Rumors have been percolating for the last couple months about Jeopardy tracking down their former five-day champions. (It's been a very lively topic of discussion on Sony's Jeopardy board.) Now on the official site, there is the first "official" suggestion that something is up.

They've posted a list of some three dozen former champions that they're trying to locate. We have some former champs who are members, and possibly more who are lurkers, so I thought I'd post this message on the chance that one of you might know -- or might be -- one of the "missing".

No official announcement yet of why they're collecting former champs, but as I said, there's a lot of speculation at Sony's Jeopardy board.

www.jeopardy.com

Well, the obvious guess is another large-scale tournament ala MDM.

Could they be pulling a Blockbusters and inviting former champions back to the show since they are no longer limited to five wins?

I thought about that at first, but the relevant thread from the J! board referenced by the OP suggests that they're contacting teen and college tourney champs as well.

Sounds like a 2nd edition of the MDM to me.

Or, maybe they're making special episodes to pit them against Ken Jennings.

I can confirm that teen and college tourney winners have been contacted.


--Mike

If Old Man Beverly is to be believed, the password is: Biography. Reportedly, a certain moderator has been contacted, too.

But if the J! boards are to be believed, the champs are being asked about their availability for an 11-month range. This seems like a lot more than a Biography episode, and more than just a two-week tournament, as well...

I'm smelling a desperate attempt by the Jeopardy people to get back to number 1 when the Jennings run is over. It's been proven recently that Jeopardy! isn't number 1 without Jennings, so I have a feeling they are looking for a new Jennings very very quickly. I'd honestly rather see a whole new player trying to do what he did, not people that have a better chance at it try for it.

I am sorta thinking that TVFavorites is right. That maybe they are gonna do what Blockbusters did, by bringing back 5 times champs that didn't get a chance to go further due to the limit.

Why look for a new Ken Jennings when the old one is perfectly fine? I mean a tourney to see who is the best of the best would certainly pit Ken against the other masters of the game. I'd love to see Ken go up against them just to see just what he could do.

One problem with Jeopardy having returning champions is that it's unfair to new players when you have a very strong champion.

I always thought this would be a neat weekly format for Jeopardy.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 3 new players each day

Thursday: winners from Mon-Wed return

Friday: winner from Thursday, the returning champion, and a former champion

That would fall apart when you read that they are also contacting Teen and College folks, who had their appearances within the confines of a tournament, and thus any outdated appearance limits wouldn't have applied to them anyway.

I don't think it falls apart. Teen and College Tournament players are not allowed to reapply for the regular version of the show. Their appearances were, in a sense, very limited.

How well would Michael Galvin (first Teen champion) have done on the show? He made it to the semis of the ToC. How about Tom Cubbage, who actually won the ToC? I think it would make for some interesting TV, as long as it's done right.

Curt