People have grown up and grown old with this man in their living rooms. Rest in peace. Remember the good times:
Alex was loved by the trivia community in Austin. A great guy who sat in with our trivia team from time to time auditioned for and played on Jeopardy, actually winning. He said Alex was just what you would expect. Welcoming, gracious, and amazingly intelligent. 2020 is going to be right at or near the top of too long a list of incredibly bad years. The death of Alex Trebek is really piling on. Very sad news. Rest in peace.
Womp womp, poor unremarkable victim got muzzled before we could witness his brilliance. I want Levar to step in but no way execs will think middle america wants to watch him and Jennings should be higher up on the list. Richards is stepping down from his hosting gig amid backlash over past offensive remarks We’ll take “Scandals That Could’ve Been Avoided” for $1200. Mike Richards is already out as the new host of “Jeopardy!” amid backlash over his past offensive remarks and everybody’s got jokes — and, of course, more suggestions for his replacement. Richards informed the show’s staff that he was stepping down in an email Friday, writing that, “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.” The behind-the-scenes saga has already distracted fans, though, with one Twitter user wondering how “Jeopardy!” of all shows came to fill the drama void left by “Game of Thrones.” Richards will remain as executive producer and the show will return to its short-term guest hosts until a permanent one is chosen. Production on the new season of the quiz show, which just began Thursday with Richards as host, was canceled today. Richards taped five episodes of “Jeopardy!” yesterday, all of which will air, an individual with knowledge of the situation tells TheWrap. On Wednesday, The Ringer reported on the existence of “The Randumb Show,” Richards’ 2013 podcast in which he “repeatedly used offensive language and disparaged women’s bodies.” The podcast, recorded during his time as executive producer on “The Price Is Right,” was co-hosted by Richards and his former assistant Beth Triffon and ran for 41 episodes. The resurfaced podcasts spurred wide calls for Richards’ removal, including a request for an investigation into his comments from the Anti-Defamation League. Conversely, his resignation from the show, at least from in front of the camera, has led to an outpouring of celebrations, “I told you so’s” and all-around trolling.
Sony should have stepped in when Richards, the exec. producer, appointed Richards as the host. Like, how did they think that would end well with the fans/watchers of Jeopardy! ? I want Burton was well but Jennings is my 1B because of his history on there as a player, Trebek's support of him being the future host, seems like a personable/approachable guy, and he doesn't have a face I want to punch like Richards'.
I’m a pretty big fan of the show. If I were choosing 100% off their performances as guest hosts I would have picked Richards. He just did the best in my opinion. Didn’t sound like he was trying too hard, didn’t have any clue reading mess ups or any of that. Also really liked Jennings and the other former champ Buzzy Cohen. Mayim Bialak wasn’t bad either I just wouldn’t have had her in my top 3. Was excited for Burton’s turn as guest host and thought he would be my favorite, but it was pretty rough. He fumbled reading multiple clues and had several times where he seemed to forget to call on the person who rang in to answer. Nerves probably just got the best of him and think he would eventually be good at the job he just didn’t nail his tryout. I was pretty surprised once all this stuff leaked they even let Richards start recording any episodes.
That ringer article hints that Levar (and others) was did dirty. I mean the Exec Prod has the professionalism to recuse his basic ass from sabotaging favorites, right? Some viewers have called into question the treatment of two of last season’s most popular guest hosts, LeVar Burton and Ken Jennings. In Burton’s case, fans have complained that the Reading Rainbow star was given just a week’s worth of episodes—filmed in the space of a single tape day—compared to the two weeks afforded to most of the other candidates. Burton’s supporters have also pointed out that his episodes aired in the midst of the Summer Olympics, which caused some to be preempted on NBC affiliate stations and may have contributed to lackluster ratings. Through a representative, Burton declined to comment. And sources close to the show cast doubts on Richards’s decision-making surrounding Jennings. Many Jeopardy! staffers and former contestants long presumed that Jennings would be Trebek’s anointed successor, an expectation that only grew in the months after Trebek’s 2019 cancer diagnosis. After Jennings won 2020’s Greatest of All Time tournament, Friedman hired him as a consulting producer—a move from contestant to staff that some interpreted as a bridge to hosting, with Jennings’s early duties including presenting categories of his own creation. Trebek furthered this perception, asking Jennings to narrate much of his 2020 memoir, The Answer Is …, and arranging a call with him to discuss guest hosting just two days before Trebek’s death. As The New York Times reported, the host left Jennings a pair of his cuff links, which awaited him in Trebek’s dressing room, along with a note from Trebek’s wife, Jean, when Jennings arrived at the studio to serve as the season’s inaugural guest host. Jennings taped six weeks of episodes before a minor conflict with an upcoming tape day emerged. As The Ringer previously reported, sources say the show’s production staff was able to accommodate the conflict, only for Richards to step in and insist on hosting instead. When the time came to tape the preamble to his first episode, Richards blamed COVID-19 for the change and exaggerated the nature of Jennings’s conflict. “We have some amazing guest hosts coming that I can’t wait for you to see, but with the COVID outbreak here in L.A., folks were understandably a little reticent to shoot,” Richards said. “Ken Jennings did a great job, but he’s unavailable due to obligations with his show The Chase.”
Read @Invisible Fan 's comment below re: Burton. I think it's pretty douchey of Richards to be in control of pretty much the whole host selection process as a producer only to insert him into the candidate pool and set himself up for success.
Yeah I’m certainly not defending the guy. Or saying he didn’t stack the deck in his favor. I’m just a Jeopardy junkie. And if I were asked to rank my top 3 guest hosts based ONLY on their performance as guest hosts on the show with no prior knowledge of outside wrongdoings, he likely would have been my number one with Jennings and Cohen close 2nd and 3rd. But even believing he performed the best I honestly didn’t think he would or should have been the choice. And then once this stuff came out I was pretty shocked that they would even move forward recording any episodes with him. I honestly thought even with his mess ups during his week of shows, Burton was going to eventually be the choice. Felt like he had the most fans and he has been on TV so much that you knew that his mistakes in his one day of taping weren’t going to be the norm. And I’m not surprised Bialak was given hosting duties of all the future specials, she did well and seemed like she was pretty well liked by a lot of fans of the show.
So weird... Trebrek wanted Ken to take over hosting duties -- he did a good job and was always really popular with the fans. There isn't a better person for the job -- it's the perfect transition. Sidenote: I was surprised when I learned the insane money these daytime syndicated shows generate -- popular hosts have crazy contracts.
forced to quit because of some social media posts dug up some stupid stuff he said almost 10 years ago? What an unforgiving society we live in nowadays. Everyone got past dumb **** they regret they did or said.
