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Season 23 (2006-2007)[]

Season Changes[]

  • Both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune abandoned SDTV in favor of HDTV, becoming the first syndicated game shows to air in high definition.
  • For both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, this is the last season to air before Merv Griffin's death and KingWorld's closure, both of which occurred in August 2007.
  • This is also the last season to be distributed by KingWorld, due to being replaced by CBS Television Distribution the next season.
  • This season is both the last season to have the 1998 KingWorld "Star Shooter" logo. The show no longer uses the "DISTRIBUTED BY" variant of that logo.
  • This season's opening sequence features a blue starry background where many photographs are seen throughout before the Jeopardy! logo comes into view. Until the January 19, 2007 episode, the photographs consist of the one of the Great Pyramids of Giza, a gold bust, the Solar System, Alex Trebek, the Statue of Liberty, Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, an African elephant, the Kremlin, an American eagle, the plain text "Daily Double," Mount Rushmore, a volcano, the Eye of Providence, a panda, the Mona Lisa, a dinosaur skeleton, a space shuttle, and Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist. When the Jeopardy! logo appears, it is set on a starry blue and orange background with a grid pattern, with the Jeopardy! logo in blue. Finally, the Jeopardy! logo zooms forward, revealing the 2002-2009 set (HD version).
  • The gameplay round title cards change their color to a starry background with blue panels, the text appearing in orange. When the Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! titles are shown in close-up view, the center panel on the background (with the text on it) is orange, and the text itself is cyan; this color scheme is also used for the Daily Double graphic.
  • The contestant intros and Final Jeopardy! winnings strip change its color to black with white borders and uses Franklin Gothic.
  • The font for the video clues and the Final Jeopardy! segments were changed back to Optima.
  • The position labels in the closing credits, as well as the copyright notice and the "Created by Merv Griffin" text, have their strips removed, and all credits from Harry Friedman's credit to Bob Sofia's credit have their font changed to Helvetica when Bob Sofia became associate producer.
  • Lisa Finneran, Rocky Schmidt, and Gary Johnson became supervising producers.
  • Starting with this season, Johnny Gilbert was credited as the announcer in the closing credits.
  • This is also the first season with the HDTV version of the 2002-2009 metallic set.
  • The 2002-2009 set underwent a few modifications to accommodate the transition to HDTV:
    • The trapezoid-shaped podiums are replaced with black colored rectangular contestant podiums with a sepia border.
      • The podiums became spaced wider apart in order for a camera shot to be trained in on a single contestant inside a 16:9 ratio frame without showing the other contestants on the sides.
      • The game board was changed to a nearly seamless projection wall.
  • In the first full closing credit roll episode of the season, the split-screen background changed to a blue starfield with light blue bars, one on the top and one on the bottom, and the yellow bar in the middle, with the Sony Pictures Studios credit scrolling to an end on the center-right.
  • On later full credit rolls of this season, the Sony Pictures Studios credit fades in at the center-right.
  • The last KingWorld logo first appeared on the December 25, 2006 episode. In this version, the 1998-2006 "Star Shooter" logo was redesigned, with silver trim in the background, the logo was tilted, and the sky in the background changed from golden-brown to a cloudy blue and white.
  • The last KingWorld logo did not appear until the December 25, 2006 episode. It has still used the jingle from the 1998-2006 logo.
  • Starting on the January 22, 2007 episode and continuing to the end of the season, in the opening sequence, the photographs the gold bust, one of the Great Pyramids of Giza, African elephant, Mount Rushmore, volcano, Mona Lisa, panda, and Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist are respectively replaced with photos of the Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, a leopard, a blue butterfly on a leaf, Stonehenge, a female orangutan with her infant, the Great Wall of China, and Albert Einstein. The Kremlin photo is kept, but it changed places.
  • Starting this season and lasting until Season 35, the Rock & Roll Jeopardy! theme music is used in the introductions during the Teen Tournament, the road show theme music is used for the College Championship, and the normal theme is used for Kids Week.
  • This is the first of the only two seasons to have two Teen Tournaments.
  • For the first time, there are no champions who won six or more games in the unlimited rule.

September 2006[]

  • September 11, 2006: Season 23 kicks off.
  • September 22, 2006: Sara Terrell finishes with a 4-day total of $71,799.
  • September 25, 2006: The red ring-in lights on the contestant podiums changed their color to white. Later in the season, however, they are red again.

October 2006[]

  • October 2-6, 2006: Back to School Week was held.

November 2006[]

  • November 1, 2006: Chris Mazurek finishes with a 4-day total of $76,597.
  • November 8-21, 2006: The Celebrity Jeopardy! tournament is held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. On these episodes:
    • New travel podiums are introduced similar to the ones at home base, except the lights are located on the score display, and the Final Jeopardy! monitors.
    • The celebrity guests walk out onto the stage, as was done by contestants in the show's first 16 seasons.
    • November 8, 2006: Regis Philbin, Nancy Grace, and Carson Kressley compete.
    • November 9, 2006: Doug Savant, Jane Kaczmarek, and Curt Schilling compete.
    • November 10, 2006: Sam Waterston, Kathryn Erbe, and Christopher Meloni compete. The Law & Order-themed episode features the franchise's trademark sound, which is used to signal the end of the Jeopardy! round. However, the regular beeps are used to signal the end of the Double Jeopardy! round.
    • November 13, 2006: James Denton, Bebe Neuwirth, and Neil Patrick Harris compete.
    • November 14, 2006: Soledad O'Brien, Isaac Mizrahi, and Harry Shearer compete.
    • November 15, 2006: Steve Schirripa, Miguel Ferrer, and Harry Smith compete.
    • November 16, 2006: Dana Delaney, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Drew Lachey compete.
    • November 17, 2006: Martin Short, Joely Fisher, and Mario Cantone compete.
    • November 20, 2006: Susan Lucci, Paul Shaffer, and Scott Turow compete.
    • November 21, 2006: Michael McKean, Hon. Margaret Spellings, and Hill Harper compete.
  • November 27, 2006: Jeff Spoeri finishes with a 5-day total of $104,103.

December 2006[]

  • December 12, 2006: Christian Haines finishes with a 4-day total of $105,000.
  • December 25, 2006: Steve Unite finishes with a 5-day total of $107,605.
    • KingWorld's 2006 Logo appears as a test.

January 2007[]

  • KingWorld's 1998 logo remains in existence. On later episodes, the 2006 logo replaces it.
  • January 11, 2007: The episode where only one Daily Double was played in time.

February 2007[]

  • February 5-16, 2007: The Teen Tournament airs. David Walter won the tournament and $75,000. Ben Schenkel received $42,800 for exceeding his minimum and Stephen Fritz received $25,460 for exceeding his minimum.

March 2007[]

  • March 16, 2007: The first 3-way-tie occurs with the players all winning $16,000 [Scott Weiss, Jamey Kirby, and Anders Martinson], which also marked the only nonzero three-way tie to date in history.
  • March 19, 2007: All three contestants return to play again, which marked the only time in history to feature three returning co-champions.
  • March 28, 2007: Doug Hicton finishes with a 3-day total of $84,900.

April 2007[]

May 2007[]

  • April 30-May 11, 2007: The College Championship was held at USC. Cliff Galiher won the tournament and $100,000. Craig Boge received $50,000 and Christine Kennedy received $25,000.
  • May 17, 2007: Andrew Rostan finishes with a 5-day total of $124,500.
  • May 31, 2007: Mehrun Etebari finishes with a 5-day total of $128,100.

June 2007[]

  • June 13, 2007: Susan Mitchell finishes with a 5-day total of $67,100.
  • June 26, 2007: Brian Lamb returned after a faulty Final Jeopardy! clue during his original show.

July 2007[]

  • July 3, 2007: Cathy Lanctot finishes with a 5-day total of $116,102. Holly Owens also returned due to technical difficulties and won two games.
  • July 16-27, 2007: The Teen Tournament Summer Games air. Meryl Federman won the tournament and $75,000. Greg Peterson received $38,600 for exceeding his minimum and Kyle Neblett received $36,400 for exceeding his minimum.
  • July 27, 2007: Season 23 ends.
  • July 30-September 7, 2007: Summer reruns air.

Post Season[]

  • August 12, 2007: Merv Griffin, the creator of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune died of prostate cancer at the age of 82.
  • August 20, 2007: KingWorld shuts down, and was replaced by CBS Television Distribution.
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