Jeopardy! Timeline (syndicated version)/Season 6

Season Changes[]

The category heading cards have a more rectangular shaped design (but with the edges still rounded), as opposed to previous seasons.
This is the last full season to have the 1984-1990 KingWorld "Stars and Stripes" logo at the end of each episode; the early episodes of the next season have this logo, before changing over to the 1990-1998 KingWorld "Spotlights" logo.
On early episodes of the season, the copyright card had a red Jeopardy! logo on the blue background.
On later episodes of the season, the copyright card had a white or yellow Jeopardy! logo on many different blue backgrounds varying depending on the episode.
The Daily Double title card now has either red, blue, or white arrows with either red, white, or yellow text on many different blue backgrounds.
Alex Trebek started wearing glasses in this season.

September 4, 1989: Season 6 premieres.
September 12, 1989: Bob Blake sets a new five-day winnings record of $82,501. Because he exceeded the then-winnings cap of $75,000, the excess $7,501 was donated to Oxfam of Canada.
September 21, 1989: Larry McKnight retires undefeated with $60,901.

October 17, 1989: Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune do not air due to news coverage of the San Francisco Loma Prieta earthquake.
October 30, 1989: Steve Berman retires undefeated with $48,800.

November 6-17, 1989: The Tournament of Champions airs.
November 17, 1989: Tom Cubbage became the only college winner to win the Tournament Of Champions.
November 27, 1989: Lisa Guay retires undefeated with $42,600.
November 29, 1989: The Final Jeopardy round appeared in the 1991 film The Fisher King, on a TV screen at about the 8-minute mark of the film.

December 15, 1989: Footage from this game was featured in the The Goldbergs episode "I Lost on Jeopardy!"
December 25, 1989: Jeff Bandman retires undefeated with $44,501.

January 15, 1990: Frank Spangenberg sets a new one-day record of $30,600, and a new 5-day winnings record of $102,597. This reran on July 23, 2020 as part of the Jeopardy! Vault episode from the first decade. Like Bob Blake before him three months earlier, he exceeded the winnings cap, with the excess $27,597 going to the Missionaries of Charity in New York City.

February 5-16, 1990: The Teen Tournament airs. Jamie Weiss wins the tournament.
February 27, 1990: Erik Larsen retires undefeated with $54,400.

March 8, 1990: Elaine Zollner retires undefeated with $52,800.
March 16, 1990: Footage from the episode was featured in the 1992 film Breaking the Rules, and the 2003 biographic film Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story.
March 29, 1990: Andrew Bernknopf retires undefeated with $34,200.

May 4, 1990: The contestants were already at their podiums for the first time, rather than walking onto the set.
May 7-18, 1990: The College Championship airs. Michael Thayer wins the tournament.
- May 18, 1990: The Double Jeopardy! board is seen on the cover of The Jeopardy! Book.
May 28, 1990: Richard Neale retires with $56,000 despite losing his fifth game.

June 16, 1990: The short-lived Super Jeopardy! debuted on ABC, consisting of four contestant podiums for the preliminary rounds only.
June 21, 1990: Eric Terzuolo retires undefeated with $64,302.

July 2, 1990: Dan Katz retires undefeated with $48,803.
July 9-20, 1990: The Seniors Tournament airs. George Soule wins the tournament.
July 20, 1990: Season 6 ends.
July 23-August 31, 1990: Summer reruns air.