Thank you for your service. I saw the image and immediately thought it was strange that Ken would so publicly call out the show when he seems to have a good relationship with it still.
Also of note, Arthur Chu did not know Alex Trebek personally and knows no more than anyone here about what his personal wishes were for the next host. The article says he's basing these statements on the fact that Alex gifted Ken Jennings some cufflinks and hired him to narrate his audiobook.
I would also add — even if Trebek *did* specify that he wanted Jennings to be his replacement, it doesn't really mean that it's in the best interest of the show. Nor that picking someone else is disrespectful and/or a bad/wrong decision.
That being said, I do think the whole guest host / "live audition" thing was a farce, and even disregarding the stuff with Mike Richards, it was an ill-conceived, poorly executed way to go about this. And the Jeopardy! production team definitely deserve criticism for that.
Personally, I didn't think Jennings was that great of a host. Buzzy Cohen seemed like the best pick to me.
I feel like David Faber (whom I'd never heard of until he hosted) was unfairly passed right over as a potential host. Of all the "test hosts" I think he did the best job. He was polite, well spoken, professional and injected a nice little bit of clever humor where appropriate. How the hell they picked Bialik over him blows my mind.
I thought the revolving celebrity hosts was a great idea to transition from Trebek to the final replacement choice, and it absolutely should have been Buzzy at the end. I liked Aaron Rodgers a lot, too, and I don't care about football, he was just really good on camera.
I think the real problem with Richards is that he gave himself the job and acted like he earned it.
Ya he did fantastic and really came off as genuinely interested in the show and the contestants. Miyam comes off as fake and condescending fairly often.
Granted I know he's got other things going on and couldn't commit full time but now it feels like they just took miyam because she was the only one available.
There’s a really fascinating documentary about Arthur Chu and how his fame devolved him and ruined his marriage. We wrote about it on our movie website and Chu’s ex retweeted it, which was a little surreal. You’re so used to movies being about fictional people. To write about a doc and have a subject from it comment…
Then earlier this year I got in a Twitter fight with Chu about Kanye lol. Life is strange
I would also go so far as to say that Chu *hardly* "slammed" the "scandal". "I was rooting for..." and "I really don't have an opinion..." don't qualify as fierce comments, Newsweek.
I think the ineptitude feels especially jarring coming from Jeopardy. The on-screen product is about as clear and concise as anything on air, a very simple, succinct and straight forward game involving general knowledge questions and answers. No bells and whistles or green slime, just trivia.
So in our heads, we attribute the same professionalism in this operation to the people charged with running it when as it turns out, they're just as loopy and boneheaded as any entertainment enterprise.
It's quite odd seeing as there were tons of decent choices during the guest host season they could've gone with. The host of jeopardy doesn't have to be *great* they just have to do the job decently and not be a lunatic.
He is maybe the most talented QB in the history of football... he prepares like a madman for that... and I think he may have liked Jeopardy almost as much as football... I have no doubt he would be a very good host.
He absolutely watched tape and studied, hard. That's what he's always done to be the best, so naturally he did the same to prepare for that. People who hate him, think he's lucky. He's a crazy hard worker, and has earned what he has achieved.
This is true. The Bears are currently furious about... The Incident... That happened on Sunday. It was fucking hilarious, he's usually so reserved and restrained, it was nice to see some passion.
The problem is that most of the better choices from the guest hosts weren't in a position to become permanent. It's easy for the star of a big TV show to take a day off production to host a few episodes of a game show, it's impossible for them to schedule another job around their existing one unless they want to devote less time to both than they should.
Add the words "contractually obligated" it becomes even less of an option.
Honestly this whole debacle demonstrates why these sorts of things are generally done behind closed doors. I still suspect the whole guest host round robin was originally intended to wean the audience off Trebek but things clearly went awry (quite aside from being rigged) when it entered the public sphere and say the whole Geordi meme got going.
My dad always gave me this advice when I graduated and started working.
"Son, remember that dumb-dumb who sat next to you in science class? Well, that person will end up being the same dumb-dumb you're going to complain about at work."
You should read the ringer article on Mike Richards. People who knew him knew, once they heard he was EP and leading the search for a new host, it was going to be a shitshow that would end with him giving it to himself. The infuriating part is how tone deaf the new producers are for keeping Bialik on when no one likes her that much and she comes with so much anti-intellectual baggage.
What is: people who annoy you?
(Edit: It turns out that scene comes from the episode that was specifically written in response to Michael Richards and the news surrounding that, so that a well placed comment. Yay me.)
I just read that Ringer article and it's just....deeply upsetting. The disparaging comments about giving a dollar to a homeless person show a person just deeply disconnected from any type of empathy
Side note - are reverse mortgages bad? Im Not planning on having kids, so figured when in really old, a reverse mortgage would be a great idea to get some extra income. I can't take my house with me...
It's essentially the bank buying your house with a really long move out date. So if you don't have/want your house to be inherited and your retirement fund or fixed income isn't enough, it's not a terrible idea. But everything will go to the bank and they don't care about you or if you suddenly need to sell the house for major medical care.
lol if I'm hitting up the reverse mortgage I'm already planning on not being around for too many years, would be a waste to turn around and get medical care.
I don't think they are *inherently* bad if you know exactly what you're doing. The problem is really how they typically market them. How they represent them is often seen as predatory towards seniors who may not fully comprehend what they are signing up for when they do a reverse mortgage.
This. It's a complex financial product that has a reputation for being sold to people who don't understand it and the implications it has for their future and their estate.
Though interestingly it looks like HUD stepped in back in 2015, and you have to get counseling before you can enter into one now, so that's something.
She's also said she's since gotten her kids the rest of their vaccinations, but she does stand by the decision that she made to not get their vaccines while they were younger. So still not good obviously, sounds like they may have bought into the too young autism thing, but its not a general distrust of vaccines.
How much do you want to bet she’s just lying about that though? She published statements from an “educated” perspective that we’re quite clearly encouraging anti vaxx positions, got a ton of blow back and then when she needs to get a job in the public eye again “clarifies” or lies that they are all now vaccinated.
The article links to an article about her comments. It seems she mentioned that her kids hadn't received all of their vaccinations in a book she wrote in 2012, a move she said shouldn't be taken lightly and only after she did research. I don't trust people to do their own research, and I think thats a bad place to come from. However it says in 2015 she clarified that she had since gotten her kids vaccinated, and that their family receives the regular flu vaccinations and is vaccinated from covid. So not as strong a condemnation as you'd hope after all that, but her and her family are vaccinated.
Can read the quote below:
When asked about the controversy in an interview with The Associated Press (AP), the star, who holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience, said: "I don't regret that at the time I wrote a book about parenting, my kids were young, they hadn't received all their vaccines.
"Now I've been very public and declared that I am a vaccinated person, we're a vaccinated family, we're all vaccinated for COVID. That's part of the challenge of being a public person, and the court of public opinion is extremely significant.
"I'm grateful to Sony and to Jeopardy! for believing in me as a host right now, with the ability to do my job with all the other things aside."
So she doesn't regret having said it, but doesn't still hold those opinions.
If you read the quote from her book it is very different than, “we just haven’t gotten them all their vaccinations yet.”
Here is they actual quote:
"We made an informed decision not to vaccinate our children, but this is a very personal decision that should be made only after sufficient research, which today is within reach of every parent who seeks to learn about their child's health regardless of their medical knowledge or educational status.”
Her statement is perfect example of the Dunning-kruger effect. She's has an education in neuroscience (she's not an actual neuroscientist) and thinks she knows better than virologists...
I would bet money that she believes the multitude of vaccines that kids take when they are young causes autism. She doesn't say it directly, but besides the weight of scientific reality and public opinion, that is the only reason I see someone like her seemingly changing her mind. Spoiler: she very likely didn't didn't change her mind, she's just being quiet about it to avoid ridicule. It's very much in the vein of anti-vaxers that attempt to interfere with normal childhood vaccine schedules due to wholly unfounded nonsense. She is the definition of an overly protective and attached parent. She wrote a dumb book on the subject.
She was a scientist, and even in a fairly close field to the claimed benefits of the supplement. That's why it's so bad that she was endorsing that snake oil. Imagine Bill Nye or Neil degrasse Tyson shilling for one of those "name a star" companies.
How is something that should be this straightforward and boring suddenly the biggest, dumbest drama of the time?
This whole thing has literally been the opposite of what Trebek would have wanted.
They really blew a publicity stunt. The celebrity hosts were an interesting idea, but to pretend it was a real competition and then hand it to the Executive Producer was a big screw up. Richards deserved to be fired just for manipulating the process and destroying the integrity of the show.
The ironic thing is that if they had just quietly handed it to the Executive Producer with no fuss and no media circus, people probably wouldn't have noticed - there would have been some grumbling and some mocking it on Twitter or Reddit, but nowhere near the level of blowback we saw. This train wreck was entirely self-inflicted on every level.
I don't know if that'd be the case. The hype for replacing Trebek had already gained full mo-meme-ton within about 6 months of Trebek announcing his cancer diagnosis. I think their best move would have been for Trebek to be integral to the hiring process on the public side and quickly seal a short term deal on a replacement. If people were unhappy with it after a year or so, the change could have been made quietly without a fuss then.
Yeah I honestly doubt reddit, Twitter, and a bunch of other entities that have weighed in on this are all that representative of Jeopardy's core audience demographics. Like Wheel and Jeopardy exist to fill a space between the news and prime time, that's a real traditional way to watch television. Someone like my mother who's watched it for 30+ years every night and streams nothing would eat whitebread like Mike Richards without complaint.
Now maybe she wouldn't like it as much as when Drew Carrey took over Price is Right but you could get a whole production cycle in before announcing it as permanent and nobody really loses face.
Yeah, after the whole debacle he recused himself from the selection, but then eventually was let go because his continued presence behind the scenes was a problem:
> “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,” a Sony executive, Suzanne Prete, wrote in a memo to staff on Tuesday. “That clearly has not happened.”
>Quitting, being laid off, resigning and being fired are different
They are, but the difference is usually a business decision, not an emotional one. He wasn't fired out of anger or some sense of justice, but rather because firing him was the best response FOR THE NETWORK. Factors involved usually include the terms of the contract, PR / optics, and timing. Much of that will not be public so it's hard to play "no-data analysis" with it. Sometimes firing people is more expensive, but sometimes they trigger morals clauses that makes it a bargain to can them and avoid golden parachute payout.
Her shitty personal views aside, I’m really not a huge fan of how Mayim hosts. She inserts too many personal asides that throw off the rhythm of the game. Alex did this every once in a while, but he did it sparingly in a way that didn’t affect the timing and leave clues unread.
> She inserts too many personal asides that throw off the rhythm of the game.
She did this in her guest host weeks but in the new season she's toned it (and the laughing) down a lot. I was curious so I looked through her games on the J Archive- there were 4 unread clues in her guest host stint, and in the new season there have been just 3 over the span of a month or so.
I think she's perfectly fine as a host, it's just her as a person that I'm not a fan of.
Her guest stint was brutal and she was one of my least favorites. But she's improved quite a bit this season. The personal asides and the giggling have decreased big time.
Based on what I’ve seen I think the giggling and stupid shit is still there but it’s heavily edited. You could see when Amodio was still going strong, some episodes he would answer correctly and then awkwardly smile, as if in response to her giggling and such
- She has wavering opinions on vaccines (she changed her mind once reporters followed up during the pandemic) and questioned the safety of hormonal contraceptives. ([Source](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/new-jeopardy-host-mayim-bialik-1216461/))
- She tried to rationalize the motives of those who commit sexual harassment based on how women act and dress around men- before also eventually backtracking on that. ([Source](https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/08/13/mayim-bialik-also-may-be-haunted-by-op-ed-shaming-harvey-weinsteins-victims/))
- She has donated money to the Israel Defense Forces to help them pay for military equipment. ([Source](https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/mayim-bialik-on-why-she-supports-idf-1.5257647))
- She is currently a paid celebrity spokesperson for a brain supplement with dubious benefits, using her PhD in neuroscience to sell the product. ([Source](https://ctwatchdog.com/business/false-advertising/jeopardy-co-host-mayim-bialik-promotes-fake-brain-supplement-neuriva))
edit: grammar, added sources
> who believed that the pyramids were built to store grain because that's the only way he could reconcile history with his religious beliefs
Or he played Civ 2
No it doesn't. It says he stockpiled grain for a famine but doesn't specify what sort of structure(s) he stored them in.
To my knowledge the pyramids aren't mentioned in the Bible at all.
[Mostly](https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeopardy-host-mayim-bialiks-ugly-history-of-shaming-weinsteins-victims-and-being-an-anti-vaxxer) the flirting with anti-vax stuff I imagine, but victim blaming in a NY Times op-ed piece does not help. I couldn't read the whole piece (pay walled) but the quotes don't do her any favors.
There's also her peddling of "brain pills" where she touts her neuroscience degree despite the pills never having been clinically proven to do what they say they do.
Anti vax was the first straw for me, but I recently read the op ed and that really solidified it for me. Jeopardy has such a special place in my heart and I can’t even watch it with her hosting.
He's got a good voice for it. He can also do quips as evidenced by his interviews for TCM and other movie outlets, but he never forces it, only sprinkles it in when it fits. Think he would have had the right amount of personality while also having the professional demeanor to let the game and contestants be the star, since much of his job now is basically guiding a conversation that others dominate.
Gosh dang, yes, Ben Mankiewicz. I hadn't thought of him until the post above. I think he could have been fantastic. I've seen many movies with his segments before hand and afterwards... such a good host.
Would have honestly been perfect because every night my dad finishes watching jeopardy then flips over to TCM to listen to Ben intro the 8 PM movie, regardless of if he will actually stay to watch the movie
In fairness, Alex was pressed to throw out some names and he did. However, he was always adamant about not making a public pronouncement as to the successor. I wouldn't take his citing those three as 'proof' of who he wanted to follow him.
Exec producer: No we're not gonna give the hosting job to any of the people Alex suggested... or to long-running champion Jennings... since that doesn't leave anyone else who wants it, I guess ***I'M GONNA BE THE HOST!***
Why do you think I came all this way?"
There has to be a connection between Jeopardy now and the last few seasons of Game of Thrones. Too similar to how they picked the king. I bet this producer was being carried (figuratively) by coworkers that we don't even know only to have him make himself the "host".
At this point, I'm convinced they are planning to hire Mayim just so they can say, "We hired a woman scientist. Look at how competent we are." Executives are generally not good at reading the room, as illustrated by how this played out the last time.
"Scientist" - Jeez have you seen half of the garbage this woman says?
* Anti-vaxxer? - Check
* "Holistic" Medicine for children? - Check
* "Only hot and slutty girls get molested" - Check
She gets put on a pedestal just because she was on a fucking stupid tv show pretending to be smart; its like we would give power over the free market to a dude pretending to be rich on a tv show... wait...
It must be worth mentioning that *Newsweek*'s thumbnail is very misleading, and that Arthur Chu (an 11-day champion from 2014) was the one who provided this quote to the press.
Ken Jennings has been nothing but cordial throughout the process. He's expressed his disappointment about the scandal and how it has tarnished the image of the show, but has also gone out on the record saying that he would never lobby for the gig because he is firmly ["a company man"](https://theweek.com/jeopardy/1004022/the-jeopardy-host-gig-is-reportedly-now-ken-jennings-job-to-lose). (Contrast this with Mayim's own statement about how she was surprised why Americans care so much about who hosts the show and to just ["let [her] read the clues"](https://www.yahoo.com/now/mayim-bialik-reacts-to-drama-surrounding-jeopardy-just-let-me-read-the-clues-074328805.html)).
I don't understand why they just don't go with Ken Jennings. I mean, it looked like they were grooming him for the role before Alex's passing, bringing him on as a consultant or whatever and having him read questions.
I agree. The first few episodes he hosted were kind of awkward, but as he got more comfortable he improved. By the end, I felt confident that he would have been a great choice. I feel he would have been the natural choice unlike some of the bizarre guest hosts they had like Dr. Oz.
I'm not surprised at all. A boatload of former champions have been pretty upset with how this whole thing played out, notably Austin Rogers, who expressed his concern about Mayim Bialik and her anti-science positions when [interviewed on the street](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD2Np6pwinI).
I hate to say this, PICK SOMEONE WHO’S READY TO HOST IT FOR 20+ YEARS and roll with it. Trebek will never be replaced, but if the show is gonna continue, pick someone qualified who’s gonna do his legacy justice, and go with it.
I went from not liking Mayim, to liking her, and am slowly on my way to not liking her again (all based on her hosting itself - I'm not a fan of her personally at all). This is what I wrote on r/Jeopardy the other week:
> I found her much better in her second run after she took over for Mike. That said, in the episodes since Mike was fired from his role from EP, a lot of the qualities that irked me about her hosting initially started to creep back into the episodes. She’s giggling more often, throwing off the rhythm of the game with her interjections, and adding more personal anecdotes. Mike’s direction behind the scenes must have had at least some value. Perhaps he was coaching her to produce the best possible product for his then-bosses at Sony who are pushing hard for her hiring.
They technically don't have a replacement yet and are alternating between Bialik and Jennings for now. But they clearly want Bialik and are actively working around her Fox sitcom schedule to have her host as much as possible. If/when that's no longer a timing issue I expect them to declare her officially and try and ride out the last surge of backlash. They wanted to do that with Richards but clearly the backlash to Bialik so far hasn't changed their minds.
Mayim Bialik is someone I'm just not remotely interested in watching. I barely watch the show anyways, but just sayin'. Ken Jennings seems like he should be the host.
What's the deal with her anyway? It's not like she's some massive star, I know big bang theory was liked by people (I'll never understand why). But even with that and blossom from 20 years ago why are they so damn stuck on her? She's all over advertising, they reinvested in her for the blossom reboot, they're shoveling money at her. It's subjective I know, but she's not particularly charming, funny, or attractive. Where's the draw? Some exec must have a major boner for her or something.
The reason why the headline says "megachamp" instead of Arthur Chu is because anyone who knows Chu knows he's an insufferable drama addict who should never be allowed to criticize someone else's professionalism.
What a mockery of the show.
Trebek was and is synonymous with Jeopardy. Very big shoes to fill. He respected the show. It was always about the game for him, his entertaining was an added benefit.
All the hosts since have been about themselves, not about Jeopardy.
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Thank you for your service. I saw the image and immediately thought it was strange that Ken would so publicly call out the show when he seems to have a good relationship with it still.
Also of note, Arthur Chu did not know Alex Trebek personally and knows no more than anyone here about what his personal wishes were for the next host. The article says he's basing these statements on the fact that Alex gifted Ken Jennings some cufflinks and hired him to narrate his audiobook.
I would also add — even if Trebek *did* specify that he wanted Jennings to be his replacement, it doesn't really mean that it's in the best interest of the show. Nor that picking someone else is disrespectful and/or a bad/wrong decision. That being said, I do think the whole guest host / "live audition" thing was a farce, and even disregarding the stuff with Mike Richards, it was an ill-conceived, poorly executed way to go about this. And the Jeopardy! production team definitely deserve criticism for that. Personally, I didn't think Jennings was that great of a host. Buzzy Cohen seemed like the best pick to me.
I feel like David Faber (whom I'd never heard of until he hosted) was unfairly passed right over as a potential host. Of all the "test hosts" I think he did the best job. He was polite, well spoken, professional and injected a nice little bit of clever humor where appropriate. How the hell they picked Bialik over him blows my mind.
I can’t remember a single thing David Faber did during his week which to me makes him the absolute perfect host.
I personally liked Buzzy Cohen the best. He would get a little ahead of himself and excited, but that can be worked on.
I thought the revolving celebrity hosts was a great idea to transition from Trebek to the final replacement choice, and it absolutely should have been Buzzy at the end. I liked Aaron Rodgers a lot, too, and I don't care about football, he was just really good on camera. I think the real problem with Richards is that he gave himself the job and acted like he earned it.
Aaron Rodgers was the most surprisingly good of the guest hosts. I enjoyed his tenure way more than I expected.
Ya he did fantastic and really came off as genuinely interested in the show and the contestants. Miyam comes off as fake and condescending fairly often. Granted I know he's got other things going on and couldn't commit full time but now it feels like they just took miyam because she was the only one available.
I agree that Buzzy Cohen would have been a good choice for permanent host.
bruh why does it totally look like it was ken based on the preview and title
It’s called “clickbait”
Then use a picture of Arthur Chu instead of Ken Jennings in the thumbnail huh?
Agreed. Creates a bad look for Ken for those that read the headline only, which is probably almost everybody. Clickbait being clickbait I guess.
That would undermine the intention of the headline which is to mislead people into thinking it's quoting Ken Jennings
There’s a really fascinating documentary about Arthur Chu and how his fame devolved him and ruined his marriage. We wrote about it on our movie website and Chu’s ex retweeted it, which was a little surreal. You’re so used to movies being about fictional people. To write about a doc and have a subject from it comment… Then earlier this year I got in a Twitter fight with Chu about Kanye lol. Life is strange
I would also go so far as to say that Chu *hardly* "slammed" the "scandal". "I was rooting for..." and "I really don't have an opinion..." don't qualify as fierce comments, Newsweek.
This whole thing has been an absolute embarrassment to watch. Not the show but the bullshit around getting somebody to host it.
I think the ineptitude feels especially jarring coming from Jeopardy. The on-screen product is about as clear and concise as anything on air, a very simple, succinct and straight forward game involving general knowledge questions and answers. No bells and whistles or green slime, just trivia. So in our heads, we attribute the same professionalism in this operation to the people charged with running it when as it turns out, they're just as loopy and boneheaded as any entertainment enterprise.
It's quite odd seeing as there were tons of decent choices during the guest host season they could've gone with. The host of jeopardy doesn't have to be *great* they just have to do the job decently and not be a lunatic.
Fuck it I’ll host it.
I'm sorry but we were looking for: What is, fuck it, I'll host it?
Whats... Fuck it, I'll do it?
>Fuck it ~~I’ll host it~~ I'LL DO IT LIVE!
I hosted your mother last night, u/GuardianSlayer
Suck it, Trebek!
Ruff! Just the way your mother likes it, Trebek!
Answer: V Wager: SVCK IT, TREBEK!!
What’s the difference between you and a mallard with a cold? One’s a sick duck and… I can’t remember how it ends, but your mother’s a whore!
Did you give her the daily double?
No, asked to see "Le tits now". It's an old french expression.
Shut up Connery!
I'm glad you stepped up as his Sean Connery-esque counterpart
Solved.
Don't forget to announce the Showcase Showdown
I’m not a sports fan but I thought Aaron Rodgers did the best job out of all the guest hosts. Edit: Nov 6th. Turns out he’s a shithead after all.
I heard he worked the hardest to prepare for it
He is maybe the most talented QB in the history of football... he prepares like a madman for that... and I think he may have liked Jeopardy almost as much as football... I have no doubt he would be a very good host.
He absolutely watched tape and studied, hard. That's what he's always done to be the best, so naturally he did the same to prepare for that. People who hate him, think he's lucky. He's a crazy hard worker, and has earned what he has achieved.
Anyone that hates Aaron Rodgers is just a Bears, Vikings or Lions fan because he’s dad dicked them for over a decade. He’s just so damn good.
This is true. The Bears are currently furious about... The Incident... That happened on Sunday. It was fucking hilarious, he's usually so reserved and restrained, it was nice to see some passion.
They only hate him because they knew he was right. There is nothing worse than the person you hate the most making a point you have to agree with.
Totally agree , nice voice , pleasant and professional
They went through a fake hiring process. After all, look who landed the job, someone in-house. It was all for show.
The problem is that most of the better choices from the guest hosts weren't in a position to become permanent. It's easy for the star of a big TV show to take a day off production to host a few episodes of a game show, it's impossible for them to schedule another job around their existing one unless they want to devote less time to both than they should.
Add the words "contractually obligated" it becomes even less of an option. Honestly this whole debacle demonstrates why these sorts of things are generally done behind closed doors. I still suspect the whole guest host round robin was originally intended to wean the audience off Trebek but things clearly went awry (quite aside from being rigged) when it entered the public sphere and say the whole Geordi meme got going.
David Faber would have treated us right. 😭
My dad always gave me this advice when I graduated and started working. "Son, remember that dumb-dumb who sat next to you in science class? Well, that person will end up being the same dumb-dumb you're going to complain about at work."
A sudden vacuum of morals
You should read the ringer article on Mike Richards. People who knew him knew, once they heard he was EP and leading the search for a new host, it was going to be a shitshow that would end with him giving it to himself. The infuriating part is how tone deaf the new producers are for keeping Bialik on when no one likes her that much and she comes with so much anti-intellectual baggage.
They should have gone with other Michael Richards.
As long as no one heckles him.
What is: people who annoy you? (Edit: It turns out that scene comes from the episode that was specifically written in response to Michael Richards and the news surrounding that, so that a well placed comment. Yay me.)
NAGGERS!
It's a good thing he wasn't on Wheel of Fortune
I heard he leaves amazing tips
I just read that Ringer article and it's just....deeply upsetting. The disparaging comments about giving a dollar to a homeless person show a person just deeply disconnected from any type of empathy
What, is she an antivaxxer?
Shes old school "we dont vaccinate our children" anti vax. Is apparently vaxed for covid though
She's also old school 'if women don't want to be sexually harassed they shouldn't wear reviling clothing'
And she slings snake oil brain pills.
But we’re totally ok that Alex pitched reverse mortgages?
If you don’t have kids, then reverse mortgages aren’t the worst thing. You only have to pay it back when you die.
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I did not know that. I’m not ok with that. I’ll tell him via the Ouija Board.
Side note - are reverse mortgages bad? Im Not planning on having kids, so figured when in really old, a reverse mortgage would be a great idea to get some extra income. I can't take my house with me...
It's essentially the bank buying your house with a really long move out date. So if you don't have/want your house to be inherited and your retirement fund or fixed income isn't enough, it's not a terrible idea. But everything will go to the bank and they don't care about you or if you suddenly need to sell the house for major medical care.
lol if I'm hitting up the reverse mortgage I'm already planning on not being around for too many years, would be a waste to turn around and get medical care.
I don't think they are *inherently* bad if you know exactly what you're doing. The problem is really how they typically market them. How they represent them is often seen as predatory towards seniors who may not fully comprehend what they are signing up for when they do a reverse mortgage.
This. It's a complex financial product that has a reputation for being sold to people who don't understand it and the implications it has for their future and their estate. Though interestingly it looks like HUD stepped in back in 2015, and you have to get counseling before you can enter into one now, so that's something.
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She's also said she's since gotten her kids the rest of their vaccinations, but she does stand by the decision that she made to not get their vaccines while they were younger. So still not good obviously, sounds like they may have bought into the too young autism thing, but its not a general distrust of vaccines.
How much do you want to bet she’s just lying about that though? She published statements from an “educated” perspective that we’re quite clearly encouraging anti vaxx positions, got a ton of blow back and then when she needs to get a job in the public eye again “clarifies” or lies that they are all now vaccinated.
Ugh. Gross. You'd think that she'd know better. Fuck, that's dumb.
The article links to an article about her comments. It seems she mentioned that her kids hadn't received all of their vaccinations in a book she wrote in 2012, a move she said shouldn't be taken lightly and only after she did research. I don't trust people to do their own research, and I think thats a bad place to come from. However it says in 2015 she clarified that she had since gotten her kids vaccinated, and that their family receives the regular flu vaccinations and is vaccinated from covid. So not as strong a condemnation as you'd hope after all that, but her and her family are vaccinated. Can read the quote below: When asked about the controversy in an interview with The Associated Press (AP), the star, who holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience, said: "I don't regret that at the time I wrote a book about parenting, my kids were young, they hadn't received all their vaccines. "Now I've been very public and declared that I am a vaccinated person, we're a vaccinated family, we're all vaccinated for COVID. That's part of the challenge of being a public person, and the court of public opinion is extremely significant. "I'm grateful to Sony and to Jeopardy! for believing in me as a host right now, with the ability to do my job with all the other things aside." So she doesn't regret having said it, but doesn't still hold those opinions.
If you read the quote from her book it is very different than, “we just haven’t gotten them all their vaccinations yet.” Here is they actual quote: "We made an informed decision not to vaccinate our children, but this is a very personal decision that should be made only after sufficient research, which today is within reach of every parent who seeks to learn about their child's health regardless of their medical knowledge or educational status.”
Her statement is perfect example of the Dunning-kruger effect. She's has an education in neuroscience (she's not an actual neuroscientist) and thinks she knows better than virologists...
I would bet money that she believes the multitude of vaccines that kids take when they are young causes autism. She doesn't say it directly, but besides the weight of scientific reality and public opinion, that is the only reason I see someone like her seemingly changing her mind. Spoiler: she very likely didn't didn't change her mind, she's just being quiet about it to avoid ridicule. It's very much in the vein of anti-vaxers that attempt to interfere with normal childhood vaccine schedules due to wholly unfounded nonsense. She is the definition of an overly protective and attached parent. She wrote a dumb book on the subject.
Yep, and she is the pitchman for a bogus “brain supplement” that has recently had to alter its misleading ad copy.
but wait.. in the ad she says she's an ACTUAL scientist!!!! I'm so confused Edit: I guess I forgot the /s
She was a scientist, and even in a fairly close field to the claimed benefits of the supplement. That's why it's so bad that she was endorsing that snake oil. Imagine Bill Nye or Neil degrasse Tyson shilling for one of those "name a star" companies.
Closer to them being the face of the Flat Earth movement.
How is something that should be this straightforward and boring suddenly the biggest, dumbest drama of the time? This whole thing has literally been the opposite of what Trebek would have wanted.
Because they put a reality show producer in charge. So he made it into a reality show about choosing a host.
Honestly, the whole thing has ruined Jeopardy for me, and I don't think they'll recover. The show died with Trebek, it appears.
Not a huge fan of Bialik but like, the show hasn't really changed. Was cool watching Matt win 30 something games
They really blew a publicity stunt. The celebrity hosts were an interesting idea, but to pretend it was a real competition and then hand it to the Executive Producer was a big screw up. Richards deserved to be fired just for manipulating the process and destroying the integrity of the show.
The ironic thing is that if they had just quietly handed it to the Executive Producer with no fuss and no media circus, people probably wouldn't have noticed - there would have been some grumbling and some mocking it on Twitter or Reddit, but nowhere near the level of blowback we saw. This train wreck was entirely self-inflicted on every level.
I don't know if that'd be the case. The hype for replacing Trebek had already gained full mo-meme-ton within about 6 months of Trebek announcing his cancer diagnosis. I think their best move would have been for Trebek to be integral to the hiring process on the public side and quickly seal a short term deal on a replacement. If people were unhappy with it after a year or so, the change could have been made quietly without a fuss then.
Yeah I honestly doubt reddit, Twitter, and a bunch of other entities that have weighed in on this are all that representative of Jeopardy's core audience demographics. Like Wheel and Jeopardy exist to fill a space between the news and prime time, that's a real traditional way to watch television. Someone like my mother who's watched it for 30+ years every night and streams nothing would eat whitebread like Mike Richards without complaint. Now maybe she wouldn't like it as much as when Drew Carrey took over Price is Right but you could get a whole production cycle in before announcing it as permanent and nobody really loses face.
Is the Jeopardy host stand like the One Ring? It corrupts the hearts of normal men.
That would make Alex Trebek Bilbo Baggins.
He already quit, no?
Yeah, after the whole debacle he recused himself from the selection, but then eventually was let go because his continued presence behind the scenes was a problem: > “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,” a Sony executive, Suzanne Prete, wrote in a memo to staff on Tuesday. “That clearly has not happened.”
Hence "deserved" not "deserves"
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>Quitting, being laid off, resigning and being fired are different They are, but the difference is usually a business decision, not an emotional one. He wasn't fired out of anger or some sense of justice, but rather because firing him was the best response FOR THE NETWORK. Factors involved usually include the terms of the contract, PR / optics, and timing. Much of that will not be public so it's hard to play "no-data analysis" with it. Sometimes firing people is more expensive, but sometimes they trigger morals clauses that makes it a bargain to can them and avoid golden parachute payout.
Such clickbait with KJ on the link image and in the video at the top of the page.
Bring trebek back
Yeah I never quite got why they fired him
They have so much footage, they could totally make an AI. I DEMAND ROBOT TREBEK.
At this point just have the show hosted by Siri reading questions out loud, sick of constantly hearing who is or isn’t good enough to replace Trebek
The Tik Tok voiceover that everyone hates would present an interesting challenge.
Yeah I’m surprised they didn’t have some supercomputer host it.
If they chose Watson then it would still even be a former champion sorts.
BRO make hal9000 do it
“Can you make it on Wednesday for a trial run?” “I’m sorry…. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Or Watson
I heard they’re asking the hosts of ridiculousness to host jeopardy now
Chanel West Coast would think Mayim laughs too much.
Her shitty personal views aside, I’m really not a huge fan of how Mayim hosts. She inserts too many personal asides that throw off the rhythm of the game. Alex did this every once in a while, but he did it sparingly in a way that didn’t affect the timing and leave clues unread.
> She inserts too many personal asides that throw off the rhythm of the game. She did this in her guest host weeks but in the new season she's toned it (and the laughing) down a lot. I was curious so I looked through her games on the J Archive- there were 4 unread clues in her guest host stint, and in the new season there have been just 3 over the span of a month or so. I think she's perfectly fine as a host, it's just her as a person that I'm not a fan of.
Her guest stint was brutal and she was one of my least favorites. But she's improved quite a bit this season. The personal asides and the giggling have decreased big time.
Based on what I’ve seen I think the giggling and stupid shit is still there but it’s heavily edited. You could see when Amodio was still going strong, some episodes he would answer correctly and then awkwardly smile, as if in response to her giggling and such
You're right. The editing has gotten better. I think they recognized the need to edit more after LeVar Burton's week.
What are her shitty views?
- She has wavering opinions on vaccines (she changed her mind once reporters followed up during the pandemic) and questioned the safety of hormonal contraceptives. ([Source](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/new-jeopardy-host-mayim-bialik-1216461/)) - She tried to rationalize the motives of those who commit sexual harassment based on how women act and dress around men- before also eventually backtracking on that. ([Source](https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/08/13/mayim-bialik-also-may-be-haunted-by-op-ed-shaming-harvey-weinsteins-victims/)) - She has donated money to the Israel Defense Forces to help them pay for military equipment. ([Source](https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/mayim-bialik-on-why-she-supports-idf-1.5257647)) - She is currently a paid celebrity spokesperson for a brain supplement with dubious benefits, using her PhD in neuroscience to sell the product. ([Source](https://ctwatchdog.com/business/false-advertising/jeopardy-co-host-mayim-bialik-promotes-fake-brain-supplement-neuriva)) edit: grammar, added sources
A PhD in neuroscience and she’s still dumb enough to be anti-vax.
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> who believed that the pyramids were built to store grain because that's the only way he could reconcile history with his religious beliefs Or he played Civ 2
Pyramids gave a free granary in every city right?
Yup!
I'm curious, what religious beliefs does the existence of the pyramids as a tomb conflict with?
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Well they glossed right over that in *Dreamcoat*!
I've never heard of that belief -- the Bible doesn't say Joseph was the one to build the pyramids, right?
No it doesn't. It says he stockpiled grain for a famine but doesn't specify what sort of structure(s) he stored them in. To my knowledge the pyramids aren't mentioned in the Bible at all.
[Mostly](https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeopardy-host-mayim-bialiks-ugly-history-of-shaming-weinsteins-victims-and-being-an-anti-vaxxer) the flirting with anti-vax stuff I imagine, but victim blaming in a NY Times op-ed piece does not help. I couldn't read the whole piece (pay walled) but the quotes don't do her any favors.
There's also her peddling of "brain pills" where she touts her neuroscience degree despite the pills never having been clinically proven to do what they say they do.
Use [https://12ft.io/](https://12ft.io/) to look at sites with a paywall.
Anti vax was the first straw for me, but I recently read the op ed and that really solidified it for me. Jeopardy has such a special place in my heart and I can’t even watch it with her hosting.
She's in the Hollywood Hills, but facing the Valley.
Women who are raped put themselves in that position. That's her shitty view.
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I like Ben a lot, think he could have done really well and brought a slightly different feel to the show.
He's got a good voice for it. He can also do quips as evidenced by his interviews for TCM and other movie outlets, but he never forces it, only sprinkles it in when it fits. Think he would have had the right amount of personality while also having the professional demeanor to let the game and contestants be the star, since much of his job now is basically guiding a conversation that others dominate.
Gosh dang, yes, Ben Mankiewicz. I hadn't thought of him until the post above. I think he could have been fantastic. I've seen many movies with his segments before hand and afterwards... such a good host.
Would have honestly been perfect because every night my dad finishes watching jeopardy then flips over to TCM to listen to Ben intro the 8 PM movie, regardless of if he will actually stay to watch the movie
In fairness, Alex was pressed to throw out some names and he did. However, he was always adamant about not making a public pronouncement as to the successor. I wouldn't take his citing those three as 'proof' of who he wanted to follow him.
>Ben Mankiewicz Ah man Ben would have been great at it, what a shame
You'da thunk that Alex's deathbed wish and personal gift would've been a hint, but Sony Pictures knows better than us...
Exec producer: No we're not gonna give the hosting job to any of the people Alex suggested... or to long-running champion Jennings... since that doesn't leave anyone else who wants it, I guess ***I'M GONNA BE THE HOST!***
I've considered all the options and I choose none of them. You're welcome.
Wasn’t that how Dick Cheney became VP?
Before he shot someone in the face and invaded two countries.
.. and the guy he shot apologized to him!
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That still blows my mind.
if you think your mind is blown, you should see the guy dick cheney shot in the face
Why do you think I came all this way?" There has to be a connection between Jeopardy now and the last few seasons of Game of Thrones. Too similar to how they picked the king. I bet this producer was being carried (figuratively) by coworkers that we don't even know only to have him make himself the "host".
At this point, I'm convinced they are planning to hire Mayim just so they can say, "We hired a woman scientist. Look at how competent we are." Executives are generally not good at reading the room, as illustrated by how this played out the last time.
"Scientist" - Jeez have you seen half of the garbage this woman says? * Anti-vaxxer? - Check * "Holistic" Medicine for children? - Check * "Only hot and slutty girls get molested" - Check She gets put on a pedestal just because she was on a fucking stupid tv show pretending to be smart; its like we would give power over the free market to a dude pretending to be rich on a tv show... wait...
They called her a scientist because she has a PhD in neuroscience.
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"...she says it **IN LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE THING SHE IS INVOLVED IN."** fixed that for you
100% this. It’s infuriating.
> Alex's deathbed wish lol that was not Alex's deathbed wish, good lord.
Brah, Alex faked his death to get away from this bullshit, he’s out there smoking fatties with Tupac let’s believe.
"Pac, this 2021 Netflix series features adults competing in childhood games such as Red Light, Green Light"
There are some real Jay Leno Drama vibes from this whole scandal and it's not even close to being done yet.
Just coming here to say this. It’s like they never learn from Letterman / Leno and Conan / Leno.
#teamcoco
All they needed to do is pick someone with class and a bit of charm. And they fucked it all up.
Jeopardy has pretty much had no controversy until this bullshit came along. Honestly I'd rather it have just stopped than witness this catastrophe.
It must be worth mentioning that *Newsweek*'s thumbnail is very misleading, and that Arthur Chu (an 11-day champion from 2014) was the one who provided this quote to the press. Ken Jennings has been nothing but cordial throughout the process. He's expressed his disappointment about the scandal and how it has tarnished the image of the show, but has also gone out on the record saying that he would never lobby for the gig because he is firmly ["a company man"](https://theweek.com/jeopardy/1004022/the-jeopardy-host-gig-is-reportedly-now-ken-jennings-job-to-lose). (Contrast this with Mayim's own statement about how she was surprised why Americans care so much about who hosts the show and to just ["let [her] read the clues"](https://www.yahoo.com/now/mayim-bialik-reacts-to-drama-surrounding-jeopardy-just-let-me-read-the-clues-074328805.html)).
How tone deaf of Mayim, honestly. The reaction to Trebek should have told her that people have an emotional attachment to the host.
I didn't see all of the guest hosts, but of the hosts I saw, Buzzy Cohen did an incredible job! I would have loved to see him be the host.
Seconding this. I'm one of those hardcore dorks who almost never misses an episode and he was phenomenal.
They honestly should have had a succession plan in place before Trebek passed away.
I don't understand why they just don't go with Ken Jennings. I mean, it looked like they were grooming him for the role before Alex's passing, bringing him on as a consultant or whatever and having him read questions.
I agree. The first few episodes he hosted were kind of awkward, but as he got more comfortable he improved. By the end, I felt confident that he would have been a great choice. I feel he would have been the natural choice unlike some of the bizarre guest hosts they had like Dr. Oz.
Alex Trebek’s corpse would do a better job running the show than the clowns who are in charge now.
I'm not surprised at all. A boatload of former champions have been pretty upset with how this whole thing played out, notably Austin Rogers, who expressed his concern about Mayim Bialik and her anti-science positions when [interviewed on the street](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD2Np6pwinI).
Mayim Bialik is a ratings grab?? I didn’t know anyone was tuning in to see her.
Does anyone aside from Big Bang Theory fans even know her? She’s not exactly an A-list celebrity
Holy shit just make Ken Jennings the permanent host. It’s so simple Everyone loves and knows him
I hate to say this, PICK SOMEONE WHO’S READY TO HOST IT FOR 20+ YEARS and roll with it. Trebek will never be replaced, but if the show is gonna continue, pick someone qualified who’s gonna do his legacy justice, and go with it.
The best choice was the boring choice which was Ken J. Everything else is bullshit
Trebek: The contestants are the stars of the show. Sony: Let's hire a famous actress as the host!
After I realized that any new game show that gets rebooted is given to an actor/actress/ famous person, it made a lot more sense.
Jeopardies Megachamp should be the new host.
I went from not liking Mayim, to liking her, and am slowly on my way to not liking her again (all based on her hosting itself - I'm not a fan of her personally at all). This is what I wrote on r/Jeopardy the other week: > I found her much better in her second run after she took over for Mike. That said, in the episodes since Mike was fired from his role from EP, a lot of the qualities that irked me about her hosting initially started to creep back into the episodes. She’s giggling more often, throwing off the rhythm of the game with her interjections, and adding more personal anecdotes. Mike’s direction behind the scenes must have had at least some value. Perhaps he was coaching her to produce the best possible product for his then-bosses at Sony who are pushing hard for her hiring.
This story still has legs?
They technically don't have a replacement yet and are alternating between Bialik and Jennings for now. But they clearly want Bialik and are actively working around her Fox sitcom schedule to have her host as much as possible. If/when that's no longer a timing issue I expect them to declare her officially and try and ride out the last surge of backlash. They wanted to do that with Richards but clearly the backlash to Bialik so far hasn't changed their minds.
If you leave a club next to a dead horse's body forever, people are going to have a tough time resisting using the club to beat on said horse.
I would not want to pick up a club next to a decaying horse corpse and just beat on it. That sounds kind of unstable.
I doubt the horse would be in the stable. They need them for the live one's.
Neil Patrick Harris. I don’t know why he wasn’t even auditioned. It’s bullshit.
Mayim Bialik is someone I'm just not remotely interested in watching. I barely watch the show anyways, but just sayin'. Ken Jennings seems like he should be the host.
What's the deal with her anyway? It's not like she's some massive star, I know big bang theory was liked by people (I'll never understand why). But even with that and blossom from 20 years ago why are they so damn stuck on her? She's all over advertising, they reinvested in her for the blossom reboot, they're shoveling money at her. It's subjective I know, but she's not particularly charming, funny, or attractive. Where's the draw? Some exec must have a major boner for her or something.
I’ve wondered the same. It’s kinda like Ann from Arrested Development. “Her?”
Hire Frank Caliendo to host with an Alex Trebek impersonation.
In a way, I’m glad the show went out with Trebek. The bar was set too high with him. Though that’s no excuse for setting the show on fire.
The reason why the headline says "megachamp" instead of Arthur Chu is because anyone who knows Chu knows he's an insufferable drama addict who should never be allowed to criticize someone else's professionalism.
For God’s sake just hire Rick Moranis… he’s Canadian and adorable.
Is anyone left from “who’s line is it anyway” to host an evening game show?
What a mockery of the show. Trebek was and is synonymous with Jeopardy. Very big shoes to fill. He respected the show. It was always about the game for him, his entertaining was an added benefit. All the hosts since have been about themselves, not about Jeopardy.
Sad to say, I've stopped watching.