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Jeopardy! Timeline (syndicated version)/Season 14

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Season 14 (1997-1998)[]

Season Changes[]

  • Harry Friedman joined the Jeopardy! staff as the producer, replacing George Vosburgh, after having replaced Nancy Jones of sister show Wheel of Fortune two years prior.
  • This is the first full season to use the 1996-2002 sushi bar set.
  • The opening credits have changed to the same CGI flyover of the Sony Pictures Studios complex, and a red cube zooms out, with the floating silver Jeopardy! logo, which is flying over the red floating cubes on a mint green and blue gradient background. The silver Jeopardy! logo flies away, and a red cube zooms in to reveal the 1996-2002 set.
  • On early episodes of this season in the first five weeks, the set turned red for Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy!, and reverted to blue in the closing credits.
  • On later episodes of this season, the set no longer turns red it stays blue throughout the whole show.
  • For this season only and also for the first two weeks of Season 15, the Daily Double clue text is in a red background instead of the usual blue background.
  • The main theme and the "Think!" music are rerecorded in a more modern style, and was composed by Steve Kaplan.
  • This is the first season to use the first version of the 1997-2008 theme song and it continues to be used until Season 17.
  • Starting this season, the theme is back-timed, meaning it finishes when the credits do. When the original music package was in use, the credits ended mid-theme.
  • This season is both the last season where the set changed from blue to red for Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy!, and the first season where the set stayed blue throughout the whole show.
  • This season is also both the last season with the dollar figures popping in at the start of Double Jeopardy!, and the first season where the dollar figures did not pop in, meaning already shown on the board coming out of the second commercial break.
  • This is the last full season to have the 1990-1998 KingWorld "Spotlights" logo, due to being replaced by the 1998-2006 "Star Shooter" logo in the next season.
  • The winnings limit is doubled from the previous $100,000, in place since Season 7, to $200,000, which remains in place until early Season 18.
  • Beginning with this season, and lasting until early Season 18, all five-time champions win their choice of one of three Chevrolet cars. In the first 13 seasons, five-time champions simply retired undefeated without a bonus prize.
  • This season also marked minor changes:
    • The contestant podium microphones were removed from the set. So now, the contestants wear clip-on microphones.
    • The studio audience became more prominent in this season. They are now shown on camera during the host's entrance, at the end and beginning of commercial breaks, and in the closing credits.
    • Jeopardy! added video clues at the start of the season.
  • Also during this season, the categories are covered by the Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! logos, as well as the logo for a particular tournament. From this season until early episodes of Season 17, the category effect screen rotated up.
  • This is the first season in which the College Championship is taped on the road. This format remained until Season 24.
  • Starting with this season, a Game Show Network ID appeared during the closing credits. The first ID had a voice-over saying, "It's the only network you can play at home, Game Show Network, where it's all play, all day! Buzz your cable company and get in the game!" This continues to be used until Season 17.
  • The contestant's names and winnings in the introductions, as well as the graphic showing the Final Jeopardy! winner's new winnings count for the day, were changed to Optima, which continued to be used for them until early Season 18. Early episodes of the season have all the numbers swing up at once, and Compacta-D continued to be used for the champion's total.
  • Optima became the font for video clues, as well as the Final Jeopardy! segments.
  • Additionally, the sponsor list, closing credits, and the copyright notice were changed to Optima, and continued until Season 25.
  • As with the season premiere, the only applause from the audience is heard over the KingWorld logo at the start of this season.
  • Starting with this season, the copyright date and "Created by Merv Griffin" were changed to Optima.

September 1997[]

  • September 1, 1997: Season 14 premieres.
    • First season to offer a car as a bonus prize to all 5-time undefeated champs.
    • New theme and "Think!" music.
    • Microphones on contestants' podiums removed.
    • The game ended in a tie that resulted in co-champions.
    • For the first two weeks of this season, the "Think!" cue has a piano lead in both verses.
    • The theme song ends before Johnny's catchphrase.
  • September 2, 1997: the theme song ends a few seconds before Johnny's catchphrase.
  • September 4, 1997: Dan Melia retires undefeated with $75,600. He also became the first 5-day champion to receive a Chevy car (the Corvette).
  • September 11, 1997: Catherine Ramen retires undefeated with $61,000 and a new Chevy Corvette. The Final Jeopardy! clue used Clarendon from the previous season, and the copyright date and "Created by Merv Griffin" credit are done in Compacta-D.
  • September 15, 1997: The "Think!" cue is rerecorded to include a trumpet lead. This would remain in use until the end of Season 24.
  • September 17, 1997: Pam Mifflin retires with $42,300 despite losing her fourth game.
  • September 19, 1997: Show #3000 aired, although it is actually the 2,935th episode. Contestants were already standing at their podiums at the beginning.

October 1997[]

  • October 3, 1997: This is the last regular game to have the set change from blue to red for Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy!.
  • October 6, 1997: This is the first regular game in which the set remains blue for all three rounds.
  • October 17, 1997: Peter Scott retires with $44,803 despite losing his fifth game.
  • October 31, 1997: Alex Trebek makes his entrance wearing a turquoise Statue of Liberty costume.

November 1997[]

  • November 3-14, 1997: The Teen Tournament airs. Sahir Islam won the tournament and $26,300 for exceeding his minimum. Enos Williams received $20,800 for exceeding his minimum and Kristen Stuckey received $14,400 for exceeding her minimum.
  • November 10-21, 1997: The second week of the Teen Tournament and Power Players Week are both held at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
    • Special roadshow elements are added for the first time, including a new game board and podiums that look similar to the ones used at Sony Picture Studios except they further apart from each other.
    • The first tournament where the contestants says their name and location and so on followed up the applause from the audience. This applied to the four wildcard spots. They did the same practice for the three finalists. This practice has been done for the Tournament of Champions, College Championship, Teen Tournament, Teachers Tournament (did not exist until Season 27) and Professors Tournament (did not exist until Season 38). Bob Sofia is Technical Manager.
  • November 17-21, 1997: Power Players Week is held for the first time.
    • Jessie L. Jackson, Dee Dee Myers, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. compete on Monday.
    • Tim Russert, Catherine Crier, and Tom Clancy compete on Tuesday.
    • Jack Ford, Pat Schroeder, and Al Franken compete on Wednesday.
    • Wolf Blitzer, Arianna Huffington, and Oliver Stone compete on Thursday.
    • Oliver North, Andrea Mitchell, and Bill Maher compete on Friday.
  • November 27, 1997: Bob Harris retires undefeated with $58,000, and two new Chevy Camaros.

December 1997[]

  • December 15, 1997: The Final Jeopardy! category was shown on screen for the first time.
    • The category appeared in a blue rectangle in the upper-left corner of the screen, and this lasted until the end of Season 25. However, the Final Jeopardy! category continued to appear on-screen during the 2011 IBM Challenge as well as the episodes taped at DAR Constitution Hall in 2012 and 2016.
  • December 16, 1997: The "Bonus" category is used for the first time.
  • December 19, 1997: The real 3,000th episode of Jeopardy! airs, which is Show #3065.
  • December 31, 1997: The "Bonus" category is used for the second time.

January 1998[]

  • January 23, 1998: Celebrity Jeopardy Sportscasters show was played. Contestants Greg Gumbel, Jim Lampley and Al Michael played that game.
    • The set changes to red for Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy! one last time.

February 1998[]

  • February 2-13, 1998: The Tournament of Champions aired.
    • During this ToC, the dollar figures don't pop in at the start of Double Jeopardy! but are already present on the board coming out of the second commercial break. When regular play resumes, the dollar figures continue popping in on the Double Jeopardy! round board until the episode aired March 2, 1998.
    • February 10, 1998: The "Bonus" category is used for the last time.
    • February 13, 1998: Dan Melia won the tournament and $100,000. Kim Worth received $15,000 and Bob Harris received $10,000.
  • February 16-27, 1998: The "Play and Win" sweepstakes are sponsored by Sears.
    • February 23, 1998: J.J. Todor retires undefeated with $29,021 and a new Chevy Tahoe.
    • February 25, 1998: All clues were responded correctly with six rebounds.

March 1998[]

  • March 2, 1998: The Celebrity Jeopardy! Ladies Night episode featuring Jane Curtin, Naomi Judd, and Teri Garr competing. All three celebrity female contestants each had $0 at the end of the match. However, the winner is Jane when declares leader going into Final Jeopardy!.
    • Beginning with this episode, the dollar figures are already shown on the board at the start of Double Jeopardy!.
  • March 3, 1998: Chris Ward retires retires undefeated with $63,301 and two new Chevy Camaros.
  • March 25, 1998: All three Daily Doubles that are found were Video clues.
  • March 27, 1998: The second place and third place players received the trip to Mexico City and Ixtapa Zihuatanejo than the assorted CDs from Warner Brothers.

April 1998[]

  • April 6, 1998: Pat Healy retires undefeated with $66,604, and two new Chevy Camaros.
  • April 17, 1998: The winners of the Play & Win! contest were included on the show.

May 1998[]

  • April 27-May 1, 1998: The Celebrity Invitational is held.
    • Jason Alexander, Carol Burnett, and Dan Cortese compete on Monday.
    • Melissa Joan Hart, Fred Savage, and Alicia Witt compete on Tuesday.
    • Sinbad, Jeri Ryan, and Jack Ford compete on Wednesday.
    • Regis Philbin, Robin Quivers, and Stephen King compete on Thursday.
    • Mark McEwen, Cheech Marin, and Jerry Orbach compete on Friday.
  • May 4-15, 1998: The College Championship was held at Zellerbach Auditorium at the University of California-Berkeley. This is the first time the College Championship is taped on the road. Andrew Hutchings won the tournament, $25,000, a Volvo S70 GLT sedan and a trophy. Alex Weathers received $16,199 for exceeding his minimum and Shane Underwood received $10,000.
    • May 5, 1998: One of the categories in the Jeopardy! round was "Jeopardy.com", which will be the official Jeopardy! website to be launched soon.

June 1998[]

  • June 1, 1998: Lara Robillard retires undefeated with $59,500, and a new Chevy Tahoe.
  • June 5, 1998: The Celebrity Jeopardy! Olympians Night features Dot Richardson, Summer Sanders, and Rebecca Lobo competing.
  • June 12, 1998: All three contestants have no money at the end of the game, the third known instance since mid-Season 1. This is also the only instance that is not a "three-way tie," as one contestant had -$400 at the end of the Double Jeopardy! round.
  • June 22, 1998: Dave Abbott retires undefeated with $68,599, and a new Chevy Suburban.

July 1998[]

  • July 3, 1998: John Skelton retires with $57,000 despite losing his fourth game.
  • July 9, 1998: Dan Girard retires undefeated with $37,800 and a new Chevy Tahoe.
  • July 17, 1998: Season 14 ends.
  • July 20-September 4, 1998: Summer repeats air.
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