Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

[zakharov]

More from Variety. . .
https://variety.com/2021/tv/columns/jeo ... 235034867/

I really disagree with this article. The guest host rotation feels like a total waste of time and ratings gimmick if the role was always meant to go to Richards. It feels cheap.

[Robert K S]

The guest host rotation feels like a total waste of time and ratings gimmick if the role was always meant to go to Richards. It feels cheap.

Still a waste of time and ratings gimmick if the point was to cleanse the palate of the taste of Trebek and give the new person, whoever it may be, a fair shake (inasmuch as that person can be compared to less-favored potential hosts rather than the near-universally beloved former host)?

[Xu Donym]

The guest host rotation feels like a total waste of time and ratings gimmick if the role was always meant to go to Richards. It feels cheap.

Still a waste of time and ratings gimmick if the point was to cleanse the palate of the taste of Trebek and give the new person, whoever it may be, a fair shake (inasmuch as that person can be compared to less-favored potential hosts rather than the near-universally beloved former host)?

Let's set aside "gimmick" for a moment and look at how the show has performed during Richards' tenure as Executive Producer and as guest host. There is nothing about his performance as Executive Producer to make us think of him as a standout success; in fact, as I've repeatedly noted, the quality of clues plummeted to the degree Alex was less involved, and Richards has either been unconcerned or unable to improve them. The clues didn't improve during Richards' short stint as guest host, so we have no reason to think that he could come close to matching Alex at his best as a curator of clues.

I wonder whether Richards' greatest appeal is behind the scenes to the staff who edit the video -- he may know the show and its expectations so much better than the guest hosts that editing his shows may go as quickly and easily as editing a Trebek show, while any other new host would have the editors scrambling to get quality work done in the time available.

[lstone19]

I found Richards way too "slick" for a show like Jeopardy. Sort of an oily, used-car salesman vibe with too much of a pasted-on smile. Plus there have been changes to J! rulings (such as the Berry/Barry ridiculousness) since he became EP that suggest he is not good for the overall J! brand. J! would no longer be on my "must" list for watching with him as host.

[This Is Kirk!]

It seems a bit like Napoleon crowning himself emperor.

I have a feeling the recent departure of many J! staff stalwarts wasn't purely happenstance.

[threearruda]

... build a new/growing audience? I don't think so. Bialik could do that, and while I imagine her age works against her so could Roberts. For that matter, so could Rogers. A choice of Richards would strike me as an admission that J! is on life-support and will need some time off the air, as between the Fleming and Trebek eras, before it can spring to life again with renewed freshness and cultural relevance.

.....

Remember, too, that Richards has been at the helm as Executive Producer during these last couple of years when the quality of clues has declined so visibly. If he's selected as host, it is highly unlikely that clue-writing will improve, which will further damage the show, no matter who's the host.

The point you make in your first paragraph is the part I have trouble with amidst all this; NASCAR tried to expand and reach new audiences shortly before and after their commodity's face died.. and the sport changed too much/got too corporate over the next decade, eventually losing most of the casual fans they marketed to as well as alienating many diehards.

Ignoring us internet denizens, I'd bet the J! core fanbase is some combination of middle America, white, older, not desiring politics/personality and, judging by some recent articles/anecdotes I've seen, probably would not have approved of the eccentric personality choices in Buzzy and Bialik. Lose them, and you're in trouble. At the same time, there are younger fans and the contestant pool is younger and more diverse, like you mentioned, and the TV landscape might look so different in ten years that it would help to have an established, young, marketable face like Bialik or Buzzy if anything about the show's distribution changes at all. It's such a hard line to tow.

In the meantime, I'll hold onto my miniscule hope that Faber somehow emerges from the ashes with the job. If Sony really wants a professional choice like Trebek without a litany of other stuff in their background, that's your guy.

[squarekara]

More from Variety. . .
https://variety.com/2021/tv/columns/jeo ... 235034867/

I really disagree with this article. The guest host rotation feels like a total waste of time and ratings gimmick if the role was always meant to go to Richards. It feels cheap.

If this is the way it plays out, yeah, I feel like a chump. Richards is capable, but I saw better options.

The host carousel reminds me of theater auditions conducted with all aspirants in the room together. You can see exactly what skills and strengths each person is working with before casting decisions are made. Sometimes you have to concede to greater talent or better suitability in some area. Other times you have to conclude that decisions are not based soley on performance.

I have a feeling the recent departure of many J! staff stalwarts wasn't purely happenstance.

Absolutely. Glenn was forced out, and Maggie could've easily gone on another 15 years with energy to spare! Talk about squandering the talent. Does the Ricketts family own a piece of J!?

[morbeedo]

Glenn was forced out, and Maggie could've easily gone on another 15 years with energy to spare! Talk about squandering the talent.

I hadn’t heard that Maggie left unwillingly, but maybe she felt there was a change of the guard and it was time to go

[zakharov]

The only thing unconventional about Buzzy was the name he goes by and his eyewear. He wasn't up there doing a schtick or anything. If they didn't want Ken thanks to his "controversial" tweets, they could have gone with Buzzy!

But they didn't and this whole thing was a farce.

[squarekara]

Glenn was forced out, and Maggie could've easily gone on another 15 years with energy to spare! Talk about squandering the talent.

I hadn’t heard that Maggie left unwillingly, but maybe she felt there was a change of the guard and it was time to go

I didn't mean to imply that she left unwillingly. With someone that valuable, they should've done everything in their power to retain her. My interactions with her were the coolest part of the experience.

[MattKnowles]

Hologram of Alex Trebek was always the right way to go.

[morbeedo]

Hologram of Alex Trebek was always the right way to go.

+1

[Xu Donym]

Hologram of Alex Trebek was always the right way to go.

+1

Or maybe Watson?

[This Is Kirk!]

Glenn was forced out, and Maggie could've easily gone on another 15 years with energy to spare! Talk about squandering the talent.

I hadn’t heard that Maggie left unwillingly, but maybe she felt there was a change of the guard and it was time to go

I didn't mean to imply that she left unwillingly. With someone that valuable, they should've done everything in their power to retain her. My interactions with her were the coolest part of the experience.

Agreed. When people like her start leaving it makes you wonder what's going on. If it was just Maggie that would be one thing, but when others seem to be jumping ship a pattern emerges.

[brucejoel199]

From the Tues., Aug. 3rd episode of Ken's Omnibus podcast, "The Next Dalai Lama," at 27:24:

Ken's co-host: "Is it ever a situation where the assistant to the Dalai Lama, in the process of searching for the new Dalai Lama, discovers it's him?"
Ken: "Like Dick Cheney?
Ken's co-host: "Yeah."
Ken: "[laughs] Or Mike Richards?... No, uhh, that is, uh, you're thinking of the papacy, I think."

IIRC, the podcast is recorded quite a bit in advance, so he must've been informed that he was out of the running in favor of Mike a while ago now. In any event, I wonder if they taught him to be that brutal at school in Utah

[squarekara]

From the Tues., Aug. 3rd episode of Ken's Omnibus podcast, "The Next Dalai Lama," at 27:24:

Ken's co-host: "Is it ever a situation where the assistant to the Dalai Lama, in the process of searching for the new Dalai Lama, discovers it's him?"
Ken: "Like Dick Cheney?
Ken's co-host: "Yeah."
Ken: "[laughs] Or Mike Richards?... No, uhh, that is, uh, you're thinking of the papacy, I think."

[squarekara]

Regarding the above clip: remember in the original movie, the team zeroes in on Dick Shawn for Hitler at the open call. In the musical adaptation, the director decides to play the role himself. Not trying to make any comparisons with the Nazi regime. Just trying to entertain!

[goongas]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/media/m ... index.html

According to this, Ken was a finalist…

[MattKnowles]

Hologram of Alex Trebek was always the right way to go.

+1

Or maybe Watson?

At times when Ken appeared to be the front runner I tried to imagine his reaction if they revealed that they were going with Watson.

[squarekara]

More chatter. . .
Fox News: 'Jeopardy!' viewers react to Mike Richards in negotiations to take over as host.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/j ... _newsstand