If you (like me) have been watching the Jeopardy! website constantly for casting announcements, you probably saw that the lineup for the first three weeks of the season dropped Tuesday night!
We are kicking off with a Second Chance for contestants from Season 37. These are contestants that played originally during the first year of the Covid pandemic and/or the guest host era.
(Of course I made a spreadsheet to help me remember who’s who.)
I’ve seen some confusion online from people who don’t remember many of these players and are wondering why certain players from recent memory aren’t included. Don’t worry - all your favorites from Season 39 (last season) will get their Second Chance soon! Because of the way Jeopardy! is now structuring the tournaments (Second Chance feeds into ToC which feeds into further opportunities such as Masters), ALL the Season 39 “postseason” stuff is delayed until the WGA strike ends.
What’s going on with the strike?
Speaking of the strike: the production of Jeopardy! right now is a complicated situation. Their writers are members of the WGA and are currently on strike. (Support the WGA!) The clues that will be used for the next few months were all written by the WGA writing staff (any non-union member writing new clues would be scabbing). However, most of these clues were not written specifically for these games and likely will be a mix of used and unused clues/categories from previous games.
Mayim and Ken are members of SAG-AFTRA which is also on strike under their TV/Theatrical contract but that contract does NOT include game shows. Mayim has temporarily stepped back from hosting, in solidarity with the WGA. Ken will continue to host, as Alex Trebek did during the 2007-2008 WGA strikes, as his contract presumably requires him to, and as SAG-AFTRA allows.
This also allows SAG-AFTRA members to appear on Celebrity Jeopardy, which began taping in August and will premiere September 27th with Ken as host.
Both celebrity and regular contestants find themselves in a tough situation where they are contractually allowed to appear on Jeopardy! but, for many, ethically opposed to crossing the WGA picket line to do so. Polygon had an excellent article speaking to several contestants faced with the dilemma, and I’m sure there will be more reporting to come as the season starts.
Each contestant who was invited back this season had to make a decision to accept or decline the invitation based on the intersection of their own values and their personal situation and I’m passing zero judgment on anyone’s decision (unless that decision was to wear a quarter-zip… j/k!) My coverage of contestant outfits will continue regardless of the strike, though I understand some viewers may boycott even watching the show in solidarity with the writers.
Second Chance S37 Outfit Previews
I’m saving most of my outfit discussion for the daily recaps, but I did look through the contestant headshots and there are some excellent looks! I won’t spoil specifics if you prefer to digest the outfits when they debut on TV.
But if you’d like to do a little scavenger hunt through the headshots like its one of those I Spy books, here are some of the pieces that stood out to me on my initial scroll:
a pride pin
a preppy sweater
print spectacles
a tie fit for a teacher
vexillological earrings
a unique layering combo
I’m looking forward to seeing more of these outfits next week (and I’m assuming all the headshots are from their first game, but we’ll see if that holds true.)
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New merch on Etsy!
I have been working very hard during the summer break to turn my long list of ideas into products!
As soon as Season 39 finished, I launched the Season 39 Alumni shirts - and added a matching sweatshirt, hoodie, and tote bag (now available for ALL seasons.)
Then I expanded the selection of “custom clue” products. The hardcover (lined) and spiral (dot grid) notebooks make great gifts. Because of shipping costs, the greeting card and sticker only ship in packs of four, but you can customize all four with different text.
The customizable Jeopardy! Clue Board blanket and custom tote bag have been such a hit, I wanted to bring similar options to my first coffee mug products. The category & clue mug can be customized with whatever category, dollar value, and clue text you choose. And I’m so excited about the podium (lectern!!) mug, complete with a personalized name and text. I have some fun ideas for sample text on these, and I always love seeing what phrases people come up with too.
And finally, I’m always open for custom team shirts! This started with Matt Amodio & Amy Schneider and snowballed from there. ToC contestants usually get contacted personally by me once they qualify (and their shirts listed separately on Etsy for their fans to buy), but I would love to create a shirt for ANY contestant in Second Chance, Champions Wild Card, Celebrity Jeopardy, Tournament of Champions, Jeopardy Invitational Tournament, Masters, any other tournament that Michael Davies dreams up, your watch party, or taping. I even had one contestant make a team shirt featuring her cat (Team Smba represent!)
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Thanks for the summary and write up! I hadn’t seen the Polygon article before, so looking forward to that as well.