Jeopardy! fans ‘feel lost’ in summer re-run season & spot ‘real reason’ Alex Trebek episodes were snubbed from schedule

JEOPARDY! fans have been left disappointed by the summer re-run season, speculating about why Alex Trebek episodes didn’t air.

The popular game show went off the air for the summer after the July 26 episode, and viewers are craving a bit of nostalgia.

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Jeopardy! fans have been left disappointed with the summer rerun scheduleCredit: Getty

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Fans wondered why the game show didn’t select any Alex Trebek rerunsCredit: Getty
Shortly after the Season 40 finale, Jeopardy! announced its full schedule of summer reruns.

The schedule covered Monday, July 29, up until the Season 41 premiere, scheduled for September 9, 2024.

On Wednesday, fans took to Reddit, confessing that they were feeling “lost” without new episodes of Jeopardy!

“Why do they need to take a break? Two more weeks of filming would cover the summer!” complained one viewer.

Other commenters chimed in with their own grievances.

“I don’t like how they’re re-airing something that aired so recently, I forget how they usually do it but it’d be cool if they just did a random run from a few years ago so episodes would at least feel a little more new,” one commenter noted.

A second Jeopardy! fan appeared to agree, adding, “Yeah and we already had too many tournaments earlier in the year due to the writer’s strike, and for the reruns they choose a tournament?

“Not that I’m not excited to see the new tournament of champions in a few weeks of however long that takes but I don’t really need to see the last one again.”

“Wish they used it as a chance to show Alex clips.”

Jeopardy! fans distraught as show’s only streaming service takes down episodes ‘without warning’
Late host Alex Trebek died in November 2020 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Some fans speculated that there was a reason episodes with Alex weren’t being shown.

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Jeopardy! announced its summer rerun schedule after the Season 40 finaleCredit: Jeopardy
“I hope they’re not avoiding showing his episodes because of some restrictive agreement or something like the royalties they’d owe. I’d hate to see money or contracts get in the way of new generations being exposed to Alex Trebek,” one fan posted.

Another suggested, “Most likely, it has to do with affiliates not wanting stale reruns and preferring more recent shows.”

Jeopardy! Host Timeline

Jeopardy! has had a tumultuous history regarding hosts after the death of the iconic Alex Trebek in 2020. Here are all of the hosts since the game show’s inception in 1964.

Art Fleming – 1964 to 1975, he was the original host of the daytime version of Jeopardy! on NBC.

Alex Trebek – 1984 to 2020, the late, great Alex hosted Jeopardy!’s modern iteration for 36 years until his death from pancreatic cancer.

Guest hosts – 2020 to 2021, Jeopardy! tested out a series of guest hosts for week or two-week stints, including Anderson Cooper, LaVar Burton, and Aaron Rodgers.

Mike Richards – 2021, he was named host for one week before resigning amid controversy. He was the show’s executive producer at the time.

Mayim Bialik – 2021 to 2023, when Mike was announced as the show’s new host, Mayim was chosen to host tournaments and primetime specials.

Mayim and Ken Jennings – 2022 to 2023, 74-time champion Ken (the longest-winning contestant ever) joined Mayim as a guest host and they split hosting duties.

Ken Jennings – 2023 to present. Last December, Mayim announced on Instagram that she would “no longer” host Jeopardy! after a lengthy hiatus, having stood with the writer’s strike, and Ken was named sole host.

Ken now helms all editions of Jeopardy! including Celebrity Jeopardy!, the nightly show, and other primetime specials like Masters.

NOT EXCITED

Jeopardy! fans also complained when the show initially announced its summer rerun lineup.

In a post on Instagram at the time, producers shared, “Time to sit back and unwind [sun emoji] [face with sunglasses emoji] Relive some of your favorite ToC +JIT moments all summer long.”

Reruns airing through the summer were all episodes from Season 40, which had just finished airing.

The first three weeks were the 2024 Tournament of Champions, which Yogesh Raut won.

The final three will be the inaugural Invitational Tournament, which Victoria Groce won.

The ToC was not shown in full, and reruns abruptly began during the fourth game, as revealed on the poster shared on social media.

“They’re not rerunning the first 3 TOC games, which includes Cris Pannullo’s upset,” one fan complained.

“They should have the last rerun week be users choice, for ones that get preempted, Like Black Friday and a few other,” added another.

“I wish they would replay really old episodes during this time,” posted a third.

“Disappointed that we didn’t get the Jared vs. Cris vs. Ben Goldstein quarterfinal game reaired. That was an amazing game,” pointed out a fourth.

“The seemingly years long continuous run of tournaments that just ended a few months ago has left a bitter taste in my mouth.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m really looking forward to next season,” a sixth commenter agreed.

“Just a standard run through with lots of regular games and the occasional tournament. September-March of Season 40 was just very odd in a way.”

STREAMING WOES

In addition to issues with the schedule, Jeopardy! viewers have expressed dissatisfaction that the show’s only streaming platform stopped showing it with no warning.

Pluto TV was previously the only way for fans to watch the show, which is unavailable anywhere but cable.

The free live-stream TV platform and on-demand video service from Paramount features more than 300 live channels.

Since 2022, one of those channels has been dedicated to Jeopardy!, airing reruns with Alex 24/7.

That ended on July 31, with no warning to fans.

A message posted over the live feed, which turned into a black screen that read, “Jeopardy! hosted by Alex Trebek is no longer available on Pluto TV.”

Fans were particularly distraught because the show had just gone on summer break.

The feed aired early episodes that couldn’t be found elsewhere, including host Ken Jennings’ original run on the show.

Fans expressed their disappointment on Reddit.

“Both Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune channels are down,” one Redditor wrote, starting a thread upon making the discovery.

“I’m not sure if this is just temporary or if it’s just down completely, but both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune just shut down on Pluto TV without any warning.”

“The Jeopardy channel was working just a few hours ago. is anyone else having problems?”

Other fans confirmed that the platform was not working for them.

One pointed out, “The original deal for both channels starting back in 2022 was only for two years, so I’m guessing it’s expired; there’s a chance it could move to yet another streaming service, but I hope it stays on Pluto. It’s so much more convenient.”

A second posted, “I hope it stays on PlutoTV, too. I love watching those reruns for free anytime both on demand and their own channel.”

“A moment of silence, please,” wrote a third.

“Please no – not when season 40 is ending as well Please don’t let it be!” added one more.

The streaming service has ended its agreement with Jeopardy!, it’s since been confirmed

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Jeopardy! fans have also expressed frustration with a lack of options for where to watchCredit: Getty

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Pluto TV previously had a channel dedicated entirely to Jeopardy! that aired episodes with Alex Trebek but it abruptly got rid of the channelCredit: Getty

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Jeopardy! fans can watch past episodes hosted by Ken Jennings up until the show returns in September 2024Credit: Getty