Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

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triviawayne
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by triviawayne »

Robert K S wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 3:17 pm I don't think the ratings trend means much about any particular host. At best the numbers show that Aaron Rodgers was able to spark meager and temporary additional interest, and disprove the hypothesis that the TV polish and brand of Anderson Cooper could offer a huge ratings jolt. The real test will be when LeVar Burton takes the stage. If he can't muster a ratings improvement late in the game, his stock will sink with the decision-makers. But the overall trend doesn't leave his boosters much reason for optimism.

Ken's Twitter left a hint that he was in L.A. I wonder if it could have been for additional tests or negotiations.
Some of the ratings also have to do with nicer weather, and all the preemptions from sportsball among other things.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by floridagator »

Mayim weighs in on Israel-Palestine conflict:
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/m ... t-violence
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Newhausen »

The Green Bay Packers have signed The Good Place legend Blake Bortles to be their #3 quarterback (for now).

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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by MinnesotaMyron »

"Mayim" is a fun search at the J-Archive. From it I learned

1. It means "water" in Hebrew, and is also the name of an Israeli dance.

2. Mayim Bialik's 2 most famous roles were named Blossom and Bloom (C.C. Bloom, from Beaches), and her 3rd most famous, Amy Fowler on Big Bang Theory, is an anagram of Flower.

(I haven't been able to work out her character's last name yet on Call Me Kat.)
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by econgator »

MinnesotaMyron wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 6:05 pm "Mayim" is a fun search at the J-Archive. From it I learned

1. It means "water" in Hebrew, and is also the name of an Israeli dance.

2. Mayim Bialik's 2 most famous roles were named Blossom and Bloom (C.C. Bloom, from Beaches), and her 3rd most famous, Amy Fowler on Big Bang Theory, is an anagram of Flower.

(I haven't been able to work out her character's last name yet on Call Me Kat.)
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Robert K S »

Boston Globe correspondent Lauren Daley ranks Bill Whitaker above both Ken Jennings and Anderson Cooper. What? Her top three are Buzzy Cohen, Mike Richards, and Aaron Rodgers.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Xu Donym »

Mike Richards is executive producer of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, and I'm sure Sony won't accept the disruption of Wheel that would occur if Richards took on extra J! duties. So, however he performed, he would be too risky to another valuable Sony property. Not going to get the permanent gig.

Ken Jennings and Buzzy Cohen each have some "insider" cred, and wouldn't damage the show as permanent hosts, but I have to think the Sony executives are greedy enough that if they see a way to expand their audience rather than do fan service to old J! fans they'll jump at it.

This leaves me worried that Sony executives may overvalue Aaron Rodgers' performance, on the theory that "sports guy" Rodgers would help the show broaden from its current nerd roots. But Rodgers so far has shown himself to be a bit too laid-back to keep one large segment of viewers energized about the show. And if producers try to make him "sportier" to connect better with the audience, they'll risk killing the proverbial goose that has been laying the J! golden egg.

Mayim Bialik already strikes me as the first guest host who might appeal to Sony executives' desire to expand the J! audience while also keeping most long-time fans satisfied. I'm hoping she loosens up a bit and finds her voice fully by the end of next week.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by triviawayne »

Xu Donym wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 8:37 pm Mike Richards is executive producer of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, and I'm sure Sony won't accept the disruption of Wheel that would occur if Richards took on extra J! duties. So, however he performed, he would be too risky to another valuable Sony property. Not going to get the permanent gig.

Ken Jennings and Buzzy Cohen each have some "insider" cred, and wouldn't damage the show as permanent hosts, but I have to think the Sony executives are greedy enough that if they see a way to expand their audience rather than do fan service to old J! fans they'll jump at it.

This leaves me worried that Sony executives may overvalue Aaron Rodgers' performance, on the theory that "sports guy" Rodgers would help the show broaden from its current nerd roots. But Rodgers so far has shown himself to be a bit too laid-back to keep one large segment of viewers energized about the show. And if producers try to make him "sportier" to connect better with the audience, they'll risk killing the proverbial goose that has been laying the J! golden egg.

Mayim Bialik already strikes me as the first guest host who might appeal to Sony executives' desire to expand the J! audience while also keeping most long-time fans satisfied. I'm hoping she loosens up a bit and finds her voice fully by the end of next week.
I think the big issue the Sony execs are looking at is the ratings skew older, and keep getting older.

They aren’t looking for sports nuts to watch, they are searching for younger demographics.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Woof »

econgator wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:11 pm
This Is Kirk! wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 5:32 pm
Volante wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:55 pm
((Maybe he (has) (a (lisp)))?)

*crawls back under rock to avoid the tomatoes*
As a former Lisp programmer I can appreciate that joke :)
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by John Boy »

Xu Donym wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 8:37 pm Mike Richards is executive producer of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, and I'm sure Sony won't accept the disruption of Wheel that would occur if Richards took on extra J! duties. So, however he performed, he would be too risky to another valuable Sony property. Not going to get the permanent gig.
Interesting theory/speculation. For my money (and so far no one at Sony has asked me) it would seem to be a lot more difficult to find "the right one" to be in front of the camera every night than to replace Mike in a technical position, no matter how well he has been doing it. I imagine he has subordinates/minions/whatever who could step up into his place if he were chosen to take AT's job.

I also wonder about another part of your post (which I erased for this comment) about how many people will choose to watch or not based largely on the host. I really want a great new person for the job but no way would I stop watching if I didn't truly love the new person. I suppose there might be some folks out there who would choose not to watch if they don't like the new person, but as a decades-long fan of the show that's just a bit difficult to comprehend.

PS I'm not sure how many subs we've seen, but Mike remains my favorite.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Charming »

No deep analysis but so far my favorite hosts are Buzzy Cohen (if he dials it down a bit) and Mayim Bialik they seem most comfortable in the role of host. Least favorite are Mike Richard's, Aaron Roger's, and Bill Whitaker.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by QuizGeek75 »

As of now, my favorites are Ken and Mayim. The former has had 15 years of experience playing the game and he knows what it felt like to be in the contestants' shoes. It was understandable for him to be nervous because it's all new to him when it comes to hosting a game instead of playing as a contestant. The latter really impressed me since her debut Monday night, so if Sony wanted a woman to be the new host, she would be the perfect choice.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Bamaman »

I wish Ellie Kemper had been the host this week just to watch everyone freak out.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by DysonSphere »

I never expected to say this as a Ken fan and skeptic of many of the TV personalities, but Mayim Bialik is crushing it. I would be completely happy if she were the permanent host. Acting experience goes a long way for hosting, apparently.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Anachronism »

Bamaman wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:27 pm I wish Ellie Kemper had been the host this week just to watch everyone freak out.
It's gone so far beyond too far.

Bialik... as Picard would say, "make it so..." I can see her doing this long-term. Very impressive so far.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by triviawayne »

DysonSphere wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 11:59 am I never expected to say this as a Ken fan and skeptic of many of the TV personalities, but Mayim Bialik is crushing it. I would be completely happy if she were the permanent host. Acting experience goes a long way for hosting, apparently.
I was impressed from the first half of the first round of the first show...I put her at the top with Buzzy.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Rackme32 »

I have Mayim by quite a bit over Buzzy, with Ken barely below Buzzy.

All of the guest hosts have been at least fairly good, but those three are the cream at the top.

Of course, a possible key factor would not be seen on the air... How much editing/reshooting, etc. has there been due to any errors on the part of a host? It's certainly possible that a host who seemed practically infallible on the aired show only looked that good due to much recovery/editing after the fact... I would think that, at least in the case of my top 3, it was very little, but only the show staff really knows.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by This Is Kirk! »

Woof wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 9:24 pm
econgator wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:11 pm
This Is Kirk! wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 5:32 pm
Volante wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:55 pm
((Maybe he (has) (a (lisp)))?)

*crawls back under rock to avoid the tomatoes*
As a former Lisp programmer I can appreciate that joke :)
I'll give it a C++.
I’d give it a lambda :mrgreen:
(format nil "Ha ha")
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by NYCScribbler »

I've really liked Mayim. So many of the hosts I've seen (and I haven't watched all weeks) have taken it way too gravely, but she seems to be enjoying herself. I relate to that joy, because it seems like she's going with the attitude of "I get to host Jeopardy! How cool is that?" and that is definitely how I approached being on the show (except, y'know, in a different role).
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Ironhorse »

I don't mind the occasional ad lib (Alex was no stranger to them) but it gets rather old how Mayim is constantly ad libbing, mainly to make comments about herself. An example from the contestant interviews was how she went out of her way to tell everybody she went to a Violent Femmes concert when it was not particularly relevant. By comparison, the ad lib I immediately remember from another host was when Aaron Rodgers made a crack about Willie Nelson's tour bus being "smoky". That was genuinely funny and didn't seem out of flow.
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