When a contestant on “Jeopardy!” fails to phrase their response in the form of a question, Ken Jennings will usually offer a gentle reminder of the game’s fundamental rule (at least in the first round of the game).
But today’s contestants might not be as forgetful if “Jeopardy!” creator Merv Griffin had simply named the show “What’s the Question?” — which was actually his first choice.
Back in 1963, Griffin was brainstorming ideas for a new NBC game show with his wife Julann when he began to lament the scandals that had plagued the quiz shows of the 1950s. Some of the producers on those shows, which included “Twenty-One” and “The $64,000 Question,” had been exposed for providing answers to their favored contestants before filming, leading to a level of distrust among viewers.
That’s when Julann jokingly suggested that Griffin develop a show where contestants are given “the answers to start with,” Griffin explained in the forward of 1990’s “The Jeopardy! Book.”
“She was kidding, but the thought struck me between the eyes,” he wrote.
Griffin quickly went to work developing an early version of the game under the title “What’s the Question?” It was formatted similarly to today’s “Jeopardy!,” albeit with only one round of 100 questions, presented on a large board with 10 categories at the top and 10 clues in each category.
A trial run in front of NBC executives proved promising, even despite their concerns that the 10-by-10 game board would be too big to show on a TV screen.
Griffin continued to tweak the game, during which he sidestepped the issue of the too-big board by dividing the categories into shorter rounds of play. But there was still something missing — and it became clear what it was after NBC producer Ed Vane shared his notes with Griffin.
Vane “told me that he liked the premise but that it lacked enough ‘jeopardies,’” Griffin wrote in his 2007 memoir “Merv: Making the Good Life Last.”
Griffin decided Vane was right, and added an element of play whereby a contestant would lose money after buzzing in with the wrong answer. Vane, too, had also “inadvertently given me the perfect name for the show,” Griffin wrote.
“Jeopardy!”, of course, went on to have a very successful run on NBC. Its current iteration is still beloved today by fans and contestants alike — even if they sometimes forget the fundamental rule behind the gameplay.
“It can be tough to respond in the form of a question when the heat is on,” the official “Jeopardy!” website warns viewers and prospective competitors. “Get in the habit by practicing every day.”
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