And the new “Jeopardy!” host is rumored to be…

[Kevin M.]

… the show’s executive producer. 

Reminds me of when George Bush jr hired a woman to choose a Supreme Court nominee, and she basically chose herself. 

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-alex-trebek-1235034673/

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Steve Timko]

George Wallace nails it.

https://twitter.com/MrGeorgeWallace/status/1423077008129495048

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[David Bruggeman]

Could this be some penny-pinching nonsense, with Sony trying to get two jobs for the price of one (maybe one and a half)?  Because this guy has the name recognition of a stock photo and the warmth of wilted celery.  He comes across about as sincerely as old Les Nessman did in his acting roles.

David

[David Bruggeman]

Err, I meant Les Moonves....*facepalm*

[Kevin M.]

On Wed, Aug 4, 2021 at 6:19 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Err, I meant Les Moonves....*facepalm*

That’s good, because people live and die based on Les Nessman’s hog future reports 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[John Edwards]

On Aug 4, 2021, at 10:26 PM, Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:



On Wed, Aug 4, 2021 at 6:19 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Err, I meant Les Moonves....*facepalm*

That’s good, because people live and die based on Les Nessman’s hog future reports 

Hey, those Buckeye Newshawk awards didn’t come for nothing….

John

[JW]

It's funny. As the guest host period draws to a close, my reaction has been that the game is still the star, and while some of the hosts would need to smooth out some rough edges, any of them would be okay except for the executive producer who came across like a used car salesman.

Here we are.

[Kevin M.]

I worked on several game shows with several game show producers. All game show producers secretly (and sometimes openly) wanted to be hosts. But all the GOOD producers understood that there were better people out there to host. 

On Thu, Aug 5, 2021 at 2:40 AM JW <redb...@gmail.com> wrote:

It's funny. As the guest host period draws to a close, my reaction has been that the game is still the star, and while some of the hosts would need to smooth out some rough edges, any of them would be okay except for the executive producer who came across like a used car salesman.

Here we are.

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[PGage]

Harriet Miers, W. Bush’s former personal attorney, and WH Counsel at the time, whose job included reviewing and recommending SCOTUS appointees, and whose singular accomplishment was to unite Democrats and Republicans in what at the time felt like a hyper-partisan environment in condemnation of her extreme lack of qualifications for the job. The main thing I recall about her is she described W. as the smartest man she ever knew.

 

Yes, this does seem like that, and perhaps will end the same way. The article seems to leave room for a change of mind here, and it’s possible Sony is running this up the flag pole to see just how unpopular it is.

 

If they stay with this, it will be hard not to take it as a giant “Fuck You” to fans from Sony. What was the point of the whole public try out period, if they were only going to pick someone who at best was mediocre, and that only served to prove there were several candidates, some who clearly wanted the job, who performed much better?

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[Jon Delfin]

according to last night's Reliable Sources, Sony's official position is that they're still talking to several candidates.

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[Diner]

Also reminds me of when GWB hired Dick Cheney to head his vice presidential search committee... guess who got the job?

[Doug Fields]

I appear to be in the minority, but after the initial 4-5 guest hosts, I thought he’d done the best job…easily better than the stunt-casting of the better-known celebrities.  *shrug*  Oh well…what do I know?  😊

 

Doug Fields

Tampa, FL

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[David Bruggeman]

I think some, like Mr. Wallace and myself, would simply say he comes across as being up to no good.  While technically separate from his ability to do the job (which is certainly in the top third of the guest hosts, IMO), it makes it hard for me to want to watch the show with him behind the podium.

David

[Dave Sikula]

I honestly couldn't care less who gets the job -- with three exceptions: Dr. Oz (for reasons that have been discussed), Bialek (whom both the wife and I thought was awful; no timing and tended to make the game about herself), and Burton (who I missed, but who was apparently terrible and is definitely doing a Margaret Avery-level job of obnoxiously overselling himself).

I'm just stuck that there are three main cults in the country right now: the MAGAs, the Snyder Cut people, and the people who think Burton should get the job because he hosted a show about reading.

Given the revelations about Richards's misconduct, I'm guessing they approach someone else and deny the rumors. If I had a favorite, it'd be either Jennings or Buzzy Cohen, the latter of whom I did not like in the past, but who won me over by knowing how the game and show work and keeping things moving. My main thought about Richards was that he was bland enough to make the game the star, rather than his own personality.

It'd be nice to see a woman and/or POC behind the lectern, but I guess we're just not there yet.

--Dave Sikula

[PGage]

Right, its not that he was so bad *though I thought he was less good than some other appear to think) but to me he is so very unlivable.

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[David Bruggeman]

While I don't think Burton was horrible, I think nerves, or his ambition for the gig, or whatever got in the way of him doing a better job.  If he had 2 weeks of shows, I think his last show would have been markedly better.  But that's just barely informed speculation.

When this whole thing started, I figured it was Jennings' job, if not to lose, than to at least have the right of first refusal.  You bring him on to the show as a consulting producer while Alex is still hosting.  You give him 6 weeks to guest host.  I admit he didn't light the world on fire, but the job doesn't require it.  If you want a name, get a name associated with the show.  And unless your a fan of the show, the only names associated with J! are probably Trebek, Jennings and maybe Holzhauer.  (Brad Rutter probably curses the 5-timers rule on a regular basis.)

As for the allegations about Richards (TL;DR - awful treatment of the spokesmodels when he was an EP at The Price is Right, more than one out-of-court settlement), the cynic in me thinks if he hasn't suffered consequences from it by now, this may not keep him from getting the J! gig.

For something completely different - how does age factor in to this?  Except for Burton, everyone else supposedly under serious consideration is under 50 (Cohen is under 40).  FWIW, Alex was in his 40s when he started hosting.

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[Tom Wolper]

On Thu, Aug 5, 2021 at 10:20 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

While I don't think Burton was horrible, I think nerves, or his ambition for the gig, or whatever got in the way of him doing a better job.  If he had 2 weeks of shows, I think his last show would have been markedly better.  But that's just barely informed speculation.

When this whole thing started, I figured it was Jennings' job, if not to lose, than to at least have the right of first refusal.  You bring him on to the show as a consulting producer while Alex is still hosting.  You give him 6 weeks to guest host.  I admit he didn't light the world on fire, but the job doesn't require it.  If you want a name, get a name associated with the show.  And unless your a fan of the show, the only names associated with J! are probably Trebek, Jennings and maybe Holzhauer.  (Brad Rutter probably curses the 5-timers rule on a regular basis.)

As for the allegations about Richards (TL;DR - awful treatment of the spokesmodels when he was an EP at The Price is Right, more than one out-of-court settlement), the cynic in me thinks if he hasn't suffered consequences from it by now, this may not keep him from getting the J! gig.

For something completely different - how does age factor in to this?  Except for Burton, everyone else supposedly under serious consideration is under 50 (Cohen is under 40).  FWIW, Alex was in his 40s when he started hosting.

First, even if they treated the guest hosting weeks as auditions, I figure at least 75% of them are unavailable for the permanent host gig. I don't think anybody outright disqualified themselves (yet - Joe Buck is a real possibility to be the first). There were some I liked more than others but when trying to think how to rate them it came down to the number of weeks it would take for them to get into the rhythm of the show and be comfortable. My top choice would be Sanjay Gupta (almost certainly unavailable) who wouldn't need any extra time and at the opposite end were Bill Whitaker and Savannah Guthrie (also unavailable) who would need at least 4 weeks.

I have to qualify my choices by noting that I only watched the host's opening remarks on their first night and I never watch the interviews so if a guest host distinguished themselves for better or worse in those segments it was lost on me.

[JW]

Some reporting here, and the Dick Cheney comparison.

https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/5/22611962/jeopardy-new-host-mike-richards-sony

[Diner]

James Holzhauer wins the internet for today.

https://twitter.com/James_Holzhauer/status/1424868747098001408

[JW]

Joe Buck discussing his experience:

https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1425171352026292227

[two...@gmail.com]

I’d prefer seeing him one day a week on football to five days a week on Jeopardy.

On Aug 10, 2021, at 3:13 PM, Diner <bway...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Mark Jeffries]

And now the word is that Mayim Bialik will host prime time specials,  starting with a college tournament on ABC (which will be better than the "Bank/Credit Card Company College Bowl" travesty by a LONGSHOT! <car crash sounds>):

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeopardy-set-to-announce-mayim-bialik-and-mike-richards-splitting-host-duties

Of course, she's still doing "Call Me Kat," but they're only doing 13 episodes, so she'll be available in mid-season when Sony says to Richards TIIIME'S UUUUP!

[Kevin M.]

NYDN is stating it’s officially the EP (with a shady past) as host with Bialik doing special installments as Mark just referenced.

https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/ny-jeopardy-host-mike-richards-mayim-bialik-20210811-ctuwrlmj6vhhjke63ou7a35knq-story.html?outputType=amp

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[M-D November]

I feel like it's a little reductive (albeit accurate) to call him "the EP with a shady past".  He also has previous hosting experience (he was really growing into the role on Pyramid when GSN pulled the plug) and knows the game better than just about anyone available.  I didn't get to see all the guest hosts, but based on what I saw, I think Richards is the right choice, as he brings a lot of the same game-command qualities to the role as Ken Jennings without actually BEING Ken Jennings (and, therefore, being a target rather than a neutral party).

[PGage]

Well, they have picked as their hosts two of my bottom 5, so I guess I am no longer in Jeopardy!’s target demo.  

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[daves...@gmail.com]

We're way behind on our DVRed episodes, and missed the Burton unpleasantness owing to being on our Alaska trip, but the hosts who have most impressed me were Buzzy Cohen and Dr. Gupta. I didn't like Cohen at all previously, so I was surprised.

The quality that most of the subs have missed is how to run a game show; here, it's not just reading the answers and questions when needed; it's pace, rhythm, and (more or less) being the captain of the ship. Most of the guest hosts have failed on at least one of those (usually pace), whereas Jennings, Richards, and Cohen all know the mechanics. (I read an article early in the process that speculated that one of the reasons there had been so few multi-day champs was that the players couldn't adjust to the hosts' rhythms. I also have a theory that, once a player gets past that third win, they tend to go far.)

I've been watching a lot of eps of the original early-60s "Price Is Right" (Buzzr is running them on Saturday mornings) and am mostly impressed by how good -- and smooth -- Bill Cullen is. He's funny, personable, and keeps that train running. That was Trebek's greatest strength (and came from almost as much hosting as Cullen) and was really overlooked by most of the guests. In the past, I used to FF through the interview segment at the top of Act 2, but started re-watching late in Trebek's tenure. I was struck (as I was in person) by how honestly interested he seemed in the players (even I didn't know until about halfway through his question on my first show what he was going to ask me).

There have been some great hosts -- Tom Kennedy, Jack Narz, Monty Hall -- but Trebek is right up there with Cullen in that specific set of skills.

--Dave Sikula

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[Brad Beam]

And the defending champion-of-the-internet is victorious again today:

 

https://twitter.com/James_Holzhauer/status/1425515618720047109

[M-D November]

My earliest exposure to Bill Cullen came via the end of his career - primarily Blockbusters, Password Plus & Hot Potato - when his health was already failing (although I didn't know that at the time), and I was always in awe of his ability to balance a jovial persona while maintaining total command of the pace of the game. Later exposure to his appearances on the panel shows, of course, revealed that that wasn't strictly a persona.

[Tom Wolper]

On Wed, Aug 11, 2021 at 9:01 PM daves...@gmail.com <daves...@gmail.com> wrote:

There have been some great hosts -- Tom Kennedy, Jack Narz, Monty Hall -- but Trebek is right up there with Cullen in that specific set of skills.

As a regular Jeopardy watcher I have watched all of the guest hosts and kept up with the news about the show. I haven't allowed myself to get too emotionally invested in who gets the job because the job is to be a game show host. If Trebek had become unable to host in the 1980s the producers would simply have turned to Tom Kennedy, Wink Martindale, or Bert Convy. I give Sony credit for milking the situation for all it's worth in a marketing sense but the idea that Jeopardy is sacred and a new host has to be a Nobel Laureate or something to get the job goes too far. The open position was a game show host.

Now let's start a grassroots campaign to have LeVar Burton replace Pat Sajak as host of Wheel of Fortune.

[M-D November]

Tom - funny you should mention it - apparently Ava duVernay has said she'll personally produce a game show for Burton to host.

https://www.tvinsider.com/1009140/ava-duvernay-tv-show-for-levar-burton-to-host/

[daves...@gmail.com]

Frankly, I'm surprised duVernay would employ an American actor.

Good for her, though; it'll give me another project of hers I won't be watching.

--Dave Sikula

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[Tom Wolper]

On Thu, Aug 12, 2021 at 8:36 PM daves...@gmail.com <daves...@gmail.com> wrote:

Frankly, I'm surprised duVernay would employ an American actor.

Good for her, though; it'll give me another project of hers I won't be watching.

I can't imagine starting the creation of a successful TV game show by naming the host. There were a lot of people who write on the internet who thought Burton was the natural choice to host Jeopardy even before seeing him, and while he would have made a serviceable host given enough time, whatever had to happen like a spike in the ratings didn't happen.

[Kevin M.]

The guest host ratings have been tabulated…

https://www.newsweek.com/levar-burtons-jeopardy-guest-hosting-ratings-compare-others-1619611?amp=1

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[daves...@gmail.com]

But how is this possible? We were told everyone loves Burton, he walks on water, and bouquets of flowers bloom at his merest glance.

--Dave Sikula

[Brad Beam]

From: tvor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of daves...@gmail.com
>

>But how is this possible? We were told everyone loves Burton, he walks on water, and bouquets of flowers bloom at his merest glance.

 

In my market, though “Jeopardy!” did air in its regular slot during Levar’s week of the Olympics, TiVo listed the slot as “The Olympic Zone.”

 

_   _

|_>|_>  Brad Beam- Belle WV

|_>|_>  http://www.facebook.com/74bmw

[David Bruggeman]

The elephant in the room with the ratings is that the show was on a steady decline throughout the guest host period.  Even with an 18-game (and counting) winner to end the season.  Slight upticks for the Tournament of Champions, Aaron Rodgers, and Bill Whittaker.

Maybe this process stanched the bleeding ratings, but I doubt Mr. Empty Suit will do better when he starts next month than he did back in February.

Whatever Mr. Burton did to hurt you, Dave, I'm sorry.

David

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[Tom Wolper]

On Mon, Aug 16, 2021 at 9:26 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

The elephant in the room with the ratings is that the show was on a steady decline throughout the guest host period.  Even with an 18-game (and counting) winner to end the season.  Slight upticks for the Tournament of Champions, Aaron Rodgers, and Bill Whittaker.

Maybe this process stanched the bleeding ratings, but I doubt Mr. Empty Suit will do better when he starts next month than he did back in February.

Whatever Mr. Burton did to hurt you, Dave, I'm sorry.

The ratings always decline when summer comes. It's just not fair to compare the ratings of January/February with July/August no matter who the host was. It's summer, prime time is in reruns/burnoffs/AGT BB and fewer people tune in. Having a chance to do stuff in the evenings after what we went through last year was probably also a factor.

I saw a lot of the media writers and twitter chatter about how LeVar Burton was the ideal host for Jeopardy, even before he hosted, and I just ignored it. It's another reminder that reality doesn't come from media writers and twitter folks. I still think it would be an epic troll to start a petition to have him become the new host of Wheel of Fortune.

I liked Joe Buck's week. He didn't treat it as an audition and it made him looser and it gave him good energy. I wouldn't want to see him as a host for more than a week but I enjoyed the job he did.

[Pete Ahles]

On Ken Levine's podcast, Joe Buck talks about guest hosting Jeopardy. I liked where he said by the end of his run, he had 3 mistakes on his clue readings. But he was told that's about the same as Alex.

https://hollywoodandlevine.libsyn.com/ep236-meet-joe-buck-part-1

Pete

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[Diner]

Woah.

Mike Richards joked about the physical appearance of women, Jews, and Asians across a series of podcasts he hosted. When confronted about it, Richards wiped the entire podcast series from the internet. His bosses at Sony had never heard about it.

Excellent reporting from Claire McNear at The Ringer.

https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments

[Bob Jersey]

And there's still the question of why he never approached CNN legal analyst Laura Coates, whom Alex himself recommended be given a look.

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1369451310320353283 (10 days ago)    B

Diner, to Pete Ahles, Tom Wolper and David Bruggeman, August 18th:

[Tom Wolper]

On Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 9:28 AM 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

And there's still the question of why he never approached CNN legal analyst Laura Coates, whom Alex himself recommended be given a look.

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1369451310320353283 (10 days ago)

Until she says she told Sony she wanted to be considered for permanent host and was told no it isn't a story.

[PGage]

Matt Belloni is reporting that his sources are saying that the taping if the first shows with Richards, that started yesterday, were extremely awkward, with lots of staff unhappy with the choice. He also reports that the Sony CEO was caught of guard by the Ringer article, and that while he is still hoping it will blow over, is prepared to replace Richards if it does not. 

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[PGage]

And now he pulls the trigger…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/08/20/mike-richards-jeopardy-quit/

[PGage]

Looks like the link did not activate, here is the story:

“Mike Richards is stepping down as host of “Jeopardy!” effective immediately, he confirmed Friday morning.
Richards, the show’s executive producer who was just named as Alex Trebek’s replacement on the iconic game show, came under fire after the Ringer published an in-depth report that revealed he made disparaging remarks about women, Jewish people and Haiti.

“I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role” Richards wrote in a note to his staff Friday. “However, over the last several days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show. As such, I will be stepping down as host effective immediately. As a result, we will be canceling production today.”
He said that Sony Pictures Television “will now resume the search for a permanent syndicated host.”


“In the meantime we will be bringing back guest hosts to continue production for the new season, details of which will be announced next week,” he continued. “I want to apologize to each of you for the unwanted negative attention that has come to Jeopardy! over the last few weeks and for the confusion and delays this is now causing. I know I have a lot of work to do to regain your trust and confidence.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/08/20/mike-richards-jeopardy-quit/

[M-D November]

Cue the internet:

On Friday, August 20, 2021 at 10:34:59 AM UTC-4 David Risner wrote:

He's out of there.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/08/20/mike-richards-jeopardy-quit/

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[Bob Jersey]

PGage and you with redundant posts, David. Yours (later) to be removed from GG web.   B

David Risner, to PGage, Diner, Pete Ahles, Tom Wolper, and David Bruggeman, August 20th:

[Adam Bowie]

With all the news that's going on in the world right now, both the NYT and WP sent push notifications of this major breaking story :-)

(OK - it *is* big news around here!)

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[Tom Wolper]

On Fri, Aug 20, 2021 at 10:59 AM Adam Bowie <ad...@adambowie.co.uk> wrote:

With all the news that's going on in the world right now, both the NYT and WP sent push notifications of this major breaking story :-)

(OK - it *is* big news around here!)

This whole story is bonkers. Sony took the tragedy of Alex Trebek's passing and came up with a plan to grab attention and build engagement with the show by announcing guest hosts with a permanent host announcement right after the last show of the season airs. They hit the mark and it came off beautifully as talk about the guest hosts drove MSM stories and took off on social media. The process really worked until they named Mike Richards host and the entire enterprise went against them. All of the attention turned negative as people referenced Dick Cheney or a boss doing a wide search for an open position and finally choosing his son-in-law. Enterprising journalists dug through Richards's background and found some skeletons nobody - at least not the execs at Sony - knew about. We have to give credit to Claire McNear of The Ringer of sitting through 40 episodes of his podcast. That had to be excruciating. And today Richards concedes that he's not the man to host the show but whatever his failings are it's not enough to disqualify him from being EP. And apparently Sony had no Plan B. We don't know if they are going to air the shows they taped or who would want to be a guest host now.

In the alternate universe where Sony simply liked what they saw in Richards test shows and named him permanent host in January, would any of this have come out? I think people would have just accepted him and moved on.

I doubt we will ever know what the tipping point was here. Maybe somebody will write a book or do a podcast in the future where they can interview the people involved and get insight. My idea of what the tipping point was that a number of contestants who passed the audition let the audience coordinators know they weren't interested in doing the show with that host. That could push Sony to move in a way that bad press won't.

[Kevin M.]

Several on Twitter have remarked that Mike Richards lasted exactly one Scaramucci

The real question remains: Will he remain as EP?

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGBiVxJOMayu_j4KnssENv2uaVzwTKE75nh-wP57oB984w%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Doug Eastick]

Update on the Trebek mural on his high school. Includes video interview with the artist.

https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/video-alex-trebek-makes-a-permanent-mark-on-sudbury-secondary-4236894?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot

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[Brad Beam]

From: tvor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kevin M.

>The real question remains: Will he remain as EP?

 

According to USA Today, yes. (Also, the article’s author has her own candidate to host: Aisha Tyler.)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/08/20/jeopardy-and-mike-richards-how-all-went-wrong/8209913002/

[Dave Sikula]

I can't -- or maybe I can -- believe they'd let him stick around after all that mishegoss. If he's too toxic to host, I'd think he'd be too toxic to EP. Although, maybe it's too tough to do now that they're back in production.

If I were the good people at Jeopardy, I'd also use this as an opportunity to also dump Bialak and her brain-medicine/anti-vax persona and start completely fresh.

I think my feeling about everyone else have been made clear by this point ...

--Dave Sikula

[Kevin M.]

I’m not enough of a Jeopardy! watcher to have a vested interest, but I’ve worked on several game shows, and interacted with several former and current hosts on social media. Pat Sajak and Chuck Woolery are two abysmal human beings. I have nothing nice to say about their politics, their attitude, or their off screen behavior… but they are good if not great hosts. Dick Clark was a penny-pinching, micro-managing control freak (and if his personal life was subjected to 2021 type of scrutiny, whoa)… but he was an exceptional host. By contrast I thought Howie Mandel was one of the kindest, funniest, most insightful people I ever worked with, but he made Deal or No Deal unwatchable to me. 

If the hope is to find a fully “woke” person who also happens to be a good game show host, I’m sure they are out there. I’m sure there are hosts out there who aren’t openly sexist or discriminatory. But I also don’t know how a standard talent search goes about vetting for that. I’m not saying the vetting shouldn’t occur… it absolutely should… but it’ll never be enough to catch every email or text or social media post or obscure podcast comment. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[JW]

Holzhauer nailed it again: https://twitter.com/James_Holzhauer/status/1428726739736297486

A couple of things about Richards' podcast are:fascinating:

- While he was the executive producer of The Price Is Right, he thought it would be okay to say those kinds of things.

- Despite his position, he had so few listeners that there was no impact. (If someone had come across those quotes several years ago, we'd have heard about it.)

The best thing about all this is that nobody is going to claim that Richards' failure is because "It's impossible to replace Alex Trebek." In fact, most of the guests made it clear that it can be done.

[M-D November]

So, the only way to be a decent game show host is to be an absolute scumbag off-screen? 

I really hope Bill Cullen was the exception that proves the rule…

[Bob Jersey]

Cullen lived most of his life with health issues (e.g. the aftermath of childhood polio, which impacted the way he walked) and with the same woman (Ann, from 1955 till he passed), so he had no interest in that...     B

M-D November, to Kevin M, Dave Sikula, and Brad Beam, August 22nd:

[David Bruggeman]

Maybe Allen Ludden is another exception?

David

[Bob Jersey]

Go ask Betty. She's on every friggin' social channel known to man.   B

David Bruggeman, to moi, August 22nd:

[Bob Jersey]

Another JH tweet (link) razzed Joe Buck, and Buck hissed back, through Jimmy Traina:

https://awfulannouncing.com/pop-culture/joe-buck-jeopardy-james-holzhauer-tweet-guest-host.html (link)

But on expansion, it was more meant for Rodgers (and Ken J) than @buck...    B

JW, in part, August 21st:

[Joe Hass]

The new plan: air the one week of Richards shows, followed by three weeks of Mayim, and then back to the guest host format until Sony (without the input of Richards) picks the new replacement host.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/23/media/mayim-bialik-jeopardy/index.html

[Brad Beam]

“The Hollywood Reporter” suggests that le grande debacle was merely some 4D chess by Sony: “nobody can replace Alex, but anybody can replace Mike Richards (not Kramer, but the other one).”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/mike-richards-jeopardy-hosting-debacle-critics-notebook-1235000610/

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 23, 2021, at 14:20, Joe Hass <hassg...@gmail.com> wrote:

The new plan: air the one week of Richards shows, followed by three weeks of Mayim, and then back to the guest host format until Sony (without the input of Richards) picks the new replacement host.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/022d1a8a-8014-47c8-823a-e32a90f2e88fn%40googlegroups.com.

[JW]

> “The Hollywood Reporter” suggests that le grande debacle was merely some 4D

> chess by Sony: “nobody can replace Alex, but anybody can replace Mike

> Richards (not Kramer, but the other one).”

Yeah, right.

Even if the geniuses at Sony wanted somebody short-term to take the pressure off their real choice, they'd still want someone who'd last more than one day of taping. And they likely wouldn't want someone who'd have to go back to the executive office when he was done.

It's still not clear to me why they didn't just stick with Jennings, or if they felt they had to indulge Richards, why they wouldn't go back to Ken now. But what do I know? I'm not playing 4-D chess.

[Greg Diener]

On Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at 6:24:06 AM UTC-4 JW wrote:

It's still not clear to me why they didn't just stick with Jennings, or if they felt they had to indulge Richards, why they wouldn't go back to Ken now. But what do I know? I'm not playing 4-D chess.

Combination of maybe social media pressure due to past comments he's made and his association with John Roderick? Maybe another reason is his commitments with The Chase and Masterminds on GSN?

Greg

[Greg Diener]

BTW the ex-chief has thrown his hat in the LeVar for J! host which leaves me shaking my head.

Greg

[Kevin M.]

When you are in charge of an institution like Jeopardy!, and it essentially runs itself, you don’t want to be the one who makes the change that kills the show. In fact, executives want to be the ones who manage to breathe new life to the show, to “grow the audience,” or to at least make it skew younger demographically. Jennings doesn’t lose them any viewers, but he doesn’t gain them any either. Likewise, Geordi LaForge won’t attract any younger viewers to the show. They might be decent hosts, but if they don’t lead to an increase in viewers, they won’t be taken seriously as candidates. 

On Tue, Aug 24, 2021 at 2:53 PM 'Greg Diener' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

BTW the ex-chief has thrown his hat in the LeVar for J! host which leaves me shaking my head.

Greg

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[daves...@gmail.com]

Even taking my dislike for Mr. Burton into account, I feel like the double whammy of them taking so long to invite him in the first place and that his name hasn't been brought up as a finalist (other than by the cult) speaks to something the producers know about him or his personality that is not being made public. Based on what I've been told about the latter, I'd assume it's that.

--Dave Sikula

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[PGage]

I like LeVar, and think he would be a fine host, though he is not my top pick. At this point I am not included to put a lot of credibility in the judgement of the main decision-makers at Sony, and the fact that he has not been identified as a finalist is now a badge of honor.

Name Ken already and lets get on with it.

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[Tom Wolper]

On Tue, Aug 24, 2021 at 11:02 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

I like LeVar, and think he would be a fine host, though he is not my top pick. At this point I am not included to put a lot of credibility in the judgement of the main decision-makers at Sony, and the fact that he has not been identified as a finalist is now a badge of honor.

Name Ken already and lets get on with it.

I'm trying not to go down a rabbit hole of Jeopardy stories because there are tons of them and while everybody has opinions nobody has any insight. There is one thing I haven't seen covered yet: if Sony thought Mayim Bialik was a good enough host for prime time tournaments, why didn't they just name her host when Richards got booted?

I like the fact that the process of picking a new host is so opaque and nobody has any inside information to share. People are generally uncomfortable with unpredictability and I am enjoying their discomfort (because the stakes are so low).

[Jon Delfin]

On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 10:03 AM Tom Wolper <two...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, Aug 24, 2021 at 11:02 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

I like LeVar, and think he would be a fine host, though he is not my top pick. At this point I am not included to put a lot of credibility in the judgement of the main decision-makers at Sony, and the fact that he has not been identified as a finalist is now a badge of honor.

Name Ken already and lets get on with it.

I'm trying not to go down a rabbit hole of Jeopardy stories because there are tons of them and while everybody has opinions nobody has any insight. There is one thing I haven't seen covered yet: if Sony thought Mayim Bialik was a good enough host for prime time tournaments, why didn't they just name her host when Richards got booted?

her sitcom and her podcast fill up a lot of her plate 

[two...@gmail.com]

On Aug 25, 2021, at 10:19 AM, Jon Delfin <jond...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm trying not to go down a rabbit hole of Jeopardy stories because there are tons of them and while everybody has opinions nobody has any insight. There is one thing I haven't seen covered yet: if Sony thought Mayim Bialik was a good enough host for prime time tournaments, why didn't they just name her host when Richards got booted?

her sitcom and her podcast fill up a lot of her plate 

If she’s not under contract for the podcast she could easily suspend it and her listeners would understand. Sony could announce they’re signing her as permanent host and it will start when her sitcom finishes filming. Then bring in guest hosts who won’t be available for full time work.

[Kevin M.]

I can’t even imagine how whacked out her podcast must be. Joe Rogan probably seems lucid and sane by comparison 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Tom Wolper]

On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 11:45 AM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:

I can’t even imagine how whacked out her podcast must be. Joe Rogan probably seems lucid and sane by comparison

I listened to an episode of her podcast just to see. I haven't listened to Rogan's because those episodes run about 3 hours. Mayim does a mental health podcast which is in the wellness/self help world. It's not as aggressive as those self help programs PBS runs during pledge drives, but it's that sort of content. It's not whacked out and it's not something I would want to keep listening to.

[PGage]

Sony really wants you to know that Bialik is not an anti-vaxxer, she’s just against most of the vaccines introduced since she was a kid. Though she and her family have taken the COVID vaccine.

Also, they want you to know she is not a pseudo science shill for fake cognitive and memory enhancers, she just used her scientific credentials to made statements in exchange for money about the memory benefits of a product that were not true.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/08/27/mayim-bialik-jeopardy-vaccines-brain-supplements/

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[daves...@gmail.com]

Maybe the plan of having an anti-vaxer host is to try to appeal to the demo of stupid people who feel the show is too smugly smart.

--Dave Sikula

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.

[Kevin M.]

On Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 4:11 PM daves...@gmail.com <daves...@gmail.com> wrote:

Maybe the plan of having an anti-vaxer host is to try to appeal to the demo of stupid people who feel the show is too smugly smart.

--Dave Sikula

She might be a cure for the smartness.

She is not a cure for the smugness. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[daves...@gmail.com]

Baby steps.

--Dave Sikula

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4CRSVkDc%3D7Dpr67p%2BquHDOe9iTUDMNq9KU%3DEB4uWVw4QA%40mail.gmail.com

.

[Tom Wolper]

On Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 7:11 PM daves...@gmail.com <daves...@gmail.com> wrote:

Maybe the plan of having an anti-vaxer host is to try to appeal to the demo of stupid people who feel the show is too smugly smart.

There are a lot of intelligent and highly educated people who fall for these types of things. It's confounding to decide they are all simply stupid and the only people who listen to them are stupid. The one thing that science communicators continually have trouble with is that a lot of anti-vax and climate denier folks aren't suffering from a lack of data or an inability to understand it. A lot of PhDs somehow got this bias that makes them disbelieve the consensus.

If Mayim Bialik becomes Jeopardy host none of that changes. Nobody who is having second thoughts about getting their child the MMR vaccine will make a final decision based on who is hosting Jeopardy. As painful as it is, the people who listen to her podcast and buy the stuff she fronts are not troglodytes. They're educated and affluent. Some have had bad experiences with the medical establishment and have just lost trust in its authority. It wasn't anti-vaxxers who caused the opioid crisis. It was the mainstream medical community. People are going to make strange and often bad decisions about things like supplements and homeopathy no matter how much counter-information is out there. Taking the host position away from Bialik won't help or hurt that.

[PGage]

Tom makes a valid point that not all anti Vaxers are idiots. I spent a significant percentage of my time these last 8 months talking to the vaccine resistant about the reasons for their position (My sample is biased of Flores, but a lot of  the people I work with are needle/injection phobic, not stupid or skeptical, and look for rationalizations to cover their fear).

But I’m not sure I agree that someone like Bialik getting a prominent platform will be without consequence. Every month a small but steady trickle of Americans who had been anti vax cross over and get vaccinated. Someone like Bialik getting mainstreamed, even if she never talks about it on the show (I’m sure she won’t, unless perhaps to encourage vaccination) could potentially slow that conversion rate somewhat, validating the concerns and fears of the resistant.

I have other reasons for thinking she is not the best choice.

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[JW]

> I have other reasons for thinking she is not the best choice.

While watching Friday's rerun, I noticed that the first commercial in the block after Double Jeopardy! was one of Ms. Bialik's. I didn't slow down to see exactly what it was, figuring I'd likely have more chances to see it, but it looks like the geniuses at Sony are jumping in with both feet.

(There's a conspiracy theory: Sony named Bialik because the people she does ads for would buy time.)

[Mark Jeffries]

CBS Media Ventures.  As the technical syndicator of "Wheel" and "Jeopardy!" (thanks to the deal KingWorld made with Merv Griffin before both KW and Merv got swallowed up by bigger companies), they sell the national ads, which do go into that third break before either a plug for something "Jeopardy!"-related or Johnny GIlbert saying "We'll be back with Final Jeopardy! after these messages."

Mark Jeffries
spotl...@gmail.com

Virus-free. www.avast.com

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[Tom Wolper]

On Sat, Aug 28, 2021 at 5:44 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Tom makes a valid point that not all anti Vaxers are idiots. I spent a significant percentage of my time these last 8 months talking to the vaccine resistant about the reasons for their position (My sample is biased of Flores, but a lot of  the people I work with are needle/injection phobic, not stupid or skeptical, and look for rationalizations to cover their fear).

But I’m not sure I agree that someone like Bialik getting a prominent platform will be without consequence. Every month a small but steady trickle of Americans who had been anti vax cross over and get vaccinated. Someone like Bialik getting mainstreamed, even if she never talks about it on the show (I’m sure she won’t, unless perhaps to encourage vaccination) could potentially slow that conversion rate somewhat, validating the concerns and fears of the resistant.

I have other reasons for thinking she is not the best choice.

From what I understand, he anti-vax involvement is against MMR and other childrens' vaccines and not adults and COVID. If she mentioned that or her other non-mainstream beliefs during the taping of Jeopardy I'm sure they'd be edited out of the broadcast. I'm not belittling the return of preventable childhood diseases like measles but I just don't see the part a choice of game show host has in that public health effort.

[PGage]

I don’t think parents who were otherwise planning on immunizing their children will change their minds because the new host of Jeopardy! Is against it. I do think parents who are leaning against vaccinating their children but are persuadable will become less persuadable because the new host of Jeopardy! Is against it.

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[Tom Wolper]

On Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 10:26 AM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

I don’t think parents who were otherwise planning on immunizing their children will change their minds because the new host of Jeopardy! Is against it. I do think parents who are leaning against vaccinating their children but are persuadable will become less persuadable because the new host of Jeopardy! Is against it.

Remember what the main Jeopardy demographic is (much older than young parents).

[PGage]

Two things about that: 

1. While the average age of J-viewers may be around 65, they still have millions of regular viewers under 50. But this mostly besides the point because…

2. My hypothesis is not that viewers of J will be influenced by seeing a childhood immunization skeptic hosting the show in TV. My hypothesis is that parents who are  softly opposed to vaccinating their children and never watch J will learn that an anti Vaxxer* is hosting a game show for smart people and feel their reluctance is validated. 

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[Kevin M.]

Let’s play our game…

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-jeopardy-board-for-determining-who-should-be-the-next-host-of-jeopardy

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[M-D November]

Aaaaaaaaand he's outta there.

https://apple.news/AhdrddtMsQ16tjxPS9x7eFA

[Kevin M.]

On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 9:31 AM M-D November <mdnov...@gmail.com> wrote:

Aaaaaaaaand he's outta there.

https://apple.news/AhdrddtMsQ16tjxPS9x7eFA

Hmmm… I wonder which white male will replace him?

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[JW]

More Holzhauer.

https://twitter.com/James_Holzhauer/status/1432753481077559305

[Joe Hass]

It'll be Bialik and Jennings splitting hosting duties until the end of the calendar year.

https://www.jeopardy.com/jbuzz/news-events/mayim-bialik-and-ken-jennings-host-jeopardy-through-end-year

On Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at 6:12:30 PM UTC-5 Kevin M. (RPCV) wrote:

… the show’s executive producer. 

Reminds me of when George Bush jr hired a woman to choose a Supreme Court nominee, and she basically chose herself. 

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-alex-trebek-1235034673/

--

Kevin M. (RPCV)

[PGage]

Well, they finally got it half right, but even so seem to be doing it in a ham fisted way.

Watching this rather awkward week reinforces my sense that, apart from everything else, Richards was just a bad choice. Again, it’s not that he does any part of the job all that badly, but he’s just generally unlikable in a white bread, corporate key. It does feel like the decision makers at Sony were like “we have one of the few audiences left that is so old, male and white that we can install a soulless corporate shill and they will eat it up.”

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[Dave Sikula]

I'm finally catching up with his first episode. I don't find him coprorate; he's just kind of bland. Having seen the other candidates (except for Burton), I'd rank him near the bottom. He's outwardly pleasant enough, but doesn't really run the game; cetainly not as well as Jennings and Cohen did. For that matter, neither did Bialik (I'd rank her low, too), but that ship has sailed.

--Dave Sikula

[Tom Wolper]

On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 11:45 PM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I'm finally catching up with his first episode. I don't find him coprorate; he's just kind of bland. Having seen the other candidates (except for Burton), I'd rank him near the bottom. He's outwardly pleasant enough, but doesn't really run the game; cetainly not as well as Jennings and Cohen did. For that matter, neither did Bialik (I'd rank her low, too), but that ship has sailed.

Given enough time and practice he, or anybody, would rise to be an acceptable host. What this week showed me was that if Richards were the permanent host I'd still watch the show.

[Tom Wolper]

On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 11:05 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, they finally got it half right, but even so seem to be doing it in a ham fisted way.

Watching this rather awkward week reinforces my sense that, apart from everything else, Richards was just a bad choice. Again, it’s not that he does any part of the job all that badly, but he’s just generally unlikable in a white bread, corporate key. It does feel like the decision makers at Sony were like “we have one of the few audiences left that is so old, male and white that we can install a soulless corporate shill and they will eat it up.”

I don't think Sony's thinking was "they will eat it up," rather they were defensive and more concerned about losing older white viewers instead of concentrating on what would bring younger viewers.

[Bob Jersey]

Burton is backing out, he told Trevor Noah.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/levar-burton-reveals-he-now-doesn-t-want-to-be-the-new-jeopardy-host/ar-AAOxGRy (link)    B

Tom Wolper, to PGage, September 17th:

[PGage]

Well, if the main criteria was just a host who would not make long time viewers stop watching they could have skipped the whole dog and pony show and just  installed the most popular weatherman from Iowa City.

I am not saying there is a good reason to ban white men from hosting Jeopardy, just that even with that show’s older, more conservative average audience, a good host has to have more than that. 

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[Tom Wolper]



On Fri, Sep 17, 2021 at 10:30 AM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, if the main criteria was just a host who would not make long time viewers stop watching they could have skipped the whole dog and pony show and just  installed the most popular weatherman from Iowa City.

I am not saying there is a good reason to ban white men from hosting Jeopardy, just that even with that show’s older, more conservative average audience, a good host has to have more than that.

I'm not disagreeing with you about any of this. Sony has agency and made deliberate decisions. The dog and pony show was one. Not correcting the media when they called it auditions when it was clear that most guest hosts did not want the permanent hosting job was another. Giving the permanent hosting job to Richards regardless of the perception was another. I am trying to figure out why Sony made the decisions they did, not trying to justify them.

When Alex announced he had pancreatic cancer that meant his tenure was short term. It makes all the sense in the world for Sony to be outwardly quiet and not mention the post-Trebek Jeopardy. They seemed not to put any effort into thinking out the succession until it was upon them and the lack of foresight shows. And none of it had to be this way.

[daves...@gmail.com]

I think "dog and pony show" is the best description. Had the intention been to audition actual candidates, we probably would have seen a completely different set of candidates. Does anyone think Sanjay Gupta or Anderson Cooper or Robin Roberts was actually going to quit their day jobs to be the host? Yes, it's prestigious (in its way), but it was more of a series of stunts than anything else.

The pool of game show hosts is getting pretty shallow. Other than Carey, Sajak, and Harvey, is there anyone who does it regularly? (I don't count the hosts of the ABC reboots; that's more stunt casting.) Brooke Burns on "The Chase" isn't bad, but there just isn't the supply (Cullen, Rayburn, Kennedy, Narz, Martindale, Ludden, Trebek, Convy, Regis) there used to be.

--Dave Sikula

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[PGage]

I guess the game show host niche has been replaced by the reality show niche over the last few decades. I would not have minded Phil Keoghan

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[David Bruggeman]

I don't know if this counts as doing it regularly, but Craig Ferguson is still doing "The Hustler" and went a few seasons hosting "Celebrity Name Game." 

Is the 'talent' on GSN just lousy, or people we wouldn't know if we didn't watch?

David

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