Movies - TV
The Inside Story Of Cheers’ Jeopardy Episode With Alex Trebek
By JEREMY SMITH
In Cheers' eighth season, the writers had the genius idea to have Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger), the watering hole's dispenser of trivial knowledge, participate on "Jeopardy!"
"Cheers" writer Dan O'Shannon got his start as a comedian, and one of his jokes was noting that there are "an infinite number of technically correct questions" on "Jeopardy."
Cliff puts this concept to the test when, up by several thousand dollars on his closest opponent, he risks it all in Final Jeopardy on the topic of Movies.
The answer: "Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz, and Lucille LeSueur." The correct question is "Who are Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, and Lucille Ball."
Cliff doesn't know the answer to the birth names of the celebrities, so he asks, "Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?"
Having cockily risked all of his money, he loses, but not before ranting into the television camera that a grave injustice has been done. Alex Trebek drops by the bar to apologize.
Trebek tells Cliff that the revelation that his question was theoretically correct has shaken him to his core, so he is going to quit the show and move to Tibet.
After convincing Trebek to stick with the show for the good of America, Cliff touts that he may have lost, but he saved Jeopardy.