'Jeopardy!': 5 Things You Didn't Know About 'America's Favorite Quiz Show'

March 30, 2013 — -- intro: For nearly half a century, viewers have tuned to "America's Favorite Quiz Show" to see who could win the most money by answering random trivia questions. Here's a look at five things you didn't know about "Jeopardy!"

quicklist: 1title: Before Alex Trebek, There Was Art Flemingtext: Most "Jeopardy" viewers today will associate the show with its current host, Alex Trebek. Trebek has hosted the show in its current syndication version since 1984. Prior to this, when the show debuted on March 30, 1964, Art Fleming handled hosting duties.

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quicklist: 2title: Ken Jennings Set Record for Most Consecutive Games Played text: Utah software engineer Ken Jennings won 74 games in a row in 2004 with total winnings of more than $2.5 million. In a November 2004 "Nightline" interview, Jennings said his greatest moment was the first day he won.

"Just winning that first game, which was a very close game, nip and tuck, could have gone either way," he said. "Just that sudden wave of euphoria when I realized I get to go home and tell people I won on 'Jeopardy!' -- nothing like it before or since."

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quicklist: 3title: $3,455,102 Is the Highest Cumulative Amount Won by a 'Jeopardy!' Player text: Brad Rutter, of Lancaster, Pa., acquired a total of $3,455,102 with his appearances on the show in 2002, "Million Dollar Masters Tournament," "Ultimate Tournament of Champions" and "Jeopardy! IBM Challenge," according to the official "Jeopardy!" website.

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quicklist: 4title: Journalists, Celebrities, Sports Stars Have Appeared as Contestantstext: Journalists and celebrities including Anderson Cooper, Chris Wallace, Jodie Foster, Stephen King, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Buzz Aldrin have tried their luck on the celebrity version of the show.

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quicklist: 5title: Computer Beats 'Jeopardy!' Champions text: In the three-day man vs. machine "Jeopardy!" challenge in 2011, all-time champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter made an impressive showing. But, ultimately, it was IBM's super-computer Watson that won the top prize.

After the final round, Watson's three-day score was $77,147, while Jennings took second place with $24,000 and Rutter came in third with $21,600.

In writing his "Final Jeopardy" answer, Jennings added this final quip: "I for one welcome our new computer overlords."

For winning the event, Watson wins $1 million, which IBM plans to donate to charities World Vision and World Community Grid.

Jennings and Rutter win $300,000 and $200,000 respectively.

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