Jeopardy! fans left furious over schedule shake-up as they fume ‘I don’t understand’

Jeopardy! fans aren’t happy to go without their favorite show for a few weeks. The quizzing show is taking some time off-air after crowning their latest champ

The Jeopardy! schedule has fans ruffled.

Season 40 came to an end as Ken Jennings officially announced Rachel Bradley as the game show winner on Friday. However, what’s set to transpire now irritated loyal fans. The show is set to take a break for a few weeks while reruns of past tournaments are shown in the time slot instead.

The beginning of the schedule was already scuffed, making the conclusion of the season that much harder. A fan complained: “With the delayed season start, I don’t understand why they felt a need to quit now. I’m pretty tired of all the tournament games that ran for months, and now they’re on repeat.”

Lịch trình Jeopardy

The show will be re-airing some tournaments (Image: Jeopardy!)

CELEBRITY JEOPARDY! - "Quarterfinal #3: Christopher Meloni, Sherri Shepherd and Katie Nolan" - Stars Christopher Meloni ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"), Sherri Shepherd ("Sherri") and commentator Katie Nolan test their wits as they compete for their chance at the title of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" Champion. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 11 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images)KEN JENNINGS
Ken crowned a winner (Image: ABC via Getty Images)

Other fans justified the annoying move, pointing out that Jeopardy! “fulfilled” its contractual agreement for episodes. With the Olympics underway, some fans speculated that the season schedule could be controlled by that. They wrote: “Probably because of the conflicts with the Olympics in some areas where they are played on the same network.”

During the last show, Ken explained the upcoming plan. He said, “We’ll be back on Monday [July 29th] with some of our best shows of the season and then we’ll see you in September [9th]!”

The beginning of the season, though, was heavily affected by the WGA strike that shook the entire entertainment industry in the latter half of 2023. For Jeopardy!, the writers are responsible for researching and crafting the hints on the show which is, of course, quintessential to hold the game.

Jeopardy

Fans think the Olympics are part of the problem (Image:Jeopardy!)

With the writers striking, Jeopardy! producers scrambled for a solution. It was decided that they would use old content during the games while also depleting the remaining stash of hints that were written before the strike started. However, this rose some major concerns, too.

Showrunner Michael Davies said on the Inside Jeopardy! podcast at the time: “I also believe, principally, that it would not be fair to have new contestants making their first appearance on the Alex Trebek Stage, doing it with non-original material. Or as we’ll talk about a combination of non-original material and material that was written pre-strike. So, we’re gonna open the season with a second chance tournament for players from Season 37 who lost their initial game. And winners from that will advance to a Season 37 and Season 38 champions wildcard.”