The ripples of HD: Jeopardy forced to build new set thanks to high-definition

Jepopardy! is the venerable American institution where various nerds from differing walks of life answer obscure trivia questions for lots of money. Host Alex Trebek has been hosting the show for what seems like eons now, and offers an accent for every occasion and even a touch of dry wit at rare moments.

Anyhow, viewers were apparently noticing the floor of the old set was not in very good shape on HDTV’s (it was an old concrete floor with numerous cracks and wrinkles, and some people actually took the time to write in and suggest they update their set to get with the times and look better on an HDTV set. They did exactly that, with a new lucite floor that looks pretty sharp. The new set debuted at CES 2009, where a few episodes were taped recently that will air March 11-13.

It’s amazing to think how many ripples the advent of HD has had on our TV viewing habits and decisions, but this one stuck me as the most obvious standout story of how much it has impacted television in general.