Quote:
Originally Posted by todhunter
In re: The "Jeopardy!" buzzers:
The buzzer system is hooked up with a number of controls. Of course, there's the lockout, where the contestant who gets in first locks out the other players. (Mark Goodson came up with that one.)
When I worked there, the light that cued the players was a halo light that circled the board (you can see it in the first post, looks like season 3 or 4) and one of the writers (who was on stage anyway) turned it on at the end of each clue, which was not a secret because the whole clue is right there for everybody to see. Little toggle switch. I ran it one day when the regular guy was sick and it was the most nerve-wracking day of my life.
The part about locking yourself out if you ring in early was in place when I was there. We never would have caught on if a winning contestant hadn't blabbed to Alex Trebek that repeated thumbing of the button was how he got in first. We put the kibosh on that pronto, at the beginning of season 2. Alex also thought it would be better if he could read the whole clue before the contestants could ring in. He was the producer, he could make those changes.
--t
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Good Stuff!
Yeah, now-a-days I think they have what looks like rope-lighting along the sides.
The set does look quite a bit more modern. For instance: what you might not realize from watching it on T.V. is that all of those shapes and such appearing behind the contestants (as set decoration) are actually each set up at different depths behind the contestants... with the whole art-deco thing going about 12-15 feet deep. On Television, I think it looks like one seamless background on one surface.
There's also a huge monitor off to the left of the board - and that's where the contestants read the question in a larger-point text. That same area has the scoreboard on top of it as well... which you might have realized by noticing contestants usually looking in that direction on a "Daily Double" or what-have-you.
I figure when I finish my degree, I'll have time to bone up on the old trivia (U.S. Presidents in order, state/world capitols, etc) and give the show a try, myself.