Oh Nighty,

It's a new season of Jeopardy! and Ken asked his first LDS related question. I wasn't listening carefully, but it had to do with a university's hiring mission (?) which I missed. I also missed the category.

Someone correctly guessed the answer was BYU. I didn't know the answer, but seeing the word university in the clue, I automatically wondered if it was a BYU clue. Yep.

we can/should do a Group Letter to the producer(s) of Jeopardy pointing out this pattern.

I will gladly compose & send it if 'enough' RfMers message me with their consent & suggested text.

Why?? What exactly are you hoping to accomplish? They’re picking the questions. I think they are aware of the pattern.

Like LW points out, they know their audience and they get to have whatever agenda they want.

I doubt they care about a crank ex-Mormon (aka me) grumbling about Mormon stuff from their show. I'm free to not watch it of course.

I kind of get a kick complaining to Nighty though. It's interesting to see how the church is promoted and presented on MSM. RfM is probably the only place people would even notice.

dagny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I kind of get a kick complaining to Nighty though.
> It's interesting to see how the church is promoted
> and presented on MSM. RfM is probably the only
> place people would even notice.

Me too, dagny.

It doesn't bug me that they do it (although it's easy for Mormonism to bug me on some counts) but to exmos it's notable whereas to nevermos maybe they don't even notice. If we weren't on this board I would still notice it - just wouldn't have anyone who cares or understands to discuss it with.

That is all. :)


I can't remember the clue - something about Utah - so that narrows it down a bit. :)

I’m sure Mormons also notice, and are pleased as punch. The rest of the world may or may not notice, but I doubt they care much one way of the other.


Jeopardy might marginally lower negative attitudes towards Mormons in its viewing audience, but launching a write-in campaign to stop that strikes me as not worth the effort.

Perhaps with Ken at the helm more mormons are tuning in to the show. If they think (or know) more mormons are watching the show, perhaps they are adding more "answers" that have to do with mormonism.

Perhaps they just know their audience? That IS the business they are in.

And I agree that a write-in campaign wouldn't do anything because there really is nothing to be done. So what if a few ex-mo's get triggered? How many would have to quit watching to affect their ratings? And how recovered from mormonism does one have to be to not get triggered anymore? Just watch the show and enjoy it for what it is....plus an ex-mo watching would probably know the "question" so they would get it right. How bad can that be?

Good comment, Shart.

With MORMONS being such a small % of U.S. residents, does anyone think producers care to cater to Mormon viewers? Really???

Isn’t this back-handedly suggesting that Mormons are more intellectual ‘smarter’ than other groups??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2025 12:39PM by GNPE.

"With MORMONS being such a small % of U.S. residents, does anyone think producers care to cater to Mormon viewers? Really???"

The host is mormon. If the mormon host can attract more mormon viewers, I'm sure they will gladly take what ever they can get. A few more is still a few more. What's the alternative? Mormons are a small percentage of the population so who cares if they watch? Not good for business really. Also. I'm sure non-mormon viewers don't care and they may even like the challenge....its all about getting the question/ answer correct regardless of the topic.

"Isn’t this back-handedly suggesting that Mormons are more intellectual ‘smarter’ than other groups??"

How did you arrive at that conclusion? I think its more likely a straight forward suggestion that they know their audience better than anyone else.

Not trying to argue, I just don't get what the fuss is all about.

> With MORMONS being such a small % of U.S.
> residents, does anyone think producers care to
> cater to Mormon viewers? Really???

Easy enough to check.

It turns out that audiences for most game shows on TV or cable are quite small. Viewership has probably changed over the decades as other forms of electronic entertainment have proliferated, but the bottom line is that many shows are niche markets. My thesis, again, is that Jeopardy viewership has in recent decades shrunk towards a core that is disproportionately Mormon.

So what does the data saw? It turns out that total viewership in recent months has bounced around between about 200 and 250 thousand households per evening.

Could a significant proportion of those 200,000 households be Mormon? Given that the church claims roughly eight million members in the States, which would imply at least 2,000,000 households, the answer is clearly yes. 10% of Mormons and ex-Mormons would account for virtually all of Jeopardy's audience; 5% would comprise half of that audience.

Do you want more proof that Mormons are uniquely important? We know that Jeopardy has a committed audience here on RfM, that the show put Jennings in the spotlight, that the show constantly opts for Mormon questions. There's no way Jeopardy's producers would do that if Mormons were not the show's core audience.



ETA: https://ustvdb.com/networks/gsn/shows/jeopardy/#google_vignette



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2025 03:47PM by Lot's Wife.

Are the numbers from your link only from viewers of the Game Show network? The. Page you linked to says “Jeopardy! is a U.S. television program aired on GSN since Monday, January 13, 2025. Jeopardy is watched by a total number of 243,000 people (0.08% rating) as of the daily audience measurement on April 1, 2025.

That site also says this “ Jeopardy is also shown on Syndication since September 1984.”
Reference to the syndication link shows the following
“ Jeopardy is watched by a total number of 6,791,000 people (2.14% rating, up +2% from last week) per episode, as of the average weekly audience measurement for the period ending August 24, 2025.”

Thank you for correcting my error.

That information doesn’t refute the idea that Mormons are a significant viewing block. Assuming there are ~ 2,000,000 active Mormons in the US, if only 30% were to regularly watch Jeopardy, that would be about a tenth of the total viewership.t The producers would not want to lose that percentage of viewers, so they might cater to that block.

What I haven’t been able to find is any information about the religious demographics of Jeopardy viewers. I have found reports on age, gender, socioeconomic status, and race, but not religion. So it is hard to know just what percentage of their viewers might be Mormons.

Yes, we are left with evidence of the show catering to Mormons, which means they are quite probably the most important demographic cohort. But you have put refined my speculation that the LDS block could represent half of audience, which now looks much less likely.

May the spirit of Thomas Bayes bless you and your posterity.

GNPE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With MORMONS being such a small % of U.S.
> residents, does anyone think producers care to
> cater to Mormon viewers? Really???

Maybe they do want to cater a bit to any Mos who watch or may be drawn in to watch.

And maybe the Mo clues are more prominent due to there being a Mo host? (Maybe there's a clause in his contract that there must be a certain number of LDS-related clues in the game - KIDDING - but really who knows - sounds far-fetched but then so do golden plates and yet...).

But I think just possibly it could indeed be a bit of a gentle proselytizing thing. Like, see, Mormons aren't too weird after all (evidence: Ken - a smart guy who is a Mormon, plus Mo-related clues about interesting stuff that may entice some to check out the church).

As dagny said, we just have fun noticing and commenting on the rise of Mormonism in the game show since the advent of Ken as the Jep host.

Sometimes it's fun to speculate. Other times it helps yourself in some ways to express your opinion. Nobody says it has to be logical or noteworthy. Just another angle to the whole Mormo-sphere and recovery from that world.

> As dagny said, we just have fun noticing and
> commenting on the rise of Mormonism in the game
> show since the advent of Ken as the Jep host.

Yet I remember you and dagny talking about the disproportionate focus on Mormonism YEARS before Jennings became host. He's as much a symptom as a cause of the focus on Mormonism.

I mostly remember chatting with Nighty about who the new host on the show would be after Alex. I wanted Levar Burton.

I don't think they had nearly as many Utah type questions back then, so they probably stood out to me when they did. Back then, I think everyone rightly convinced me it was just my bias. It still probably is.

As mentioned above, at least I usually got the Mormon questions right! It's fun to see what they pick to include, and how they present it.

I think they *definitely* did not have as many Mormon/Utah questions back then. IMO there was a noticeable uptick once Ken took over. He may have been influential in terms of which writers were hired for the show.

I think this might be tiresome/ irritating for Never-Mos who are most likely greater numbers of viewers.

In the end, it's the advertising $ that calls the shots.

Yep. Follow the money. That's something the church understands too! :-D
It's one of the very few things I still watch on network TV, so I suppose I'm contributing.

Wrong location in thread. Reposted below. Sorry.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2025 08:14PM by dagny.

> Never-Mos who are most likely greater numbers of
> viewers.

Why would you assume that?

Because there are a lot more people period that are not mormon.

Well yeah, obviously.

And yet Mormons are the single most over-represented audience subset. Given that some proportion of non-Mormon Jeopardy viewers are likely to take umbrage at that imbalance, it could well be that Mormons represent half or more of the total audience.

it could also well be that pigs can fly

Or work on trains.

You posted a supposition suggesting that Mormons could be half the Jeopardy! audience; is that purely fanciful or supported by any facts/data?

> You posted a supposition suggesting that Mormons
> could be half the Jeopardy! audience; is that
> purely fanciful or supported by any facts/data?

Yes, it was supported by facts. I told you that and I produced the evidence. Your question suggests that you do not understand what evidence is, which is unfortunate.

[|] then produced better evidence, which changed the probability that my speculation was correct. I recognized that refinement and adopted it and its implications. Meanwhile you're still futzing around with the definition of "facts/data."

Carry on.

Am I correctly understanding that what you say is evidence is mainly if not entirely conclusions drawn from churchCo numbers & statistics?

I don’t think ChurchCo gives accurate membership information upon which lead accurate conclusions or inferences.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2025 08:47PM by GNPE.

Sometimes it seems you are not even paying attention to yourself. You asked for "facts/data" and you got them.


-------------
> Am I correctly understanding that what you say is
> evidence is mainly if not entirely conclusions
> drawn from churchCo numbers & statistics?

Go back and check again. I provided data explicitly taken from television monitoring sources. I even produced the link. It follows that if you had read or remembered that post, you would know the answer to the question you pose here.


--------------
> I don’t think ChurchCo gives accurate membership
> information upon which lead accurate conclusions
> or inferences.

Again, please do us all the favor of reading the posts to which you are responding. I took the church's claim of eight million American members and discounted it by 75% to get two million. Given that the usual discount rate is two/thirds, I was considerably more skeptical than the average RfM poster.


-------------
I sincerely do not understand what it is that prevents you from comprehending what other people write. No one is hiding the ball.

All you need to do is read.

I don't agree with your numbers or assumptions - inferences; does that annoy your arrogance?

No one here is compelled to agree with posts, regardless of authorship!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2025 10:51AM by GNPE.

Stop it, you two. This is getting ridiculous. In fact, I will take a moment to ridicule.

[|] posted:
>“ Jeopardy is watched by a total number of 6,791,000 people (2.14% rating, up +2% from last week) per episode, as of the average weekly audience measurement for the period ending August 24, 2025.”

Several posts later, LW posted:
>Given that some proportion of non-Mormon Jeopardy viewers are likely to take umbrage at that imbalance, it could well be that Mormons represent half or more of the total audience.

That's kind of a weird sentence, because I don't see any cause and effect connection between the first half of the sentence and the second half. Perhaps LW just misspoke.

It doesn't matter if you include every former Mormon in North America in the "Mormon viewer" cohort, there is no way that even "the greater Mormon community" constitute half of the nearly 7 million regular viewers of Jeopardy. I could believe they might be 5% of the viewership. That would mean they are highly overrepresented based on their proportion of the overall population. I wouldn't believe they were 10% of the viewing audience unless I saw some persuasive statistics from something like Nielsen.

As for Mormons making up 50% of the Jeopardy viewers, I wouldn't believe that even if it came from Nielsen. There's just no way that 3.4 million Mormons and exMos watch Jeopardy every week.

So, GNPE has a point about the 50% Mo viewership claim. All the rest of his whining is nonsense, and LW's rebuttals are equal and opposite nonsense. All very Newtonian and all, but enough already.

And GNPE, Jeopardy is well aware that Mormon/Utah questions are overrepresented. They are not going to care if you complain, any more than the governor of Idaho is going to care if you complain about his not requesting extradition for Ammon Bundy. In both cases, they are accomplishing exactly what they want to accomplish.

Ty, BoJ-

A few yrs ago I wrote this complaint to producers while Alex Trebeck was host, and I noted a decrease for a while. Me; viewer comments do matter to producers especially if advertisers learn of them. Of course many of us have seen the obvious increase lately...

I repeat: we're not obligated to agree with posts here!!! civil if not respectful discussions should be Welcomed!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2025 12:03PM by GNPE.

Now I find myself wondering if you're also having trouble reading, BoJ.


-------------------
> [|] posted:
> >“ Jeopardy is watched by a total number of
> 6,791,000 people (2.14% rating, up +2% from last
> week) per episode, as of the average weekly
> audience measurement for the period ending August
> 24, 2025.”

You've got the timing backwards there, Sparky. [|] wrote his post several hours AFTER mine. When he posted his, I conceded that he was right and I was wrong.

You apparently missed that.


--------------
> Several posts later, LW posted:
> >Given that some proportion of non-Mormon Jeopardy
> viewers are likely to take umbrage at that
> imbalance, it could well be that Mormons represent
> half or more of the total audience.

> That's kind of a weird sentence, because I don't
> see any cause and effect connection between the
> first half of the sentence and the second half.
> Perhaps LW just misspoke.

Really? Are you telling us that preferential treatment for one group of viewers, particularly members of a strange cult, would NOT risk offending other segments of the audience? Because dismissing that possibility out of hand, as you seem to do here, would be "kind of weird."


-------------
> It doesn't matter if you include every former
> Mormon in North America in the "Mormon viewer"
> cohort, there is no way that even "the greater
> Mormon community" constitute half of the nearly 7
> million regular viewers of Jeopardy.

Correct. That's why I conceded that [|] was right and I was wrong.


----------------
> As for Mormons making up 50% of the Jeopardy
> viewers, I wouldn't believe that even if it came
> from Nielsen. There's just no way that 3.4 million
> Mormons and exMos watch Jeopardy every week.

All of which becomes perfectly clear if you get the denominator right, which is what [|] helped me do and what led me to change my position.


--------------
> So, GNPE has a point about the 50% Mo viewership
> claim. All the rest of his whining is nonsense,
> and LW's rebuttals are equal and opposite
> nonsense. All very Newtonian and all, but enough
> already.

The topic changed, BoJ. I acknowledged my error and was then asked by GNPE if my previous argument was "purely fanciful or supported by any facts/data."

My answer was that I had indeed offered "facts/data" with a link to my source--included precisely so others could check my analysis and help me fix any errors. Would you have preferred me to state bald assumptions without "facts/data" as GNPE almost always does, especially when he can bring his patriarchal superiority into play?

I am graciously letting LW have the last word...


sort of :-)

My late wife's evangelical Christian cousins in W Virginia are rabid Jeopardy watchers. No idea what they think of Jennings as a host or of the Mormon tinged content that has crept in...but they've both told me they know little about Mormonism. I answered a few of their questions, doing my best to disparage the cult.

For those still indulging me, here is tonight's LDS related Jeopardy clue (9/29/25):

The category was second chances for quarterbacks. The clue was a picture of Steve Young that said he was a star at his great great grandfather Brigham's university.

Yes, the entire world knows he was Mormon. It felt a bit contrived for a BYU pitch. He was a famous QB, so alrighty then.

The guys he played with didn't like him much. He came off as a bit arrogant and didn't fit in well.

I always like the Potent Potable questions :)

Susan I/S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I always like the Potent Potable questions :)

Those are the only answers I know!!

One of their questions could be "This home-grown religion forbids the fruit of the vine".

I (and some of my JW pals back in the day) often thanked God (laughingly) that JWs don't forbid alcohol (about the only thing they don't frown upon). We took great advantage of that welcome little piece of their theology.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2025 08:52PM by Nightingale.

They do ask a lot of questions about drinks. I'm terrible at the potent potable stuff. The only drink I know is a Dr. Pepper with OJ. :-)

I'm really bad at the word play questions, especially when they make you combine two different things. I'm terrible at anagrams.


I've learned a lot of geography from the show (that I should have known).

Dagny, we are going to schedule an intervention for you! Dr. P and OJ. I just don't have words. Nighty will bring the Harvey's and I will bring the single malt!

I did learn about one I had not heard of this week. Calvados, a pear/apple brandy. Quite expensive! I am going to try to make pork Normandy.

https://www.thefrenchcookingacademy.com/recipes/normandy-style-pork-chops
Crossed with this one
https://talkingmeals.com/pork-normandy/

You only use a couple of teaspoons of the Calvados so I am going to sub cognac and I got a good dry local cider. I love cooking with cognac, it really adds to dishes like French onion soup.

You are a woman of the world!

Woman of the world from my house lol. I really don't like to travel. Besides, I couldn't get access to the places I really want to go or the things I want to touch. I am OBSESSED with Queen Elizabeth's Chequers' ring, I would kill to touch it. Or take High Tea in the Mary Moser room at Frogmore House. Hang at Allt-na-Giubhsaich – Glassalt at Balmoral and see if the ghost of John Brown makes an appearance. Hey Queen Elizabeth II said he was there! Also, Queen Elizabeth I was seen by Queen Elizabeth II, her sister Margaret and one of Queen Victoria's daughters in the library at Windsor. Maybe Charles would let me move in for a few months and just hang in there :) My knees hurt just looking at Vlad Tepes REAL castle, Poenari, makes my knees ache. I would love to try to go to Snagov Monastery. I don't believe he was ever buried there but he did spend time there and it is beautiful. Hagia Sophia has been changed so much and I don't think it is terribly safe right now. Same for all the places I want to go in Ukraine. Sigh.

So I stay home, read a lot, deep dive on things and cook :) Right now I am on the War of the Roses and Queen Mary of Teck lol.

Wow, that ring is something unusual. It's even got some kind of design inside under the setting. Now I have to read up about the portrait!

I can always count on you to bring up something interesting.

On the inside on the mother of pearl is a Phoenix in the Flames. Rebirth and renewal. Anne's badge and traditional family emblem was a falcon. On my "most want to know" list this is juuuust ahead of Jack the Ripper. Can you imagine actually touching something that Elizabeth I wore! The jewelry was all repurposed. It's amazing when a piece is kept like this for so long. Even Elizabeth II's wedding ring and bracelet were made from the last tiara her MIL had. But the ring, Elizabeth I actually WORE it!

Yes! Fascinating history there. I'm surprised the mother of pearl hasn't broken.

I can go stronger than Harvey's.

My dad used to own a pub and I felt it was my daughterly duty to test the merchandise.

All of it.

Especially the English draught beer.

But with the Harvey's we can use such delightful glasses ;)

We could slug both!

The LDS clue today (10/3/25) was lame!

The category: Lakes
The clue showed a picture of one of the buildings in temple square with the SLC temple included. The wording was something like "This area was called the New Jerusalem."
Answer: Salt Lake City.

Gotta get that LDS pitch in somehow I guess. Groan.

Unbelievable - they're coming fast and furious now.

I haven't seen tonight's program yet - my time up here is behind yours. :)

And now I know the answer ahead of time, ha.

Free publicity for Salt Lake City. Like maybe tourists want to come and see it all?

No doubt it will strike some folks' funny bones - "New Jerusalem" in the USA.

Tonight we got a double of Mormon related questions (10/7/25):

The category was something about TV streaming.
The clue was something about the following the secrets of women.
The answer was Secret Lives of Mormon Housewives.

(Out of all the TV shows that stream, this made the cut?)

The second Mormon related question:

The category was American cities.
The clue was something like the saintly city that was the gateway to Brigham Young's something.
The answer was St. George.

Amazingly, not one question about Idaho!

It hasn't been on here yet - you're so far ahead of me!

So at least now I will know the answers to two questions on tonight's program. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had a clue.

"Brigham Young's something": Somehow that doesn't sound the least bit appetizing.

Would your average Jep player know the answer is St. George? Certainly not internationally we wouldn't I don't think. (*Is* St. George saintly? Or is it a play on words? Which, again for international watchers would be a bit obscure you'd think).

So now I'll be sure to get at least 2 correct responses tonight. Thanks, dagny!

Maybe, as we've maybe said, perhaps the goal is to get the clever people who are Jep contestants to learn more about Mormonism as they're doing their prep for the show. Not sure how beneficial that would be in the big picture or whether an extra few dollars here or there on their score would be an incentive for many players to study moism in depth.

But two in one night is a 100% increase in mo clues in any one program (unless the entire category is on that subject).

(I just threw in that little math bit for BoJ - hope I got the percentages correct, haha. Pretty simple math but that never stopped me from getting a big red X through my many incorrect responses - in math class as well as with Jep!).

Hahaha. Watch your math!