They Killed Ken! 557
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)."
Re:that was a good run though (Score:2, Informative)
wiki wiki wiki (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Jeopardy rules (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Erm... (Score:4, Informative)
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.
The losing Final Jeopardy question of Ken Jennings (Score:5, Informative)
Re:You Bastards! (Score:1, Informative)
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.
You Would Be Spoiled... (Score:2, Informative)
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.
Don't count on it Indeed (Score:5, Informative)
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...
I can't blame /. for this spoiler.. (Score:1, Informative)
Re:What "Game" ? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What? (Score:2, Informative)
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.
Re:Bummer. (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Spoilers? (Score:3, Informative)
Slashdot needs to be a little more responsible with its reporting.
Re:Jeopardy rules (Score:2, Informative)
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.