When Netflix picked up a second season of Pop Culture Jeopardy!, whose first season streamed on Prime Video, they announced that for the first time, they’re going to stream new episodes daily on a Monday-Friday basis. Yes that’s much different from the streamer’s binge-drop model, but it definitely hews closer to how people have watched game shows — especially Jeopardy! — for decades.
Opening Shot: The opening credits of the new season of Pop Culture Jeopardy! is now an animation where host Colin Jost takes the Staten Island Ferry (an in joke due his co-ownership with Pete Davidson of a decommissioned SI Ferry) to Coney Island, then takes directions clear across the country to the Alex Trebek Stage, where he salutes Ken Jennings as the regular Jeopardy! host exits.
The Gist: “Our first season was on Amazon, our second is on Netflix, and if this doesn’t work, I’ll be doing a third season on OnlyFans,” Jost quips after he thanks announcer Johnny Gilbert for his introduction.
The format of the second season of Pop Culture Jeopardy! are a little different from the first. Instead of teams of three, now there are three teams of two competing in each episode. The teams still have clever names, like you’d see in bar trivia; in the first episode, the teams are “One Baddie After Another,” “Cheaper By The Cousin” and “Jeopardazed And Confused.”
The winning team advances to the next episode, with a cap of five wins. After fifteen games, the top nine teams compete in the semifinals, and the winners of those three semifinals compete in a two-game final for a chance to win $300,000.
Otherwise, the format is pure Jeopardy!, except for points rather than dollars. There is no “Triple Play” answer this year, just the straightforward “single” Jeopardy round with one Daily Double, the Double Jeopardy round with two Daily Doubles and a Final Jeopardy answer.
Of course, the questions are more about pop culture — social media, movies, music, TV, YouTube, etc. There is a category about famous Vine creators in the first episode, for instance, and one about unusual talk shows. But there’s also an “Oldies On The Radio” category that actually cites music from before 1980, which is a nice to see.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Jeopardy!, of course, but it has more of the loose atmosphere of Celebrity Jeopardy! than the parent show.
Our Take: Besides the format changes in the second season of Pop Culture Jeopardy!, one of the other things we noticed is that Jost is allowed to be more self-referential and even a bit risqué with his banter, which is why the first episode is actually rated TV-14. For instance, he has a fun response to a contestant who correctly answers “What Is Dick?”, which is in a category of films that have dirty names but aren’t dirty. He also has a fun follow-up on why one of the members of the team “One Baddie After Another” calls himself “McShane” instead of using his first name.
The questions in this season are bit broader-based, appealing to a wider range of age groups. And one of the hardest categories in the first episode, “Sounds Like 6-7”, was definitely not aimed at the Gen Alphas who came up with 2025-26’s most irritating catchphrase.
The changes make for a tighter, more-fun game, giving Jost enough space to banter and make funny asides during questions. It all moves along nicely, and with the daily episode drop Netflix is going to do for the 20 episodes, you can watch it with anticipation at the same time every night, just like you do with the parent show.
Performance Worth Watching: We just love listening to the almost 98-year-old Johnny Gilbert read the names of the teams. It’s amazing how strong his voice continues to be.
Sex And Skin: As we mentioned, there are a couple of cheeky “dick”-related references, mostly by Jost.
Parting Shot: The winner moves on to the next episode.
Sleeper Star: We give the “Cheaper By The Cousin” team credit for hanging in there and making it to Final Jeopardy, despite not even being able to ring in for most of the first round.
Most Pilot-y Line: We don’t like the trend of game shows not giving the contestants’ last names. For some reason, PCJ! has decided to do this instead of giving the contestants’ full names like on the parent show.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Pop Culture Jeopardy! continues to be a fun watch, with Jost very comfortable behind the host’s podium.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
