Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

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goongas
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by goongas »

Bamaman wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:44 am
alietr wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:02 am
Bamaman wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:49 am
yclept wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:33 am
morbeedo wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 8:08 am Savannah says she has a day job so she’s not in the running for the hosting gig. Just saw her on Today (via Twitter) pushing products for Amazon Prime Day. Kind of blows the mind.
I figured some of them weren’t really auditioning for a full-time gig, but it is disappointing that she doesn’t even want consideration. Oh well - she indeed does have a day job and likely makes a lot of money doing it. Work-life balance could be playing a role. She has young children, I believe.
She does have two kids under six. Her husband owns a political consulting company based in DC and NYC. So that could keep them from moving to the west coast and she probably wouldn’t want to fly back and forth all the time.
Working two days every two weeks would pretty much be a dream job for a mother with young kids. And while she probably wouldn't want to relocate to the LA area, keep in mind that Pat Sajak commutes from Annapolis, so it's not entirely impossible to stay based on the East Coast.
Wasn’t Alex involved with the show beyond just hosting? I would also think doing Jeopardy involves more preparation than Wheel of Fortune. Having to be ready to rapidly read off 300 answers a day would require some work beforehand. Pat just gets handed a list of ten puzzles and he’s good to go. He could probably do it just as well not knowing the puzzles in advance.

The Jeopardy host needs to read over all of the answers and questions to be ready for anything tricky to read.
Alex got to the studio very early in the morning. He read over the day's games, made notes, looked up pronunciations, etc. The writers then had a meeting with Alex to talk about the clues (They had already had meetings prior to the tape day to go over and play the board without Alex present). Alex made suggestions on possible edits to the phrasing of the questions. If you search YouTube, there are videos showing this process.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by morbeedo »

MarkBarrett wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 11:42 pm
morbeedo wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 8:12 pm Is it safe to assume that the show won’t announce the new host until after the end of the season? I feel like an earlier announcement would kill any enthusiasm for the remaining lineup of guest hosts.
Let's put the start of S38 taping as July 20th. Even if it's July 27 that still ahead of the season ending on August 13th. There is no way the new host can stay secret 2-3 weeks. The announcement has to come before the end of the season.

Not the same thing, but we knew Ken was guest hosting before Alex's last new games aired.

July 21 is where I'll set the over/under date and I'll take the under.
Taping is set to resume "mid to late August", per the contestant producer running my recent Zoom audition.

When do we expect the announcement now? Possibly after the end of this season?
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

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morbeedo wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 9:45 pm
MarkBarrett wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 11:42 pm
morbeedo wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 8:12 pm Is it safe to assume that the show won’t announce the new host until after the end of the season? I feel like an earlier announcement would kill any enthusiasm for the remaining lineup of guest hosts.
Let's put the start of S38 taping as July 20th. Even if it's July 27 that still ahead of the season ending on August 13th. There is no way the new host can stay secret 2-3 weeks. The announcement has to come before the end of the season.

Not the same thing, but we knew Ken was guest hosting before Alex's last new games aired.

July 21 is where I'll set the over/under date and I'll take the under.
Taping is set to resume "mid to late August", per the contestant producer running my recent Zoom audition.

When do we expect the announcement now? Possibly after the end of this season?
Yes, I am looking to be wrong and I'll blame LeVar Burton and the final guest hosts. The show producers put themselves into their own bind by scheduling LeVar so late in the process. They knew they would catch hell if the new permanent host was announced before at least he had his week and in reality likely David & Joe as well.

It would be impossible to tape the beginning of S38 and have the permanent host stay secret to hold off the official announcement until after 8/13 and the end of S37. The solution was to delay the taping of S38 until later in August.

That plus the regular season running longer than normal into August seems to have caused the bump into later August to begin taping the next season when under normal circumstances (does that term even exist anymore?) it would be in the end of July.

The announcement for the permanent host will come when it comes and it will be immediately national news everywhere. If that person is really one of guest hosts, with no one else under consideration, then a second hand is not needed to count the possible choices.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by chucklesmcgee »

MarkBarrett wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:06 pm It would be impossible to tape the beginning of S38 and have the permanent host stay secret to hold off the official announcement until after 8/13 and the end of S37. The solution was to delay the taping of S38 until later in August.
It certainly would be difficult. But correct me if I'm wrong, there's usually a relatively successful muzzling of participants and the audience from leaking taping secrets, right? The end of Holzhauer's streak is the most recent leak that got mainstream press, and that wasn't even leaked until shortly before the air date and I think not even by someone on set.

That said, just the threat of it could be enough.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Ironhorse »

MarkBarrett wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:06 pm

The announcement for the permanent host will come when it comes and it will be immediately national news everywhere. If that person is really one of guest hosts, with no one else under consideration, then a second hand is not needed to count the possible choices.
Which of the guest hosts do we think are legitimately possibilities? I'm thinking Ken, Aaron, Mayim, maybe Anderson, Buzzy, LeVar and Mike Richards?
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by econgator »

Ironhorse wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:08 pm
MarkBarrett wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:06 pm

The announcement for the permanent host will come when it comes and it will be immediately national news everywhere. If that person is really one of guest hosts, with no one else under consideration, then a second hand is not needed to count the possible choices.
Which of the guest hosts do we think are legitimately possibilities? I'm thinking Ken, Aaron, Mayim, maybe Anderson, Buzzy, LeVar and Mike Richards?
Legit? Ken, Buzzy, and Mike. That's it.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by brucejoel199 »

econgator wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:14 pm
Ironhorse wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:08 pm
MarkBarrett wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:06 pm The announcement for the permanent host will come when it comes and it will be immediately national news everywhere. If that person is really one of guest hosts, with no one else under consideration, then a second hand is not needed to count the possible choices.
Which of the guest hosts do we think are legitimately possibilities? I'm thinking Ken, Aaron, Mayim, maybe Anderson, Buzzy, LeVar and Mike Richards?
Legit? Ken, Buzzy, and Mike. That's it.
Agreed, although I'd admittedly be pretty surprised if they actually ended up picking anybody but Ken at this point, given all of the tea leaves that've been pointing in his direction (e.g., his being a consulting producer, which was coincidentally - although, perhaps, not so coincidentally - made one of Pat's titles over on Wheel at the same time that Ken was hired for the job on J!; his guest-presented categories only being a thing when Alex was hosting, as if it was specifically being done to help conflate his presence with Alex's or something like that; his guest-hosting first, & for a substantially longer amount of time than any other guest-host, not to mention Mike explicitly saying that Ken's stint would've been even longer had Ken been available for the 02/22-03/05 tapings; the Beast being brought back to The Chase, perhaps to take Ken's place if/when he leaves to host J!; his apology for his problematic-ish tweets seeming a bit bizarre unless, of course, orders came down from Sony in order to help try & stave off any potential further controversies going forward; Mike saying that the host will embody J!, which is a plus in Buzzy's corner, but Ken is basically the person not named "Alex Trebek" who's most-associated with the show; & to top it all off, his (accidentally?) revealing in his opening remarks for J!'s 1/12 episode that he'd specifically received hosting advice from Alex in their final conversation together, so if that's not a significant indication in & of itself, then literally what is at this point?). Of course, who knows: maybe all of the guest-hosts were just a ploy on Mike's part & he's about to shock us all & pull a Dick Cheney? (I kid, I kid lol)

I actually thought that Aaron had a legit shot for a bit there, given the praise that his stint received & the swirling rumors re: his future in the NFL, but now it looks like those particular tea leaves are pointing in the direction of him returning for 2021, & even though he said that he'd be able to fit filming J! in around his football career if he needed to, Mike seemed particularly adamant about how the new host needs to be willing to make J! their full-time job, so I'm not one to bet on Aaron’s apparent intentions managing to get around that. (Similarly, I doubt that Anderson or Mayim are on the table, despite the former's presence in the Sony emails, as I just can't see him leaving CNN or her giving up her full-time acting career for J!)

And contrary to the general public's opinion, I don't see LeVar as a legit candidate due to his age & the show's apparent desire for a 20+ year-stint. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if somebody told me that he was only picked to guest-host due to the media campaign; even with it, he only got 1 week.
Last edited by brucejoel199 on Tue Aug 03, 2021 4:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by triviawayne »

chucklesmcgee wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:12 pm
MarkBarrett wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:06 pm It would be impossible to tape the beginning of S38 and have the permanent host stay secret to hold off the official announcement until after 8/13 and the end of S37. The solution was to delay the taping of S38 until later in August.
It certainly would be difficult. But correct me if I'm wrong, there's usually a relatively successful muzzling of participants and the audience from leaking taping secrets, right? The end of Holzhauer's streak is the most recent leak that got mainstream press, and that wasn't even leaked until shortly before the air date and I think not even by someone on set.

That said, just the threat of it could be enough.
The muzzling being usually relatively successful is due to the usual items to leak are simple day to day stuff the mainstream wouldn't pay any attention to. The new permanent host is huge news, and it is unlikely to keep that under wraps, just as it was impossible to stop the news of Holzhauer's loss, and even way back in 2004, Ken Jenning's loss.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Robert K S »

brucejoel199 wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:29 am all of the tea leaves ... his being a consulting producer ... his guest-presented categories only being a thing when Alex was hosting, as if it was specifically being done to help conflate his presence with Alex's or something like that; his guest-hosting first, & for a substantially longer amount of time than any other guest-host, not to mention Mike explicitly saying that Ken's stint would've been even longer had Ken been available for the 02/22-03/05 tapings; the Beast being brought back to The Chase, perhaps to take Ken's place if/when he leaves to host J!; his apology for his problematic-ish tweets seeming a bit bizarre unless, of course, orders came down from Sony in order to help try & stave off any potential further controversies going forward; Mike saying that the host will embody J!, ... but Ken is basically the person not named "Alex Trebek" who's most-associated with the show; & to top it all off, his accidentally revealing in his interview for J!'s YouTube channel that he'd specifically discussed hosting with Alex
These are all consistent with Ken getting the permanent job, but they're also all consistent with a contingency plan to make Ken the first interim host or guest host in the event that Alex should be too ill to tape.

If it were someday to come out that the decision had already been made, even prior to Alex's death, that Ken would definitely be the new permanent host, that would make a liar out of Mike Richards, who has publicly described a thoughtful process that has involved in-house ratings testing and focus-grouping, one in which the final decision will be made by Sony executives above Richards' pay grade.

I don't know why Richards would take the effort to make up a lot of stuff about a nonexistent determination process, when he could just stay silent.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by John Boy »

econgator wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:14 pm
Ironhorse wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:08 pm
MarkBarrett wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:06 pm

The announcement for the permanent host will come when it comes and it will be immediately national news everywhere. If that person is really one of guest hosts, with no one else under consideration, then a second hand is not needed to count the possible choices.
Which of the guest hosts do we think are legitimately possibilities? I'm thinking Ken, Aaron, Mayim, maybe Anderson, Buzzy, LeVar and Mike Richards?
Legit? Ken, Buzzy, and Mike. That's it.
These would be the only ones on the list who would get my vote (assuming J! ever became a democracy :D )

Only I would put them in my preferred order: Mike, Ken, Buzzy.

We should know soon enough.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by chucklesmcgee »

Robert K S wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:46 am If it were someday to come out that the decision had already been made, even prior to Alex's death, that Ken would definitely be the new permanent host, that would make a liar out of Mike Richards, who has publicly described a thoughtful process that has involved in-house ratings testing and focus-grouping, one in which the final decision will be made by Sony executives above Richards' pay grade.

I don't know why Richards would take the effort to make up a lot of stuff about a nonexistent determination process, when he could just stay silent.
It could be the case that Ken was the host-apparent and the show's intended, but not-absolutely-certain replacement. Given how substantial the decision is, the show ran these guest hosts to get ratings and focus group testing and have an alternative should Ken not be up-to-snuff. Additionally, it allowed the audience a bit of time to process Alex's passing and allow Ken (or whoever the new permanent host would be) time to transition and relocate themselves to be devoted to being a permanent host.

So there's no lying needed, it's just Ken's been the favorite out of the gate.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by brucejoel199 »

chucklesmcgee wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:09 pm
Robert K S wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:46 am If it were someday to come out that the decision had already been made, even prior to Alex's death, that Ken would definitely be the new permanent host, that would make a liar out of Mike Richards, who has publicly described a thoughtful process that has involved in-house ratings testing and focus-grouping, one in which the final decision will be made by Sony executives above Richards' pay grade.

I don't know why Richards would take the effort to make up a lot of stuff about a nonexistent determination process, when he could just stay silent.
It could be the case that Ken was the host-apparent and the show's intended, but not-absolutely-certain replacement. Given how substantial the decision is, the show ran these guest hosts to get ratings and focus group testing and have an alternative should Ken not be up-to-snuff. Additionally, it allowed the audience a bit of time to process Alex's passing and allow Ken (or whoever the new permanent host would be) time to transition and relocate themselves to be devoted to being a permanent host.

So there's no lying needed, it's just Ken's been the favorite out of the gate.
Yeah, I also presumed that the guest-hosts were mainly to just help give J! contingencies vis-a-vis serving as a trial-run for Ken to see what the audience's reaction to him is, giving the audience time to process Alex's death without the burden of an immediate transition, allowing Ken to get any affairs that he may need to get in order before taking the full-time job in order, & - perhaps an underrated aspect here - giving J! the necessary leverage to say "we could always go another way" in Ken's salary negotiations.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by floridagator »

When does Jeopardy go into summer reruns? That would be the time to make an announcement about the permanent host situation. Then they can let the dust settle over all the guest hosts before they do anything.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by gameshowfandanny »

floridagator wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:10 pm When does Jeopardy go into summer reruns? That would be the time to make an announcement about the permanent host situation. Then they can let the dust settle over all the guest hosts before they do anything.
Summer reruns begin 8/16.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by econgator »

gameshowfandanny wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:41 pm
floridagator wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:10 pm When does Jeopardy go into summer reruns? That would be the time to make an announcement about the permanent host situation. Then they can let the dust settle over all the guest hosts before they do anything.
Summer reruns begin 8/16.
Yep. The last three guest hosts (and their charities):

LeVar Burton (Reading is Fundamental)
David Faber (Robin Hood Foundation)
Joe Buck (KidSmart)
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Bamaman »

So what are they doing the four week break?
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Golf »

Bamaman wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:02 pm So what are they doing the four week break?
Showing reruns? :lol:

There are certainly those with more expertise than I about this stuff, and I haven’t read about anything official on this board. But my guess would be the ToC and then two weeks of Alex Trebek favorites.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by brucejoel199 »

Golf wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:01 pm
Bamaman wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:02 pm So what are they doing the four week break?
Showing reruns? :lol:

There are certainly those with more expertise than I about this stuff, and I haven’t read about anything official on this board. But my guess would be the ToC and then two weeks of Alex Trebek favorites.
Agreed on the first 2 of the 4 repeat weeks being a re-run of the ToC, although I could also see the latter 2 weeks being 1 more week of Alex's favorites instead of 2 & then 1 week of select episodes from the new permanent host's guest-stint leading into their permanent debut on 9/13.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by This Is Kirk! »

brucejoel199 wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:29 am And contrary to the general public's opinion, I don't see LeVar as a legit candidate due to his age & the show's apparent desire for a 20+ year-stint. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if somebody told me that he was only picked to guest-host due to the media campaign; even with it, he only got 1 week.
I have the exact opposite take. I think they saved him till last (ok, last-ish) for a reason. I think Burton will be announced as the permanent host at the end of his week.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by econgator »

This Is Kirk! wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:44 pm
brucejoel199 wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:29 am And contrary to the general public's opinion, I don't see LeVar as a legit candidate due to his age & the show's apparent desire for a 20+ year-stint. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if somebody told me that he was only picked to guest-host due to the media campaign; even with it, he only got 1 week.
I have the exact opposite take. I think they saved him till last (ok, last-ish) for a reason. I think Burton will be announced as the permanent host at the end of his week.
I'll take that bet.
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