“Jeopardy!” almost sank last year after Alex Trebek died and multiple guest hosts had terrible ratings. At one point, the guest hosts had weighed the show down to just 4.7 million viewers. The regular fans were tuning out.
But then came Amy Schneider. Her 38 game winning streak, with greatest of all time player Ken Jennings hosting, was the miracle “Jeopardy!” needed.
Last week, when Schneider’s run came to an end, the game show finished with 6.6 million viewers. That was 2% higher than the previous week, and a 12% increase year to year. “Jeopardy!” may finally have shrugged off the dark days of random hosts and bad publicity. Jennings has proven himself after former Executive Producer Mike Richards nearly destroyed the franchise.
The Schneider effect helped “Wheel of Fortune,” the sister show of “Jeopardy!” The latter came in at 6.0, a great number for them.
In the rest of the syndicated, all remains status quo. “Dr. Phil” and “Kelly and Ryan” remain at the top of the heap. “Judge Judy” reruns are still fetching 4.9 million viewers per day. The fans don’t remember the shows, so it all seems new!
