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Jeopardy! had to recycle clues during the Writers Guild of America strike in 2023 in order to keep the show running. This resulted in some repeated Jeopardy!categories that longtime viewers recognized, but some fans aren’t pleased with the current state of the clues in the time since the strikes ended.
Fans debated the quality of recent Final Jeopardy categories and clues in a Jeopardy! Reddit thread posted on Wednesday, February 21.
“Has anyone else been underwhelmed (and/or occasionally simply baffled) by a lot of the Final Jeopardy questions since the pivot to the tournament-only format during the WGA strike?” a fan asked the forum. “Sometimes they feel like convoluted brain teasers; other times — for instance, Leading Ladies, Next in Line a few weeks ago — both clue and category feel more akin to what you’d encounter in a Daily Double: a cutesy/anodyne category; a clue predicated more on logical gymnastics than raw knowledge.”
“I know that during the strike, the producers had to work with an inventory of recycled or previously discarded clues, but you’d think there’d be a stronger database to choose from,” the post continues. “Also: presumably the writers are back by now, and what we’re seeing are new clues rather than past rejects? (I actually don’t know the answer to this.)”
It’s a valid line of questioning, and questioning the quality of the series was always going to be an inevitably after the death of Alex Trebek, who was meticulous in his edits of the categories and clues during his decades-long run as host. The constant tournaments (also a strike byproduct) have also been a point of contention for fans in recent months, though there have been a fair share of standout episodes. While there are frequent notes from fans about unfairly confusing clues, not everyone on this thread agreed with the original post’s argument.
“I disagree, but I can see why you don’t like them!” one fan replied, arguing for the “convoluted” phrasing. “Because you have 30 seconds to work out your response, having clues that require a bit more logical puzzling-out than normal can only really work in Final, as opposed to the other 60 clues you get in an episode, where you only have a few seconds to figure out the response. In addition, if every Final’s a near-gimme, then wagering strategy becomes far less of a thing.”
“I personally prefer both of these — after all, if you have the time, why not write clues to make the most of it?” the comment continues. “But I can totally get why someone would want Final written like the rest of the game, or if you think the get rate should be more in line with the rest of the show.”
One comment saw this as a valid point. “FJ should deserve the 30 seconds (granted, writing it out takes longer). If people can pre-guess it, it’s probably not worthy,” they wrote. But another pointed out the Final Jeopardy clue from the February 20, 2024 episode as evidence of the original post’s claim.