Jeopardy! fans have the best kind of fandom

Esquire

"To compare the Jeopardy! fandom to the Star Wars fandom is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, in that one is a nonfiction product and the other is a fictional product," says Adrianne Westenfeld. "But when it comes to modeling how fans and creators should interact, the dynamic of the Jeopardy! fandom offers lessons for any and every fandom. By and large, Jeopardy! fans push back against the show in good faith. They love their show with a deep, abiding passion, and they want Jeopardy! to be the best version of itself. They’re committed to holding Jeopardy! accountable to its professed values of truth, fairness, and credibility. When Jeopardy! responds to their uproar, often with a mea culpa, they do so out of mutual respect for the people who have kept the show on the air, all these decades later. Fans push back because they care, and Jeopardy! responds because they care, too. When Jeopardy! fans spar with the show, their concerns may seem like small beans to the casual observer. But when Jeopardy! calls a chronic illness by the wrong name, that’s no small thing. Mistakes like this make the people affected feel as if the show doesn’t respect or represent them; they also tarnish the show’s reputation as a bastion of accuracy and fact-based knowledge. When Jeopardy! welcomed a guest host in Dr. Mehmet Oz, a known disseminator of medical misinformation and pseudoscience, fans and former contestants were right to take the show to task for failing to live up to its values. Jeopardy! fans aren’t querulous sticklers; they speak up because it matters, and because they want the show to be what it stands for." This summer, however, the Mike Richards fiasco "ruptured the compact between fans and the show; now, it remains to be seen if Jeopardy! can regain its viewership’s trust and faith. What was once a loving dialogue is now a serious enmity, with fans still feeling bruised from the events of the summer, and no evidence in sight that the show intends to make amends. Only time will tell if Jeopardy! can still live up to its ideals, and be the show fans expect it to be." ALSO: It was bizarre that Jeopardy! tweeted that Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings "are hosting me until the end of the year."