New ‘Jeopardy!’ host frontrunner met with resounding meh in Seattle

analysis

Mike Richards seems to have won the biggest award on game shows. But a report from Variety earlier this month that said it was in “advanced negotiations over ‘Jeopardy!” moderating ”could mean a loss for the American entertainment juggernaut and its millions of fans after the initial reaction.

There’s nothing wrong with Richards, the show’s executive producer and former game show host. His stay as a guest presenter in February was interesting in that he was pretty okay, as noted by a number of bloggers and twitterati who likely weren’t familiar with his pretty good history in the role on shows like Beauty and the Geek and “pyramid.”

In the “Danger!” Sphere, he is the definition of safe. You can’t blame Sony Pictures Television executives for wanting someone who doesn’t threaten their fan base. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. But after building excitement and excitement over the past eight months with a number of star guests including Seattle Champion Ken Jennings, popular American institution LeVar Burton, and even NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, a lot of people think the hiring of 46 -year-old television manager, for the moment, showed a thin ear and a short-sighted view of the show’s potential.

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Worst of all, moving out of a pop culture context … well … sorry, but boring. And maybe even a little cynical.

“It leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth,” 2018 World Champion Ryan Fenster wrote in an email. “It seems lazy to me that they are offering all these well-known guests just to go into the house with someone. Maybe he’ll be fine, but I think it’s proof that ‘Jeopardy!’ at the end of the day is a business. They do such a great job shielding the champions and contestants from this side of the show that sometimes we can forget about it. Still disappointing. “

Other Seattle Area “Jeopardy!” Insiders met him with a similar lack of enthusiasm.

“If it’s Richards, that was a mature career move,” 2017 “Jeopardy!” Champion Christy Karras said.

Leah Caglio, Seattle’s youngest “Jeopardy!” Champion, said, “I don’t want to be kidding Mike Richards,” but was disappointed when they heard the news.

“I always worry that if the host doesn’t work or if I don’t like it personally, it could kill me,” said Caglio. “I would hate it, ‘Jeopardy!’ to see. somehow to a more glamorous, stupid game show like ‘Deal or No Deal’ or something like that. That is certainly my biggest concern. “

Seattle Times readers also seem to disagree. As of this writing, 37% of respondents who responded to an ongoing online Seattle Times poll say they would like Jennings to host, with Burton second at 23.5% and The Big Bang Theory – Star and really insane Mayim Bialik third with 11.4%. Richards was 6.4%. The poll will run until a host is officially named. Let us know what you think.

So far there have been many opinions – but only a few interviews or leaks from those who were actually responsible for the decision to replace the long-time moderator Alex Trebek. Although there were 16 innkeepers, only a small handful of contenders were actually involved in the talks to succeed Trebek, who died of pancreatic cancer last November.

Jennings, Seattle’s Superchamp and something of a Trebek protégé, was the early front runner despite a Twitter mishap, and he cemented that status with a smooth six-week run as the host, which is still the rating winner over the other guests. The danger! Greatest of All Time winner remains an advisory producer on the show and is also a star on The Chase, a prime-time ABC game show starring Jennings and his “Jeopardy!” Rivals James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter.

Star Trek and Reading Rainbow star Burton overtook Jennings in public opinion when he announced last spring that he actually wanted to play. His guest run last month went well enough (after even his wife called it a sluggish start) but didn’t seem to affect producers.

Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers quarterback, received a lot of attention even though he chose to return to the NFL and his planned salary of $ 33.5 million. Bialik also got a lot of positive reviews, as did the former “Jeopardy!” Master Buzzy Cohen.

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Richards was floating outside of this public conversation, apparently in a second set of possibilities. He was also a foresight on the minds of odds makers who consistently got him at 10 to 1 or worse, and that anonymous legion of entertainment website list makers who never gave him a chance. In one of the most recent, on July 30th, the AV Club placed him 11th on the list of hosts (a list that Jennings headed).

There is still a ray of hope for those who wished for a different outcome. Variety’s report, based on anonymous sources, states that negotiations are ongoing with other candidates and that the deal with Richards was not final. Also, no other legitimate news agency has so far been able to keep up with the Variety report.

There was also the recycled news of Richards’ legal troubles during his 10 years as executive producer on “The Price is Right,” which was apparently forgotten until his potential hiring became known. Richards and the show faced three lawsuits from models who appeared on the long-running television series. The Los Angeles Times reports that two were settled out of court and Richards was separated from the third.

Karras, a freelance writer and editor (who writes occasionally for the Seattle Times), hopes the producers still decide to shake things up. Karras won $ 32,000 in her two-day appearance on the show, and like the thousands of competitors who have appeared over the decades, she cares deeply about the show and its direction.

Hiring Richards would be a missed opportunity, she thinks.

“Like many people, I would like to see something different,” said Karras. “I think my general opinion is that no one can replace Alex Trebek, so you might as well not even try. Nobody can be like him, so you might as well take a different direction. And I would love for a woman to do it, a person of color to do it. Those would be great options, I think, and there are a lot of people out there who … could, who could be a great host. “

She said the run of “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker was “underestimated” and also liked the divisive appearance of “Today” presenter Savannah Guthrie.

Caglio and Fenster are definitely Team LeVar and are still hoping for a “Star Trek” -like reversal of luck that his character, chief engineer Geordi La Forge, knew.

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“I really believe he’s the right heir to Alex Trebek,” said Fenster, a student and seven-time champion who won more than $ 159,000 on the show in 2018. Alex Trebek had a touch of wisdom mixed with enthusiasm for the game, which I think LeVar has or at least will grow into the given time. “

Caglio, a project manager who won more than $ 19,000 earlier this year, grew up with Burton, from his emotional portrayal of Kunta Kinte in Roots, the groundbreaking 1970s miniseries based on Alex Haley’s novel, to his kind Geist on “Reading” by PBS Rainbow, “a show he hosted for 23 years.

She believes it represents an opportunity to grow and expand the show’s audience.

“Most of the participants, including myself, are white,” said Caglio. “So I think it would be better to have more representation on the show. And Mike Richards was good, but he was kind of normal, simple and LeVar brings more personality. “

This is where members of the “Jeopardy!” Meet. Family concern cynicism has crept into the process. A big theme in the search was the chance for the show to become a positive example through progressive voting. If the women and people of color were never seriously considered – Richards switched to his role as executive producer in 2020 when Trebek’s health began to fail more clearly – what does that say about the show?

“Nobody really knows if the guest presenters were sort of auditioning for a potential new host or if they already had an idea of ​​who the new host would be, and they just used the auditions to fill the time,” Karras said.

Other questions arise: Was Trebek popular because of “Jeopardy”! or was “Danger!” popular because of Trebek? Does the syndicated show’s long-term success depend on the new host being popular? Or does it roll right away?

Fenster believes that the safest way to answer these questions is to turn to those who know the game best.

“If LeVar doesn’t make it, which would be a huge disappointment, I think the best thing would be to go with one of the former champions: Ken Jennings or Buzzy Cohen,” said Fenster. “Jeopardy as a game is more than just Alex Trebek, but it has a legacy of its own that he helped shape, and it would work very well indeed to host that legacy with a former champion. The worst thing they could do would be to nominate someone who appears arrogant or superior to the candidate. ”

Karras thinks the “Jeopardy!” Format will always be popular to some extent. However, a host misfire could result in a drop in viewership.

“I think people would still see it,” she said. “But would so many people watch this? I don’t think so if you don’t find anyone with this charisma. “

Chris Talbott
is a Seattle-based writer and editor.