JeoparDay surprise (Fleming era rarity)

[GRWHAMMY the 2nd]

premiering on March the 30th (when the original Jeopardy with Art Fleming started airing on NBC), the YT channel of the modern era will show the pilot to said Fleming era (trailer up at the linked video page)

[RatRace10]

How come Jeopardy openly acknowledges the day it began and its real anniversary, but Wheel of Fortune stays quiet every January 6, even though Jeopardy had a break between its two versions unlike WOF?

[Ccook]

Looking forward to this. I was home from school with pink eye the day it premiered in '64. The pilot clips look intriguing.

[William]

How come Jeopardy openly acknowledges the day it began and its real anniversary, but Wheel of Fortune stays quiet every January 6, even though Jeopardy had a break between its two versions unlike WOF?

Speaking of which, Wheel should follow suit and dig up the January 6, 1975 premiere for streaming. It has to be in Sony's possession, or at least they should know who has it. I thought for years that it was Chuck himself, but he claimed in a recent interview that he doesn't enjoy watching himself on TV and keeps no tapes from his shows.

I am very happy this Jeopardy! pilot is finally coming to light. The time to be a game show fan is getting better and better!

[blozier2006]

Speaking of which, Wheel should follow suit and dig up the January 6, 1975 premiere for streaming.

Drop a note on Jeopardy's Twitter page, maybe it'll get noticed there.

[imhomerjay]

How come Jeopardy openly acknowledges the day it began and its real anniversary, but Wheel of Fortune stays quiet every January 6, even though Jeopardy had a break between its two versions unlike WOF?

This is once. It’s a new thing. There was no Jeopar-day thing before. New executive producer and all that. They still refer to the show’s seasons based on the current run.

Maybe the new people will do things their own way there. Maybe they won’t. Just because show A does something does not mean show B is somehow wrong for doing things differently.

[Torgo]

stays quiet every January 6

Well picking up the date now would be a problem.

[geniusinmath]

It should be interesting on see how it all began with the pilot.

[ooboh]

How come Jeopardy openly acknowledges the day it began and its real anniversary, but Wheel of Fortune stays quiet every January 6, even though Jeopardy had a break between its two versions unlike WOF?

Because, simply put, Wheel of Fortune doesn't seem like that kind of show. It's kind of straightforward and just seems to go through the motions. Think about these examples.

When changes were made to the set due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pat made NO mention of the pandemic whatsoever. He just casually talked about the wider contestant area and the white wheel-spinning thingies and moved on with the game normally. On the Jeopardy! Season 38 premiere, Alex talked about the pandemic, set changes, etc. very specifically.

Also, December 28, 2021 marked 40 years of Pat Sajak hosting Wheel. No one, not even Bob Barker, has hosted a single U.S. game show that long. And yet absolutely no acknowledgment or even reference to that fact was made on air. However, I vividly remember Alex Trebek congratulating Jeopardy! for being on the air for a quarter-century in its 25th season premiere over a decade ago.

Honestly, I get the sentiment that Sony thinks that Wheel is a bit of an afterthought. And I can see why. It feels like a show without its own identity at this point. And that's why it was a terrible idea for both shows to have the same executive producer.

And like Torgo said, I don't think January 6 is a date anyone wants to be associated with at this point. So Wheel of Fortune is rather unfortunate there. I wouldn't be surprised if the show doesn't even acknowledge its 50th anniversary in 2025.

[imhomerjay]

The show also hitched its wagon, so to speak, to the syndicated run. Moreso since they started the whole “bonus round minimum=season number” bit. Jeopardy had a break..ok, a couple of breaks…between the runs. Wheel had concurrent runs and multiple hosts in this continuity. Jeopardy didn’t.  It’s apples to oranges.

I don’t think Wheel is so much an afterthought as it just doesn’t have much else to “say” after this many years. A celebrity version made some good filler material for ABC, and they could be a little looser. But the daily show feels more like there’s just not much more to be done with a glorified hangman game. Jeopardy covers a wide, ever-expanding range of knowledge with its simple format. Lots of flexibility in writing the clues and mixing the categories. Wheel is well past the point of stretching the definitions of their limited set of categories to absurdity.

Wheel has mostly become the television equivalent of wallpaper. It’s just there in the background, and looking kind of dated.

[GRWHAMMY the 2nd]

plus the way Chuck Woolery ended up (on Twitter) in the past few years... would WOF want to say they started his career?

[Ccook]

Saw it, and it's clear that the responses to the clues would have be tweaked. Some of the responses were anywhere from humorous to cringeworthy. Still, it does not take away the importance of this find in the annals of TV history.

[GuyWithFace]

How come Jeopardy openly acknowledges the day it began and its real anniversary, [...] even though [it] had a break between its two versions unlike WOF?

Jeopardy!, in fact, had not one but two breaks -- between 1975 and 1978, and between 1979 and 1984.

December 28, 2021 marked 40 years of Pat Sajak hosting Wheel. No one, not even Bob Barker, has hosted a single U.S. game show that long.

There in fact has -- Mac MacGarry served as host of the Washington D.C. It's Academic for 50 years, from 1961 to 2011.

[ooboh]

There in fact has -- Mac MacGarry served as host of the Washington D.C. It's Academic for 50 years, from 1961 to 2011.

Kind of ashamed I missed that one, as I’ve lived in the D.C. area my entire life, and I’ve watched It’s Academic a bunch of times before.

[COINBOYNYC]

Saw it, and it's clear that the responses to the clues would have be tweaked. Some of the responses were anywhere from humorous to cringeworthy. Still, it does not take away the importance of this find in the annals of TV history.

Since it was a pilot not intended to be broadcast, and (presumably) no actual prizes were going to be awarded, is it possible that the contestants were coached on how to answer certain questions?