In the hours since Jeopardy! has released its next list of guest hosts, the show is being roundly criticized on all forms of social media for announcing Dr. Oz. as one of its four additional guest hosts today. Anderson Cooper, Savannah Guthrie, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta have also been announced.
On Twitter, the replies are overwhelmingly negative, with many fans referring to Oz as “a snake oil salesman”.
Five-time champion Kristin Sausville said, “Jeopardy! celebrates knowledge and facts and Dr. Oz has largely broken from that in his medical advice.” Nine-time champion Dan Pawson weighed in with “Not on board with Dr. Oz and STRONGLY call for this not to go forward. He stands for misinformation: exactly the opposite of what Jeopardy’s supposed to be. Please reconsider.” Season 35 champion Adam Francois Watkins’ remarks were simple: “Dr. Oz is the opposite of Alex Trebek”.
Here at The Jeopardy! Fan, I personally think that this is another in an increasingly lengthening line of missteps this season by new executive producer Mike Richards. Dr. Oz, in my opinion, lacks credibility amongst the show’s fanbase, and this very much risks tarnishing Alex Trebek’s legacy. That being said: Cooper, Guthrie, and Gupta are all excellent choices and I look forward to watching them host. It also does not help Sony’s case that The Dr. Oz Show is also a Sony property; the nepotistic undertones are also concerning. The only potential positive out of this is that this may have taken the heat off some of the other potential guest hosts; all of the negativity seems to be flowing through Dr. Oz right now. Fortunately as well, this looks to just be one week, and more guest hosts will be announced soon. Hopefully, the third crop will be better received.
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I just hope it was the execs who picked him, and Mike was extremely reluctant. I wonder how much input he has in the process, if any?
That said, if Dr. Oz hosts for a week, that week’s ratings will go down, down, down.
For all the reasons already mentioned on social media regarding Dr. Oz as a J! guest host, you can add my voice to the growing chorus of nay sayers.
What on earth were they thinking???
What a desecration to the memory of Alex Trebek! Out of respect for his memory, I would boycott any J! shows hosted by Dr. Oz!
I feel like this guest hosting gimmick in general represents “the opposite of Alex.” We’ve heard the story of him talking about how the stars of the show are the contestants and not the host, yet it seems that after Mike Richards’ upcoming short stint, every week will be overpowered by the celebrity status of the host. If the show was going to move forward with interim hosts, it probably would have been better to stick to people already associated with the show, namely the Clue Crew, on-air producers like Ken, and former contestants with prior hosting experience such as Brad Rutter. In my household, Ken has proved himself to a standard we initially thought he couldn’t meet. Even if none of the celebrity guests are being seriously considered for the running, I will hold each one’s feet to the fire.
We will sadly—- and with seething rage at Mike Richards—- leave behind 30 years of excited Jeopardy watching behind if/when that creep called ”Dr. Oz” appears!!
I doubt Richards had much, if at all, input in the process. At least, that’s what I hope. He did go with it, but was probably forced to.
I believe many Jeopardy regulars will boycott the Dr. Oz show but my primary concern is will the “celebrities” make their appearances about themselves and not the show. I’m really close to not watching anymore just because of Richards. Bad decision maker in my book.
I’m certain Sony probably forced him to go with Oz. Still, bad decision regardless of whoever chose him.
Ken Jennings is doing a great job. He has a light touch, but a great sense of humor (his comeback on the “smart” cat trying out was funny without a hint of meanness or superiority). We old people, especially the more conservative among us, are not going to watch Couric or Anderson, and Guthrie is better suited to morning television. The doctors are going to have a hard time with seeming anything other than self-important. Keep Jennings!
I will refuse to watch any shows guest-hosted by Anderson Cooper. Am not a fan of his brand of journalism.
Jasper
P.S. Forgot to mention, my wife and I think Ken Jennings is doing a great job. You cannot replace Alex and Ken knows he just has to be himself. That’s all Alex would want.
How about Brooke Burns as a guest host? She has lots of experience and has a great personality. I don’t care for some of your choices.
I won’t watch when Oz is on. Period. I will still follow this website during that time because I love the minutiae of the game play, the strategy etc., but I’ve now reserved 7:30 – 8:00 during the Oz week for alphabetizing our spice rack.
Just wondering why this article is posted when we have been seeing this every day for a while now:
“As I said in my recent editorial, if you’re going to express an opinion about one host or another, I ask that you make thoughtful, reasoned arguments. A lot of your opinions on one host over another are going to be a matter of personal taste. Please also remember that a permanent host will not be named until the start of Season 38.”
The only thing I know about Dr. Oz is that he is the father to Daphne. I have never seen him. There are many others that are and will guest host that I find abhorrent in some of their actions. I liked how Alex conducted himself on the show, but I got a sense that he leaned to the left like most of Hollywood. That didn’t stop me from liking the show. If in fact twitter was abuzz against Dr. Oz then I would suspect he leans right since twitter is probably more than 90% left wing.
Please keep Ken Jennings as host. He made a smooth transition which is hard to do. My family has watched Jeopardy since Alex started. PLEASE LEAVE the show with Ken.