The long-running game show Jeopardy! has long been a source of brain-busting challenges to the armchair intellectual as well as background noise by which geriatric viewers may fall asleep. With every approaching spring, eager academic-trivia junkies ready their clicking fingers and bone up on their Spanish history in anticipation of another round of online testing to determine who is worthy of the great honor and privilege of competing on Jeopardy! But this year, a new regulation will bar a huge faction of hopefuls from throwing their hats into the virtual ring. The producers of Jeopardy! have officially banned all Canadians from entering the online-testing phase of the audition, though it’s not nearly as bad as it sounds.
Anti-Canadian prejudices are not at the heart of this decision — or at least that’s what the suits behind the show would have us believe. The Toronto Star reports that international online security laws have complicated the testing process, and that the American production company behind Jeopardy! is concerned about complying with their northern neighbors’ stringent security regulations. Naturally, this news has been received less than warmly by the know-it-alls of Canada, who feel unfairly cheated of their shot at the big time. Host Alexander Trebek, himself a native of Ontario, described this new kerfuffle to the Ottawa Citizen as “an issue affecting my native country and the show I love,” which is, objectively speaking, true.
The nascent field of cyber-law will most likely be one of the most significant issues of the coming century, and that’ll affect entertainment as it will everything else. This is a minor expression of that, and the legal team at Jeopardy! will most likely be able to resolve this quickly and in doing so, obscure the roiling culture of anti-Canadian sentiment at the Jeopardy! offices. Even so, this must be annoying for Canadians. I’ll take “Further Downsides of Not Being American” for $200, Alex!
(Via Toronto Star)
