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Five reasons I prefer classic Jeopardy - VIDEO
by Allison Waldman, posted Aug 21st 2008 10:02AM
When I read AOL's Top 20 Best Game Shows of All Time, I pretty much agreed with all the choices. I might have moved Password up a bit, and dropped Who Wants to Be A Millionaire to a lower slot, but the one selection that really made me glower was The Price Is Right as number one. No, no, not to me. For me, the only choice for numero uno is Jeopardy. It's not a game of chance or luck or random spins of a wheel. It's all about brains and thinking on your feet. And maybe having really fast thumbs. Merv Grifffin's creation remains the best gameshow ever in my book.
As I was thinking about Jeopardy, I realized that for me, the best Jeopardy is not today's Alex Trebek version. I mean, it's great -- don't misunderstand me. It's the one I still prefer to watch today, but my favorite Jeopardy remains the pre-syndication edition, the one that played on NBC daytime from 1964-1975. No, I'm not nuts. I have five very good reasons why I prefer the original, classic Jeopardy.
1) Art Fleming
There was something very matter of fact about game show host Art Fleming. He was authoritative and positive, but you never got the feeling that he believed he was smarter than the contestants or that he'd know the answers if they weren't written on the card in front of him. Trebek has a tendency to get too cute and punny (not funny) with the responses. Maybe it's the writers, maybe not, but it comes off as unctuous. Art Fleming was more of a straight shooter, and his enthusiasm for the game was palpable. He was the Johnny Carson of Jeopardy, which means Trebek is Leno.
2) New York
Like a lot of classic TV, Jeopardy originated as a New York production. It was filmed in a studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the same building -- the RCA Building then -- that Saturday Night Live calls home. But more than the building, a New York based show has an attitude. It always has; like 30 Rock. Jeopardy had it in the NBC years. The current edition is very much a Hollywood production. Nothing wrong with that, but it's lost the flavor of NYC.
3) Money
Yes, yes, yes. Today's Jeopardy is a much richer show. A contestant can make a fortune -- ask Ken Jennings! However, in the classic version of Jeopardy, even if you came in second or third, you got to keep your winnings. The money you made you got to keep. Not so now. No, now there are prizes. Forget that, I want the cash.
4) Low tech vs. high tech
There was something very down-to-earth and quaint about classic Jeopardy. Real hands built that huge board with the cardboard squares. The clues and the categories looked like they were stenciled with Magic Markers! The Jeopardy of today reflects the trend for glitzy lights and electronic music, the whole Millionaire phenomenon that altered the look of just about every game show on TV.
5) Announcer Don Pardo
He was the voice of Saturday Night Live after becoming a legend as the voice of Jeopardy. Actually, Don was also the announcer for The Price Is Right from 1956 -63. His booming baritone remains a vivid voice in my memory. He's as identified with classic Jeopardy as Art Fleming. The two of them added color and vigor to the gameshow.
Here's a clip of Art Fleming from Jeopardy in its early days -- its 2,000 episode while it was still a fixture in the NBC daytime lineup. (Those words are oxymoronic in the current Jeff Zucker-world of mostly all-Today, all the time on NBC.)
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