‘Jeopardy!’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ won’t air on 6ABC Friday due to the NFL Draft
Philly fans will have to stay up late Friday night if they hope to catch either game show on TV.
Looking forward to capping off the week by watching Jeopardy! Friday? If you live in Philadelphia, good luck.
Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune were bumped from 6ABC’s Friday night schedule by the 2023 NFL draft, which is scheduled to begin its second night at 7 p.m. As a result, Jeopardy! is scheduled to air at 1:37 a.m. Saturday, immediately after Nightline. Wheel of Fortune is scheduled to follow at 2:07 a.m.
According to 6ABC, if your DVR is already set up, it will automatically record either show. But across the Delaware Valley, there will be a lot of disappointed gameshow fans.
This month (and pretty much any month), Jeopardy! is the second-most-watched TV show in the Philadelphia market, slightly behind ABC World News Tonight. In fact, more people tune in on an average night in Philadelphia to watch Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune then watch Phillies or Sixers games on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Jeopardy! averaged an 8.1 household rating in the Philadelphia market over the past month (about 251,000 households per episode), according to Nielsen numbers obtained by The Inquirer. Wheel of Fortune — hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White since 1983 — isn’t far behind, with a 5.5 household rating (about 171,000 households).
By comparison, the Phillies are averaging a 4.5 household rating (about 140,000 households per game) on NBC Sports Philadelphia, and the Sixers averaged a 4.0 household rating (about 124,000 households per game) during their first-round playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets. Though those games were also nationally broadcast on ESPN and TNT.
Jeopardy! is in its 39th season of syndication, with hosting duties split between former champion Ken Jennings and actress Mayim Bialik. The current season is scheduled to end July 28. Six contestants have been announced for the upcoming Jeopardy! Masters tournament, which is scheduled to begin on May 8 — James Holzhauer, Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, Andrew He, and Sam Buttrey.
The second night of the 2023 NFL draft — featuring rounds two and three — is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on 6ABC, ESPN, and the NFL Network. The final three rounds take place Saturday beginning at noon.