Jeopardy! in popular culture

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Jeopardy!, the American television game show, has been portrayed and parodied in many works of fiction over the years, and has made many lasting marks on society. From television shows and movies, to theme park attractions and literature, the series has had an indelible impact on popular culture.

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[edit] References to the original series

[edit] In movies

The original Jeopardy! has been referenced in movies multiple times since it returned to television in 1984.

Art Fleming appeared as himself in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) in a parody of the show. Fleming and the original non-electronic board appeared right after the traffic controller on the ground was told, "You're putting the passengers in jeopardy!" Fleming called upon a passenger by row and seat number; the contestant selected "Airplane Disasters" for a certain sum of dollars, and the answer was... Mayflower (the name of the airplane in the film).

[edit] In music

"I Lost On Jeopardy"

"Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and performed a song called "I Lost On Jeopardy" (on the album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D), a parody of "Jeopardy!" by the Greg Kihn Band. The original, found on the Greg Kihn Band's 1983 album Kihnspiracy, was a love song unrelated to the show ("Our love's in jeopardy, baby"). The parody details Yankovic's purported appearance on the Art Fleming edition of the show, including his extraordinarily poor performance and the resulting embarrassment. Don Pardo, the original announcer for the show, provided a voiceover explaining what Yankovic didn't win. A music video was also produced for this song, which featured a close replica of the Fleming-era set, as well as appearances by Fleming and Pardo.

[edit] References to the current series

[edit] On television

Television series Reference to Jeopardy!
Cheers The episode What is... Cliff Clavin? (January 18, 1990) depicted the character Cliff Clavin (a noted trivia buff) making it onto the show. Cliff does very well, but becomes foolishly over-confident in "Final Jeopardy!", and is forced to give an embarrassingly inexact response ("Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?") when he finds he doesn't know the correct response. Trebek says "Cliff, unless you've done anything foolish like wager everything, you've won". At this point, Cliff's face shows that he had done just that. Clavin actually would have won if he had wagered nothing in Final Jeopardy! because he had been in a "runaway" situation (having more than twice his nearest opponent's total, making it impossible for them to catch him). Instead, he wagered everything and lost. Trebek visits the bar later in the episode, unaware that it is Clavin's favorite hangout, and consoles Cliff by convincing him that he saved Jeopardy!, while rebuffing his suggestion that he be allowed a return appearance on the show.

After this episode of Cheers aired, Trebek made several references on Jeopardy! to the possibility that a contestant in a runaway situation might "pull a Cliff Clavin." The game show also ran a category called "People who have never been in my kitchen".

The categories shown in the first round (Civil Servants, Stamps from Around the World, Mothers and Sons, Beer, Bar Trivia, and Celibacy) - called Cliff's 'dream board' by his friend Woody - were used in slightly altered form on the actual Jeopardy! program some 15 years later on the May 10, 2005 episode of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions (this time in the Double Jeopardy! round). [1]

Voters at TV Tome have ranked it the series' best episode.
Saturday Night Live Main article: Celebrity Jeopardy!

Several parodies of the show have appeared. One version, aired in 1976, posited a futuristic "Jeopardy! 1999", with Steve Martin appearing as the host, named Art F-114 (after Art Fleming). The series also aired numerous sketches based on Celebrity Jeopardy!, with Alex Trebek played by Will Ferrell and featuring depictions of contestants such as Sean Connery (Darrell Hammond, Burt Reynolds (Norm MacDonald, and French Stewart (Jimmy Fallon. SNL's Celebrity Jeopardy! parody centered around the perception (and sometime reality) that this special edition of the show is dumbed-down for celebrities.

SNL also had many other game show parodies that used the Jeopardy! format.
Animaniacs In their very first episode on Animaniacs, The Brain goes on Gyp-parody in an attempt to win enough money to realize his constant dream of world domination (all the while the host continually calls him "Brian"). As in every episode, he doesn't succeed: Brain wagers all his earnings in Final Jeopardy! and answers incorrectly. Ironically, the clue referred to Ralph Kramden's catchphrase on The Honeymooners, the very catchphrase Pinky had been annoying Brain with for the entire episode.

In turn, this is a clever reference-within-a-reference: in a classic Honeymooners episode, Kramden is to appear on a fictional quiz show, "The $99,000 Answer," and Ed Norton is helping him prepare. Norton repeatedly annoys Kramden with the song "Swanee River," and when Kramden appears on the quiz show, he is eliminated on the first question, the correct answer to which is "Swanee River."

The Gyp-parody format was also featured on Tiny Toon Adventures, with Buster Bunny as the host and Elmyra as a contestant. Buster is infuriated when Elmyra answers every answer with "What is a rabbit?", and goes insane when she answers the final answer "This animal is commonly associated with Easter" with "George Washington".
Histeria! The episode "Histeria! Satellite TV" features a game show sketch titled "It's All Greek to Me", which follows the rules of Jeopardy! Alexander the Great is a reigning champion, because all of the correct responses to the answers are centered around him. He even finds a way to win when Charity Bazaar gives the correct response.
Family Guy One episode of Family Guy features the mayor of Quahog, Adam West, on Jeopardy. In the short, he responds to a Final Jeopardy question by writing, "What is Kebert Xela?" When Alex Trebek says the phrase, he appears to go to another dimension. Then Adam West continues to say, "Only saying his name backwards can send him back to where he came from."
The Golden Girls A 1992 episode entitled "Questions and Answers" features Dorothy auditioning for the show. In a dream sequence, she is a contestant on the show, and went up against naïve roommate Rose and freeloading neighbor Charlie (from the spinoff series Empty Nest); the Final Jeopardy! answer was "American hero buried in Grant's Tomb." Rose answers "Who is Cary Grant?", Charlie draws a stick figure of a man, and Dorothy answers it correctly, with Ulysses S. Grant. Rose wins, to which Dorothy objects. Merv Griffin comes onto the set to claim that he can say that Cary Grant is buried in Grant's Tomb if he wishes, because after all, he claims, "It is my show!". In the actual audition, she does well but is not picked for the show because, in the words of one of the men conducting the screening, "America wouldn't root for [her]".
Mama's Family The episode "Mama on Jeopardy" featured Thelma Harper (Vicki Lawrence) competing on the show. In her usual style, most of her screen time was spent criticizing the other contestants. After barely making it to the Final Jeopardy! round and getting the question wrong, she came in second place with a score of $1. Her disappointment didn't last long, however, as her consolation prize was a trip to Hawaii, a place she'd always wanted to visit.
Royal Canadian Air Farce The popular Canadian sketch comedy show has featured at least 3 Jeopardy parodies. One was "Memory Lapse Jeopardy", featuring cast member Don Ferguson as host "Carson Dial". Dial and the contestants all had bad memories and by the end of the episode, the game hadn't even started. Another sketch was "Jewish Jeopardy", featuring cast member Craig Lauzon as the host, a stereotypical Jewish man. All categories referenced stereotpical Jewish attitudes. In a third parody, Mike, from Canmore ends up winning the game with typically clueless answers.
Rugrats The episode "Game Show Didi" featured a Jeopardy! parody. The episode was about Didi Pickles' experience on a game show called Super Stumpers, which bore a resemblance to Jeopardy! Alex Trebek guest-voiced on the episode as the show's host, humorously named Alan Quebec. The parody was most evident when Didi rang in with the answer, "What is a torque wrench?", to which Alan replied, "Very good. And Didi, you don't have to phrase your answer in the form of a question."
Seinfeld The game show played a role in at least two episodes of Seinfeld. In the episode "The Virgin", Jeopardy! is one of the shows that Kramer watches at Jerry's apartment while he is without his own TV. Throughout a scene of dialogue between other characters, Kramer repeatedly interjects with correct responses to Jeopardy!, which humorously belies the perception of him as dim. In the episode "The Abstinence", George almost absent mindedly gives correct answers to Jeopardy! questions while he is busy solving a Rubik's Cube. Normally George would not be bright enough to answer the questions or solve the puzzle, but his mental accuity was sharpened considerably during a period of abstinence forced by his girlfriend's suspected mononucleosis.
The Simpsons The episode "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" featured a parody where Marge Simpson goes on Jeopardy! to earn money for her struggling family (they spent $15,000 from the whole town after they were apparently robbed, but after Bart told the truth, the town demanded their money back). Instead, Marge loses in spectacular fashion, with a final score of negative $5,200. After the show, Alex Trebek has two "judges" attempt to collect the money from Marge, but the family is able to escape. The segment spoofed criticism of Trebek's sometimes stern enforcement of the rules of shows he hosted, and "Weird Al" Yankovic's inepitude in "I Lost on Jeopardy!".
Win Ben Stein's Money In addition, the format of Jeopardy! – in which contestants must respond in the form of a question – has occasionally had humorous effects on other game shows, when contestants have sometimes instinctively (and unnecessarily) given responses in this manner. One such show was Win Ben Stein's Money, which featured a similar three-contestant format and trivia questions; the occurrence of contestants reflexively answering in the form of a question became common enough that host Ben Stein routinely laughed off the first time a contestant did it, but became increasingly astonished when the occasional player seemed unable to answer in any other manner, sometimes jokingly throwing objects at the offender. Eventually, the poor offender would be forced to wear a dunce cap for the duration of the round. Similarly, when answered in such a manner on On The Cover, Mark L. Walberg would reply to the question, "I don't know, Jeopardy! boy."

[edit] In movies

White Men Can't Jump

Gloria Clemente (Rosie Perez) plays on Jeopardy!, and becomes champion.

Clips of Jeopardy! are also found in the following films: American Psycho, Baby Geniuses, The 'Burbs, Dying Young, Encino Man, Finding Forrester, French Kiss, Groundhog Day, Jury Duty, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Rain Man.

[edit] In literature

The Moving Finger

A short story by Stephen King, found in the collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes, about a man who spends all his days watching Jeopardy!, lamenting what he perceives as the stupidity of the contestants, since he himself always gets the answers right before the contestants answer. His TV watching is interrupted by the eponymous finger, emerging from the drain of his bathroom sink. Jeopardy! plays in the background throughout the story.

[edit] In theme park attractions

Ellen's Energy Adventure at Epcot in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Ellen DeGeneres dreams that she is a contestant on an episode of Jeopardy! where all the categories are about sources of energy. Ellen's co-contestants are Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Einstein. After she gets trounced in the first round, Bill Nye intervenes and takes her on a tour of many different sources of energy while explaining their benefits and drawbacks, allowing her to rally in the second half of the game. [1]

[edit] Use of the "Think!" music

"Think!", the music played during the Final Jeopardy! Round and written by series creator Merv Griffin, also makes frequent appearances in pop culture:

[edit] References

  1. ^ (2006) [http://www.tv.com/cheers/what-is...-cliff-clavin/episode/14254/summary.html Trivia for "What is...Cliff Clavin?"
v • d • e
Jeopardy!
Annual tournaments/competitions Tournament of Champions  · College Championship  · Teen Tournament  · Celebrity Jeopardy!
Special tournaments Super Jeopardy!  · Million Dollar Masters  · Ultimate Tournament of Champions  · International tournaments
Related TV series The All-New Jeopardy!  · Rock & Roll Jeopardy!  · Jep!
Cast and crew Creator: Merv Griffin
Hosts: Alex Trebek  · Art Fleming  · Jeff Probst  · Bob Bergen
Announcers: Johnny Gilbert  · Don Pardo  · Jay Stewart  · John Harlan
Miscellaneous Audition process  · Set evolution  · Video games  · Notable contestants  · Broadcast history  · In popular culture
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../j/e/o/Jeopardy%21_in_popular_culture.html"