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Television Media

They Killed Ken! 557

Posted by michael from the fall-of-a-champion dept.
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)."
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They Killed Ken! More

They Killed Ken!

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  • You Bastards! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 09, 2004 @08:56AM (#10199469)
    [/required]

  • Spoilers? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Capt_Troy ( 60831 ) <tfandango.yahoo@com> on Thursday September 09, 2004 @08:57AM (#10199479) Homepage Journal
    What's up with this? Why not just start posting all the endings for upcoming movies?

    • Re:Spoilers? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Jearil ( 154455 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:05AM (#10199549) Homepage
      I agree with the parent,

      It does seem a bit rude to those of us who watch Jeopardy as if it were a national sport. I know some people who would be horridly offended if you were to tell them the results of every football/baseball/basketball/soccar/nascar/rugby/w ater polo/cricket/volleyball/bullfighting .... etc. before the event was ever aired on TV. It sort of takes away from watching these things when you know the end result.

      I know that for the whole last season I'd feel myself compelled to gravitate towards the TV whenever I heard that Ken was on... even if I was in the middle of something else, I found I couldn't concentrate until I watched the damn show. Mostly it was because I wanted to see if that night would be the last night for Ken or not. A few times there was at least a chance he could lose, and finding out by watching was the big event of the evening if nothing else was going on.

      So please keep away from the spoilers.. I'm still hoping he's going to go on until Trebek gets sick of him and retires from the job :)

      • Re:Spoilers? (Score:3, Funny)

        by Jonboy X ( 319895 )
        Oh, and the soccer game ends in a scoreless tie.

      • Re:Spoilers? (Score:3, Funny)

        by dr_dank ( 472072 )
        I know some people who would be horridly offended if you were to tell them the results of every football/baseball/basketball/soccar/nascar/rugby/w ater polo/cricket/volleyball/bullfighting .... etc. before the event was ever aired on TV.

        I wouldn't be. I'd just like to know how they got that copy of Grey's Sports Almanac away from Biff.

    • Re:Spoilers? (Score:5, Funny)

      by strictfoo ( 805322 ) <strictfoo-signup&yahoo,com> on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:10AM (#10199578) Journal
      Anakin is Darth Vader!

      And they surf lava! It's like Teenage Mutant Ninja Jedi or something
    • He dies in the chamber along with the Lone Gunmen

    • Re:Spoilers? (Score:5, Funny)

      by dema ( 103780 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:15AM (#10199620) Homepage
      Why not just start posting all the endings for upcoming movies?

      Main character stops bomb from exploding WITH ONLY 2 SECONDS LEFT, then takes female lead into bedroom. Start Barry Manilow music and......credits!

      Done.

  • Obligatory SNL Quote (Score:5, Funny)

    by StevenHenderson ( 806391 ) <[stevehenderson] [at] [gmail.com]> on Thursday September 09, 2004 @08:58AM (#10199482)
    "I'll take 'The Rapists for 500, Trebek!"

  • I think they should give Ken Alex's job. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 09, 2004 @08:58AM (#10199487)
    More people watch Jepordy because of Ken; and he's certainly entertaining.

    I think it'd be cool if the host actually knew all the stuff when interacting with the contestants.

  • Bummer. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by keiferb ( 267153 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @08:59AM (#10199494) Homepage
    You know, my local radio station's morning guys were reporting that he had lost on like... day 15 of his streak. They obviously were accounting for the pre-taping and all, but I'm glad to see he keeps going.

    Jeopardy just won't be as fun to watch after he's gone. Ken's converted Jeopardy from an interesting game-show to a serious spectator sport in my house. It just won't be the same.

    • Re:Bummer. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by ch-chuck ( 9622 )
      No doubt the ratings have shot thru the roof, as well as the advertising revenue. Makes me wonder if it was somehow rigged [thefreedictionary.com] to achieve that end.

      • Re:Bummer. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Kombat ( 93720 ) <kevin@swanweddingphotography.com> on Thursday September 09, 2004 @10:33AM (#10200383)
        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.

  • Thanks (Score:2, Insightful)

    by asesti ( 565056 )
    Glad I don't watch this show or I would be pissed...

  • Categories that Ken lost on... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bje2 ( 533276 ) * on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:00AM (#10199508)
    - How to please a woman
    - Things to do outside
    - Post 1970's pop culture


    in all seriousness, i think his run has been great...obviously it's helped jeopardy's ratings...heck, jeopardy has even made it onto my TIVO season pass list, so i can follow the exploits of Ken Jennigs each day...

  • What "Game" ? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by e2ka ( 708498 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:01AM (#10199515) Homepage

    Could you at least put the subject of the article somewhere in the description?

    Sure, I agree with RTFA, if I can determine it is worthwhile...

    • Re:What "Game" ? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Nadir ( 805 )
      I only wish that people in the US recognized that there is more to the world than the States.
      Like 6 billion people more.

      • Re:What "Game" ? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:19AM (#10199651)
        I only wish that people that frequent a US based website would understand why said website seems to be US centric. Sheesh.

        • Re:What "Game" ? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Ford Prefect ( 8777 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:49AM (#10199934) Homepage
          I only wish that people that frequent a US based website would understand why said website seems to be US centric. Sheesh.

          I only wish that people who contribute to a US-based website with a significant international audience would understand why people get pissed off when said website seems to be US-centric in a particularly impenetrable way.

          I hadn't a clue what this article was supposed to be about. Some mention of 'Jeopardy', 'game-show' or whatever would have helped greatly...

          • Re:What "Game" ? (Score:3, Informative)

            by Anonymous Coward
            I only wish that people who insisted that a US based web site be more international would read the God-damned FAQ [slashdot.org] Just because you can read the site from anywhere doesn't mean you ass needs to be kissed.

        • Re:What "Game" ? (Score:3, Insightful)

          by toetagger1 ( 795806 )
          News for Nerds. Stuff that matters."

          Where does it say that this is only for ammercians? I whish they would say in the title what the content is, without having to RTFA to find out if it is intersting or not!

          Wait a minute, ...

  • Jeopardy rules (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jeffkjo1 ( 663413 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:03AM (#10199533) Homepage
    Jeopardy rules essentially state that if a contestant leaks the results of a match before it has aired, that they forfeit their winnings. While this story may be true, someone's head will roll for it.

  • wiki wiki wiki (Score:5, Informative)

    by tuxter ( 809927 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:04AM (#10199535) Journal
    Some info here. [wikipedia.org]

  • Don't count on it (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Kombat ( 93720 ) <kevin@swanweddingphotography.com> on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:05AM (#10199543)
    Remember when someone "hacked" CBS's website and learned that Gervase was the winner? The next 2 weeks were boring, as we all knew the rest of the game was a foregone conclusion - until Gervase got voted off, and we all realized we'd been had.

    Ken's winning streak has been fantastic for Jeopardy's ratings (up 35% from the same time last season, last I heard). This could be just another ploy to try and drive the ratings up even further.

    Come on, guys. We're notorious skeptics here on Slashdot. Don't believe everything you read.
    • While you raise an interesting point, seems kind of like the wrong analysis IMHO. If this was indeed a ploy to raise ratings, its a horrible one. Consider, you KNOW that Ken won't lose for another thirty four games, and then after that he's done. What incentive to you have to watch, knowing that he'll win every night? If anything, this would hurt their ratings. (At least until this 75th game, where he will or will not be defeated, and then we find out if this was true or just a rumor.)

      • Re:Don't count on it (Score:3, Insightful)

        by mwood ( 25379 )
        "What incentive to you have to watch...?"

        The wagering on the Daily Doubles? Wondering how Contestant X could possibly, possibly not know the question to *that* answer? The chitchat they use to fill the time slot when the play is too rapid? Seeing what sort of categories appeal to a left-handed pipefitter from Oshkosh who once bungee-jumped off the Sears Tower? The schadenfreude when a player relearns that pushing the button too soon makes it go dead? Discovering what the writers' idea of Really Tough

    • Don't count on it Indeed (Score:5, Informative)

      by MarkPNeyer ( 729607 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:37AM (#10199813)

      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...


  • Outsourced (Score:5, Funny)

    by rlp ( 11898 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:06AM (#10199551)
    He didn't really lose - they just brought in someone from overseas who agreed to win less money. :-)

  • It had to end sometime (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Xentax ( 201517 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:06AM (#10199552)
    Assuming this speculation is true, the real question is "how".

    I mean, I'm sure even Ken would/will/did get tired of playing sooner or later. 75 games sounds like a nice round number to stop on; he set the single-game score record with something right around 75,000, as I recall (maybe even 75k even?).

    So, it'll be interesting (to me) to see if he more or less quit on purpose - either just not coming back by choice, or obviously throwing the game to lose.

    Xentax

  • I presume he will be in the Tournament of Champion... but hasn't he already won? He'd be the only one there! :p

    (Note - "Champion" singlular intentional)

  • My buzzer was failing! (Score:5, Funny)

    by michael path ( 94586 ) * on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:09AM (#10199569) Homepage Journal
    It should be noted that during the taping of this episode, Jennings said "Mr. Trebek, I don't believe my buzzer is working correctly."
  • The article doesn't mention. I imagine the winner will now gain some notoriety of his own, short of like Capt. Brown after allegedly shooting down the red baron, Lothar Von Richtoven.
  • I would really have appreciated not having the content of this on the front page. This kind of ruins the intrigue of watching the show and wondering "I wonder if he'll win again tonight"

    I'm not too impressed Michael for revealing this. It just isn't right for folks like me that actually like to watch the show.
  • What makes Ken so amusing? I don't have cable so I can't check it out for myself.

    I like the idea of contestants (like Ken) taking Trebek's spot. Maybe just for a show or two. However, Trebek just reads the question and the answer, so there really isn't much required (other than presentation, rules monitoring, keeping things going, acting stuff, etc.).

    Anyone know background information more on Ken too? Does he just ingest everything he reads...has no life...or just is super smart. I read about a kid th
    • Does he just ingest everything he reads...has no life...or just is super smart.

      He's a mormon. You decide which of those applies to him.
    • Maybe its different in your area, but Jeopardy runs on the networks... CBS around here. Thus, you shouldn't need cable...
    • What makes Ken so amusing? I don't have cable so I can't check it out for myself.

      I think the only Jeopardy! shows I've seen on the cable channels were the stupid variations, like the one for kids that had a really annoying host. The broadcast stations where you live must suck, as most would usually play the original show in syndication.
  • You guys act like this guy is SO SMART. Come on, now...Alex Trebek knows ALL of the answers.

    ...and NO it is NOT because he has them all in front of him. :)

  • Gee.... thanks Slashdot! Guess there's no reason for me to watch jeopardy anymore. First you tell me that the Lone Gunmen are dead hours before the show aires and now this! Thanks for nothing.....

  • For some reason, the headline made me think of MST3K instead of South Park.

    Go figure.

    This is the song, written for the train chase.
    This is the chase, Rocky and Ken!
    He tried to kill me with a forklift!
    Olé!

  • The losing Final Jeopardy question of Ken Jennings (Score:5, Informative)

    by jkottke ( 13651 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @09:34AM (#10199779) Homepage
    Thanks to a tipster, I broke this story on my site [kottke.org] 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 [kottke.org]. If you don't mind the spoilers, click through to find out [kottke.org].
    • AP and /. have no love for weblogs?

      Nothing personal intended, but I would not use anybody's weblog for the basis of a story. I would confirm it somewhere else, first. Believe it or not, not everything you read on a blog is true.

      • Re:The losing Final Jeopardy question of Ken Jenni (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Peyna ( 14792 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @10:25AM (#10200279) Homepage
        I wouldn't call TV Week the most credible news source in the world; however, I think the more interesting part of this is that it appears TV Week blatantly ripped off the info from this guys blog (while one news source gave him credit, and didn't at all state it as fact). Then the AP and a few other news outlets picked it up from TV Week and it spread like wildfire.

        I think TV Week should be called out on this one, because clearly their source is the blog, and the blog's source is a named informer; however, they way their article is written, they make it appear that the source went directly to them. This is good for them, because it makes it look like they have people "on the inside" that are willing to give them information.

        When the NY Times can have a plagiarizer on their staff for a long time without knowing it, I do not think I would put such actions behind a much less credible periodical as TV Week.

  • You Would Be Spoiled... (Score:2, Informative)

    by diver8 ( 810336 )

    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 det

  • weird al (Score:4, Funny)

    by nuggetman ( 242645 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @11:45AM (#10201386) Homepage
    That's right, Ken--You lost. And let me tell you what you didn't win: a twenty colume set of the Encyclopedia International, a case of Turtle Wax, and a yeard's supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat. But that's not all. You also made yourself look like a jerk in front of millions of people. You brought shame and disgrace to your family name for generations to come. You don't get to come back tomorrow. You don't even get a lousy copy of our home game. You're a complete loser!

  • The Final Jeopardy that beat Ken [spoiler warning] (Score:5, Funny)

    by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @12:35PM (#10202013)
    This is the final Jeopardy question that ended Ken's streak.

    Topic: Life, the Universe, and Everything
    Answer: 42

    Unfortunatly a freak power outtage stopped the answer from being displayed once they gave their answers but afterwards an odd robot came out and told everyone that they were all simpletons and they along with the show were incredibly dreary and pointless and they all got the question wrong anyway but it didn't really matter because Life, the Universe, and Everything don't matter. The robot then talked to Mr. Jennings for a couple minutes after which Mr. Jennings announced in a depressed sounding voice that he didn't really see any point in going on so he was retiring from the show. A spacecraft then landed and an alien then came out and called Mr. Jennings a nerd then flew away.

    Well there ya have it, the end of Ken Jenning's streak.

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