Brace yourselves because Season 40 of Jeopardy! is coming, but it won’t be the same as seasons past.
There has been a lot of chatter about what shows will and won’t return this fall due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.
Jeopardy! was among those being talked about, as fans of the show feared that we may be dealing with a delayed season or possibly no season at all.
That definitely wouldn’t sit well with longtime fans of the show, as many rely on Jeopardy! to be their weeknight trivia and entertainment staple before prime time and bedtime wind down.
The good news is that Jeopardy! fans will be seeing Season 40 begin on schedule in September.
The bad news is that the show is going to have some changes to accommodate for the writers strike, as Jeopardy! writers are a part of the WGA and won’t be writing any new material for the upcoming season.
Here’s how Jeopardy! will handle Season 40 amid writers strike
Season 40 of Jeopardy! is happening, and it will start on time. However, there will be no new questions. This means that contestants who have studied old seasons of the hit show will have a sure advantage because that’s where they are getting the material.
“Our current plan is to go into a holding pattern of sorts, pushing back the Season 39 postseason to first produce original episodes featuring the best of our WGA written material,” a Jeopardy! spokesperson said in a statement shared by TV Insider.
“Next month, we will share more news about exciting plans and enhancements to the contestant experience for this upcoming season and beyond.”
Tournament of Champions on hold
What does this mean for the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions? The highly anticipated contest will be pushed back until the strike is over.
After several Jeopardy! champions, including super champ Amy Schneider, vowed to boycott the TOC in solidarity with the writers strike, producers revealed that they had never planned to go forward with the special series until after the strike was resolved, saying in the same statement that the Tournament of Champions “represents the pinnacle of our competition, and it should feature our strongest players playing our toughest original material.”
After all, a tournament featuring the biggest Jeopardy! winners wouldn’t even be fair if they were recycling old questions like a family game night round of Trivial Pursuit.
The statement about Jeopardy! ‘s future made sure to note their immense respect for the show’s writers and for the WGA contract, which is why they are reusing old questions rather than hiring scab writers for Season 40.
“Jeopardy! has a long history with and tremendous respect for the WGA and our writers,” The statement said. “We have always been careful to honor our WGA agreements and we would never air game material not created by WGA writers.”