This post has been updated. Please see below.
Five more guest hosts have been confirmed by Jeopardy to follow Ken Jennings.
The first: Executive producer Mike Richards, who hosted the games taped this week.
The other four are more famous: journalist and author Katie Couric, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker, and actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik. Each of these four will host for one week, with the cumulative winnings of the contestants also being donated to a charity of the host’s choice.
Of the four, Couric and Rodgers have been a part of the Jeopardy! family in the past, with Rodgers winning on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 2015 and Katie Couric having read a pair of categories in the past. This will be the first appearance on the show for Bialik and Whitaker.
More guest hosts will be announced later in Season 37.
Andy’s Thoughts: I wouldn’t look too much into Mike Richards hosting; this appears to have been a last-minute fill-in; likely due to the increasing COVID restrictions in the Los Angeles area. Richards does have game show hosting experience in the past. I’m looking forward to seeing how all five of these guest hosts do.
Edited to add, February 2, 2021: On February 2, Jeopardy! announced four more hosts: Dr. Mehmet Oz (“The Doctor Oz Show”), Anderson Cooper (“Anderson Cooper 360º”), Savannah Guthrie (NBC “Today”), and Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN Chief Medical Correspondent). Editorially, I think that Jeopardy! needs to announce LeVar Burton soon; there will be a fan revolt if LeVar Burton is not allowed to host, especially considering that most fans feel that Dr. Oz is a charlatan, especially if the fan reaction on Twitter to this announcement is read.
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Hmmm. I would hope they pick the guest host who does the best job, not the most well-known celebrity for supposed ratings purposes.
When is Mr. Newkirk coming back. He’s won 4 games but needs to come back to possible become a 5 time champion.
He will be returning in the future.
That really doesn’t make any sense. Aaron Rogers isn’t expected to retire soon, so unless they think they can film an entire J! season in his football offseason (when he still needs to keep in shape and do research on other teams and the like), he can’t be the new permanent host.
There was no intent for the guest hosting rotation to be a strict audition for the permanent hosting role.
My take has always been that the next host should be someone with polished TV hosting experience, because it is a developed skill to be an effective TV host that doesn’t take away from the guests. It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone well known, like Katie Couric. Trebek had loads of TV experience before he was elevated to Jeopardy host. Brad Rutter possibly has a bit more TV polish than Ken Jennings, but there is the possibility that Brad just doesn’t want to do it.
Ken Jennings is doing a great job filling Very big shoes !
I’m very disappointed they are using C list celebrities like Couric or athletes like Rogers. What about folks who are serious candidates to succeed Alex? Like maybe Buzzy Cohen [who I think told Alex he wanted his job before Alex’s illness was known, and Alex laughed and said he wasn’t going anywhere]? I very well may not watch the week Couric is on……. Using folks like that may be a good way to kill your audience interest and ratings…… Oh, well….
Mayim Bialik is an interesting choice. Besides being a lead actor in two long-running TV series — Blossom and The Big Bang Theory — she has also managed to earn a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. Most recently, she has created “Breakdown”, a podcast dedicated to mental health. She reminds me of Danica McKellar from The Wonder Years. She continues to be an actress, but is also an advocate for girls to learn mathematics skills.
I have no idea if Mayim will thrive during her week of guest-hosting. I presume all 4 guest hosts will work hard to prepare for their hosting. She could well be a pleasant surprise.
I had never heard of Mayim Bialik before, but she looks just like my former best friend, so I am interested to see her host.
Ken Jennings is doing an excellent job as a guest host—actually better than I expected. While I imagine there is someone out there who would be a little more comfortable in the hosting role than Jennings, I wouldn’t mind seeing him in the role permanently.
And I don’t think the guests hosts are really in consideration for the job. They are simply intelligent people that the producers think viewers would enjoy seeing as a guest host. They want to keep interest in the show for the next few months until another host is named.
Wow! We have some good selections here! I hope there are many more to come!
I think Ken Jennings is doing a great job too. I think it will be interesting to see how each of the guest hosts handles him/herself, though I will always miss Alex.
I don’t think Katie Couric should be characterized as a C list celebrity. She’s a professional journalist and has been in the public eye for a long time. I considered her to be my best friend when I was at home with a baby and she was on the morning news show every day!
I just don’t want Jeopardy itself to change. It’s one of the only shows left in which people are not expected to be snarky or flashy. I love it just the way it is.
I think Ken Jennings did a great job the first week. He says some funny things, and of course it would take him a little time to be completely comfortable.
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