While Jeopardy! viewers were greeted by a brand-new set this week, the quiz show team bid a difficult goodbye. Lisa Broffman, one of its most senior staffers having been with the show for 35 years, exited her role as co-executive producer.
Her departure was announced on Monday, October 15’s Inside Jeopardy! podcast by now-sole Executive Producer Michael Davies and Producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss (seen above). Broffman began on Jeopardy! in 1989 and served as co-EP for the last decade. She worked for Merv Griffin Enterprises since 1976.
Foss brought up a control room photo that was used as a bumper for a recent episode, explaining they used it because it featured Broffman at work in the backround and it served as a sendoff for her retirement.
New angle of the control room tonight on Jeopardy! Technical Director Lucinda Owens MargolisDirector Russell Norman(guy drawing something – maybe a graphics producer?)Associate Director Chloe Corwinand I don’t know the two women at the back table. Anyone know? pic.twitter.com/cuNweoFiRQ— Lilly (@OneEclecticMom) October 10, 2024
“Co-executive producer Lisa Broffman, who has been with Jeopardy! since the fifth season, worked with Merv Griffin for years, an icon of Jeopardy!, now working as a consultant. But this was the last show she would serve as co-EP on,” Foss said, stating Broffman would now take a consultant role that was no longer day-to-day.
Davies, who became Executive Producer in 2021 following the ousting of the disgraced (and brief host) Mike Richards, shared the indelible stamp she left on the show having been “around Jeopardy!” since “day one.”
“It’s still very tough for me to talk about,” Davies said. “Rather like me, Lisa started her career at Merv Griffin Enterprises and worked with Merv and was with Merv when he brought these shows, Wheel and Jeopardy! back into syndication. She’s been around Jeopardy! since day one in syndication, but back on the show since Season 5.”
“When I came into Jeopardy!, I cannot tell you how much Lisa’s support meant to me and has meant to me,” he continued. “She is the filing system; our entire history sits inside her brain. And it was such a joy sitting next to her making this program. This was the last time she was in the control room but she was very much part of our show.”
What change this will bring is unclear as it seems Davies will take over her duties as singluar executive producer.
Foss recalled how integral Broffman was to her getting involved in the show, namely casting her on the iconic Clue Crew (Foss was chosen out of 5000 applicants and from there, became a top producer herself).
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“Lisa was very much part of the initial idea to have a Clue Crew. I remember meeting her when I first came out to audition. She’s been a mentor and a great friend ever since. And certainly will still be a part of my life and love that she’s still here as a consultant as well.”
According to IMBD, Broffman rose the Jeopardy! ranks over the years, starting as associate producer, then producer, supervising producer, and finally co-executive producer.
On an earlier episode of the “This Is Jeopardy!” history podcast, it was revealed that she was one of the first people Alex Trebek told of his pancreatic cancer before his 2020 passing.
“Alex, from the very beginning, said, ‘This is not going to affect anything, I plan on fighting this. Let’s get back to work,’” she recalled when Trebek first told her team the news. She also recalled the moment she learned of Trebek’s death, having worked with him so closely for so long.
“We had planned on having Ken [Jennings] come in to rehearse on November 8th, 2020. So we had a crew in, and that morning, Rocky Schmidt called me and said, He’s gone.”
Reflecting on her career overall she added: “Looking back on those years, I think the most meaningful to me is my love for Alex Trebek and what kind of human being he was. He wasn’t the host, he wasn’t the celebrity. He was part of our team and extremely involved in all the day-to-day activities. He was a friend, he was a mentor, he was a symbol of strength and his passion for life was…extraordinary.
“Everybody just wiped their tears away and hit the ground running in spite of their heartache and in spite of what was going on in the real world around us. It almost felt like we were in the eye of a wicked hurricane.”
Ken Jennings, whom Broffman alluded to as being top-of-mind as Trebek’s replacement, eventually became just that and now hosts the franchise.
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