It’s been a few weeks, but here’s a weekend editorial column from me! It’s a little bit different than past editorials as I won’t be doing any headings as I usually do; there will just be point-form notes.
- As evidenced by my tepid reaction to the news on Wednesday, I was surprised to see Colin Jost get the Pop Culture Jeopardy hosting role. The two major issues brought up were Michael Davies’ comments at the TCA Press Tour in February, where Davies said “we will fail if [a straight, white man is] the only person who can host” and Colin Jost’s Weekend Update joke in April 2023 where Jost delivered what I still believe to be an unnecessary joke regarding contestant Brian Henegar’s appearance.
- I was not surprised to see that the Pluto TV contract for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy was not renewed. It seems to me as though demand for old episodes has increased—potentially as a result of Pluto having them and fans wanting more—and Pluto was not willing to pay the increased cost. It would also not surprise me if TuneIn Radio’s contract was not long for this world, either, for much the same reason.
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- Honestly, what I’d like to see is someone like Amazon Prime sign a long-term deal in order to bill themselves as “the home of Jeopardy”. In fact, the Amazon platform lends itself well to such a deal: on its surface, Jeopardata could 100% be “powered by Amazon Web Services”, and Prime could even potentially get episodes next-day. Such a long-term deal (I am thinking here in terms of 10-20 years) could even cement the show’s future prospects.
- I was not surprised that Reddit completely misinterpreted comments regarding residuals as being the main reason why the talks between Sony and Pluto broke down. I would say residuals had nothing to do with it, and Randy West’s original comments on Facebook didn’t even make that point. He just said he hoped that the proper residuals were being paid. (And wouldn’t that be incumbent upon Sony and not Pluto to pay any potential residuals?)
- Looking forward to Season 41, I still don’t think it’s an inherently bad thing for there to be between 160 and 165 regular-play games a season, and for the postseason to always take place in the January–March window based on the previous 160–165 regular play games. I also think that a postseason competition modeled on the British soccer FA Cup is the way to go, with contestants entering the postseason at a round commensurate with the number of games they have won. (i.e. “Second Chance” would be 0-game winners, facing off for the chance to play 1-game winners at the start of Champions Wildcard, who then play off for the chance to play 2-game winners, and so on up the pyramid.) This also has the advantage of “saving” games earlier in the competition, as two-game finals in Second Chance and Champions Wildcard are thus rendered unnecessary.
- On a personal note, I’ve decided to take up golf—and I’m sure those who know better will ask why I have chosen to put myself through such torture. Basically, on my vacation last week in Quebec, I very much enjoyed my round and have decided that I should try to play more. (And, before you ask, my vacation was very much interrupted by the Colin Jost news.)
I expect that all of my editorials this summer will likely follow this same format. Have a great week!
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I really like your proposal for postseason play!
Apparently Michael Davies doesn’t have the final say about Jeopardy. He could be two-faced, but I feel it is more likely that he was just over-ridden by Sony. I would have preferred that it be Leslie Jones (and NOT just to “kill 2 birds”), but she might not have been interested and I bet some at Sony would have been afraid that her personality would rub some audiences the wrong way. [But they might be wrong since I, a 70+ year-old white woman love her (scripted and unscripted).]
I like that proposal as well Lisa! 🙂 I think some really good momentum could be built with it.
By the way Lisa, I have made some comments on the July 26th page that might be of interest to you. 🙂
Golf Andy, golf? LOL. Just kidding! I play occasionally and suck at it, but it’s still fun. 🙂
Even though they are sister companies under the Sony Pictures Television “umbrella” I would think that what Jeopardy, and, Wheel, value their repeats at, and, the price GSN is willing to pay, might be a reason why Wheel, and/or, Jeopardy reruns aren’t a staple of GSN programing. But then I’m surprised that Fremantle (Goodson Todman, Goodson, etc.,) repeats are, with Fremantle having at least a major investment in Buzzr.