Jeopardy!

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The answer is: The perfect quiz show, produced by NBC and hosted by Art Fleming. The question: What is Jeopardy!?

The game board of 30 squares containing six categories (five squares per category) supplied the answers, contestants raced to provide the appropriate questions, and Fleming kept up a rollicking pace in the rarest of beasts – a game show where you actually had to have some brains to participate.

TV’s toughest game show was originally telecast at noon Eastern time (and probably the best excuse a kid ever had for wanting to stay home sick from school) and drew the brightest players and became a big hit with college students.

Bad time slots temporarily killed the network version in 1975, but Jeopardy! went into syndication, rising from the ashes like a mythical bird (what is a Phoenix?) in 1978.

In 1984, following another hiatus, Jeopardy! returned with Alex Trebek as its host.

A once-a-week primetime version of the show called Super Jeopardy! was trialled on ABC in 1990. It did not prove to be as popular as the five-day-a-week early evening version of the show, and the series was cancelled after less than a full season on air.

In 1998, a daytime version of the show called Rock ‘n’ Roll Jeopardy! was aired on American cable television with Jeff Probst hosting. All the categories were music-oriented and music videos and audio clips were frequently used as the answers provided on the series.