Did you know Jeopardy! has won the most Emmys of any game show? The show, which has been on the air since 1964, even holds a Guinness World Record for its total 44 wins in its 60-year history (as of last July, the show has received a total of 135 Emmy nominations). Among those prizes, Jeopardy! received its first Primetime Emmy last year.
“Every Emmy win is exciting,” producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss, who has been with Jeopardy! for 20-plus years, tells The Hollywood Reporter, adding that the Primetime Emmy win was “particularly special.”
“Each year the show is recognized, it feels like a wonderful affirmation that people still find it rewarding to learn new things and that this beautifully simple format that Merv Griffin created 60 years ago is still as relevant as it was back in 1964,” she adds.
Jeopardy! is, of course, the iconic quiz competition show that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format by giving general clues to contestants, who then phrase their answer in the form of a question. Fan favorite Alex Trebek hosted the show for 37 seasons until his death in 2020, and former contestant Ken Jennings, who won $4.5 million on Jeopardy!, was named the show’s permanent host last December. The show is in its 40th season in syndication (not counting such primetime spinoffs as Celebrity Jeopardy! and Jeopardy! Masters), making it one of the longest-running game shows of all time, with more than 9,000 episodes aired. In 2011, Trebek was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and in 2012, Jeopardy! won a Peabody Award.
“Jeopardy! has been a part of American culture for decades,” Whitcomb Foss adds. “Many of us grew up watching the show with our families, and that unique shared experience for millions of viewers allows the show to continue to connect with audiences of all ages. The show also, in my opinion, has maintained a level of excellence and quality that viewers (and Emmy voters) really respond to.”
This Emmy season could add another statuette to the Alex Trebek Stage on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, where the show is taped and all the trophies are kept. The awards “line several trophy cases and are a wonderful sight to see as you walk into our Jeopardy! Gallery,” shares Whitcomb Foss. “If you ever come to watch a taping of the show, the Emmys are one of the first things you will see!”
This story first appeared in a June standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
