Jeopardy!, hosted by Art Fleming, was picked up and premiered on NBC on March 30, 1964. But before that first episode, three contestants, two women and a man, (Grace, Delores and Jesse) joined Fleming in a New York studio to tape this pilot. “Welcome to a brand-new show called Jeopardy!,” declared Fleming who came out wearing a microphone tied around his neck. “This is a very unusual question and answer show. We give the contestants the answers and all they have to do is come up with the questions.” While Jeopardy! debuted on NBC on March 30, 1964, the pilot episode has never fully aired. That is until now. On March 30, 2022 the episode premiered on Jeopardy!’s YouTube channel and will be available until April 6, 2022. In fact, the pilot’s release is part of a first time celebration of Jeopardy!’s 58th birthday. This pilot episode was created as a test to decide if Jeopardy! could be picked up as a series. Mission accomplished! This version of Jeopardy! ran on NBC from March 30, 1964 to Jan. 3, 1975 with Fleming as host. He would also return to host Jeopardy! when it returned to the air from October 1978 to March 1979. The show would pave the way to the syndicated series that debuted in 1984 with Canadian American host Alex Trebek. Much beloved, Trebek stayed on the show for 37 seasons until his death in 2020. A fascinating time capsule, the 26-minute pilot really demonstrates how Jeopardy! evolved. For example, initially and for several years, interviews with contestants were held at the beginning of each show. But that was ultimately changed. “At some point, the producers wanted to ‘get into the action’ sooner,” explains the notes on Jeopardy!’s YouTube page where the pilot can be viewed. “So we moved the contestant interview segment to after the first commercial break.” Also, the length of the clues in the pilot was considerably shorter. On average they contained around five words. During Trebek’s early years the clues were also short. However, the production discovered that more words could be added. Strangely enough, even though it was a pilot episode, one of the contestants Grace Miller, “a housewife from New York City,” was introduced as “yesterday’s champion” who won $300 the day before.Yet because the show had never existed, that just wasn’t the case. There was no “returning champion.” Producers explained in the video description that this was to show how the quiz show would air when there was a previous day’s host. Watch the pilot and see how many things have changed and what has stayed the same since 1964! Next, 7 TV Shows Alex Trebek Hosted in Addition to Jeopardy!
