Jeopardy! has been around for decades, and for the most part, very little has changed about the game over that time, especially when it comes to the way the game is displayed on our TV screens. Well that’s all about to change — at least for Celebrity Jeopardy! When Season 2 of the ABC spinoff premieres on September 27, the show will debut a fresh new viewing experience for the home audience that will apparently allow us to see more than just the clue on the screen. The goal, according to executive producer Michael Davies, is to make the show more engaging and less confusing, and this honestly is a change I’ve been waiting for.
Executive producer Michael Davies has talked about enhancing the viewing experience of Jeopardy! for a while. He often muses on Inside Jeopardy! about wanting to find a way to keep the category on the screen when the clues are shown, but to do so without distracting from the clue. It seems they may have found a solution, which they’ll test out during Celebrity Jeopardy! Davies explained on the podcast:
Sometimes the show moves so fast that you lose track of the category we’re in … so we’ve tried a new thing — I’m not gonna try to describe it too much, because describing it, when you see it, you’ll instantly understand, but it’s a way that you get to focus much more on the individual categories every single time that a category is being chosen. And it equates much more what the experience is for the actual contestants and for the producers in the studio watching the show.
While Michael Davies didn’t exactly clarify what Celebrity Jeopardy! is going to look like, I’m really excited to see what they’ve come up with. I can’t tell you how many times I’m playing along at home, just to read the clue and go, “Wait, what’s the category?” It’s also pretty cool that what we’ll see is more similar to what the contestants experience on the actual show.
Longtime producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss weighed in with a few more details, including the fact that the change took her a few minutes to get used to. She said:
Making this come to fruition and seeing it actually in these celebrity shows, it’s good! I know for myself, the first few clues, you’re kind of finding your footing, like ‘Where am I gonna look? Where do I need to focus?’ And then all of a sudden it just opens up: ‘Wow! It’s all right here. It’s unlike anything I’ve watched before, but everything is right here for me to see, if I want to see the category, the game board, the contestant, I’ve got it all.’
I love that Celebrity Jeopardy! is going to take advantage of the whole screen, showing us not just the clue but the category and the contestants. Being able to see the players the whole time seems especially important for the celebrity version of the game — which this time around will be hosted by Ken Jennings — because now we’ll know which celebs try to buzz in, who’s stumped, etc.
Of course, change is never easy, especially something as seemingly drastic as this, after doing it one way for so long. However, Michael Davies assured fans this change is for Celebrity Jeopardy! only and will not affect the daily syndicated episodes — at least for now. Davies continued:
We by no means are committed to go and do this on the regular show. We’ve actually debuted the regular Monday-through-Friday Jeopardy! and we haven’t included this change, but we’re interested, as we try to make the show more engaging and more easy to follow for a broader audience, as well as to satisfy our very top-notch, most-experienced viewers who have been watching the show and enjoying it for years.
Michael Davies already changed up the game in the first season of the celebrity spinoff, debuting a Triple Jeopardy! round in the primetime game. This also was done with no intention of carrying it over to the syndicated version.
I’m excited to see Celebrity Jeopardy! evolving in this way, if for no other reason than I’ll always know what category we're in. If you want to see what’s going on with this prime-time tournament, tune in for Season 2, whose contestants will include Steven Weber, Christopher Meloni and many more, when it premieres at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, September 27, on ABC. Also check out our 2023 TV schedule to see what other shows are starting soon.
