Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

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Anachronism
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Anachronism »

zakharov wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:47 am
Anachronism wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:33 am
Bamaman wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:24 am As long as the host doesn’t give their political views on the show I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
Ideally, I agree with that. I just don't trust people who have conducted themselves in such a divisive manner. I can't look at an Anderson Cooper or a Katie Couric or a Sean Hannity (thankfully, not a candidate) without getting dragged back into what I hope, 50 years from now, is looked at as the nadir of the journalistic profession's history.
You are on another planet if you're equivocating these three people.
I am certain there are both die-hard blue teamers and die-hard red-teamers out there who would agree with you.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Sherm »

Bamaman wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:24 am As long as the host doesn’t give their political views on the show I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
This is not true of all people, but think of it this way. Take an actor, TV host or someone you just don't like for some reason. Now, they are going to host jeopardy, are you still going to say, "I'll watch that show, and it doesn't matter to me at all." Even if you can say this, some people can't.

I think I read it on here, but it was stated people were tweeting real negative things about not watching the show just because Ken Jennings was going to be a host, and this is before he was defending John Roderick.

Jennings made some foolish tweet about Baron Trump a while back, and I understand he's done stuff like that a handful of times on different subjects. He has since said he was sorry, but if you want to be taken seriously busting on 12 year old probably isn't going to help you out. Some people just are going to say I don't like Ken Jennings, and if the average person doesn't like someone, in many cases they are not going to watch them for 30 minutes, be it reading clues or in a show reading a script.

Regarding Jennings as a host, based on the handful of clues he read earlier this year when Alex was hosting, I wasn't optimistic. He read the clues slower and I felt he was making sure his annunciation of the clue was perfect (I think this has been the downside of both Sara Haines and Janes Lynch, who dont come off nearly as good as Brook Burke and Ann Robinson). I didn't think he was going to do as well as he has. IMO, when he is weak, its when talking to the contestants and his first monolog. They seem more mechanical to me., He's not an actor, and I'm sure Alex Trebek could have been one.

If Jennings ends up as the host next year. I'd be fine with it. The flow of the show was very good this week.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Bamaman »

“Hosting” a category is slightly different than hosting the show as a whole. I also wasn’t super impressed when he read clues earlier but I felt he did fine this week.

I wasn’t a huge fan of his tweets but I can ignore that for the show as long as his on as his on air delivery is solid. I could also live with Sean Hannity or the My Pillow guy.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Golf »

Bamaman wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:24 am As long as the host doesn’t give their political views on the show I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
Agreed.

And as long as people don’t post political viewpoints in non-relevant threads, I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by AntmanB »

Just throwing it out there.... What About Tom Bergeron?

Actually he’s 65, scratch that.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by seaborgium »

zakharov wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:47 am
Anachronism wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:33 am
Bamaman wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:24 am As long as the host doesn’t give their political views on the show I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
Ideally, I agree with that. I just don't trust people who have conducted themselves in such a divisive manner. I can't look at an Anderson Cooper or a Katie Couric or a Sean Hannity (thankfully, not a candidate) without getting dragged back into what I hope, 50 years from now, is looked at as the nadir of the journalistic profession's history.
You are on another planet if you're equivocating these three people.
To equivocate is to be intentionally ambiguous; I think you meant equating.
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zakharov
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by zakharov »

seaborgium wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 2:11 pm
zakharov wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:47 am
Anachronism wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:33 am
Bamaman wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:24 am As long as the host doesn’t give their political views on the show I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
Ideally, I agree with that. I just don't trust people who have conducted themselves in such a divisive manner. I can't look at an Anderson Cooper or a Katie Couric or a Sean Hannity (thankfully, not a candidate) without getting dragged back into what I hope, 50 years from now, is looked at as the nadir of the journalistic profession's history.
You are on another planet if you're equivocating these three people.
To equivocate is to be intentionally ambiguous; I think you meant equating.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by brucejoel199 »

Anachronism wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:52 am
zakharov wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:47 am
Anachronism wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:33 am
Bamaman wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:24 am As long as the host doesn’t give their political views on the show I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
Ideally, I agree with that. I just don't trust people who have conducted themselves in such a divisive manner. I can't look at an Anderson Cooper or a Katie Couric or a Sean Hannity (thankfully, not a candidate) without getting dragged back into what I hope, 50 years from now, is looked at as the nadir of the journalistic profession's history.
You are on another planet if you're equivocating these three people.
I am certain there are both die-hard blue teamers and die-hard red-teamers out there who would agree with you.
Die-hard blue teamer here who doesn't like Sajak due to the forthrightness of his right-wing views, but it's not like that's impacted his ability to host Wheel or anything. If the host isn't expressing their political views on the show, then most people (myself included) couldn't, wouldn't, & frankly shouldn't care less.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by opusthepenguin »

Bamaman wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:24 am As long as the host doesn’t give their political views on the show I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
I do. I want a host who is on-brand 100% of the the time in public. I want to see the host's name attached to an article or tweet and know that it's safe to read. Within limits I'm willing to wipe the slate clean regarding past comments and behavior. (Ken's well within those limits.) But once the host role is assumed, I want that to be the person's full-time public persona.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by cthulhu »

opusthepenguin wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:58 pm
Bamaman wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:24 am As long as the host doesn’t give their political views on the show I don’t care what they say or do in real life.
I do. I want a host who is on-brand 100% of the the time in public. I want to see the host's name attached to an article or tweet and know that it's safe to read. Within limits I'm willing to wipe the slate clean regarding past comments and behavior. (Ken's well within those limits.) But once the host role is assumed, I want that to be the person's full-time public persona.
I was gonna comment in this thread but you completely said what I think needed to be said. Thank you!
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by trainman »

AntmanB wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:46 pm Just throwing it out there.... What About Tom Bergeron?

Actually he’s 65, scratch that.
He's already stated that he's not interested, even in being a guest host.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by AntmanB »

trainman wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:50 am
AntmanB wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:46 pm Just throwing it out there.... What About Tom Bergeron?

Actually he’s 65, scratch that.
He's already stated that he's not interested, even in being a guest host.
yeah i didnt know that, oops.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Bamaman »

Assuming they don’t make up the two weeks they ran the Alex traveling episodes there are 28 weeks left in the season. Ken is supposed to have five more weeks left plus two for Mike Richards.


So that gives us 21 weeks for the others. I hope they have a full time host by the start of S38.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by triviawayne »

I don’t think anyone doubts that in September we’ll see new permanent host with a new set.

But anyone else wondering if they raise the dollar amounts?

The show doesn’t need to, but this would be a good time to do it, and the budget is certainly there as I wouldn’t expect the new host to get as much as Alex did.

I’m not expecting it to happen, I’ve heard nothing one way or the other, but the thought has crossed my mind.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by goongas »

triviawayne wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 11:23 am I don’t think anyone doubts that in September we’ll see new permanent host with a new set.

But anyone else wondering if they raise the dollar amounts?

The show doesn’t need to, but this would be a good time to do it, and the budget is certainly there as I wouldn’t expect the new host to get as much as Alex did.

I’m not expecting it to happen, I’ve heard nothing one way or the other, but the thought has crossed my mind.
I can't imagine they are contemplating raising dollar amounts. Sony is probably hurting because of the pandemic, they are probably looking to save costs as much as they can. I agree there will be a new set and a new host in September.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by talkingaway »

goongas wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:42 pm
triviawayne wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 11:23 am I don’t think anyone doubts that in September we’ll see new permanent host with a new set.

But anyone else wondering if they raise the dollar amounts?

The show doesn’t need to, but this would be a good time to do it, and the budget is certainly there as I wouldn’t expect the new host to get as much as Alex did.

I’m not expecting it to happen, I’ve heard nothing one way or the other, but the thought has crossed my mind.
I can't imagine they are contemplating raising dollar amounts. Sony is probably hurting because of the pandemic, they are probably looking to save costs as much as they can. I agree there will be a new set and a new host in September.
That was my thinking, too...although they are essentially doubling the dollar amounts for the 4 weeks when Couric, Rodgers, the 60 Minutes guy, Bialik are hosting, because they're matching winnings with a charitable donation. I don't know how much they're paying the guest hosts, but it's probably less than Alex since it's not a full-time, long-term gig, so maybe the budget money is coming from that.

Someone was talking elsewhere about this being an opportunity to tweak the tournament format, which would help the budget, too. Personally, for fairness, I'd like tournaments to have a fixed bar- say, winning 5 games or winning over $80,000 total. Yeah, it'll make them slower, so you divide the tournament into 3 sections that last 1 week, followed by a week-long final. Heat 1 is 9 players playing for 3 days, followed by a 2-day final. Repeat for Heat 2 and Heat 3. Each heat as one of the "minor" (teachers, college, add in a celebrity(?)) tourney winners. Just 1 player advances from each heat. Finals are 2-4 games, first to win 2 games wins.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Anachronism »

What makes this more difficult is the appeal to an audience that generally is comforted by tradition and routine. Even going back to Rain Man, that was a touchstone of its culture.

The audience is huge, and loyal. That's worth a lot of money. Alex was probably making about three times the total amount of prize money that went out annually (Holzhauer blip nothwithstanding). Production may add a similar amount, promotion would be significant. Upping the prize amounts - even doubling them - wouldn't be a bad move if (and only if) they felt it would increase audience.

Getting the right new host is really all that matters. No pressure. The article quoted earlier said Sony wants an A-lister (and given what they would pay, that is reasonable). They could get a new name for much, much less, but you don't want to be the executive who makes that call and sees the audience drop 20%.

I don't know what constitutes a perfect A-lister choice, but I hope that Sony realizes that they live in a bubble out in Studio City and the Jeopardy! audience is quite diverse. That Katie Couric could apparently seek this job and still feel comfortable with her interview last week... challenging the bubble mentality may not be on Sony's dashboard and that could cost them.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by arjavrawal »

Anachronism wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:07 pm That Katie Couric could apparently seek this job and still feel comfortable with her interview last week... challenging the bubble mentality may not be on Sony's dashboard and that could cost them.
I highly doubt people who are quite literally stuck in an alternative reality built on lies are going to be watching a show that deals with facts. She has nothing to be afraid of.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by Sherm »

arjavrawal wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:41 pm
Anachronism wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:07 pm That Katie Couric could apparently seek this job and still feel comfortable with her interview last week... challenging the bubble mentality may not be on Sony's dashboard and that could cost them.
I highly doubt people who are quite literally stuck in an alternative reality built on lies are going to be watching a show that deals with facts. She has nothing to be afraid of.
A couple of nights ago she said, members of the GOP need reprogrammed, and it was a broad stroke, not talking about one or two people. Maybe you are shocked to know that republicans do watch television, and not just cartoons.
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Re: Jeopardy! Interim Host Thread

Post by reddpen »

Anyone else think that--assuming as executive producer he has significant say in who the next host will be--Mike Richards might pull a Dick Cheney and choose Mike Richards?

As for Ms. Couric's remarks (which I have only seen referenced in the usual alarmist conservative news headlines), some enormous percentage of the GOP still believes that Tr*** won the 2020 election. That at least calls for some education, if not reeducation.
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