Jeopardy! Just Achieved An Amazing Record
Celebrity Jeopardy! achieved a series high in terms of viewership for its Season 1 finale.
Jeopardy! is a television game show that seems to have been around for as long as anyone can remember. According to an article from Deadline, the spinoff Celebrity Jeopardy!’s championship final and season finale achieved a series high in terms of viewership, as well as achieving a series high in the 18-49 demographic in delayed viewing.
The episode accumulated roughly 5.8 million audience members throughout its first seven days of viewing across platforms. The vast majority of those views came from television views, with about 400,000 coming from those viewing through digital platforms.
The season finale of Celebrity Jeopardy! actually beat out the series premiere in terms of its audience by a whopping 25%. This growth in popularity over the course of the season bodes well for the series, and shows that there is indeed fan interest in ABC’s take on Celebrity Jeopardy!
The final three celebrity contestants were Patton Oswalt (The Sandman), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project). Barinholtz won out to become the new Celebrity Jeopardy! champion, with his $1 million prize pledged to the Pacific Clinic’s Hollygrove Program.
The championship episode was the culmination of the first season of Celebrity Jeopardy! It was the second consecutive week that the series had grown its audience.
Celebrity Jeopardy! is a spinoff of the American television game show series Jeopardy! which first aired in 1964. It featured host Art Fleming and then later the iconic Alex Trebek, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2020. Since Trebek’s passing, Mayim Bialik and former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings have shared responsibilities as co-hosts.
Merv Griffin was the creator of the original Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune franchises, and was the man behind Merv Griffin Enterprises and Merv Griffin Entertainment. He originally got his start in show business as a radio personality and on Broadway. The entertainer went on to host his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show, for over 20 years from 1965 to 1986.
Celebrity Jeopardy! is hosted by Mayim Bialik. Fans may recognize Bialik from the NBC sitcom Blossom, on which she played the lead from 1991 to 1995. More likely, they recognize her as the indomitable Amy Farrah Fowler from the television sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
On The Big Bang Theory, she plays a brainy, socially awkward but headstrong scientist who ends up becoming the main love interest of Jim Parson’s Sheldon Cooper. Bialik was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Bialik is no stranger to the Jeopardy! franchise. She is co-host of the syndicated version of Jeopardy! alongside Ken Jennings. She also was the emcee for the Jeopardy! National College Championship.
Celebrity Jeopardy! has yet to be renewed for a second season. However, if popularity is any indication, fans could be seeing another season of the historic game franchise on the horizon.
