Mike Richards is no longer the host of Jeopardy!, as has been announced this morning.
In a statement from Richards, “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. As such, I will be stepping down as host effective immediately. As a result, we will be cancelling production today.”
“SPT will now resume the search for a permanent syndicated host. In the meantime, we will be bringing back guest hosts to continue production for the new season, details of which will be announced next week”.
This came as direct result of Claire McNear’s excellent exposé over at The Ringer, in which excerpts from Richards’ old podcast, The Randumb Show, resurfaced, in which Richards made remarks disparaging remarks regarding Jews, women & Asians.
According to my sources, one weeks’ worth of episodes have been taped at this point, and are scheduled to air September 13-17.
Editorially: Here at The Jeopardy! Fan, I am pleased that this partial step has been taken. However, I am still very much worried about Richards’ ability to continue in his role as Executive Producer. Many people, after feeling jilted about losing the host role that he so dearly coveted, might not feel as compelled to work as hard as they otherwise would (and I would say that I do not trust him not to sabotage the show itself.)
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YAY!! Now I can continue watching my favorite show!🎉
Please bring back Aaron or Joe Buck. They make it fun.
Ken Jennings for host!!!
I agree 100%.
YES! I hope Ken is back in the mix now. I had been fully in favor of his hiring until Mayim Bialek did her two weeks so I’m hoping even more that she will have a much bigger on camera role now. I was annoyed that she was being relegated to “spin offs” and “specials” – TOC? And my solid third favorite was Aaron Rodgers so maybe he’ll also be under consideration again.
I adore Levar but even as he got better over his week and favor him getting another guest shot, I don’t see him as being the most suitable in a permanent role because he could never quite shake that over-the-top excited staccato tone about correct answers.
I was an Anderson Cooper fan when he hosted The Mole back in the mid 2000s and he was OK as guest host but he was just average.
Ken Jennings was very good. I’d keep watching if he was given the job.
I want Ken Jennings to be the new permanent host! He was the only one that had a very improved experience for me. The rest of the guest hosts were okay. I like Mayim Bialik. She was very helpful and so awesome! Her and Ken Jennings! I just think that the 74-game winner also deserves to be the next Jeopardy! host.
Finding a permanent host for a game show is an outdated concept. In sports, the referees aren’t the same for many reasons. In news programs, the presenters aren’t the same (e.g. CBC’s The National after Peter Mansbridge left). Actually, having someone hold such a permanent position just invites unneeded criticism, especially in the world of social media.
The solution is to have a rotation of 4-5 hosts that change every two weeks, provided the budget can accommodate this. I really do not see the fascination of having a permanent face of Jeopardy! when really the clues and contestants are the driving forces behind its success.
This a pyrrhic victory, at best. He named himself Executive Producer and he’s not sorry for his past behavior.
Very big step in the right direction. I also call into question the judgment of the Sony Pictures executives, including Tony Vinciquerra, who was reportedly the person who chose Mike to be the permanent host. The lack of prudence that surrounded his/Sony’s decision making is astounding.
Seems just another example of how insulated from reality the entire mass media/entertainment industry is. And many seem to resent being forced to actually consider the views and wishes of their “target audience”.
The fact that they obviously didn’t bother to vet Richards whatsoever (before hiring him as EP, AND before hiring him as host) is a damning indictment of the execs at Sony, and keeping him around even just as EP reflects incredibly horribly on their judgment (or lack thereof).
There were some good hosts that tried out. Jennings, for one, A. rogers for another. I think it definitely should be a man. Hard to fill the position of Alex but for a woman to try, won’t work….and I am a female.
From what I have seen from Brooke Burns on The Chase and now Masterminds, I think she would be excellent. Also, what we don’t know, and probably never will, is whether some people we would like to see do the show may have declined.
Oh, please. By that logic, no woman should ever be allowed to fill a job that had always previously been held by a man. So…I guess Kamala Harris shouldn’t be vice president. I guess we should never have had the first female astronaut, surgeon, firefighter, etc., etc., etc.
Savannah Guthrie did a very good job as host along with a number of other guest hosts. I don’t know why so few give her credit.
Keep in mind that not all of the guest hosts over the past 6-7 months were auditioning for the job, some were just doing it as a guest. The “rotating guest host” format was to both audition a new host and to pay homage to the show.
Let Sony tell us who is genuinely interested in the permanent role and we can objectively assess the candidates.
I know they said the final three were him, Buzzy and Mayim, so if Mayim’s time commitments were originally part of why she wasn’t hosting the whole thing, I would love to just see Buzzy. He was at the top of my list and I think he’d do a fantastic job.
Other good hosts that I’d be happy to see were Ken and the suprisingly good David Faber. I think you need someone who really knows their trivia and can quickly respond, so a lot of the other hosts had some issues in that regard, but I think there are some really good options still there.
I also would love to see someone like Jimmy Macguire get a chance – he’s already a part of the team, people like his cadence, he’s run some of the pre-game practice and would be a great fit for the role. Give Jimmy a shot!
I hope they now give LAURA COATES a shot as a guest host. Why was she left out in the first place??
Laura Coates and Aisha Tyler absolutely both should get guest host stints.
Watson would be a lot better than Lavar.
I thought Joe Buck was great but he may not be interested.
Joe would be fun to have back for another couple weeks. Not the perfect fit to host the regular show long term, but still pretty darn good for a guest host. If Sony ever wanted to revive Sports Jeopardy they should hire him in a heartbeat for that.