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They Killed Ken!
kwings writes "SF Gate (via the AP) is reporting that your pal, Ken Jennings has been beaten after his 75th(!) game. I fully expect Mr. Trebek to hold a wake, or to keep calling the champion 'Ken' for the rest of the season. :) Since they're only up to airing game 41, it will be an interesting few months (or 34 shows)."
RTFA. 2.5 million
Some info here.
Most likely an audience member leaked the news. Is Alex gonna send someone over to break his legs, assuming they can figure out who it is?
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
Jeopardy is a tv game show wherein three contestants choose from various categories. Each category has 5 answers. Each choice is actually the answer. The contestant must phrase their answer in the form of a question.
For example, the category might be Space. A contestant chooses the box for $200. The answer as revealed is "The closest natural satellite to Earth". The contestant who buzzes in first would answer, "What is the Moon?" If the contestant is correct they get the money.
Ken has been on Jeopardy since forever (ok, since last season) and has won more money and rounds than any other previous contestant.
However, even though I am from the US I do agree with your sentiment. Who cares? Yes, the guy has an amazing amount of knowledge on a wide range of subjects. Yes, it is a geeky thing to be amazed at this breadth of knowledge. Still, as the local source of trivia in my office I don't care about this guy.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Thanks to a tipster, I broke this story on my site yesterday morning...AP and /. have no love for weblogs? ;). This morning, that same tipster has provided the Final Jeopardy question/answer which cost Ken his streak. If you don't mind the spoilers, click through to find out.
Dear Slashdot,
Thank you so much for ruining that for me. I only hope that the source is wrong. In the future when posting material of this nature would you please utilize what is called a spoiler warning.
Thank you,
One pissed off reader.
Come on guys, I saw this on the local news this morning, hours before I checked Slashdot - so regarless of whether Slasdot posted the story, you were bound to find out about it sooner or later.
The guy was bound to loose sometime, you couldn't be terribly surprised by that! At least we can continue enjoying his run until it ends... it's not like we know what questions bring him down.
CNN did post a good disclaimer, though:
Editor's Note: CNN picked this story up from The Associated Press, which gives details below. We have no idea as to the status of Ken Jennings' run. If you'd prefer to not know anything, stop reading now.http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/09/tv.jeop ardy.ap/
Perhaps the ./ editors should take their cue, just out of fairness.
Check my journal for gmail invites!
Everyone should RTFA here - big time. This whole thing is based on something that showed up on this 'TV Week' website, and the company is not confirming the story...
My blog
Both foxnews and drudgereport have these currently on their front page headlines.. I saw it there first.
I only wish that people who insisted that a US based web site be more international would read the God-damned FAQ Just because you can read the site from anywhere doesn't mean you ass needs to be kissed.
Check this out (it's the FAQ): http://slashdot.org/faq/editorial.shtml#ed850
I don't complain when The Register posts articles about british television shows. And if I did, I would expect people to laugh at me.
Heisenberg might have been here.
No doubt the ratings have shot thru the roof, as well as the advertising revenue.
Jeopardy doesn't get the ad revenue; the TV stations do. Jeopardy is a syndicated TV show, which means that networks sign a contract at the beginning of the season. $3 million for 100 shows, or something like that. If the ratings go up during the season, that's great for the network (because they can charge more for advertising time), but the producers of Jeopardy don't see any of that. They've already signed their contract, and are delivering the agreed-upon number of shows for the agreed-upon sum of money.
Now, next season, the show's producers may be able to cite the increased ratings as a factor in requesting a higher-paying contract this time. However, given that the whole "Ken" thing is really just an unusual, one-time curiousity, it'd be hard for Jeopardy's producers to convince the networks that the increased ratings will stick for the entire upcoming season.
What I'm saying is, the networks are profiting from this much more than the show itself, so no, it wouldn't make much sense for Jeopardy producers to "rig" the show to keep Ken around. The networks would have a lot more motive for such manipulation than the producers, but the networks have no control at all over how the show is produced, so it'd be impossible for them to carry out such meddling.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
I can't speak for everyone's local news... But on MSNBC countdown last night, the host said, "If you don't want to hear news about Ken from Jeopardy, press your mute button now!" He did give other advance warnings too.
Slashdot needs to be a little more responsible with its reporting.
Jeopardy shows are filmed in five-shows-per-day blocks, with audiences seeing either two or three episodes in rapid succession.
Even the temp selling ice-cream on the lot knows the results of last-week's tapings. No one will find out who leaked this information.