Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! is an American television quiz show created by Merv Griffin in 1964. Like most programs of its genre, it features trivia in a wide variety of topics, including history, language, literature, the arts, the sciences, popular culture, geography, and wordplay; however, unlike them, it has a unique answer-and-question format in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in question form.

The broadcast history of the show in the United States spans over four decades. The original version debuted on NBC on March 30, 1964, and was part of the network's daytime lineup until January 3, 1975. A weekly nighttime syndicated edition of the show aired from September 9, 1974, to September 5, 1975. A revival, The All-New Jeopardy!, ran as a daytime series from October 2, 1978 until March 2, 1979. All three of these versions were hosted by Art Fleming, with Don Pardo serving as announcer for the first two, and John Harlan announcing the 1978-1979 show.

On September 10, 1984, Jeopardy! returned to television as a daily syndicated series with Alex Trebek as host and Johnny Gilbert as announcer. Since its debut, this version of the program has gone on to win a record 30 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award, and both TV Guide and GSN have ranked it as the second greatest game show of all time. In addition, the program has gained a worldwide following with a multitude of international adaptations.

The current version of the show is produced by Sony Pictures Television (previously known as Columbia TriStar Television, the successor company to original producer Merv Griffin Enterprises), and is copyrighted by a separate company known as Jeopardy Productions, Inc., which, like SPT, also operates as a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The rights to distribute the program on television in the United States are currently owned by CBS Television Distribution (the successor to original distributor King World Productions). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment owns the rights to distribute the program on DVD, though it has only released a five-episode collection featuring some of the most memorable episodes of the current run. Jeopardy!'s 29th season premiered on September 17, 2012.