By September 10, 1984, Alex Trebek had hosted many game shows: The Wizard of Odds, High Rollers, The $128,000 Question, Double Dare, Pitfall, and The New Battlestars. But on that day 40 years ago, the Canadian emcee began the job that would carry him through the rest of his life: hosting Jeopardy!
Though Trebek might have had new-host jitters during that first taping — “He seems kind of nervous … and honestly, can you blame him?” Jeopardy! champ Buzzy Cohen said in a recent rewatch of the episode — he was still the warm, professorial presence so many contestants got to meet over his 36 years at the podium.
“Alex interacted with us off-camera,” Greg Hopkins, the winner of that 1984 episode, told WSAZ in 2021. “He was a class act and the entire production staff were class acts.”
But as fans have described on Reddit after someone shared YouTube episode — and as you can see in the video here — that first Jeopardy! episode of his looked very different from the syndicated game show we know and love now. Here are 10 differences…
1. Contestants could buzz in before the answer was read.
“Buzzing in before the answer is read is so annoying!” one fan said. “Glad it got changed at some point!”
Another fan commented on that outdated gameplay style, saying, “I cannot put into words how much I hate that they are ringing in before the question is read.”
Trebek even mentioned that “signaling glitch” as he introduced a rerun of this episode in 2020. “We corrected [it] in year two,” he said. “As you know now, the contestants are free to ring in only after I have read the clue in its entirety.”
2. Audience members applauded correct responses…
Nowadays, in-studio spectators might applaud when a player finds a Daily Double or runs a category, but the 1984 audience was even more clap-happy. “It’s the one thing that drives me nuts about those early episodes,” one fan said.
3. …and gasped after incorrect responses.
Whaaaaat? You didn’t get that clue?! “I still can’t get over the gasps and horror from the audience whenever someone got a response wrong,” a Reddit user said.
4. Contestants were jammed together — even by pre-COVID standards.
“I would say they’re about half a foot to a foot closer to one another compared to the just-before-COVID podium gaps,” one fan observed.
Also, check out how the players walked out on stage and posed for the camera during the episode’s intro… even if they weren’t quite sure where to look!
5. And the set was high ’80s.
On Reddit, fans highlighted how dated the original Jeopardy! set looked, noting “the carpet on the podiums” and “that ’80s neon too!”
These days, a glossy studio floor has replaced the carpet, and a blue background — i.e. game show set designers’ favorite color — has replaced that massive, red neon Jeopardy! logo.
6. Nostalgic clues are really nostalgic for today’s viewers.
“Having ‘50s TV’ as a category here is like having ‘90s TV’ as a category today,” one fan said.
(“Thanks, I hate it,” another quipped.)
7. Trebek was already talking a big game.
“‘Welcome to America’s favorite answer-and-question game!’ on the first episode?” said one Reddit user, drawing attention to Trebek at the start of the show.
But another user cited this Jeopardy! version’s predecessors, writing, “Gotta remember this was a reboot. The original show was from 1964, a whole 20 years before this, starring Art Fleming. Then there was a reboot in ’78 that hardly lasted a few months, where they changed a bunch of the rules, and then finally this version where they went back to the original rules but with a modern, computerized facelift and a hip, trendy young host from north of the border.”
Related‘Jeopardy!’ Season 41 Will Be Different: All the Changes Coming Your Way
8. And he had to lay out the rules.
At the start of the show, Trebek explained the gameplay to viewers, as one fan pointed out: “Alex’s lengthy explanation of the rules reminds me of a Monty Python sketch where the host does that, then closes with, ‘Those very simply are the rules. … We’ll be back again [same time] next week.’”
9. Contestants name-dropped the host… a lot.
“It’s interesting how often they said Alex’s name when responding,” a fan said. “I really can’t imagine a contestant [these days] consistently saying, ‘What is _____, Ken?’”
10. But he didn’t always reciprocate.
Trebek might have forgotten one contestant’s name in his hosting debut. “For Lois and our third player, we have those wonderful prizes,” he said at the end of that first episode.
“ROFL, his name is Frank, Alex,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “Very much enjoyed this [episode]. Thanks for sharing.”
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