One Does Not Simply Walk Into Sony Pictures Studios...
I’m *attempting* to write up some of my notes from Tournament of Champions tapings. They’re absolutely chaotic and I’m wordy af, but if you’ve ever read my relentless tweeting and thought “I’d love more of whatever this is”, then keep reading!
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After the excitement of Jeopardy! Honors on Monday night (I’ll do a post about Honors at some point!), and the travel from Eastern to Pacific time zone on Sunday, I did not get a lot of sleep before Tuesday’s taping. I don’t know how any of the contestants managed to sleep at all. I woke up around 3:30am and spent a few hours thinking about going back to sleep, jotting down things I wanted to remember from Jeopardy! Honors, getting ready, re-reading my “ToC Audience Arrival Time” email, & re-checking the time. I decided to wear my Starry Night dress & yellow shrug (I figured a bright color would give me a better chance of spotting myself in audience shots on TV).
Around 9am I texted Cindy, who I knew was also an “audience VIP”, and we made plans to walk together to the studio. Can I just do a little aside here? Cindy Zhang is an absolute lifesaver. I’m always so lost when I travel by myself (which I don’t do often), and she checked in to make sure I knew where I was going, gave me food recommendations, and seemed to be on top of all the logistics that I was totally overwhelmed by. And beyond just telling me where to go, she was willing to meet up with me without ever making me feel like I was a burden or anything less than a cool person who definitely knew what I was doing. Fair warning, the rest of this “article” might just be 100% me being Cindy Fangirl #1.
Anyways, we had talked about bringing food to the studio since the lunch options were a bit of a walk (another great piece of been-there-done-that advice from Cindy), so I stopped by Trader Joe’s and grabbed some trail mix & PB&J bars on the walk from my hotel to the Culver Hotel. Cindy got some bagels to share for breakfast and lunch - I had her get me a plain bagel with avocado, even though I really wanted an everything bagel (but I was scared of having onion breath for the Inside Jeopardy! podcast, which I had been told we would record at some point on taping day!)
Fun example of how great I am at directions: I walked right past the Culver Hotel without realizing the bagel shop was BEFORE the Culver Hotel, and had to call Cindy and do the whole sitcom scene of “Where are you?” “Where are YOU?” “Oh I see you!” “Ok, you’re walking toward me! I guess we can hang up now.”
I did get to see the contestants getting settled in their shuttle vans in front of the hotel - I don’t remember who recognized whom first, but waving and possibly some squealing ensued and it was exciting to see my newfound friends before their big day. It was like getting a peek of the bride in her gown before she walks down the aisle. Ew, that's a really old-fashioned, heteronormative example, what's a better simile? Ok, getting to see the football team all… padded (?) and helmeted (?) up, waiting to run out of the, y'know, tunnel area and bust through the paper that says GO TEAM or whatever. Better?
It was about a 1 mile walk from the Culver Hotel to the Overland Gate at Sony Pictures Studios. We made it there right about 9:55am and saw some contestants’ family members at the gate. Cindy showed everyone where exactly to go in and we were off to the legendary Sony Parking Garage!
A cool thing about this taping is that it was only friends/family/special guests so it wasn’t crowded or chaotic at all. Sitting on a bench, I scarfed down my bagel, narrowly avoided dropping avocado all over my dress, and chatted with David Maybury who was there as a guest of rowan. I think we also talked to Tyler Rhode’s fiancee Meghan (side note, one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen) & I met Lucy Ricketts (a 2021 3-day champ, incredibly nice, would have loved to hang out with her even more). At one point I met Margaret’s sister-in-law, who was awesome, but that may have been later in the day.
After a bit of waiting we lined up to have vax cards checked & be issued a mask and wristband. The staffer checked our names to make sure we were on The List™ - Cindy, Sam Kavanaugh, and I were all considered “VIPs” and got gold wristbands so we could sit in the front row. Ooh, fancy! Then we lined up again to have our bags checked by security, and they announced that we shouldn’t bring any food or drink into the studio. Sam K. (I’m calling him Sam K. so nobody confuses him with Sam B., aka Sam Buttrey. Plus, that’s what they do with same-first-names on The Bachelorette, and if it’s good enough for The Bachelorette, it’s good enough for me!) Anyways, Sam K. asked if anyone wanted a banana before they made him throw them away, but Cindy assured everyone that they would totally let you bring food in as long as it stayed in your bag (and she was right! Whew! My trail mix & Cindy’s bagels were safe!)
The staff lined everyone up on the outside wall of the parking garage, with Sam K., Cindy, and I at the front of the line. There was a sign indicating different directions for tapings of For All Mankind, The Goldbergs, and Shark Tank. Sam K. joked that we should crash a Shark Tank taping and heckle Mr. Wonderful.
From there we took a short walk (single file! Stay to the right!) to the Jeopardy! studio and stepped into The Alex Trebek Stage. I have always wanted to know what Jeopardy! smells like, but since we had to wear masks the entire time we were inside, I didn’t really get to identify the scent of Jeopardy!, which I’m guessing is mainly “air conditioning and electronics.” (merch idea: Jeopardy! should sell Jeopardy! scented candles.)
The Jeopardy! studio is overwhelmingly iconic but also strangely familiar at the same time. You enter facing a small hallway area with Jeopardy! memorabilia and Emmy awards on display, then go up a few steps into the audience seating area, and you see the Jeopardy! board and stage and podiums (lecterns!) Everything is smaller than it looks on TV, but it’s also bigger because you’re seeing it in real life and not on a screen. It’s an odd juxtaposition. My immediate reaction was, “Whoaaaa Jeopardy! is real!! I can touch it!!!” and Sam K. quickly said, “They will kick you out if you lay a finger on the game board.” (I’m 95% sure he was joking and he knew I was not actually planning to rush the stage, but there’s 5% of me that is convinced he has SEEN some things.)
Cindy, Sam K., and I were seated in the front row on the right side. Everyone was told to turn all devices completely off in the audience area (we could turn them on and take photos in the hallway memorabilia area, which I did later!) We were also told to keep masks on at all times and no eating or drinking inside the studio, not even a sip of water. There was a guy watching to make sure everybody behaved!
Obviously I wasn’t able to take a photo of the stage, but I found this photo online and marked where we were sitting. The yellow circle is where we sat for most of the games. However, later in the day they needed to fill in spots for the opening audience shot and would move us to the center back rows, outlined in red (this photo is from a few years ago and there were not seats there at the time). We would stay there from the beginning of the episode to the first “commercial break,” then move back to our original seats.
At some point, Jimmy McGuire (formerly of the Clue Crew, now stage managing) did some audience announcements/banter and told everyone that Ken Jennings' parents were in attendance! (Fun Fact: Ken Jennings's dad is named Ken Jennings, Jr. so Ken is actually Ken Jennings, III.) Ken's mom and dad were on the other side of the audience so I didn't get to meet them. This was apparently the first time they had been able to see Ken host in person, since there had not been an audience for most of his hosting career!
Another special person in the audience was Ryan Long's son, Nathan. He was seated with Ryan's family in the row behind us, and I think he was the only child in the audience that day. One of the crew members came over and asked him if this was his first time visiting Jeopardy! He enthusiastically replied, “Yes, but I have a question - when is Ryan Long going to come out on stage?!?”
He didn’t have to wait long, because Ryan was scheduled to play the first game of the day along with Megan Wachspress and Maureen O’Neil. (We did not know who was playing until they walked out before their game.) The contestants were ushered on stage one by one by Jeopardy! staff, including makeup & hair people to do touch-ups once the contestant removed their mask. When Ryan walked out I heard Nathan gasp and whisper-squeal, “That’s my daddy!”
I got out my notebook and pen, and it was time for [Johnny Gilbert voice] The Jeopardy! Tournament! Of! Champions! to begin.
I’m planning to post a recap of each game around 11:00pm Eastern each night. Recaps won’t include much gameplay analysis, but will include:
contestant vibe checks
contestant outfit details
clues/lines Ken flubbed
random thoughts
behind-the-scenes logistics
pictures I took in the hallway between episodes
notes on what the contestants and Ken talked about during the “credits”, aka the convos Jeopardy! sometimes includes on Overheard
If that appeals to you for whatever reason, smash that subscribe button, folks!