Jeopardy! recap for Mon., Jul. 20 - encore from Sept. 10, 1984

This is Jeopardy!, back on the air for the first time since 1979, with new host Alex Trebek, who you know from High Rollers, Pitfall and Battlestars. Let's meet today's contestants:

- Frank Selevan, an advertising copywriter originally from Miami, Florida, learned it's not easy to make it in broadcasting;
- Lois Feinstein, a freelance copywriter originally from Plainview, New York, knew her new husband for 13 years; and
- Greg Hopkins, an energy demonstrator from Waverly, Ohio, is handy with balloons.


Greg was correct on DD1, dominating the action and building a runaway at $8,100 vs. $3,800 for Lois and $2,500 for Frank.

DD1 (audio), $300 - LAKES & RIVERS - River in this famous song: (heard is "The Song of the ----- Boatmen") (Greg bet $800 of his score of $1,600 and was correct.)

DD2, $800 - 4-LETTER WORDS - It's the first 4-letter word in "The Star Spangled Banner" (Lois won $1,000 from her score of $1,400 vs. $3,300 for Greg.)

DD3 - Not seen

FJ - HOLIDAYS - The third Monday of January starting in 1986

Everyone was correct on FJ. Greg added $300 (prompting Alex to exclaim "You chicken!") to win with $8,100. Lois gets a trip to Palm Springs and Skyway luggage, while Frank leaves with his & her Wimbledon tennis rackets.

This day in Trebekistan: Alex looked and sounded great in his newly-taped introduction, in which he referred to the first season's rule of allowing players to ring in as soon as the clue was revealed as a "glitch".

During this premiere, Alex was very much in "game show host mode", with a high-energy presentation trying to amp up the excitement. Also, it was amusing how Alex corrected a contestant who said "Who was Eve Arden?" instead of "Who is Eve Arden", who was very much alive at the time.

Judging the producers:  The many applause breaks and use of canned groans and gasps were attempts to show that this isn't your granddaddy's Jeopardy! I must say I love the show's original opening, with the flashing lights, electronic music and contestants walking onto the set rather than already being at their podiums.

Correct Qs: DD1 - What is the Volga? DD2 - What is what? FJ - What is Martin Luther King Day? (Lois and Frank attempted to write "Martin Luther King's Birthday", while Greg simply wrote "Martin Luther King").