The Unfettered Critic – October 2026

A FEW “explanatory statements” (or “clues”) to launch this literary effort:

  1. This television game show was created in 1964 by singer/media mogul Merv Griffin.
  2. Originally hosted by Art Fleming, this show later was hosted by Alex Trebek, and currently by former software engineer Ken Jennings, known as the winning-est contestant in this show’s history, with seventy-four consecutive triumphs.
  3. Said to be a favorite of The Unfettered Critics, this brain-stimulating game show airs at a time that typically dictates when the Critics break bread (so long as the required television set is mounted on a stand that can pivot smoothly towards the dining room table).
  4. This game show’s contestants must respond to all clues in what seems, at first glance, a very counterintuitive way.

The correct response to all of the above answers is, of course:

What is JEOPARDY?

The unique charm of this long-running trivia show is the format that Griffin established over sixty years ago, which reverses that of traditional quiz shows. Instead of a host asking questions in anticipation of receiving a player’s correct or incorrect answer, a Jeopardy contestant is provided with general facts or statements to which the response must be in the form of a question.

In other words, the question is the answer, and the answer is the question.

And yes, we admit it. Your Critics are addicted to JEOPARDY. We’re surprised that we’ve never mentioned the show before. Then again, we suppose there are many vacuous facts about us that this column never has disclosed.

Yet.

After Jeopardy wrapped its most recent (42nd) season, the show segued to a whole bunch of previously-aired “Masters Tournaments” (presumably to give Ken Jennings vacation time before Season Forty-Three starts on September 14). These Tournaments highlighted a recent batch of “almost but not quite winning-est” familiar faces. And the production resurrected so many addictive shows that the format began to infiltrate our brains—to the point where we began garnishing our dinners with a flurry of facts meant to trigger pertinent questions.

Example:

“I find that I am in need of a seasoning that often makes my wife sneeze.”

“What is chili powder?”

“Sorry, no.”

“Okay. What is ground black peppercorn?”

“Correct! And would you please pass the shaker to me?”

Ah, Jeopardy. There was a time when even we could have won numerous consecutive games. (Or so we’d like to imagine.) In days gone by, we were able to quickly answer at least a dozen…well, maybe half a dozen answers (questions, that is!) per episode.

But these days, we’re lucky if we come up with three. Part of this has to do with the creeping brain fog of age. And part of it has to do with the era in which we grew up. We can’t be expected to snap off the name of the most recent song by Kendrick Lamar or Bad Bunny. It’s not our area (or era) of expertise.

On the other hand, it’s unlikely the current crop of young Jeopardy contestants could tell Ken the name of the country singer who, in 1959, gave up his seat on a chartered flight to Moorhead, Minnesota, resulting in the event that would later inspire the song “American Pie.”

But we could.

“Who is Waylon Jennings, Ken?”

And isn’t that more entertaining than yet another clue about state capitols?

Here’s another good one: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

“What is the longest word in the English language, Ken?”

See? We can be trivial with the best of them!