My friend who is close with someone on the Jeopardy! staff just posted this on Facebook.

"The Mike Richards Era as jeopardy host is over before it began, well. Sort of.
They began production of season 38 yesterday and filmed the first week of shows with him as host. He resigned this morning amist new allegations against him.
I don't have any more information at this time. I will be catching up with my friend who works on the show this weekend, and I will pass along anything I can tell you.
According to published reports, the show will be going back to guest hosts when production resumes next week. I can't independently confirm that as fact yet, but it makes sense. They were suppose to tape the 2nd week of the season today, but that will not be happening.
A complete dumpster fire in Culver city."

It's been in fact confirmed by Variety that there will be guest hosts:

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-fired-1235045394/

Supposedly Mike will still keep his executive producer position.

https://tvline.com/2021/08/20/mike-richards-leaving-jeopardy-stepping-down-permanent-host/

Huh?

Crazy. The "allegations" are just that he said some dumb stuff on a podcast a long time ago. Do they really think they're going to find somebody who's never said anything dumb, ever?

"Mike Richards Out As ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Amid Backlash" (article) (https://deadline.com/2021/08/mike-richards-steps-down-host-jeopardy-backlash-1234818672/)

Huh?

(makes a request for an explanation of this message)

Crazy. The "allegations" are just that he said some dumb stuff on a podcast a long time ago. Do they really think they're going to find somebody who's never said anything dumb, ever?

I'll bet Alex said some dumb stuff a long time ago. Good grief.

LeVar Burton still has a chance!!!

Anti-Defamation League wants Jeopardy!'s Mike Richards investigated: "Disparaging remarks about Jews, women & Asians are no laughing matter" (https://www.thewrap.com/jeopardy-host-mike-richards-investigation-anti-defamation-league/)

The Ringer's Claire McNear's bombshell story (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments) on the new Jeopardy! host's past, including the offensive comments he made on his podcast between 2013 and 2014, received the most attention for his sexist remarks. But Richards also mocked a number of people, from Jews to Asians to the homeless. Richards apologized for his comments in a statement to The Ringer. Today, the ADL called for an investigation into Richards (https://twitter.com/ADL/status/1428446674574188546), tweeting: "New Jeopardy! host Mike Richards' disparaging remarks about Jews, women & Asians are no laughing matter. Stereotyping is an entry point to hate and his apology lacks acknowledgment of its harm. This reported pattern warrants an investigation." ALSO: If the backlash continues, "don't be surprised" if Mike Richards is ousted (https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1428521642997817348).

Jeopardy! fans call out the show for not giving Alex Trebek's successor choice Laura Coates a chance (https://www.thewrap.com/jeopardy-fans-upset-laura-coates-host-alex-trebek-potential-successor-mike-richards/)

Mike Richards' ascension to the hosting job led some Jeopardy! fans to bring up the fact that Trebek named the CNN legal analyst (https://money.com/laura-coates-alex-trekev-jeopardy/) as a possible when he was interviewed for TMZ founder Harvey Levin's show OBJECTified in July 2018. Trebek also named TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and Los Angeles Kings play-by-play announcer Alex Faust. "Laura Coates deserves her moment in Jeopardy! She was his crowned princess," tweeted one fan.


Jeopardy! will still air the five episodes Mike Richards taped Thursday, when he was host (https://www.thewrap.com/jeopardy-will-air-new-episodes-already-shot-with-short-lived-host-mike-richards/)
Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer tweets of Mike Richards stepping down (https://twitter.com/James_Holzhauer/status/1428726739736297486): "I was really looking forward to the season premiere where after an exhaustive 61-clue search for the next Jeopardy champion, the show looks past the three obvious candidates and declares Mike Richards the winner"
Jeopardy! fans are celebrating Richards' exit as host (https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a37358829/jeopardy-fans-reactions-mike-richards-resignation-host/)
Stephen Colbert mocked Mike Richards on The Late Show, comparing him to a 12-year-old boy for his "booby pictures" comment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00zqoMRYlEg)
Aaron Rodgers said Thursday before Richards stepped down that he would still love to host Jeopardy! (https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/08/20/aaron-rodgers-definitely-would-have-accepted-jeopardy-hosting-gig-which-suddenly-is-open-again/)


Report: Mike Richards barred Ken Jennings and Buzzy Cohen from attending his debut Jeopardy! taping -- after meeting with staff airing their grievances (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/business/mike-richards-quits-jeopardy.html)

Before stepping down this morning as Jeopardy! host (https://www.primetimer.com/item/Mike-Richards-steps-down-as-Jeopardy-host-after-a-string-of-controversies-P8S7oE), Richards presided over an "emotional morning meeting" with staff on Thursday, hours before taping his first five episodes, according to The New York Times' Michael R. Grynbaum. "In an emotional morning meeting with Mr. Richards, crew members aired their grievances and disappointment over his past behavior, which they worried would hurt the reputation of the show, according to two people familiar with the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because the internal Jeopardy! discussions were sensitive," reports Grynbaum. "And a fresh incident on Thursday involving Mr. Richards further roiled some of the show’s staff. A group of Jeopardy! loyalists had gathered for a ceremony to rename the show’s studio after (Alex) Trebek, including Mr. Trebek’s widow, his children and Anthony Vinciquerra, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s chief executive. Mr. Richards and (fellow new Jeopardy! host Mayim) Bialik were there, along with two of the other contenders for the hosting job, the former contestants Buzzy Cohen and Ken Jennings, according to three people familiar with the incident, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Afterward, the people said, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Jennings had expected to attend Mr. Richards’s debut taping. Instead, they were escorted from the sound stage to a nearby green room, where they watched the taping over a closed feed. They were told that Mr. Richards was too nervous to have them in the studio, the people said. One of the people likened it to inviting Joe DiMaggio back to Yankee Stadium and then not letting him in the dugout. Sony said that access to the taping was restricted because of pandemic protocols limiting the number of people in the studio. Mr. Vinciquerra did not attend the taping, either." ALSO: Dictionary.com trolls Richards after his exit (https://www.thewrap.com/dictionary-com-trolls-jeopardy-host-mike-richards/).

I'll bet Alex said some dumb stuff a long time ago. Good grief.

Of course he did, he was human after all. :rolleyes:. This kind of crap has gotten way out of hand. I wasn't that jazzed about Richards as host, but this makes the decision makers look like fools. I doubt the backlash over choosing Richards amounted to more than two or three *******s on Twitter and left wing propaganda sites.

The honchos at Sony should do the right thing and promote Mayim Bialik to full time host, She will be hosting the college championship next year so it makes sense to have her host the long running syndicated version.

Mike Richards' awkward The Price is Right audition surfaces following his Jeopardy! hosting exit (https://www.thewrap.com/mike-richards-price-is-right-audition-tape-2007-jeopardy-video)

A YouTube channel that launched today called "Mike Richards Vid" posted Richards' attempt in 2007 to succeed Bob Barker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoQpiQYESgE) as The Price is Right host. Of course, Drew Carey landed the job. But Richards was hired the following year as an executive producer on The Price is Right, a job he would hold until departing for Jeopardy! last year.

I am surprise Michael is keeping his producing position. He's no worse off than he was a year ago. Scandal came up but he not booted off the show.

Mike Richards got his start hosting reality junk Beauty and the Geek. And Divided was a contentious game show. So in retrospect it isn't surprising he said dumb things in the past. However, I was still surprised to see him yanked from hosting this quick.

I wonder if he has more skeletons in his closet or wants to discourage an in-depth investigation into the alleged replacement host process when he was going to be both host and producer.

Both he and Sony want this scandal to be gone and forgotten quickly.

"Why The 'Jeopardy!' Host Search Drama Outraged Fans" (article and audio) (https://www.npr.org/2021/08/21/1030023084/jeopardy-host-search-drama-leaves-fans-feeling-betrayed)

Mike Richards got his start hosting reality junk Beauty and the Geek. And Divided was a contentious game show. So in retrospect it isn't surprising he said dumb things in the past. However, I was still surprised to see him yanked from hosting this quick.

(senses language found to had been negative in this message; wonders about why such language)

"This reporter upended 'Jeopardy!' and unseated Mike Richards" (article and video) (https://us.cnn.com/videos/business/2021/08/22/this-reporter-upended-jeopardy-and-unseated-mike-richards.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights/)

At this point if they don't name Ken Jennings I doubt I'll be back watching the show...and I've been watching since the Art Fleming days.

And if they name a PC based host under political pressure, I'm definitely gone.

Mike Richards fiasco was an indictment of the Jeopardy! hiring process and a betrayal of the show's fact-based reputation (https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/08/jeopardy-host-debacle-mike-richards-irony/619849/)

The bombshell report (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments) by The Ringer's Claire McNear that led to Richards' exit as host was an indictment of the "process that had elevated Richards above so many other potential new hosts," says Megan Garber. "That system took the thing that makes Jeopardy!, for so many people, so important and beloved—its abiding conviction that facts are sacred—and betrayed it. The procedure had the sheen of studiousness to it. Sony, in its public messaging on the matter, made great fanfare of the idea that it would be using research and analytics in its effort to find (Alex) Trebek’s successor. Part of that process was the one that has played out over the past several months. For stretches that have typically lasted two weeks, people from varied areas of the media, sports and journalism and sitcoms, have served as guest hosts—among them LeVar Burton, Aaron Rodgers, Robin Roberts, Savannah Guthrie, and Mayim Bialik. (Bialik was ultimately named as a host for Jeopardy’s prime-time tournaments, special episodes that will include a college tournament set to air next year, along with other spin-offs.) The generous view of that approach was that it made for an exceptionally public audition—an illusion of transparency for a show premised on the notion that facts belong to everyone. And the guest-hosted episodes were often delightful: Many of the hosts seemed not just happy, but giddy, to be there. They talked about what the show had meant to them, as viewers and fans. But the transparency, it seems, went only so far. The less obvious element of the guest-host process, as The Ringer’s Claire McNear reported (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments) this week, was that Richards, as Jeopardy!’s executive producer, was in a position to influence it—even as he had officially recused himself from it once he, too, was under consideration to replace Trebek. Again and again, in McNear’s reporting, the system that was presented as an embodiment of Jeopardy!’s values—facts, fairness, a meritocracy in miniature—is revealed to be the opposite...And so Jeopardy!, which will interrupt its own proceedings to correct a fact, failed to do basic research about the most elemental question before it. When it came to Richards, reporters did the work Sony itself should have done. The remaining second-string host, Bialik, has supported COVID-19 vaccines (https://www.thewrap.com/no-new-jeopardy-host-mayim-bialik-isnt-an-anti-vaxxer/) but also has a well-known history of vaccine skepticism (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/08/who-is-mayim-bialik-a-terrible-choice-for-jeopardy-host/). On the show, she will arbitrate scientific facts while having publicly doubted the workings of science. For another series, those disconnects might read as errors in casting. For Jeopardy!, they read as betrayals of confidence."

ALSO:


What if the Mike Richards debacle was "an instance of nefarious genius?" (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/mike-richards-jeopardy-hosting-debacle-critics-notebook-1235000610/): "Maybe I’ve watched too many James Bond movies, but if you put Auric Goldfinger or Dr. No in charge of the Jeopardy! hosting selection process, they would be wicked and evil enough to understand that anybody replacing Alex Trebek would have faced immediate and intense scrutiny," says Daniel Fienberg. "The replacement would have been on the firing line for their on-camera job performance and for the fickle whims of Nielsen ratings. It would have been an inevitable disappointment that would have stuck to even the best-intentioned of replacements. So why set up the best-intentioned of replacements for that debacle? The James Bond supervillains at Jeopardy! decided — this is a thing my imaginary brilliant, evil Jeopardy! producers decided and should not be inferred to be a thing actually decided by actual Jeopardy! producers — to set up a series of buffers insulating the real new host against at least a modicum of the Trebek replacement pressure he or she would have experienced. The extended series of guest hosts was the primary buffer, months of varied candidates or contenders who were never really intended to be candidates or contenders. Dr. Oz was never going to be the host of Jeopardy!, but he gave Rational Science Twitter something to rend garments over. Aaron Rodgers and Joe Buck both have lucrative day jobs and were probably never going to be the next host of Jeopardy!, but they gave Sports Twitter something to get worked up over. Fans and perhaps especially nonfans got so invested in this thing that had a surface resemblance to a search process that nobody considered that we’d never been told this was the search process. It was just a series of guest hosts. But whoever was announced as the winner of that non-search would have, again, faced something between irritation and anger online, so why subject an actual audience favorite to that response? Even LeVar Burton, patron saint of literacy, has encountered the most gentle of, 'Well, his guest-hosting run wasn’t actually all that good,' backlash in some circles. It was a lose-lose situation, so why not throw somebody ridiculous out there as the choice, let them reap the whirlwind, and then hope that said whirlwind blows itself out eventually? Honestly, why else would you float Mike Richards’ name as the final choice at all? And then, before Richards was official but after the revelation of Richards’ role in harassment and discrimination lawsuits, why would you still formally announce him as the new host a full week later? And then, after he had been formally announced as the new Jeopardy! host but after various dumba** things Richards said on a negligible podcast came to light, why would you let him begin production as host?"
Ryan Reynolds backs LeVar Burton to host Jeopardy! following Mike Richards stepping down (https://people.com/tv/ryan-reynolds-levar-burton-jeopardy-host-following-mike-richards-exit/)

And we’re supposed to have sympathy for his sorry ass?

The week Mike Richards taped will still air September 13. Then Mayim Bialik will guest host three weeks starting September 20. I still have Ken Jennings as my first choice. But if they won't give it to him, Mayim would be the next best option. Either way though they would have to get rid of their dumb rule of you must be exclusive to Jeopardy. Never mind we only tape 46 days a year, less than 1/6 of it. :rolleyes:

https://tvline.com/2021/08/23/mayim-bialik-returns-jeopardy-host-replaces-mike-richards/

At this point if they don't name Ken Jennings I doubt I'll be back watching the show...and I've been watching since the Art Fleming days.

And if they name a PC based host under political pressure, I'm definitely gone.You have made it abundantly clear you hate women hosts and don't want any of them made permanent on Jeopardy! If it were someone awful like Katie Couric or Savannah Guthrie who never should have been considered in the first place that would be one thing. But a qualified host like Mayim Bialik you refuse to give a chance simply because of her gender.

Mike Richards apologizes to the staffs of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune as Sony TV promises more diversity (https://deadline.com/2021/08/mike-richards-apologizes-jeopardy-staff-virtual-meeting-ravi-ahuja-sony-1234820439/)

Richards was accompanied by Sony's top TV executive Ravi Ahuja, Chairman of Sony Global Television Studios, at Monday morning's virtual meetings with the Jeopardy! and Wheel staffs. While Richards stepped down as host of Jeopardy!, Sony TV said he would continue in his role as executive producer of both shows. "Yet," reports Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, "multiple Jeopardy! staffers who attended the meeting said that had expected for him to step down as EP as the show is restarting the search for a permanent host. Mayim Bialik, named earlier this month as host of the Jeopardy! primetime and spinoff series, will fill in as host of the mothership syndicated program for at least the next three weeks. After pausing production on Friday, following Richards’ abrupt exit as host, taping on the syndicated Jeopardy! will resume later this week. In light of the revelations about Richards’ offensive comments, Sony is assembling teams to work on increasing inclusivity, it was announced at the meetings. Ahuja stressed how seriously the studio is taking the issue and illustrated his personal commitment with a story about growing up as a Sikh in Mississippi in 1970s where he was exposed to racially insensitive comments. I hear the goal of the meetings was to get everyone together and boost the morale which had taken a major hit following the controversies involving Richards and a first Jeopardy! host search whose integrity has been questioned after it was won by the show’s EP. While there are some encouraging signs, judging by post-meeting reactions, regrouping and moving forward would likely be a long and difficult process."

ALSO:


It's obvious Sony wanted and still wants a white guy to host Jeopardy! (https://www.salon.com/2021/08/22/jeopardy-host-mike-richards-levar-burton-sony/): "My guess is they never wanted a person of color," says Melanie McFarland. "Mayim Bialik may have clinched the primetime and specials hosting gig – which, according to Newsweek, also upset some fans – but from the time that was announced it seemed like a consolation hire. This is said with full acknowledgment that Bialik gave a splendid guest host performance. But given the fact that she was one of four women out of a list of 16, and the other three are newscasters, it was obvious what Sony wanted and for the time being, still wants: another white guy. If that weren't true, Richards wouldn't still be serving as executive producer of Jeopardy! with Sony's blessing, backed by their Sen. Susan Collins-flavored assurance that he's learned his lesson. 'Mike has been with us for the last two years and has led the Jeopardy! team through the most challenging time the show has ever experienced,' its official statement reads. 'It is our hope that as EP he will continue to do so with professionalism and respect.' But if you were a woman or a person of color, would you take that on faith? Would you trust your job to the guy who originally wanted it, had it, and then was forced to give it up due to bad press? No. You. Would. Not. Too many cautionary tales are floating around in the entertainment industry – or, heck, on Glassdoor or Reddit – about how such scenarios doomed the suckers invited to such Elysian Fields only to be presented with a cliff."
The Ringer's Claire McNear's journalism saved Jeopardy! from an unworthy host after an utter failure of corporate vetting (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments): McNear did basic vetting and basic reporting with her bombshell story last week, says The Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan. Richards saying that previous discrimination lawsuits naming him when he worked on The Price is Right didn't reflect who he was prompted McNear to a deep dive to find out if his statement was true. “It set me on the path of looking into who he is,” she said on CNN (https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2021/08/22/this-reporter-upended-jeopardy-and-unseated-mike-richards.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights/). Meanwhile, McNear's reporting begs the question why Sony couldn't have its human-resource staffers do similar vetting.
Ranking TV's shortest hosting stints: Mike Richards joins Conan O'Brien and Ann Curry in losing a coveted job after a short period of time (https://variety.com/lists/tv-hosts-fired-canceled-mike-richards-magic-johnson/ann-curry-hosting-today/)

The Ringer's Claire McNear's journalism saved Jeopardy! from an unworthy host after an utter failure of corporate vetting (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments): McNear did basic vetting and basic reporting with her bombshell story last week, says The Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan. Richards saying that previous discrimination lawsuits naming him when he worked on The Price is Right didn't reflect who he was prompted McNear to a deep dive to find out if his statement was true. “It set me on the path of looking into who he is,” she said on CNN (https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2021/08/22/this-reporter-upended-jeopardy-and-unseated-mike-richards.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights/). Meanwhile, McNear's reporting begs the question why Sony couldn't have its human-resource staffers do similar vetting.

(gets reminded of a certain article)

"How journalism saved ‘Jeopardy!’ from an unworthy host after an utter failure of corporate vetting" (article) (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/jeopardy-mike-richards-journalism-media-claire-mcnear/2021/08/23/c91d090c-040d-11ec-a266-7c7fe02fa374_story.htm)

You have made it abundantly clear you hate women hosts and don't want any of them made permanent on Jeopardy! If it were someone awful like Katie Couric or Savannah Guthrie who never should have been considered in the first place that would be one thing. But a qualified host like Mayim Bialik you refuse to give a chance simply because of her gender.

What makes her "qualified"?

Is already she a game show host?

Did she spend weeks on Jeopardy as an unbeaten champion?

Is she a veteran talk show host that has spent thousands of hours dealing with countless guests?

No, she seems to be the best woman they can find.

What makes her "qualified"?

Is already she a game show host?

Did she spend weeks on Jeopardy as an unbeaten champion?

Is she a veteran talk show host that has spent thousands of hours dealing with countless guests?

No, she seems to be the best woman they can find.She was really good in her guest hosting weeks, better than most of the hosts which includes a bunch of men. Veteran talk show host is hardly a qualification. Dr. Oz was one of the worst guest hosts.

Salon (Does LeVar Even Want To Be The Host Anymore?) https://www.salon.com/2021/08/22/jeopardy-host-mike-richards-levar-burton-sony/


US Magazine (Ryan Reynolds Supports LeVar As Next Host) https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/why-ryan-reynolds-supports-levar-burton-as-jeopardy-host/


TMZ https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/24/levar-burton-jeopardy-host-no-comment-controversy-mike-richards/

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&url=4FoD89_0b9mTMHP00

LeVar Burton is by far the fan fave to take up the mantle on 'Jeopardy!' as Mike Richards takes a bow -- but he's pretty clammy these days when you bring up the topic ... which may or may not be telling, depending on how you read and hear this.

The 'Reading Rainbow' vet got approached by a pap Monday outside a STAPLES in the San Fernando Valley, and of course ... they asked him about all the 'Jeopardy!' drama, and whether he thought he should be given a shot to host the game show permanently.

Check out his response ... the dude is pretty firm here with his repeated "no comment" line -- so it's clear he's got zip to say about the sitch, despite most everyone else seeming to have an opinion (in his favor).

x65UlJBojWk

You could interpret this a couple ways -- he's either got something to lose (perhaps?) by running his mouth ... so he'd rather zip it instead of risk it. OR, he truly doesn't give a damn and just doesn't wanna talk about it ... 'cause he's over all the speculation and mind games.

Based on the online fanfare over his potential permanent hosting ... something tells us there may be something to that former theory -- namely, that LB could have something in the works with the 'Jeopardy!' powers that be ... especially considering how they did him dirty.

LeVar's guest-hosting stint was scheduled right up against the Olympics, and got poor ratings. There's no concrete reporting on how he might personally feel about that -- but his supporters were utterly outraged ... up to and including when Richards got tapped for day-to-day duties, only to be forced out amid controversy.

Sometimes saying less speaks volumes -- and that could be the case here with LeVar.

yKnGY3wq5Qs

Mike Richards briefly became Jeopardy! host by taking advantage of an institutional and power vacuum (https://www.vulture.com/article/sony-jeopardy-host-search-mike-richards-fail.html)

Sony Pictures Television used to be prepared for the loss of Alex Trebek as host of Jeopardy! In fact, Sony TV chairman Steve Mosko kept a list of who might one day succeed Trebek. "His plan was to make sure Jeopardy!’s exec producer at the time, the legendary Harry Friedman, would not have to start the search process from scratch," says Josef Adalian. "This effort almost surely intensified after Trebek suffered a heart attack in 2012 and began broaching the subject of retirement during interviews. But Mosko left Sony in 2016, and his institutional knowledge of the Jeopardy! business walked out with him." Sony ended up with the kind of executives who weren't experienced in shepherding TV shows, including CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who spent his career in operations, sales and distribution roles. In 2020, Friedman, who oversaw Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune for more than two decades, stepped down as executive producer. Mike Richards succeeded him amid the pandemic. So, says Adalian, "the folks charged with running the search for Trebek’s replacement did not have the same depth of experience and understanding of the franchise as Friedman or past Sony execs....In addition to this power vacuum in the Sony exec ranks, as the Ringer’s Claire McNear reported (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments) in her definitive story last week, there was a similar leadership void at the show itself: Not only was Friedman gone, but Jeopardy! also lost a couple of key on-set staff members, and many folks worked remotely during the pandemic. You couldn’t script a more perfect scenario for a newbie such as Richards to seize control of the host-replacement process and engineer it so he emerged with the job." Adalian adds: "But why did nobody at the studio ever think to bring Friedman into the process? I get why Richards didn’t reach out: It’s clear he has coveted a big-time hosting gig for years, and he (rightly or wrongly) figured Friedman would not agree....Vinciquerra and his underlings should have realized their collective lack of experience regarding all things Jeopardy! (including its quasi-spiritual connection to its audience) might be a problem. It’s possible they figured Richards, whose tenure as EP of The Price Is Right and Let’s Make a Deal saw both shows thrive creatively, possessed all the game-show gravitas they needed. Or maybe they simply believed that focus groups and data-filled spreadsheets would be their salvation — that a new host could be chosen the same way Netflix decided to green-light two seasons of House of Cards based on metrics showing its subscribers liked Kevin Spacey movies. But whether due to hubris or negligence, not involving the man who helped shape the modern-day incarnation of Jeopardy! cost the replacement search some much-needed legitimacy...Most inexcusable, perhaps, is Sony announcing that Richards will stay on as Jeopardy! executive producer, and, presumably, oversee the search for Trebek’s replacement once again. 'It is our hope that as EP he will continue to (lead Jeopardy!) with professionalism and respect,' the studio said last week in a statement accepting his resignation as host. This decision had industry insiders I spoke with incredulous. 'Why would they let history repeat itself by putting the guy who manipulated the first process in charge of the second one?' one source said. A half-dozen or so observers I’ve talked with in recent days think it’s a given that Richards will be sacked as EP, and that the delay is just about settling his contract. But even if so, Sony has already done further damage to the show’s brand by not moving decisively."

ALSO:


Cancel culture is ruining Jeopardy! (https://reason.com/2021/08/24/cancel-culture-is-ruining-jeopardy/): "Social media's venomous reaction to (Mike) Richards' casting lacked any sense of proportion, with many people apoplectic at the idea that a generic-looking white person had beaten out prospective hosts of color like former Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton, Twitter's runaway favorite choice," says Robby Soave, adding: "Barely acknowledged in (The Ringer) article, or by the online critics, is the fact that Richards was undeniably compelling in the role. He read the clues with skill, rarely stumbling, and he inserted just the right amount of quick, additional commentary. That was (Alex) Trebek's talent: finding the correct rhythm, and only pausing to interject a short remark when the situation really called for it. It's a skill that (Mayim) Bialik also has in spades, which is why the network's eventual selections aren't actually that surprising. Richards and Bialik were the two guest hosts who really nailed it, so they won."
Twitter users are divided over Mayim Bialik, pointing to her controversial past comments on C-sections, vaccines and Harvey Weinstein victims (https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/jeopardy-hosting-problems-continue-mayim-bialik/)
LeVar Burton said "no comment" when TMZ asked him about the Mike Richards debacle (https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/24/levar-burton-jeopardy-host-no-comment-controversy-mike-richards/)
Jeopardy!'s hosting search failure is a lesson in hiring biases (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/24/jeopardy-host-search/)

Salon (Does LeVar Even Want To Be The Host Anymore?) https://www.salon.com/2021/08/22/jeopardy-host-mike-richards-levar-burton-sony/


US Magazine (Ryan Reynolds Supports LeVar As Next Host) https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/why-ryan-reynolds-supports-levar-burton-as-jeopardy-host/


TMZ https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/24/levar-burton-jeopardy-host-no-comment-controversy-mike-richards/

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&url=4FoD89_0b9mTMHP00

LeVar Burton is by far the fan fave to take up the mantle on 'Jeopardy!' as Mike Richards takes a bow -- but he's pretty clammy these days when you bring up the topic ... which may or may not be telling, depending on how you read and hear this.

The 'Reading Rainbow' vet got approached by a pap Monday outside a STAPLES in the San Fernando Valley, and of course ... they asked him about all the 'Jeopardy!' drama, and whether he thought he should be given a shot to host the game show permanently.

Check out his response ... the dude is pretty firm here with his repeated "no comment" line -- so it's clear he's got zip to say about the sitch, despite most everyone else seeming to have an opinion (in his favor).

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You could interpret this a couple ways -- he's either got something to lose (perhaps?) by running his mouth ... so he'd rather zip it instead of risk it. OR, he truly doesn't give a damn and just doesn't wanna talk about it ... 'cause he's over all the speculation and mind games.

Based on the online fanfare over his potential permanent hosting ... something tells us there may be something to that former theory -- namely, that LB could have something in the works with the 'Jeopardy!' powers that be ... especially considering how they did him dirty.

LeVar's guest-hosting stint was scheduled right up against the Olympics, and got poor ratings. There's no concrete reporting on how he might personally feel about that -- but his supporters were utterly outraged ... up to and including when Richards got tapped for day-to-day duties, only to be forced out amid controversy.

Sometimes saying less speaks volumes -- and that could be the case here with LeVar.

yKnGY3wq5QsLeVar Burton would be a terrible choice as permanent host. His week was a big disappointment (and I saw all five episodes), I was not expecting to like that week less than Robin Roberts and David Faber's. He was really cold to the contestants, acting totally smug and superior to them. He also had mental lapses a few times (that we could see, my friend with insider info says a lot of editing was needed to keep out even more) and was very loud. I am getting tired of LeVar Burton fans thinking their idol can do no wrong.

LeVar Burton would be a terrible choice as permanent host. His week was a big disappointment (and I saw all five episodes), I was not expecting to like that week less than Robin Roberts and David Faber's. He was really cold to the contestants, acting totally smug and superior to them. He also had mental lapses a few times (that we could see, my friend with insider info says a lot of editing was needed to keep out even more) and was very loud. I am getting tired of LeVar Burton fans thinking their idol can do no wrong.

(senses negativity found to had been unhelpful and unhealthful in this message)

At this point if they don't name Ken Jennings I doubt I'll be back watching the show...and I've been watching since the Art Fleming days.

And if they name a PC based host under political pressure, I'm definitely gone.

Same here. They should have given it to Ken immediately instead of doing the ridiculous merry-go-round of guest hosts. I'm sure Alex would have be OK with that.

Journalist Claire McNear went from writing a Jeopardy! history book to becoming part of the show's history after Mike Richards stepped down as host (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/arts/television/jeopardy-claire-mcnear-mike-richards.html)

Last year, McNear's book Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider's Guide to Jeopardy! was released, coincidentally, two days after Alex Trebek's death. "Nine months later, McNear’s report for The Ringer (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments) on the man who had been chosen to succeed Trebek — the show’s executive producer, Mike Richards — would change the course of that history," writes The New York Times' Julia Jacobs, in an interview with McNear, who listened to all 41 episodes of Richards' podcast The Randumb Show in digging up his offensive comments. What led McNear to his podcast? "He has talked about it in interviews but also, literally, it’s listed — or at least it was — in his official Jeopardy.com bio, that he hosted a comedy news show as a college student called 'The Randumb Show,'" she says. "And I tried to find as much as I could about that show, but it was all taped in the ’90s. It did lead me to the podcast with the exact same name, which is the one that he hosted as the executive producer of The Price Is Right.” At what point did she start to become unsettled by his comments? "It became extremely clear to me very quickly that those things were kind of dotted throughout the episode: He uses sexist language; he uses ableist language; he uses ugly slurs and stereotypes," she says. "There’s a lot of stuff that we did not transcribe in the story that is in there and paints this broader picture of what The Price Is Right was like as a workplace. And he was the co-executive producer at the time — he was the boss, and he was mostly just talking to his employees." McNear adds that the listening/reporting process is "not like what they show in the movies." ALSO: TMZ reports LeVar Burton was never seriously considered as Jeopardy! host (https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/25/jeopardy-levar-burton-not-considered-full-time-hosting-job/).

It appears Sony is sticking with Mike Richards as Jeopardy! executive producer (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/business/media/jeopardy-mike-richards-executive-producer.html)

Despite speculation that Sony will remove Richards (https://www.vulture.com/article/sony-jeopardy-host-search-mike-richards-fail.html) as executive producer after he stepped down as Jeopardy! host last week, Sony’s top TV executive, Ravi Ahuja, made clear during a staff call Monday that the studio supported Richards, according to The New York Times. Sources tell The Times that Ahuja praised Richards for his willingness to step down from the hosting job and signaled that he expected the crew to move forward from last week’s uproar. Richards has also agreed to undergo sensitive training after his past offensive podcast comments were revealed in a story by The Ringer's Claire McNear. On the call, Richards apologized again for his behavior and asked the staff for an opportunity to prove “who he really is," said his spokesperson. The spokesperson added that "Mike is committed to continuing as the executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune." ALSO: Meredith Vieira wanted to audition for Jeopardy!, but was rejected because Sony didn't want somebody who's currently hosting another game show (https://twitter.com/grynbaum/status/1430625786197946379) (Vieira currently hosts the syndicated 25 Words or Less).

LeVar Burton would be a terrible choice as permanent host. His week was a big disappointment (and I saw all five episodes), I was not expecting to like that week less than Robin Roberts and David Faber's. He was really cold to the contestants, acting totally smug and superior to them. He also had mental lapses a few times (that we could see, my friend with insider info says a lot of editing was needed to keep out even more) and was very loud. I am getting tired of LeVar Burton fans thinking their idol can do no wrong.

That's your opinion and you are entitled to it but many people disagree with you on the issue of selecting a new Jeopardy host.

Btw- I can't speak for other people but speaking for myself I don't idolize any human being on Earth.


Yahoo https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jeopardy-host-scandal-latest-mike-richards-mayim-bialik-levar-burton-004037864.html

https://i2.wp.com/distincttoday.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/46844831-9907083-image-a-12_1629343848771.jpg?resize=634%2C423&ssl=1

This week, the biggest Jeopardy! question by far isn't on the show but rather behind the scenes; it's what is going to happen to the beloved institution that, for many, has become part of daily life.

The usually reliable TV staple has been shaken as it selects a permanent replacement for beloved host Alex Trebek, who died of pancreatic cancer in November after having hosted the quiz show since 1984. Months of on-air auditions from TV personalities and journalists, including Jeopardy! champs Ken Jennings and Buzzy Cohen, journalists Robin Roberts, Anderson Cooper and Savannah Guthrie and many others culminated earlier this month in the announcement that Mike Richards, the show's executive producer, had landed the gig. However, he stepped down just more than a week later, after offensive comments he had made in the past and a lawsuit over alleged inappropriate behavior while overseeing The Price Is Right came to light.

Here's a recap of where we are right now:

Richards has agreed to undergo sensitivity training.

As the whole scandal has played out, Richards is very much still a part of Jeopardy! in the role of the show's executive producer. The New York Times reported Wednesday that he's on the set this week, as Mayim Bialik, who had been chosen to host Jeopardy! specials in primetime, temporarily takes the podium for the weekday edition.

A source close to the show tells Yahoo Entertainment that, off camera, Richards has agreed to undergo sensitivity training.

According to the newspaper, Richards apologized to his co-workers on a Monday call, on which he was defended by Ravi Ahuja, Sony's top TV honcho.

Bialik's availability to host is still up in the air.

It remains unclear whether Bialik, the Big Bang Theory actress and a trained neuroscientist, is even an option to regularly deliver the clues on the Sony lot in Culver City, Calif., where the show tapes. After all, she's under contract to make her Fox sitcom, Call Me Kat, which is expected to return with a second season early next year.

Bialik was the "top choice" to be permanent host anyway, according to the Hollywood Reporter. But she was unavailable, because she had already committed to the show before Jeopardy! was ready to negotiate. However, a source told Yahoo Entertainment that Bialik is still interested in the job, especially if she can adjust her schedule in future seasons. "There's definitely more than guest hosting that could potentially happen here," the source said.

Reportedly, LeVar Burton was not even a finalist.

While the Star Trek and Roots actor was a fan favorite, Sony executives never thought he was "the right fit" for the full-time job, according to TMZ; Bialik and Richards were the only two candidates who had talks with the network.

And while LeVar Burton was outspoken about wanting to host — he said he would've regretted not speaking up — he's apparently OK with the result: conversations with others about potential projects.

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Jeopardy! faves Buzzy Cohen and Ken Jennings were kept out of Richards's first tapings.

It turns out that Richards's tenure as host started off awkwardly anyway. When Jeopardy! royalty Cohen and Jennings — both had phenomenal runs on the show and the latter owns the title of the game's Greatest of All Time — arrived to watch Richards's first taping, they were sent to a green room near the soundstage.

https://tv-fanatic-res.cloudinary.com/iu/s--AtCMj0V0--/t_xlarge_p/cs_srgb,f_auto,fl_strip_profile.lossy,q_auto:420/v1609421049/jennings-ken.jpg

"They were told that Mr. Richards was too nervous to have them in the studio, according to three people familiar with the incident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity," according to the New York Times. "One of the people likened it to inviting Joe DiMaggio back to Yankee Stadium and then not letting him in the dugout."

The studio blamed COVID-19 protocols.

Speaking of Jennings, a former THR writer said two show insiders told him that the host role is "now Jennings' job to lose."

Fans can't get over the unexpected drama.

It's a lot for a show known for its consistency: three contestants play a brain game and one of them wins, every single day. Many viewers took to social media to joke about its messy current state of affairs.

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Burton sucked as host.

Burton sucked as host.

That's meaningless. He's black. That's what's important.

Jeopardy! alum Arthur Chu: The celebrity audition process "trampled" on Alex Trebek's directive that the host get out of the way (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/26/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-guest-arthur-chu)

Chu, who became a Jeopardy! villain during his 11-game winning streak in 2014, recalled Trebek telling contestants that his advice to his successor would be, “Stay out of the way, and let the contestants be the stars.” "When Trebek died of pancreatic cancer in November of last year, most fans expected for a replacement already to have been named and, after a bit of welcoming fanfare, for the show to return to normal as soon as possible," says Chu. "Instead, Jeopardy! trampled over Trebek’s directive. The hunt for the new host became a public circus of 'on-the-job tryouts' featuring a glamorous roster of A-listers, and the star of the show became the week’s celebrity guest host. Each episode, their followers tuned in to root for them, not the actual contestants. The disruption of rotating hosts was jarring enough for a show built on dependability, but the whole celebrity concept betrayed the secret of how Jeopardy! captivated us: the fantasy that you or I or anyone else could be the one in the spotlight. Anyone who’s good enough at trivia, even a schlubby nerd from Ohio, could get their turn to write the story of the show. During my streak, there was no question I was the main character, even if it was as the 'villain.' Today, Matt Amodio is an 18-day champion and the third-winningest regular-season contestant in Jeopardy! history, but his story has taken a backseat to the drama on the host’s side of the stage. Eventually, the ill-conceived host competition ended in an even more ill-conceived outcome: The news leaked that Mike Richards, the executive producer who had overseen the process, was planning on hiring himself as host. During the uproar from the fans over this, racist and misogynistic comments made in podcast appearances surfaced from Richards’s past, as did discrimination allegations levied against him at other game shows. When Richards was officially announced as the host, actor Mayim Bialik was hired as co-host as what seemed like a compromise; then Richards stepped down as host but was staying as producer; then the guest-host concept returned, with Bialik first up. Now, Bialik’s past questionable comments are coming to light. This sort of churn is typical of the manipulative reality TV that clogs our airwaves now — the bait-and-switch, the opacity of the evaluation process, the ratings boost extracted from the fans of guest hosts who never really had a chance. That’s why it’s such a stain on the good name of a show we expect better from. After the last year we’ve had — after the past five years we’ve had — is it too much to ask that just one beloved American institution not be sabotaged by shortsightedness and ego? In the world of television (and everything else), can we not have one safe space where the expectations stay consistent, everyone does their job and the little people get a chance to shine?"

ALSO:


The average Jeopardy! fan likely couldn't care less that Mike Richards is staying as executive producer (https://www.vulture.com/2021/08/how-streamers-are-reimagining-network-premiere-week.html): "Even if Sony has been wowed by what Richards has done as producer of Jeopardy! this year, and even if it feels the online backlash against him has been out of proportion to his alleged (and admitted) sins, I remain baffled that it has so far decided to keep him in charge of a show it now has admitted he’s not fit to host," says Josef Adalian. "One of the first rules of crisis management is to rip the bandage off immediately rather than let a wound fester. Keeping Richards in the House that Alex (and Art) Built seems like an invitation to continued turbulence. That said, what folks in the media and on Twitter think does not always reflect what’s in the mind of the average viewer or voter. If so, Joe Biden would have never made it past the 2020 Democratic primaries. The New York Times and other outlets have reported that Sony heavily relied on audience research in determining who should be the host of Jeopardy!, which indicates the company (like most in Hollywood) puts a high value on data in driving key decisions. I’m not sure how smart that is in this case, particularly since one of Sony’s biggest profit engines — reruns of Seinfeld — might not exist had NBC ultimately decided to ignore focus groups which very clearly showed viewers hated that show’s pilot episode. But if data has been key so far, it wouldn’t shock me to discover Sony was busy conducting more research to see whether or not the average Jeopardy! audience member cares about the controversy over Richards, or even remembers him from the few weeks he hosted the show. I’ve heard from more than one Hollywood insider this week variations on the idea that Jeopardy!’s typical viewer is probably a white person in her ’60s living in the Midwest, and that such a person probably does not care what Richards said on his podcast or whether he 'rigged' the host-selection process. While the show likely reaches a much broader cross-section of viewers than some think (and at least based on one 2016 survey, we know it is more popular with Democrats than Republicans), I don’t at all doubt there’s some truth to the notion most Jeopardy! viewers really don’t give a lick who is producing. And as I said in my story, odds are the show is going to be fine, ratings-wise, even after the last few weeks of bad PR. If Sony decides to stand by its man and keep Richards in charge, the ratings are unlikely to collapse. Execs at the studio are just going to have to decide how much they care about bad optics."
Sensitivity training and "corporate babysitting" is unlikely to make a difference for Mike Richards (https://www.salon.com/2021/08/26/jeopardy-mike-richards-sensitivity-training-minder-cost/): "It's really only raising more questions," says Kylie Cheung. "Like, why keeping the Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune producer on seems to be worth any cost to Sony, for one thing. Because it is costing the show plenty to keep him on payroll – not to mention costing the show its good name – and for all of these extras to bring him up to snuff as a minimally inoffensive employee."
Kareem Abdul-Jabber: Sony has to keep Jeopardy!'s importance in American culture in mind when selecting a new host (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/kareem-abdul-jabbar-jeopardy-host-matters-1235002645/): "Though Alex Trebek may have started hosting the show with the background of just another placid game show host, he evolved with the show and became the kindly face of the part of America that venerates knowledge," says Abdul-Jabbar, a former Celebrity Jeopardy! contestant. "That’s why choosing the right host to replace him is about more than simple entertainment values, it’s about respecting what the show represents to American culture. It’s about acknowledging Jeopardy!’s significance as an enriching leader in promoting the joys and benefits of education."
The best Jeopardy! hosting options are IBM supercomputer Watson or an A.I. version of Alex Trebek (https://www.thebulwark.com/we-have-the-solution-to-jeopardys-hosting-crisis/): "Unlike Mike Richards, Watson is good at trivia," says Sonny Bunch. "Unlike Mayim Bialik, Watson does not have rude things to say about Harvey Weinstein’s victims. Watson defeated Ken Jennings in brain-to-neural-network combat. Watson has never pushed scam medicines on people. Watson doesn’t have a secret OnlyFans account and isn’t flaming people on Reddit. Watson will never tweet something regrettable. He is, quite simply, pure. Pure in a way we dirty bags of meat can never hope to be. Granted, there are some technical limitations to overcome—Watson’s voice sounds a bit mechanical in those old clips—but I have good news: we have the technology to overcome this. You could make Watson sound like just about anyone. Samuel L. Jackson, if you want him to have an edge, say. Or, and I’m just spitballing here, Alex Trebek himself. After all, there’s no shortage of audio to sample. If you can make Anthony Bourdain read his old emails from beyond the grave, there’s no reason you can’t make Watson sound like Alex Trebek. Yes, a disembodied Alex Trebek booming down from speakers in the studio skylight might be creepy at first. We will come to love him, though. Only Watson can save Jeopardy! He might not be the hero we deserve. But he is the hero we need."
Jeopardy! fans speak out on what they'd like to see in a new host (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/style/jeopardy-fans.html)

Good grief! Watson or any AI computer becoming the host of Jeopardy! is the worst idea I have seen yet. The tribute marathon GSN aired after Alex died was mostly good. But they closed with the worst episode selection, one with Watson as a contestant. He totally took away from the show that is usually all humans competing. There are hundreds of classic Jeopardy episodes sitting in a vault worth airing again. But that Watson tournament should never see the light of day, and a machine like him certainly shouldn't ever host. :crazy: :rolleyes:

Let Steve Harvey host Jeopardy! (https://www.theroot.com/why-steve-harvey-should-be-the-next-jeopardy-host-1847570953)

"Harvey, as you might already know, is currently the host of 739 different shows, including Family Feud, Celebrity Family Feud, The Miss Universe Pageant, Fox’s New Year’s Eve Special, NFL Honors, Steve, Steve on Watch, Judge Steve Harvey (seriously), Steve’s Sleeves (a show about his suits), and Steves Without Sleeves (a show about amputee n*ggas named Steve)," says Damon Young. "Although his brand of cheeky homespun aphorism ages like milk in heat in large doses, it’s perfect for the dynamic of hosting things, which requires an innate grasp of when to be hotel wallpaper, and when to be the minibar. Now, to say that Steve Harvey would be a counterintuitive choice is like saying whiskey is a counterintuitive alternative to water. Jeopardy!’s entire brand is the performance of the cerebral—its contestants are the type of *****s confident enough in their intellectual capacity to test it in front of millions, and the viewers are either testing themselves against the standard of the contestants or actively competing against them. There’s a significant difference between booksmart and bookish. But with the typical Jeopardy! contestant, there is none. Introducing Harvey’s aggressively Cleveland affect to this would be jarring as f*ck. Which is exactly why I believe it would work. Imagine the nuclear chaotic energy of witnessing Steve malaprop his way through those categories. Picture the juxtaposition of the tweeds and corduroys of the contestants with his iridescent cabaret ‘fits. Imagine his enunciation. His faces. His teeth. Plus, he already has the Trebekian quality of being enough of a d*** to roast the nerds, but not so much of a d*** that they don’t laugh with him. And old people already looooooooooove him, so you know they’d be down for host Steve."

Mike Richards has now been fired as executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. This was mriggles' post:

"Mike Richards was fired yesterday afternoon as Executive Producer of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. He will appear as the host of Jeopardy for the 1st week of season 38 which kicks off on Monday September 13th. There is just no way around that for game continuity purposes. Mayim Bialik will then host the show for 3 weeks beginning the week of September 20th. She completed those taping days last week. So the first month of the season is officially in the can.
My friend on the show tells me that it has been an extremely volatile work environment over the last month, and this move had to be made to prevent a major issue with the staff.
As far as who will be the permanent host goes, Sony still wants Mayim Bialik very badly, but so far nothing has been worked out, but Sony has said that they will alter production schedules to make it easier for her.
This is a true 3 ring circus out in Culver City, but one of the ring leaders of that Circus is now out."

Sony is now willing to budge on Mayim Bialik having another job, but they should have done the same thing with Ken Jennings. That was a pathetic rule to insist on in the first place.

I am so sick of it all. I don't even care to watch it anymore. Perhaps Jeopardy should have been retired when Alex died.

Let Steve Harvey host Jeopardy! (https://www.theroot.com/why-steve-harvey-should-be-the-next-jeopardy-host-1847570953)

"Harvey, as you might already know, is currently the host of 739 different shows, including Family Feud, Celebrity Family Feud, The Miss Universe Pageant, Fox’s New Year’s Eve Special, NFL Honors, Steve, Steve on Watch, Judge Steve Harvey (seriously), Steve’s Sleeves (a show about his suits), and Steves Without Sleeves (a show about amputee n*ggas named Steve)," says Damon Young. "Although his brand of cheeky homespun aphorism ages like milk in heat in large doses, it’s perfect for the dynamic of hosting things, which requires an innate grasp of when to be hotel wallpaper, and when to be the minibar. Now, to say that Steve Harvey would be a counterintuitive choice is like saying whiskey is a counterintuitive alternative to water. Jeopardy!’s entire brand is the performance of the cerebral—its contestants are the type of *****s confident enough in their intellectual capacity to test it in front of millions, and the viewers are either testing themselves against the standard of the contestants or actively competing against them. There’s a significant difference between booksmart and bookish. But with the typical Jeopardy! contestant, there is none. Introducing Harvey’s aggressively Cleveland affect to this would be jarring as f*ck. Which is exactly why I believe it would work. Imagine the nuclear chaotic energy of witnessing Steve malaprop his way through those categories. Picture the juxtaposition of the tweeds and corduroys of the contestants with his iridescent cabaret ‘fits. Imagine his enunciation. His faces. His teeth. Plus, he already has the Trebekian quality of being enough of a d*** to roast the nerds, but not so much of a d*** that they don’t laugh with him. And old people already looooooooooove him, so you know they’d be down for host Steve."

No on Steve Harvey. He ruined Family Feud. He should not be allowed to ruin Jeopardy.

I'm getting use to all the guest hosts and when the permanent host does come, it will be a bit of letdown not to see a different face. Do they need fixed host?

I guess they do, this isn't the Miss America Pageant or the Academy Awards.

Bob Costas reportedly turned down Jeopardy! guest-host gig (https://www.newsweek.com/bob-costas-turned-down-jeopardy-guest-hosting-offerreport-1624504)

Sports journalist and former ESPN Around the Horn regular Jay Mariotti reports (https://jaymariotti.substack.com/p/sports-media-five-who-get-it-tebow) on his blog that Costas told him he turned down the invite because of the pandemic. “Would have been fun as a one time experience, but I never saw myself as the right person for the job,’’ Costas texted Mariotti. “Whoever winds up doing it, I think he or she should be in their forties or early fifties. That seems like the best fit. I know Alex (Trebek) was around 80, but he had the eternal equity with the audience and could have continued as long as he was able.’’

I am so sick of it all. I don't even care to watch it anymore. Perhaps Jeopardy should have been retired when Alex died.

Who'd have thought that Sony could **** this up? This was a 6-inch putt.

With Mike Richards as boss, The Price is Right's former staffers recall "s**** management" and a "vicious cycle" (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jeopardy-mike-richards-price-is-right-1235006082/)

The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg delved into Richards' "tumultuous legacy" as co-executive producer, then executive producer and then showrunner of The Price is Right from 2008-2019, interviewing dozens of current and former staffers. The story was published hours after Richards' firing as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune executive producer (https://www.primetimer.com/item/Mike-Richards-dumped-as-executive-producer-of-Jeopardy-and-Wheel-of-Fortune-d1SE5r) Tuesday morning. But Sony TV may have learned this story was in the works and accelerated Richards' ouster (https://twitter.com/TVMoJoe/status/1432847601901076484) -- a firing that might have otherwise occurred on the "Friday bad news dump" before Labor Day Weekend. "The portrait that emerged from these sources — many of whom declined to speak publicly out of fear of retribution in the industry — was of a manager who was more interested in being a host, who ushered out veteran on-set leaders, was the subject of at least two HR complaints to CBS and Fremantle, and presided over budget cuts and loss of benefits to staffers," reports Goldberg. "Multiple sources involved with Price Is Right during Richards’ tenure also questioned his conduct with models on the series. Several sources claimed he would parade models around the stage during rehearsals as he polled employees about their attire and gave preferential treatment to some." However, Gwendolyn Osborne, a Price is Right model from 2005 to 2017, spoke out in defense of Richards after being connected with his PR. "The show had a routine with how to choose wardrobe for the models before Mike arrived and we continued with that routine until Mike made some changes to it,” she said. “This included Mike transitioning from the uncomfortable parading on stage in our outfits to having proper fitting in the wardrobe department with a stylist.” Price is Right host Drew Carey has also defended Richards (https://twitter.com/DrewFromTV/status/1424171964361428992), tweeting earlier this month that he "he took (the models) from just bodies on the stage to actual people that audiences could get to know as part of the TPIR family." Former staffers told Goldberg that Richards' transformation of The Price is Right led to the dissolution of the close-knit work family that that preceded his tenure on the show. But she noted that The Price is Right had "its share of workplace issues and complaints, including lawsuits" when Bob Barker was host. One former staffer, 18-year art director and production designer Bente Christensen, filed an HR complaint against Richards in 2012, alleging he "was targeting me, bullying, intimidating and demeaning me" with age-related comments while trying to get her to quit. Another staffer supplied through Richards' publicist called Richards "incredibly patient, creative and collaborative in every meeting and discussion that I was in attendance.” Ex-staffers also accused Richards of micromanaging the staff, cutting down on the work schedule, reducing the number of benefits and clashing with the prize department. "Multiple sources say Richards asked the prize department to buy such name-brand items that included Ralph Lauren, Tiffany and Christian Louboutin," reports Goldberg. "When luxury brands declined to provide products to Price in exchange for airtime (which remains standard practice), Richards allegedly had the prizing staff find such items at outlet stores." Richards allegedly "eradicated" the prize department "then hired a staff of his own and made leftover items — including name-brand items — available for sale to staffers (including himself)," says Goldberg. “When Mike got the exec producer job, no one could figure out why he’d take Wheel and Jeopardy! when he had the Price Is Right and Let’s Make a Deal job — was it more money?” asks a former Price staffer. “Then I realized it’s because he would do some game show things and it was obvious that he wanted to be a game show host. What better way to create that opportunity than to be in charge of the hiring process as EP?”

"Jeopardy!" Champion James Holzhauer Slams Mike Richards
by Peter White
August 31, 2021


James Holzhauer, best known for his 32-game winning streak on "Jeopardy!", has slammed Mike Richards following the latter’s departure as executive producer.

"Do I think Mike Richards’s podcast comments were appropriate for polite society? No. But did he deserve the benefit of the doubt for the job he did running Jeopardy? Also no"

https://deadline.com/2021/08/jeopardy-champion-james-holzhauer-slams-mike-richards-exit-1234825040/

Mayim Bialik's stint as guest host starting next Monday has been extended by two weeks from the original four to six weeks.

Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings to Host ‘Jeopardy’ Through 2021 After Mike Richards’ Exit

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/jeopardy-mayim-bialik-ken-jennings-host-mike-richards-1235066317/

Jeopardy! fans have the best kind of fandom (https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a37609618/jeopardy-fandom-appreciation-essay/)

"To compare the Jeopardy! fandom to the Star Wars fandom is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, in that one is a nonfiction product and the other is a fictional product," says Adrianne Westenfeld. "But when it comes to modeling how fans and creators should interact, the dynamic of the Jeopardy! fandom offers lessons for any and every fandom. By and large, Jeopardy! fans push back against the show in good faith. They love their show with a deep, abiding passion, and they want Jeopardy! to be the best version of itself. They’re committed to holding Jeopardy! accountable to its professed values of truth, fairness, and credibility. When Jeopardy! responds to their uproar, often with a mea culpa, they do so out of mutual respect for the people who have kept the show on the air, all these decades later. Fans push back because they care, and Jeopardy! responds because they care, too. When Jeopardy! fans spar with the show, their concerns may seem like small beans to the casual observer. But when Jeopardy! calls a chronic illness by the wrong name, that’s no small thing. Mistakes like this make the people affected feel as if the show doesn’t respect or represent them; they also tarnish the show’s reputation as a bastion of accuracy and fact-based knowledge. When Jeopardy! welcomed a guest host in Dr. Mehmet Oz, a known disseminator of medical misinformation and pseudoscience, fans and former contestants were right to take the show to task for failing to live up to its values. Jeopardy! fans aren’t querulous sticklers; they speak up because it matters, and because they want the show to be what it stands for." This summer, however, the Mike Richards fiasco "ruptured the compact between fans and the show; now, it remains to be seen if Jeopardy! can regain its viewership’s trust and faith. What was once a loving dialogue is now a serious enmity, with fans still feeling bruised from the events of the summer, and no evidence in sight that the show intends to make amends. Only time will tell if Jeopardy! can still live up to its ideals, and be the show fans expect it to be." ALSO: It was bizarre that Jeopardy! tweeted that Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings "are hosting me until the end of the year." (https://www.gawker.com/culture/no-more-deranged)

Mike Richards subtly references his Jeopardy! hosting controversy (https://www.vulture.com/2021/09/jeopardy-mike-richards-addresses-host-controversy-on-show.html)

“You know, the power of this show has always been derived from the contestants,” Richards said at the start of Tuesday's episode, taped before he stepped down as host and was later fired as executive producer. “And my pledge to Jeopardy! fans everywhere is to continue to make this stage a place where our contestants can shine their absolute brightest.” ALSO: Monday's Jeopardy! appeared to edit Richards' opening statement (https://www.tmz.com/2021/09/14/jeopardy-mike-richards-alex-trebek-episode/).

Mike Richards begins his one-week Jeopardy! hosting stint with no mention of the behind-the-scenes scandal (https://variety.com/2021/tv/columns/mike-richards-jeopardy-first-episode-1235063770/)

Richards' week of shows to kick off Season 38 was taped on Aug. 19, one day after Claire McNear's The Ringer investigative (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments) story on his offensive past and one day before he stepped down as host. "The torrent of bad news for Richards had not yet overcome him at the taping," says Daniel D'Addario. "But the host felt, still, as though he was already edging towards his own disappearance on his very first day. This lends a sense either of a hasty cutting job or of a new host who felt, justifiably, anything but secure in the role. Up top, Richards either made no explicit reference to the show’s changing of the guard, or any such reference was edited out. A video piece depicted the dedication of the Jeopardy! set as the 'Alex Trebek Stage' on the Sony lot, and Richards’ 'So, for the first time, from the Alex Trebek stage,' let’s play Jeopardy!, was the only plainspoken indication that Richards as host was not the way it had always been. In his guest-host tenure of two weeks, Richards had ended every episode with a verbose tribute to Trebek; this time, he just said: 'What an incredible way to kick off the season! Let’s do it again tomorrow. Hope to see you then. No reference was made, either, to the fact that Richards as host was not what would always be — that, at the end of this week (and of what had been a single tape day), he would be ushered off the show’s stage for good. It’s hard to imagine a graceful way for the show to have set the table for his eventual disappearance, but Jeopardy!’s botched handling of the host selection, utterly destroying any goodwill built by a fun and exciting procession of guest hosts, has indicated gracefulness is not in the show’s post-Trebek repertoire anyhow. Presumably the show is white-knuckling this week: It cannot not air the Richards episodes, as developments in returning mega-champion Matt Amodio’s ongoing gameplay happened on them that cannot be restaged." ALSO: Jeopardy! fans slam the show for ignoring the Richards scandal (https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/3654865/jeopardy-slam-show-not-addressing-disgraced-mike-richards-hosting/).

I don't want to hurt any posters, but can someone not post in GREEN for it hard on my eyes. Also the long long paragraphs. Chopped them up a bit for they are hard to follow. Thank You.

Jeopardy! needed Matt Amodio's success to wash away the bad headlines over its disastrous hosting search (https://uproxx.com/sports/matt-amodio-jeopardy-millionaire-saving-show/)

"Regardless of what some fans think of his quirky answering style, he’s already done something far more important in the immediate sense as he continues to cruise through Season 38 of Jeopardy!: make everyone focus on the games, not the drama around the show’s disastrous search for a new host," says Ryan Nagelhout of Amodio, who joined Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer in the million-dollar earnings club last Friday. "Aside from Amodio’s brilliance, recent news about the show has been nothing short of exhausting.

Mike Richards was a bad pick to replace Alex Trebek, may have rigged the search that landed on him in the first place, and made decision-makers at Sony look bad for thinking his extensive baggage wouldn’t matter to the show’s biggest fans. Every other person seemingly in the running has had a bad news cycle or two, to boot. Even the groundswell of support for a guest host like LeVar Burton got tiring. It didn’t help that, for a variety of reasons, he simply wasn’t very good at the job. Burton knew it and said it himself, but it didn’t seem to matter to those crusading for him to get a job he now has repeatedly said he doesn’t want."

As Trebek has said repeatedly, the contestants are the true stars of Jeopardy! -- not the host. "The loss of that guidance has been notable since Trebek’s death in November but so, too, is the obvious change in what’s become important when watching the show," says Nagelhout. "Turning the end of last season into a proverbial bake-off made what the hosts were doing on stage much more important than how contestants played or who could survive wave after wave of hosting change. It absolutely impacted the game, too."

CNN legal analyst Laura Coates, whom Alex Trebek picked as one of his favorites to succeed him, says Jeopardy! rejected her as a guest-host (https://www.thewrap.com/laura-coates-alex-trebek-jeopardy/)

Coates tells Tamron Hall she was shut down when she reached out to producers as they were auditioning potential Trebek successors. “I asked for the opportunity when it came time, when they were looking for people to possibly fill in,” she told Hall. “I certainly raised my hand and knocked on doors and found them closed. I asked for the opportunity. I was told, ‘No.'” Trebek first mentioned Coates' name in an interview with TMZ in 2018.

Huh?
Quite stupid isnt it??

Former "Jeopardy!" Host for a Day Mike Richards Gives Answers – But Not in the Form of a Question
by Bruce Haring
March 20, 2024


Former "Jeopardy!" producer Mike Richards is finally talking about what went wrong for him in his ill-fated stint as host two years ago.

Richards was announced as the full-time replacement for the late Alex Trebek in 2021. He lasted just one day before resigning after questions arose about his conduct.

“We never discussed how to replace Alex once we knew he was sick,” Richards told People in a new interview. “A conversation like that would have been so disrespectful. We had talked about people coming in and guest hosting if Alex got too sick. But we always knew Alex would come back until the day he decided he couldn’t.”




Trebek died of pancreatic cancer in November 2020. At that point, several guest hosts were brought in as executives struggled to determine who would be the host.

The tryouts included Katie Couric, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Buck, LeVar Burton and Robin Roberts. During the process, Richards was inserted into the mix and eventually, offered the job.

“No one was more surprised than me,” he said. “They told me, ‘We’d like you to be the host of the syndicated version of Jeopardy!‘ I paused, and said, ‘Oh wow. Thank you. What’s the media plan?’ Because I was very concerned that this was going to be scrutinized as closely as a presidential election. There was widespread belief that whoever got the job first wouldn’t make it.”




Richards also served as a producer of "Wheel of Fortune", and added, “Everyone was so angry, because it looked like I had gone into a room and picked myself. And that’s not what happens in television. But I understood that that’s what the outward appearances were.”

Eventually, details of Richards’ alleged treatment of a "The Price is Right" model from a past discrimination lawsuit immediately resurfaced. “I hosted one day,” he said. “And then the anti-defamation league was called in to do an investigation on me.”




The investigation was fueled by an exposé in The Ringer, which detailed offensive remarks referring to women, Jewish people, and people with mental disabilities that he made on a podcast he hosted in 2013.

“I told them, I’ll answer anything. I’m an open book, proud of what I’ve done. I’m proud of my track record as a boss,” Richards said. “But by then, everyone was like, ‘Oh he’s just a horrible person.’ It was the price you pay for getting thrust into the zeitgeist in a very inopportune moment.”




Richards said he is finally talking about the experience to clear the air surrounding his experience being in the cultural storm.

“I feel like I can be a force for good as far as having open, honest conversations. We can all disagree about a lot of things. We can disagree about politics. We can disagree about who hosts Jeopardy! We can disagree about liking a final Jeopardy! clue. And we should. But I felt like there was a— this rush to judgment, and a lot of people got joy in saying, ‘I got you.'”




Since the firing, Richards is still pitching game show concepts.

“If I pitched a show and someone asked, ‘Would you be you hosting it?’ I say, ‘Only if you think I’m the right man for the job. I don’t care if you have someone else in mind,’” he said.

Richards added that there are no regrets on his part about the "Jeopardy!" gig eventually going to Jennings: “I always thought Ken was the guy.”

https://deadline.com/2024/03/former-jeopardy-host-for-a-day-mike-richards-gives-answers-1235864115/

No one will be as good as Alex!

No one will be as good as Alex!True. But Ken Jennings has done a great job as his now permanent replacement. Alex himself would be pleased.

Ya I think your right :)

No one will be as good as Alex!

As a long time Jeopardy fan, I have been telling a number of people that nobody will ever replace Alex Trebek. He guided the show so well over the 38 years he was host.

No one will be as good as Alex!

The same thing was said about Bob Barker when he left The Price is Right and Drew Carey has been going stronger than ever.

Ken is okay, but the main problem with the show is these never ending tournaments and gimmicks!

Why Alex Trebek's Original Jeopardy! Replacement Lost The Job After One Day (https://www.thelist.com/1674663/alex-trebek-original-jeopardy-lost-job-after-one-day/)

While Ken Jennings seemed like the obvious replacement for Alex Trebek on "Jeopardy!," a producer had the job for only one day before getting canned.