How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

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Rate Mayim Bialik on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is best

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1
1%
2
1
1%
3
2
2%
4
4
5%
5
5
6%
6
6
7%
7
9
10%
8
24
27%
9
22
25%
10
14
16%
 
Total votes: 88

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alietr
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How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by alietr »

How do you think Mayim Bialik did as host?
mas3cf
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by mas3cf »

I thought she did great and brought good positive energy to the show. Occasional off-hand comments bring some flavor to the show, but the one thing I'd coach her on is not to interrupt good game flow with them.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by econgator »

I'd put her 3rd, between Cohen and Rodgers.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by MarkBarrett »

Mayim was herself and I came into the games very familiar with her hosting style from Candid Camera and Celebrity Show-Off. It's not Mayim's fault that we did not get Iain Armitage reading a clue or a FUN WITH FLAGS category.

We learned a lot about Mayim as she added extra comments through the games. While it may have been too much at times, I appreciated that she was relaxed enough doing the job to work them in and prefer some add-ons from the host to just straight reading the clues with no input.

In the petty department the name "Mayim" is not as easy to type for archiving as my fingers at times did not like the letter combination on the keyboard.

My score was 8 and I thought Mayim did well with a variety of phrases, calling out game situations and not being overly repetitive.

One game thing I've noticed that is not directly tied to Mayim is the end of the J! round and going to the break. Too often it seems like the transaction from last clue to the ads is too fast and not enough time is given to show and/or mention the scores at the end of the round.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by squarekara »

Mayim was the guest hostess I was anticipating the mostess, and she overdelivered. I personally don't fault her for a giddiness born of absolute joy. It's fresh, it's fun, it's genuine. The interjections and tidbits lend her a loose cannon quality, but in a welcome way.
She can always dial back that extra energy if directed to, whereas others probably couldn't rustle up that much zip-a-dee-do-dah to begin with. (To appease viewers who like a different approach, I honestly want to see IBM's Watson take a turn hosting.) She shepherded contestants through the boards beautifully, established rapport both onstage and with the viewing audience, and brought an ease and buoyancy that the show has never had before. I even noticed that notoriously awkward J! moments during interview segments or after disappointing negs suddenly didn't seem as cringey because for decades Mayim's stock-in-trade has been the ability to make awkwardness absolutely endearing. I'm scooting her ahead of Buzzy as my number one.

I've been a subscriber to her YouTube channel for awhile, so I'm used to her quirks. Here she is describing a trip to the movies with her kids:
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by alietr »

After the first episode, I would have given her a 9. But I found the constant inappropriate chortling or giggling really wearing after a while so I downgraded her to a 7. Like what's so funny about a response of 'Spitz' (I don't remember if she did it after that one specifically, but there are many examples). If they're able to break her of that habit, she would be back up to a 9 and at/near the top of my list.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by Xu Donym »

Another plus for Bialik... she is not just relatable; she's a plausible role-model for younger J! fans. Very few people will ever have the chance to be an NFL quarterback, but with enough determination and study a Ph.D. is a reachable goal for many, many viewers. And yet she's not (just?) an Amy Fowler-type nerd.

Also, she hasn't visibly campaigned for the slot -- unlike Rodgers who has even leveraged his J! prospects in bargaining with his current NFL employer, and unlike LeVar Burton who seems to want the job just a little bit too much. I like LeVar Burton as an actor and as a personality, but where Bialik seems able to recede and let the show and the contestants be the stars (despite some personal goofiness slipping out), I suspect that a Burton-hosted J! could easily become The LeVar Burton Show, with Clues.

I hope Bialik is on the producers' short-list of serious candidates, but it's going to come down to what Sony is looking for. If they simply want to hold on to what made the Trebek era great, it's hard to argue against Ken or Buzzy as excellent choices. But if they want to freshen the show without escalating to a Wheel of Fortune vibe (which I'm sure LeVar Burton could deliver, if asked), Bialik seems quite able to deliver.
Last edited by Xu Donym on Sat Jun 12, 2021 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by Johnblue »

Pretty bad. Constant off screen giggling was weird & she is not attractive. Plus she has some big pharma ads running which adds to the overkill. She was okay on BBT but enough is enough.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by seaborgium »

Johnblue wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 10:59 am Pretty bad. Constant off screen giggling was weird & she is not attractive. Plus she has some big pharma ads running which adds to the overkill. She was okay on BBT but enough is enough.
What are your opinions on the other hosts' attractiveness?
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by Johnblue »

The rest were nice enough.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by Woof »

I thought she did an excellent job. Her energy and enthusiasm matched Buzzy’s. Her knowledge base might not be as good as his, but she might be more relatable. As a younger female host, she might also expand the franchise beyond people such as yours truly. The only thing that was at all offputting was her reminding us repeatedly that she’s a PhD neuroscientist.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by Xu Donym »

Johnblue wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 10:59 am Pretty bad. Constant off screen giggling was weird & she is not attractive. Plus she has some big pharma ads running which adds to the overkill. She was okay on BBT but enough is enough.
If Trebek's "3 P's" ads for scammy Colonial Penn, which he started endorsing while he was host, were not disqualifying, I'm prepared to overlook Bialik's brain-placebo ads begun before she had anything to do with Jeopardy!
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by Xu Donym »

Woof wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 11:33 am I thought she did an excellent job. Her energy and enthusiasm matched Buzzy’s. Her knowledge base might not be as good as his, but she might be more relatable. As a younger female host, she might also expand the franchise beyond people such as yours truly. The only thing that was at all offputting was her reminding us repeatedly that she’s a PhD neuroscientist.
To be fair, and getting to johnblue's objections, a good bit of the "I'm a neuroscientist" overkill came from the brain-placebo ads that ran while she was hosting. I hope that, unlike the example set by Trebek's association with Colonial Penn, a host-Bialik would retire from such endorsements.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by threearruda »

6.5 from me - Found her a bit too perky and self-promoting at times... not my cup of tea I guess. The thing with Bialik is if she is in serious contention for the full time role, she needs to develop into a quiz show host. She’s a solid clue reader, but I do not feel that she grasped the "competition" side of the show as well as KJ, Buzzy and Rodgers did, not to mention learning to balance seriousness/energy, when to add extraneous information, and so on. While I am sure that she would improve greatly with time, I suppose I'm hoping for a more polished candidate on day one.
Woof wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 11:33 am more relatable. As a younger female host, she might also expand the franchise beyond people such as yours truly.
I always forget about this part, so thank you for that sentence.. makes a lot of sense that she could end up on the short list for those reasons alone. I wonder how other demographics feel about her (the not die-hard senior citizen crowd, the middle American family, etc.)
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by davey »

Xu Donym wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 11:42 am
Woof wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 11:33 am I thought she did an excellent job. Her energy and enthusiasm matched Buzzy’s. Her knowledge base might not be as good as his, but she might be more relatable. As a younger female host, she might also expand the franchise beyond people such as yours truly. The only thing that was at all offputting was her reminding us repeatedly that she’s a PhD neuroscientist.
To be fair, and getting to johnblue's objections, a good bit of the "I'm a neuroscientist" overkill came from the brain-placebo ads that ran while she was hosting. I hope that, unlike the example set by Trebek's association with Colonial Penn, a host-Bialik would retire from such endorsements.
Yeah, I'm sure she's gonna give up easy money that she's already contracted for/made her peace with. I'd be happy if TPTB refrained from airing them during J! In any case, surely production of her sitcom will interfere with her being a permanent host.

As the weeks went by, I thought her "spontaneity" came to sound more scripted. I put her on the boring side...
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by This Is Kirk! »

I thought she did a good job, but I did prefer others (Ken, Buzzy...). That said, after decades and decades of male hosts on both J! and Wheel I think it's time for a female.
Last edited by This Is Kirk! on Sat Jun 12, 2021 1:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by triviawayne »

Johnblue wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 10:59 am Pretty bad. Constant off screen giggling was weird & she is not attractive. Plus she has some big pharma ads running which adds to the overkill. She was okay on BBT but enough is enough.
Please tell me more about how the host gets to choose what ads run during the show on each and every station across the country.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by triviawayne »

davey wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 1:18 pmIn any case, surely production of her sitcom will interfere with her being a permanent host.
How so? Schedules can be changed on both sides if necessary.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by davey »

triviawayne wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 1:30 pm
davey wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 1:18 pmIn any case, surely production of her sitcom will interfere with her being a permanent host.
How so? Schedules can be changed on both sides if necessary.
I don't know enough about it, but it's never stopped others, so here's my speculation. I think Jeopardy! would have to accommodate the sitcom, to which she's previously contracted. In the first season they did 13 episodes. Assuming they do no more in Season 2, that's at least a quarter of the year. Coordinating those schedules to keep J! first-run episodes coming seems like a headache that neither production would want.
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Re: How Did Mayim Bialik Do as Host?

Post by DysonSphere »

I really, really liked Mayim Bialik. Television acting experience really pays off as a host. Energy level and demeanor were appropriate. Good reading of clues. She needs not to interject personal anecdotes so much, but that is totally fixable. I would be happy if she were host.
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