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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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.
I would love to see Buzzy get the gig. But, would he accept in light of Mike Richard’s prior comments?
As far as hiring a permanent host as being “ outdated,” tell that to Drew Carey, Pat Sajak and Wayne Brady. Personally, I am tired of rotating hosts.
Ken won 74 games in a row. Nice guy, witty, funny. He’s earned it. Buy if they are gonna start rotating again, they need to ask BRAD RUTTER. He would be perfect!
I agree.
Jennings is the clear choice! He’s ultra knowledgeable, personable and oozes trust, unlike Richards. It’s only proper that Richards resign as co-host since he was the Cheney who hired himself in the first place. Now Sony needs to fire him as EP! He does not seem to have earned the respect of long-time staff and has proven himself to be sexist, racist and anti-Semitic in his own words. Such behavior should NOT be rewarded by retaining a high-level, high-paying job on a game show respected and beloved by millions of fans. Sony is reaching into the gutter to retain Richards, another white sexist and racist man in the entertainment industry. Shame on you Sony! It’s not like there is a dearth of long-time, talented producers in house. SONY: find Richards’ replacement now—someone with integrity and cultural sensitivity!!
Sony can’t have it both ways. If Richards’ past comments and actions, as well as his lies during the guest host “search”, are enough to have him step down as host, they should be enough to have him fired as EP.
The person for the job IMO is Buzzy Cohen. He has oodles of charisma whereas Ken Jennings has none. I can’t stand to watch Ken as a host or as a contestant. I also agree that Brooke Burns is good and Levar Burton needs another chance to see if he can lose the “kids host” tone which would never work for Jeopardy. And then what about James and Brad?
It’s crazy how Richards who did a great job hosting turned out to be not a very nice guy.
Tbh, I feel bad for Jeopardy, because it is so hard for them to find a replacement for Alex Trebek. I think we can all agree that Alex is irreplaceable, he will and still will be known as the host of Jeopardy. I just hope they find a person that is not too elated and says the players’ scores like Alex does. Until then, this would be Alex’s advice to us if he were alive and taped his Final Jeopardy. https://youtu.be/5bqe5YRXdgs
I thought Buzzy and Mayim were the most enjoyable to watch.
Levar needed to be more relaxed and show his personality.
I’m not familiar with Laura Coates but since Alex suggested her she should be offered a shot if she wants the opportunity.
And more charities should receive highlighted donations.
The charitable donations were in lieu of the hosts’ being paid, so it’s hard to believe that will continue.
Ken Jennings just embodies Jeopardy. His hosting stint showed a special charm and experience that the other hosts lacked. His banter with the players felt real and was so enjoyable to watch.
The week Richard’s taped will be problematic; there’s no easy way around how to handle the week he already hosted, as the results need to count. Perhaps treat it as another week of him guest hosting? Regardless, the transition to pick a new host will be awkward, at minimum.
If Richard’s is fired or resigns as EP, Jennings or Buzzy should be considered for both EP and host.
First, let’s all celebrate! I’m just happy that he is out! As a life long fan, I just wanted to be able to continue to watch the show and now I can.
Ken Jennings should get the job—he is what Jeopardy is about. He did a great job when he guest hosted and Alex would approve. I actually really like Joe Buck. I don’t know who he is but, he was funny and engaging. Watching old episodes, Alex was also funny and engaging—and was about the players—which I found Joe Buck had a similar vibe. Anyway—-thrilled Richards is out! He needs to be out of the production job too!
The stain that Mike Richards brings to this show can’t be buried behind the scenes.
I can only imagine what this feels like for Alex’s family.
We know how it feels to his TV family.
Fire this sleazy, smirking clown right now.
I think David Faber did an excellent job as guest host and would be a great choice for permanent host.
My first choice by far is Ken Jennings, but I did like David Faber. He was professional, polished, poised. He didn’t overshadow the stars of the show – the contestants.
In a way I found guest hosts to be disrespectful to Alex. Like since it is so easy to host that anyone can do it, so we will bring on oodles of different people of different abilities and let them do it. And I thought I heard Sony thinking that if anyone can do it, then we don’t need to pay them so much. Seems like every week the ratings went down. As time went on I found myself not watching because I didn’t want to watch another guest host.
If the contestants are the star of the show, what’s the purpose of bring out a new guest host – it over shadows the contestants.
I read somewhere that Alex had tapped Ken to be his replacement. Now it is/was not his decision to make, but maybe Alex knew something about what it takes to host.
Would be good FJ tidbit.
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I’m late to the party on this, but I think axing Richards was the right move for the reasons others have outlined. It’s notable that no one has really been defending him aside from the occasional anti-“cancel culture” crusader (an interesting breed).
Of the remaining supposed finalists, I’d be happy with Ken, disappointed with Bialik or Buzzy. But I’d still continue to watch, of course. I think Faber was comfortably the best guest host and I’m surprised he’s not getting more of a look.
Joe Buck was a relatively amusing distraction, but I was surprised to see so many fans come out in favour of him.
It found it amusing that Joe Buck brought the show to ratings not seen since Bill Whitaker hosted. On top of him turning out to be surprisingly good, Matt Amodio got people watching again even in the face of Mike Richards’ controversy.
On the other hand, ratings have been skewed to prove a warped point of view. Before Mike got sacked, I’ve seen people argue that it made sense for him to host just because he drew good numbers. The problem is he inherited a strong viewership from Ken Jennings’ six-week stint. We’ll have to see what the numbers from Mike’s sole week in Season 38 have to say about that.
Ken Jennings for sure. So many comments already supporting this. Almost every other guest host responded to the contestant interview anecdotes with “That’s great”. Jennings at last made a quip or insight that related to the contestant’s anecdote. Ple-e-e-ase, KEN JENNINGS!
typo… at least, not “at last”.