Michael T. Mondak speaks: 40 til 40 day 25

Day 25 of the 40 til 40 series of blog entries about anything and everything relevant to the number 40 will be about the 40 most significant episodes of all time on Jeopardy!  (Last time I had spoken about the 40 biggest NFL draft busts of all time.)

40. September 21, 2002:  The episode where Alex Trebek shaved his mustache.

39. September 13, 2021:  The first episode taped on the rededicated Alex Trebek Stage at Sony Pictures Studios.

38. November 11, 1985:  The first Tournament of Champions game of the Alex Trebek era.

37. March 1, 2018:  The first regular episode to end with a Tiebreaker round.

36. October 4, 1989:  The 4000th all time episode of Jeopardy! dating back to 1964.

35. August 8, 1998:  VH-1 debuted a popular music spinoff of Jeopardy! called Rock & Roll Jeopardy!, hosted by Jeff Probst, before he became best known as the host of Survivor.

34. July 21, 2021:  The episode where we met a Ph.D. candidate from New Haven, Connecticut named Matt Amodio for the very first time.

33. September 2, 1991:  The first episode taped on the then-new grid set.

32. September 25, 2022:  ABC debuted Celebrity Jeopardy!

31. November 11, 1996:  The first episode taped on the then-new “sushi bar” set.

30. July 5, 2005:  The episode where we met a writer originally from Ridgewood, New Jersey named David Madden for the very first time.

29. June 3, 2019:  The end of the 32 game winning streak of James Holzhauer.

28. January 7, 1994:  The 5000th all time episode of Jeopardy! dating back to 1964.

27. June 16, 1990:  ABC debuted Super Jeopardy!: The $250,000 Challenge at 8:00 in the evening.  Promos billed it as the “Super Bowl of Game Shows”.

26. May 14, 2002:  Brad Rutter won the Million Dollar Tournament of Masters at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

25. January 3, 1975:  The last episode of the original version of Jeopardy!

24. December 4, 2024:  Amazon Prime debuted Pop Culture Jeopardy!, hosted by comedian Colin Jost.  In addition to the usual Daily Doubles, a new Triple Play clue in each of the first two rounds had three correct responses.

23. May 20, 2019:  The air date of the first episode taped after the announcement of Alex Trebek’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

22. September 25, 2014:  Crackle debuted a sports-themed spinoff of Jeopardy! called Sports Jeopardy!, hosted by sportscaster Dan Patrick.

21. October 30, 2014:  The last episode to end in a tie with co-champions crowned.

20. September 5, 1994:  The first episode taped at Sony Pictures Studios’ Stage 10.

19. November 30, 2004:  The end of the historic 74 game winning streak of Ken Jennings.

18. January 30, 1998:  The Game Show Network debuted a children’s version of Jeopardy! called Jep!, hosted by cartoon voice actor Bob Bergen.  In addition to the usual Daily Doubles, some clues were delivered by a group of kids called the “Jep! Squad”, a forerunner to the Clue Crew that debuted in 2001 and some clues awarded a player giving a correct response a Jep! prize in addition to the points.

17. February 6, 1997:  The “Infestation of the Tribbles”.

16. November 17, 2021:  The episode where we met a writer from Oakland, California named Amy Schneider for the very first time.

15. April 5, 2022:  The episode where we met a 23-year-old tutor from Toronto, Ontario, Canada named Mattea Roach for the very first time.

14. March 2, 1978:  The last episode hosted by Art Fleming.

13. June 5, 2020:  Ben Henri won the Teachers’ Tournament on the last tournament episode hosted by Alex Trebek.

12. January 30, 1985:  The 3000th all time episode of Jeopardy! dating back to 1964.

11. October 2, 1978:  Jeopardy! was revived on NBC with Art Fleming returning as host.

10. October 30, 2000:  This was the episode where we met a 22-year-old college dropout from Lancaster, Pennsylvania named Brad Rutter for the very first time.

9. May 8, 2023:  ABC debuted Jeopardy! Masters.

8. January 14, 2020:  Ken Jennings was crowned champion of Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time.

7. March 30, 1964:  Jeopardy! debuted on NBC at 11:30 in the morning.

6. April 9, 2019:  James Holzhauer became the first to win over $100,000 on a single episode. 😮

5. March 16, 2007:  The only time a game ended in a nonzero three way tie, with all three contestants finishing with identical final scores of $16,000.

4. January 15, 1990:  New York City Transit Police officer Frank Spangenberg became the first to win over $100,000 over five consecutive episodes.

3. January 8, 2021:  It was the last episode hosted by Alex Trebek, taped just less than two weeks before he passed away from pancreatic cancer. 😢

2. September 10, 1984:  The series premiere of the Jeopardy! that we know and love.

1. June 2, 2004:  This was the episode where we met a 30-year-old software engineer from suburban Salt Lake City, Utah named Ken Jennings for the very first time.

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