Super Jeopardy
This tournament was a 13-week affair broadcast Saturdays at 8pm on ABC
during the summer of 1990. It featured 36 former players, all of whom
reached at least the semifinals of the TOC, or who were top players from
the previous season (who had not yet been in a TOC). Also one participant,
Burns Cameron, was a contestant from the original Jeopardy! back in 1966.
(Note that this was very early during the run of that particular version
of the show.)
There was one alternate, Bruce Cox (1989-90), who attended all the tapings
in case one of the 36 players was unable to participate.
There were 9 quarterfinals of 4 players each; these produced 9 winners that
moved on to the semifinals, where 3 finalists were determined.
Quarterfinalists received $5,000; semifinalists won $10,000; third place
won $25,000; second place won $50,000; and first place (Bruce Seymour)
won $250,000.
Also, none of the games were played using dollar amounts but instead
points. Round one points ranged from 200-1000, and round two points ranged
from 500-2500. Eliminating the dollar values really just confused Alex,
and the score inflation didn't seem to have any effects other than to
make the players look better on the surface and make the first round
completely meaningless.
Note that Bruce Seymour was not a very likely choice to win this
Tournament: he was only a four-time champion, and he lost in the quarter-
finals of the TOC. However, Bruce was very close to being a 5-time
champion; had he gotten that last Final Jeopardy! right, he would
have won over $75,000 and had the highest regular winnings at that
time. (It is one of the few regular season matches I've lucked into
videotaping.)
Why a Super Jeopardy! tournament, you ask? Harry Eisenberg's book
offers some explanations. First, there would have been no Super Jeopardy!
had Merv Griffin not been pushing another game show, Monopoly.
Jeopardy! was used as a lead-in to Monopoly, a show hard to follow, hard
to play along, and a show with theme music that could produce headaches.
Also, according to Eisenberg, the reason there were four contestants in
each of the quarterfinal matches is that after invitations were sent out,
Merv insisted that several of the previous season's top players, like
Spangenberg and Blake, be invited even though they had not played in a TOC
yet. They and several others were added to the list, but the format had to
be changed to accommodate them: thus the infamous fourth podium.
The entire Super Jeopardy! tournament was taped over the course of three
days, Tuesday and Wednesday of one week, and then Tuesday of the following
week.
Rumor has it that Chuck Forrest was seen doing the NY Times crossword
puzzle there -- in ink -- with a stopwatch.
QUARTERFINALS #1-3
| Bob Verini | 23000 | -100 | 22900 (WIN)
|
| Bruce Naegeli | 10500 | -10500 | 0
|
| Steve Rogitz | 9900 | +9900 | 19800
|
| Ouida Rellstab | 6900 | -6900 | 0
|
| Frank Spangenberg | 17500 | -??? | ???*
|
| Brian Wangsgard | 9200 | -0 | 9200
|
| Eugene Finerman | 13000 | +13000 | 26000 (WIN)
|
| Kate Waits | 7900 | -7900 | 0
|
* They refused to reveal Frank's wager since it "didn't matter"!
| Elise Beraru | 6700 | -100 | 6600
|
| Richard Perez-Pena | 15000 | -??? | ???*
|
| Gary Giardina | 10100 | -3301 | 6799
|
| Eric Newhouse | 14200 | +14200 | 28400 (WIN)
|
* Same as above
SEMIFINAL #1
| Bob Verini | 24800 | +7401 | 32201 (WIN)
|
| Eugene Finerman | 16100 | +5000 | 21100
|
| Eric Newhouse | 10400 | +10400 | 20800
|
QUARTERFINALS #4-6
| Mark Lowenthal | 27000 | -13300 | 13700
|
| Paul Rouffa | 10800 | -10800 | 0
|
| Cathy Boggs | 5600 | +5600 | 11200
|
| Keith Walker | 20100 | +7000 | 27100 (WIN)
|
| Rich Lerner | 5200 | -3199 | 2001
|
| Bruce Seymour | 12400 | +10401 | 22801 (WIN)
|
| Liz Caccese | 10700 | -10700 | 0
|
| Burns Cameron | 11400 | +11400 | 22800
|
| Tom Cubbage | 12600 | +8001 | 20601
|
| Leah Greenwald | 10300 | +3000 | 13300
|
| Lionel Goldbart | (didn't | make it | to Final Jeopardy!)
|
| Roger Storm | 13200 | +12001 | 25201 (WIN)
|
SEMIFINAL #2
| Keith Walker | 11300 | +6100 | 17400
|
| Bruce Seymour | 25700 | +8301 | 34001 (WIN)
|
| Roger Storm | 17000 | -17000 | 0
|
QUARTERFINALS #7-9
| Chuck Forrest | 11600 | +9301 | 20901
|
| Dave Traini | 20000 | +4000 | 24000 (WIN)
|
| Ron Black | 10450 | +10450 | 20900
|
| Yael Sofaer | 10400 | +6401 | 16801
|
| Bob Blake | 29100 | +11301 | 40401 (WIN)
|
| Michael Rankins | 7400 | -7400 | 0
|
| Keith Bell | 5200 | -5200 | 0
|
| Peggi Malys | 20200 | -20200 | 0
|
| Sandy Gore
|
| Jeff Richmond (WIN) (only one to get FJ! right)
|
| Bruce Fauman
|
| Zeke Sevilla, Jr.
|
SEMIFINAL #3
| Dave Traini | 16900 | +8900 | 25700 (WIN)
|
| Bob Blake | 12800 | +10401 | 23201
|
| Jeff Richmond | 11600 | -1201 | 10399
|
FINAL
| Bob Verini | 16900 | -16900 | 0 | (2nd place, $50,000)
|
| Bruce Seymour | 28200 | +5601 | 33801 | (1st place, $250,000)
|
| Dave Traini | -2800 | | | (3rd place, $25,000)
|
