringing in ratings to a slowly dying show.... wonder how convenient that really is?

[Lowerdeck]

By slowly dying? Do you mean that it's average audience is dying?

[sahyder1]

Unlikely TV star pushes buzzer for Jeopardy!

Ken Jennings has spiced up a dull summer season

Has won 38 games and will be back for more this fall

DAVID BAUDER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK—Beverly Herter belongs in a club that's grown less exclusive by the day: She lost to Ken Jennings on Jeopardy!

"It's kind of a bonding experience going against Ken," said Herter, a freelance editor from Portsmouth, R.I., beaten in an episode televised last week.

Jennings has dispatched 76 contestants on the brain-teasing trivia game, making the Utah software engineer the unlikeliest of TV stars and juicing a show that's aired quietly for 30 years.

Ratings have soared, Jennings visited both David Letterman and Jay Leno, and newspapers run a daily update on his winnings. The Web site Slate even invented a Ken Jennings drinking game (two sips if he misses a Daily Double). Not bad for a Mormon teetotaller who's oddly proficient in alcohol-related questions.

After Friday's show, Jennings had won 38 straight games and $1,321,660 (U.S.).

His winning is so methodical, so sweat-free, that his appearances are actually kind of dull.

Call it heresy — but could Ken Jennings ultimately be bad for Jeopardy!?

"I could see it getting a little boring if he keeps winning like that," Herter said.

It won't end anytime soon. Jennings set a one-day record by winning $75,000 on Friday's episode, the last original episode of the show's season.

Jeopardy will air reruns until Sept. 6, when Jennings will return.

"I think it's great," said Michael Davies, executive producer of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and a loyal Jeopardy! fan.

"There are shows on television that are watched by millions of people every day that are not on the radar. It's good that people are talking about the show.''

Jennings made his first appearance on June 2.

In his first full week of winning, Jeopardy! averaged 8.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

During the week of July 5 — traditionally one of the slowest TV weeks of the year — the show averaged 12.6 million viewers.

A little-noticed rule change a year ago made Jennings' run possible.

Throughout its history, Jeopardy! champions were retired after five wins. Last fall, just to spice things up, producers decreed that a champion could keep playing until being beaten. They also recently doubled the cash value of their prizes.

During a dull TV summer, Jennings is the counter-intuitive star. He's made it with his brain, not by double-crossing someone on a tropical island, dating profusely or eating pig rectum.

Jeopardy! is probably the only show Jennings could be on, Davies said.

At 30, he's too old for most reality shows, not good-looking enough for the dating shows and he'd probably be grossed out by Fear Factor, he said.

"It's a timely reminder to television executives and producers that you can get buzz on television in a lot of different ways,'' he said.

"It's not only about being shocking and extreme and over the top.''

Jeopardy! producers are probably annoyed this happened during the summer, when higher ratings don't mean as much financially, Davies said.

When the syndicated Millionaire had two big winners on shows taped to air in the summer, he delayed them to the fall.

At the same time, Jennings may not have attracted as much attention in a busier time of year, he said.

Host Alex Trebek and Jeopardy! executive producer Harry Friedman have retreated during their show's finest hour, declining interview requests.

Not so for another Jennings victim, Las Vegas casino employee Tim Crockett. He applauded the run.

"Having dynasties in sports never diminishes the sport," he said. "Nobody will say that basketball in the 1990s wasn't any good because of Michael Jordan. People I know who weren't interested in watching the show are now watching.''

Crockett tried trash-talking the amiable Jennings backstage to intimidate him. When Jennings complained about having to trek back and forth from his Utah home to Los Angeles for tapings — gee, we feel bad for you, Ken — Crockett said he wouldn't have to worry about that anymore.

Jennings just walked away.

Final score: Jennings $35,000, Crockett $7,900.

As they waited for their Jeopardy! appearances, Herter and Crockett had the unfortunate experience of watching four show tapings where Jennings annihilated opponents.

One thoroughly demoralized yet still witty contestant stumped by a final Jeopardy question wrote, "whatever Ken writes" as his reply.

Opponents say Jennings' secret, besides being uncommonly smart, is having mastered the subtle art of hitting his buzzer before anyone else. There's a trick to it that takes time to pick up.

During one game aired last week, Jennings had earned $9,200 before either opponent even had the chance to answer one question.

On his Web site, Crockett writes that Jennings "is one of the nicest, funniest, smartest, most modest human beings I have ever met. An all-around great guy. He did his best to make everyone feel welcome and at ease.

"I immediately hated" Jennings, he wrote.

Crockett even posted a fanciful theory of how he might have beaten Jennings with a couple of breaks.

It involved getting both Daily Double questions in the second round — he says he knew both answers — and betting everything he had. But Jennings got them instead.

Herter said going against Jennings was actually kind of liberating. Nobody expected her to win, so why not have fun?

"It was a little disappointing knowing I could never play Jeopardy! again," she said.

"It was my only shot and I had to go against him.''

So Jeopardy has hit it's summer break yet this guy is still continuing his run. A 38 game winner. He returns early in the September.

Word of his streak is getting out appearantly. Jeopardy ratings were up 33% the last week.