Jeopardy! Reveals How Writers’ Strike Affects Season 40

Jeopardy! is pushing on amid the writers’ strike and it will make Season 40 a bit stranger than usual. Executive producer Michael Davies explained that the beloved game show would be reusing clues from past seasons along with material that WGA writers produced before the strike for these episodes. Of course, such a move raised eyebrows among a lot of people listening to the Inside Jeopardy! podcast. After that admission, there was talk of the season opening with another Second Chance Tournament and other quirks. But, the biggest reaction is to the show opting to reuse questions from previous Jeopardy! seasons. Here’s what he had to say below.

In Season 40, Jeopardy! will use a, “combination of material that our WGA writers wrote before the strike, which is still in the database, and material that has been re-deployed from multiple seasons of the show.”

As for why they’re doing that tournament? It’s all down to being “fair” to new players. “I believe, principally, that it would not be fair to have new contestants making their first appearance on the Alex Trebek Stage and doing it with non-original material,” Davies told the podcast. “We’re going to have to go into a holding pattern.”

Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions Delayed

The show would release a public statement about putting the brakes on for the Tournament of Champions for Season 39. Sony Pictures Television hopes for a quick resolution to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. As filming for the normal show continues, things could become a bit cloudier for the current season of the show.

“Jeopardy! never had any intention of producing a Tournament of Champions for season 39 until the strike is resolved,” a statement from the company reads. “Further, no contestants from season 39 have been contacted regarding their availability for any postseason tournaments, including the TOC. The Jeopardy! postseason represents the pinnacle of our competition, and it should feature our strongest players playing our toughest original material.”

“Jeopardy! has a long history with and tremendous respect for the WGA and our writers. We have always been careful to honor our WGA agreements and we would never air game material not created by WGA writers,” the statement continued. “However, just as we did, led by Alex Trebek, during the 2007-2008 strike, we will deliver first-run episodes again this fall to more than 200 affiliate stations nationwide. Our current plan is to go into a holding pattern of sorts, pushing back the season 39 postseason to first produce original episodes featuring the best of our WGA written material.”

“Everyone at Jeopardy! hopes that the guilds and the AMPTP can reach a fair resolution quickly. Celebrity Jeopardy! will return on ABC this fall with original material written by WGA writers before the strike. Jeopardy! and Celebrity Jeopardy! are covered under the SAG-AFTRA Network Code, which remains in effect.”

Jeopardy! Has One Host For The New Season

When Season 40 kicks off, you won’t see Mayim Bialik behind that lectern. Ken Jennings will be hosting for the moment as the other host is a member of SAG-AFTRA. So, with Bialik sidelined by her solidarity with her union-mates, Jennings is it. Jeopardy! executive producer Michael Davies actually lauded both of them after the search for a new host concluded.

“The fact is, we have so much Jeopardy! to make, and so many plans for the future, that we always knew we would need multiple hosts for the franchise and we are just so grateful that Mayim and Ken stepped in and stepped up to put the show in a position to succeed. And succeed it has,” Davies said back then. “With Mayim and Ken hosting, the show is considerably up in viewership year over year, with more than 27M viewers tuning in each week this season. When you consider that almost every other show in broadcast television and syndication is declining, this has been a quite remarkable season: we’re the most-watched entertainment show on all of television. Yes, all of television. “

Are you surprised about the recycled questions or the second chance tournament to start Season 40? Let us know down in the comments!