This article is dedicated to the first two hosts of the show, Art Fleming (May 1, 1924 - April 25, 1995) and Alex Trebek (July 22, 1940 - November 8, 2020), may they rest in peace.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. It aired on NBC from 1964 to 1975 (with a nighttime syndicated version from 1974 to 1975) and again from 1978 to 1979, and the current version has aired on syndication since 1984 (with various primetime tournaments airing on ABC in 1990 (Super Jeopardy!), and in 2020 (Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time) with a third one (Jeopardy! National College Championship) set to air in 2022).
Why These Seasons Rock
Great hosting from Art Fleming, and especially Alex Trebek.
Masterful announcing from Don Pardo (who later announced Saturday Night Live from 1975 to his 2014 death), John Harlan, and currently Johnny Gilbert.
Nice format, with the basic premise of "we provide the answers, you provide the questions".
Great theme songs, whether it's "Take Ten", "January, February, March", or especially all versions of "Think!".
Nice looking sets, especially those of the current version, with a giant flashing Jeopardy! logo (until November 1996) and wall of monitors.
Intelligent contestants, among those, include Chuck Forrest, Frank Spangenberg, Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, Matt Amodio, Julia Collins, and James Holzhauer.
Bad Qualities
It's often thought that the decline in clue writing quality started when longtime clue writer Steven Dorfman died in January 2004, during Season 20, and before that, a proliferation of punny categories since Season 14.
The show has been going downhill since Season 20, due to the aforementioned death of longtime clue writer Steve Dorfman and the removal of the five-game rule for champions led to ridiculously long winning streaks (especially with Ken Jennings).
