What is a brand extension? 'Jeopardy!' attempts to answer TV's questionable future

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Set us as preferred As the TV landscape continues to shape shift, there are few programs that have remained true to their original concept after decades on the air.Sony Pictures Television’s game show “Jeopardy!” has not only survived but thrived over its 42-year run.The daily version is ranked as the most-watched entertainment program on TV in the 2025-26 TV season with an average audience of 8.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen, with 20 million viewers tuning in over the course of a week.

The show even weathered a major uproar over the botched host transition that followed the death of its beloved emcee Alex Trebek in 2020.In recent years, Sony has sought to expand the “Jeopardy!” brand beyond the loyal core of viewers who still make a nightly appointment to watch the syndicated edition on local TV stations across the country, including KABC in Los Angeles, and “Celebrity Jeopardy!” which returns on ABC’s prime time line-up next year.A new sports-focused iteration, “ESPN Jeopardy!” launches Friday on Disney+, Hulu and the ESPN app, with sportscaster Joe Buck as host for 10 hour-long episodes that feature celebrities and ESPN personalities as contestants.“Pop Culture Jeopardy!” with Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live” as host, recently launched its second season, moving from Amazon Prime to Netflix.Sony unveiled a “Jeopardy!” YouTube page in March featuring a special edition where drag queen Monét X Change, singer Rebecca Black and comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan competed.

“This audience is a little younger than I’m used to,” host Ken Jennings said after eliciting a laugh when he noted the charities selected by the contestants “are eating.”Getting younger people into the “Jeopardy!” tent is a mission that began four years ago under Suzanne Prete, president of game shows at So...