Possible Theory Behind Retirement of "Fictional"

That reminds me of something Pat said on a Christmas Week 1988 episode. The puzzle was DASHER DANCER PRANCER AND VIXEN, and Pat said something like "Don't worry, kids, it was just the closest category we had" to imply that they're not really fictional.

I've never heard him say that, it just raised my eyebrow that he said it after it's last use.

See, that makes no sense. I really don't think renaming the category clears up any confusion whatsoever.

I'm all for Wayo's theory.

Kind of like an early episode of Double Dare, when in the bonus round, the subject was "The Devil" and Alex said to the Spoilers that the subject may or may not be a fictional character.

Huh, now I know why Fictional is gong. I remember one of Toss-Up puzzles back in 2001 or 2002 (can't remember which year) and the Fictional Characters puzzle was "Tooth Fairy." Pat did made a joke to younger viewers about ignore the category, and tooth fairy is real. I wonder if they did used Santa Claus as "Fictional" back then.

The only thing that makes sense to me regarding simplifying "FICTIONAL CHARACTER" to "CHARACTER" is getting rid of redundancy. I don't remember caring if characters were fictional or not when I was little, but we very rarely hear real people described as "characters" outside of historical fiction. If anything was ever wrong with the categories in terms of catering to younger viewers, I feel a few of them can fly right over their heads. I distinctly remember asking my mother what an UNBREAKABLE PLASTIC SURGEON was, and she responded with a brief explanation of how BEFORE AND AFTER worked.