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.
When commenting, please note that all comments on The Jeopardy! Fan must be in compliance with the Site Comment Policy.
If you are going to quote any information from this page or this website, attribution is required.
For me, the quote given above from Suzanne Prete of Sony Pictures Television says it all: “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.” The folks at Sony were simply trying to “minimize the disruption”, in other words cover their own rear ends, and were morally incapable of recognizing the ethically bankrupt nature of Richards’ comments. He should have been fired immediately for that reason. Sony’s handling of this has been flawed from the outset. They had many months advance notice that Alex would be gone in which to find and install an acceptable new host, yet when the inevitable tragedy occurred, Sony acted as if taken completely by surprise, embarking on
the “America’s Got Talent”-style debacle that has — and still is — playing out. There really is no excuse for this.
Talk about going for the home run and striking out.
James Holzhauer made some very pointed remarks on Twitter. He pretty much held is tongue until Richards was gone, but James make a comment before it happened that he knew something was in the works.
What’s ironic is that since Alex died, there is that tribute at the end of every show saying what an inspiration Alex was and is. And in a CNN interview right after his death, Richards said he hopes to be as much of a man, father, and husband as Alex was.
Hopefully Alex is not turning over in his grave at all this garbage, the way it has been handled, and just what a pig Richards is. It definitely is not what Alex stood for.
Good riddance. Sony finally found the time to take out the trash. Anyway, Sony should get things back to how they were before Tony Vinciquerra, Ravi Ahuja, and Richards all happened to the show.