Mike Richards is no longer Executive Producer of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. He had resigned as host on August 20.
According to a statement from Suzanne Prete of Sony Pictures Television, “We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at Jeopardy! it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks. That clearly has not happened.”
Michael Davies from Embassy Row, best known as an Executive Producer during the heyday of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?, will serve as interim Executive Producer.
Richards had come under severe censure in the industry and in the media for reprehensible podcast remarks reported on by Claire McNear at The Ringer.
Editorially: I am disappointed that Sony felt the need to double down for so long on Richards, but am pleased that they have finally realized how toxic Richards was to the program. I am very much looking forward to seeing how the show can move forward from this era.
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Our long national nightmare is over.
Richards hubristically took the reigns here, and rather than listen to viewers/fans, Sony opted to maintain a semblance of control, when they were clearly in the wrong. I’m glad they finally admitted a decision was incorrect, and they would do well to learn from this experience.
Congrats, Andy! You, and the website, made the NY Times article on his departure that was added to thir website an hour ago.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/business/media/jeopardy-mike-richards.html
Talk about the consequences of overreach and stubbornness. His power grab cost him his job as executive producer of both game shows and sullied his reputation, perhaps irreparably. Then his refusal to step down as EP led to an uprising from the staff — judging from the reporting — that showed just how toxic his presence was felt to be. This was a miscalculation of gigantic proportions.
So self-destructive. The paradox is that arrogance, narcissism, antisocial tendencies are practically requisite for reaching the upper echelons in many fields, from entertainment to politics. You simply won’t get there by being a decent, empathetic person.
Does this mean that they won’t do the National College Championship?
I haven’t heard anything about that being off.
Crazy how Mike caused more trouble in 11 1/2 months than Harry Friedman did in 23 years.
Welcome to the team, Michael Davies!
Hallelujah!
Thankfully Andy’s prediction that Mike Richards would ruin Jeopardy! has turned out not to come to pass; for it was actually Jeopardy! which has helped to cause the ruin of Mike Richards. =D
The more that comes out of this conundrum, the more I blame Sony for not seeing through this slimeball’s intentions sooner. They should have stepped up sooner against Mike’s “I, Me, Mine” attitude instead of sweeping his troubled past under the proverbial carpet.
I’m looking forward — just it’s a bit like driving past a horrible accident on the freeway — to seeing how they now handle the several episodes that Richards hosted as host.
Sorry: Not “just”. “though”.
Sony made the right call. Should have done it sooner.
Guess you don’t have to polish off that resume quite yet, Andy. 🙂
Hopefully Davies’ first order of business is to hire Alan Lin to write clues. There’s been way too much focus on Buzzy’s dream job and not enough on Alan’s!