Final Jeopardy

I used to love to watch Jeopardy with my parents.  I now that sounds lame, but it was a nightly ritual at home - we would watch Wheel of Fortune first and then Jeopardy.  But since Ken "I Can't Lose" Jennings has been on his ultra winning streak, I've refused to watch it.  I've been boycotting it since Ken's third week.  Ten consecutive wins was all I could stomach.

I'll start watching again in a couple of weeks just to see him lose.  News has leaked out that Ken will lose after his 75th win and when his winnings hit $2.5 million.  The magic 75 show should hit the air waves on November 16.  But we need to have a one day margin for error, given the strong possibility that the election coverage will preempt all tv shows on November 2.  So I'm making my prediction for November 17.  I think I'm going to start planning a "watch Ken Jennings lose" party for that night. 

It's ironic that his losing show will air during the November ratings sweeps.  You can't make me believe this wasn't planned.  It's as planned as my beloved All My Children airing the baby-swapping mystery resolution that week, also.  The dates for the big episode to air has been planned for a year, according to the head writers for AMC; I'm guessing the producers have had this Ken Jennings winning streak and eventual loss planned as well.  It's interesting that the ratings for Jeopardy were in the toilet until this summer when Ken started winning, when ratings skyrocketed.  It will be even more interesting to see if their ratings drop again when Ken is gone. 

The first time I saw Ken Jennings on Jeopardy, I thought he looked like one of those little creatures from "Lord of the Rings."  Just before I quit watching, Ken told Alex Trebek that he had to borrow dress clothes to wear on the show because he didn't own any.  That's pretty sad.  By that point, he had won ten times, and his winnings were over a quarter of a million dollars.  You would think they would have given him a few bucks of his winnings to buy new clothes.