Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

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brucejoel199
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by brucejoel199 »

OntarioQuizzer wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:05 pm
brucejoel199 wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:47 pm
OntarioQuizzer wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:03 pm Most insiders at this point believe that Ken is not under consideration for the permanent role.
What are we defining as "insiders" here, & how have they come to this supposed conclusion? Because just last week, others referred to as "industry insiders" were expressing their belief that Ken is definitely the favorite to start serving as the permanent host at the beginning of S38. Not to mention, with the show having already contracted him to be a "consulting producer" (notably featuring on-camera appearances, which many took as evidence that the show was beginning to groom him as the next host) even before he guest-hosted, it seems evident that S&P issues certainly haven't been playing as big a role in these considerations as many of us would've previously assumed they'd be. Remember, many people - &, I freely admit, myself chief among them - thought for the longest time that there was no chance he'd ever be hired by the show (let alone to be host) because of the obviously inherent S&P nightmare that would presumably ensue... & then they hired him anyway, & then - after that - they had him host anyway. Given all of this (as well as the recent insensitivity apology that could definitely be seen as a not-so-subtle indicator that he's trying to clean up his image for some reason, perhaps to still be in line for a certain job), it just doesn't seem like there are significant indicators that he's not under consideration for the permanent role, while there seem to be more than a few that he indeed is.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... tie-couric

"Jennings is part of the Jeopardy family, but he does not fit into the parameters of the search, according to people who have been briefed on it. Sony is said to be looking for “A-list” names — well-known TV or movie stars — who would be consistent with the “Jeopardy!” brand, which is basically a television quiz show for intelligent people."
Is Sony actually the one who's in charge of the search & making the decision, though? Or is it Mike Richards & his team, with the Sony execs presumably pressuring Richards to pick somebody who's safe & could credibly be the new face of the "J!" brand like Alex was (& presumably having a veto/final approval on whomever Richards & Co. picks)? As their emails from once upon a time revealed, the Sony execs obviously dream about some A-lister hosting, yes, but I have to imagine somebody like Richards understands that the closest person to "consistent with the "Jeopardy!" brand, which is basically a television quiz show for intelligent people" who's not named Alex Trebek is clearly Ken Jennings; otherwise, I can't see him even having been hired as a "consulting producer" with on-camera appearances, let alone as the first guest-host.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by AndyTheQuizzer »

brucejoel199 wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:26 pm Is Sony actually the one who's in charge of the search & making the decision, though? Or is it Mike Richards & his team, with the Sony execs presumably pressuring Richards to pick somebody who's safe & could credibly be the new face of the "J!" brand like Alex was (& presumably having a veto/final approval on whomever Richards & Co. picks)? As their emails from once upon a time revealed, the Sony execs obviously dream about some A-lister hosting, yes, but I have to imagine somebody like Richards understands that the closest person to "consistent with the "Jeopardy!" brand, which is basically a television quiz show for intelligent people" who's not named Alex Trebek is clearly Ken Jennings; otherwise, I can't see him even having been hired as a "consulting producer" with on-camera appearances, let alone as the first guest-host.
Sony holds the purse-strings. Sony gets to decide who hosts. Also, while Mike Richards obviously has input, the article I linked to also said that the search team was being headed up by Barry Nugent, formerly of GSN.

Yes, a lot of people in the industry thought that Ken was being groomed to be Alex's successor. But this news completely dispels that notion.

We are going to see a very well known star be named as the permanent host. In fact, with how I'm interpreting Sony's search, I'm not even 100% sure that LeVar Burton is well-known enough to be picked by Sony here.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by A Wray »

OntarioQuizzer wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:05 pm https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... tie-couric

"Jennings is part of the Jeopardy family, but he does not fit into the parameters of the search, according to people who have been briefed on it. Sony is said to be looking for “A-list” names — well-known TV or movie stars — who would be consistent with the “Jeopardy!” brand, which is basically a television quiz show for intelligent people."
That article says that Ken "is likely still in the running," which is the opposite of how you summarized it.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by MarkBarrett »

Here is a 1-clue sample of that guy reading a clue: https://archive.org/details/qbgb_20210112
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by talkingaway »

MarkBarrett wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 6:49 pm Here is a 1-clue sample of that guy reading a clue:
Huh. Not the greatest reading, IMO...a little bit stiff. Emphasizing the "this" is always a nice touch by the host, and sometimes necessary to remind contestants what they're looking for. As an example, "She married Ross (show a picture of Jennifer Aniston in character) on THIS sitcom". It's easy to jump the gun with "Rachel", or even have a brain fart and go for "Aniston".

But Aaron Rodgers is clearly only for a 10 day stint, and I can take that. Presumably he'll go through some sort of mini J-host training camp that wouldn't be quite as necessary for folks like Ken, Katie, or LeVar.

And I disagree about the State Farm commercials - while I think Rodgers is good in them (and in other stuff that I know I've seen him hawk), the new ones are terrible. It's probably New Jake that I can't stand- I don't like the smarmy way he breaks the fourth wall.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Bamaman »

Rodgers and Mahomes are much better in the ads than “Jake”, who I assume is a professional actor.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by MarkBarrett »

Bamaman wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 7:36 pm Rodgers and Mahomes are much better in the ads than “Jake”, who I assume is a professional actor.
The star is the dog that says kiss my tail while taking a plotz after Rodgers unleashes that long throw.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by MattKnowles »

If they want to have a contest between Ken and Aaron to determine which guest host moves on to the next round I'm ok with them throwing footballs at difficult trivia answers to determine the winner.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Golf »

I'd like to point out that Rodgers has not been confirmed, everybody is just going on something he said during an interview. At this point it wouldn't surprise me if this turns out to be false. It just doesn't make sense.

I had the opportunity to hang out with Rodgers and a bunch of other Packers about 10 years ago during a Donald Driver Foundation weekend. Was brought in to helm a team during the golf tournament. Watching the Packers interact with the autograph seeking public I was impressed with how all of them handled it, nobody refused an autograph. Except Aaron Rodgers. He was stand-offish and not engaging. And this was before he won a Super Bowl.

Great player, not a fan of the person.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Robert K S »

If they're looking for A-listers they shouldn't have just one host. They should trade off between Bob Woodward, Oprah, and Wolf Blitzer.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by MarkBarrett »

My preference would be an athlete's week. Rodgers only gets one game. Peyton Manning can have one. To get other sports in the mix let Steph Curry try it since he's shown a variety of skills with Holey Moley.

If J! does try hosts only doing one game then make it a special week so that any kind of circus with rotating hosts day by day does not affect regular play contestants. How about Dan Patrick hosts a game with three athletes and the winner gets to host the next game? I'm fine with some hosts being far from perfect to give viewers more of an appreciation for what the job entails.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by triviawayne »

The real question here is if Aaron Rodgers hosts, will the contestants know what it is he does for a living...

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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by goongas »

"Jennings is part of the Jeopardy family, but he does not fit into the parameters of the search, according to people who have been briefed on it. Sony is said to be looking for “A-list” names — well-known TV or movie stars — who would be consistent with the “Jeopardy!” brand, which is basically a television quiz show for intelligent people."

Alex was not an A-list name when J! hired him, although he had hosted some game shows before. As Ken said tonight, the contestants are the stars, not the host. It wouldn't be consistent with the J! brand to get a comedian to host the show. However, I would love to see Will Ferrell get to host a game.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Robert K S »

goongas wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:34 pm It wouldn't be consistent with the J! brand to get a comedian to host the show.
Crain and Bergen could both broadly be described as comedians. I think I would prefer someone with a broadcasting background, with a great reading voice, and I wouldn't mind if it's a virtual unknown. But I'm all for giving lots of different people a shot at guest hosting and letting the best guest host win.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by opusthepenguin »

talkingaway wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 7:30 pm Huh. Not the greatest reading, IMO...a little bit stiff. Emphasizing the "this" is always a nice touch by the host, and sometimes necessary to remind contestants what they're looking for. As an example, "She married Ross (show a picture of Jennifer Aniston in character) on THIS sitcom".
Well, if that's the delivery you want, Matthew Perry should host.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by trainman »

I'd like to see Andy Richter get a guest-hosting spot, both as an excellent Celebrity J! player and someone who seems to really want to host a game show (he's done a good number of pilots). Obviously he's not quite an A-lister, but he has been on TV pretty consistently for almost 3 decades now.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by opusthepenguin »

trainman wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:59 pm I'd like to see Andy Richter get a guest-hosting spot, both as an excellent Celebrity J! player and someone who seems to really want to host a game show (he's done a good number of pilots). Obviously he's not quite an A-lister, but he has been on TV pretty consistently for almost 3 decades now.
I think he'd be great. But people complaining about Ken's voice probably won't like Andy Richter's any better.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by harrumph »

After seeing Ken host for two games I can say this: he brings a razor sharp mind and a quickness that the other host candidates cannot compete with. He's into and on top of the game the way that a good sports announcer is.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by MarkBarrett »

trainman wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:59 pm I'd like to see Andy Richter get a guest-hosting spot, both as an excellent Celebrity J! player and someone who seems to really want to host a game show (he's done a good number of pilots). Obviously he's not quite an A-lister, but he has been on TV pretty consistently for almost 3 decades now.
Andy Richter hosted the short-lived show, Big Fan.

Andy Richter is smart and funny, but a big part of the job is reading clues:

Acceptable voice to hear for 61 clues? Only for no more than five shows.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by MarkBarrett »

One more thing about Andy Richter is his having/choosing to bail out of the Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational. Some of the powers at J! have changed, but there are holdovers. In the entertainment business, grudges can be held sometimes.

***********
For regular play contestants there have been some who got "The Call", but could not accept due to other recent TV appearances, unable to get away from a new job, etc. What is the percentage of those folks who received "The Call" again?
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