31Oct2011
“Jeopardy!” Tournament of Champions Launches November 2nd
The highlight of each season of Jeopardy!, the annual tournament of champions, is quickly approaching. It's time for the 2011 Tournament of Champions, taking place from November 2nd through November 15th. The 2011 Tournament of Champions invites 15 of its biggest winners of the year back to play again. This time, however, $250,000 is up for grabs for the ultimate winner. Included in the group of 15 is the winner of the College Championship and the Teacher's Tournament. Click here for a list of everyone who is taking part. Who do you think will win?
Read MoreView Comments (7)30Aug2011
Fall 2011 Game Show Season Debut Dates
We've got some cool features on The Hub's Family Game Night and Scrabble Showdown coming soon. However, when discussing some things with readers on Twitter this morning, I got a lot of questions regarding when your favorite game shows would be debuting. The usual debut month is September, and with that quickly approaching I thought having a run down of the new debut dates and what to expect would be smart. Click here to read about all the debut dates.
Read MoreView Comments (24)05Aug2011
Morning Buzz for August 5, 2011
Good morning, everyone. We've been pretty busy around here recently, and couple that with lack of any remotely interesting news to make a pretty slow day or so. However, over the past day and a half, a few interesting stories. Not that much is going on in America right now, but collectively over the world we've found some interesting stories. Stories this morning include the return of a classic game show to GSN's weekend schedule, casting notices for a new New York-based quiz show and a Sky show in the UK, taping information for ITV's upcoming live Millionaire celebrity special, and a new version of The Cube is coming. Read about all the stories here.
Read MoreView Comments (12)28Jul2011
Make Your Own Jokes: Alex Trebek Injures Himself Chasing Burglar
It's time for another one of our popular features: Make Your Own Joke posts. We waited to report on the Alex Trebek situation specifically for the jokes. If you haven't heard yet, Alex Trebek was recently injured when chasing a burglar. A woman was robbing Trebek's hotel room. As she fled Alex ran out after her, met up with her, and she was apprehended. However, during the chase, Alex fell and injured his leg. Alex is doing fine, but it's just a weird story. Weird enough that we're getting an influx of Jeopardy! related jokes regarding the situation. So instead of taking the story seriously like many are, since it's so bizarre, we're asking you to come up with jokes. We asked our Twitter and Facebook followers to come up with some, and we've got some winners. Click here to see some of our favorites and send us your own jokes.
Read MoreView Comments (41)20Jun2011
Ben Bailey Wins Emmy; “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” Tie
Last night CBS presented the 38th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, hosted by Let's Make A Deal host Wayne Brady. I didn't watch (not a fan of award shows) so someone can clue us in as to how Wayne did, but regardless many other game shows were represented well. As previously established Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Trebek told CBS News backstage, "We're part of Americana. People, when they hear the themes to 'Wheel' and 'Jeopardy!', they know immediately what the reference is. Part of that is because we've been on for so long. We hope it will continue for as long as we want to do it." Click here to learn more about the awards.
Read MoreView Comments (21)11May2011
Game Show Nominees for 38th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards
The 38th annual Daytime Emmy Awards are rapidly approaching and, as always, game shows are being represented well. Last year Discovery's Cash Cab (a show I still think is incredibly overrated) swept the games, winning both best game show and best host for Ben Bailey. They'll both be back trying for yet another, but a field of others will try to keep the newest Emmy Award off their shelf. The host this year will be Let's Make A Deal's Wayne Brady. Click here for the full list of nominees.
Read MoreView Comments (11)25Apr2011
“Jeopardy” Lands on Facebook
Game show fans on Facebook have yet another daily distraction. The popular quiz show Jeopardy! has been released for the social networking site. The game is a joint venture between Sony and GSN Digital. The last collaboration was the Facebook edition of Wheel of Fortune which sees over 200,000 plays a day. Sony Pictures owns 35% of GSN. Any Facebook user can play Jeopardy! and match their wits against their friends. Click here to learn more about the game and to play.
Read MoreView Comments (10)22Mar2011
“Vanna For A Day” Winner Katie Cantrell Appears on “Wheel” March 24th; Trebek and Sajak Win Award
Lots of Wheel of Fortune news for you today. In February, Wheel launched the "Vanna For a Day" competition where one lucky winner would get the chance to stand in front of the iconic puzzle board in place for regular host Vanna White. Katie Cantrell, a senior at Savannah College of Art and Design, won. She beat out more than 1,000 other ladies for the chance.
Not only that, but both Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek are being honored with a Lifetime Achievement award at the Daytime Emmys which will be broadcast live on June 19th on CBS. “Who of us has not laughed and been entertained by the unique and ever present game shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!?” asked NATAS Chairman, Darryl Cohen.
17Feb2011
Watson Gets Shot By a Shotgun on “Conan”
We're winding down the Watson event on Jeopardy! and we're done saying how amazing Watson is, how about we see him get the crap shot out of him? Alright, it's not the real Watson obviously, but it's still funny. Watson has been hired as the new announcer on Conan airing weeknights on TBS at 11:00PM, and Watson and Andy don't get along that well. I can't help but think that Jeopardy! would have improved with some "your wife" jokes. See what it degenerates to by clicking here.
Read MoreView Comments (5)17Feb2011
Watson Wins the “Jeopardy!” IBM Challenge
After watching Tuesday's episode of the three-day Jeopardy! IBM Challenge it shouldn't be that much of a shock, but the finale of the special competition between IBM's Watson, Brad Rutter, and Ken Jennings took place on Wednesday. Watson came out in first place, with a point score of $77,147 and wins $1,000,000 to split between the two charities IBM chose.
Ken came in second place with $24,000 and Brad in third with $21,600. They will each receive $300,000 and $200,000; respectively, that will be split between themselves and the charity of their choice. Click here to learn more about the final match.
16Feb2011
“Jeopardy!” IBM Challenge Day Two: Watson and Sony Win Big
The second day of the Jeopardy! IBM Challenge is complete and it's turning out to be great for both IBM and Sony. In terms of gameplay, Watson is, by far, destroying competitors Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. The accurate term could be "ass kicking." Watson ended the first full game with $35,734, Brad with $10,400, and Ken with $4,800.
So while it's working out for IBM, this entire stunt is working out better than I imagined. Monday hit a four year high of an 8.7 rating. Tuesday's edition scored a massive 9.5 rating. Click here for more ratings information and news about last night's game.
15Feb2011
“Jeopardy!” IBM Challenge Day One Results: Draw
The first day of the hotly anticipated Jeopardy! match between IBM's supercomputer Watson and champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter was played last night. It was more of an introduction than anything, showing off how Watson was created and how it works. It included interviews with IBM creators, developers, and Alex Trebek. They also played the first round of one game. After the first 30 questions of the game, it looks like it's going to be a very close two-game series. It's a draw so far. Click here to read more about the match and see a video.
Read MoreView Comments (15)14Feb2011
An Interview with Stephen Baker, Author of “Final Jeopardy!”
Tonight is the first of a three-episode special edition of Jeopardy! featuring two games between two of the show's biggest winners and IBM's Watson. The long-awawited match will see the machine take on Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings for a million dollar top prize. If you're interested in learning more about the process of how Watson was put together and the stress behind it, I recommend the book, "Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything," by Stephen Baker.
The book follows the process of building and fine tuning Watson, the pressures for IBM, and the Jeopardy! match itself. I read the book and it's incredibly entertaining and makes you look at the program in a very different way. I recently had the chance to interview Mr. Weber about the book. He discusses the way Watson works, the fears of Sony and IBM, and where IBM can take this next. You can read the interview by clicking here.
09Feb2011
News Flashes: Ratings, The Hub Casting, and “Jeopardy” Testing
Some quick news flashes to get you started this morning. Syndicated ratings are in for the week ending January 24th. It wasn't that great for anyone involved except Family Feud which went to its season high of 1.9. It keeps wanting to go over the 2.0 mark. I think it'll do it by the end of the year. Second, The Hub, Hasbro's kids and family television network, has had some success with some of its game show programming like Family Game Night. They are currently casting for a second new game show based on one of their board game properties. Finally, Jeopardy! continues their online testing today. Tonight at 8:00PM CT / 7:00PM MT is testing for the Central and Mountain time zones. Click here to read about all the stories.
Read MoreView Comments (2)08Feb2011
Trivia Tuesday: “Jeopardy!” Online Exam and “You Don’t Know Jack” Today
Fans of all forms of trivia are in luck today. Two major trivia tests are out, quizzing you for both potentially real and fake cash. First, today's the day many have been waiting for. It's the Jeopardy! online contestant exam for the East. We previously featured a story about it which included tips from readers who have taken it. Once you've got all your regular, standard trivia out of the way, I'm sure many of you will be playing some You Don't Know Jack. The irreverent quiz show party game is back after a long break on all major consoles. Click here to learn about both.
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