Posted on 11/17/2021 9:07:03 AM PST by Kaslin
Ken Jennings returned for a second stint as guest host. In the episodes that aired last week, he appeared more willing to open up a bit.
An old axiom states that no news is good news. For “Jeopardy!,” that mantra has certainly applied to the last several weeks.
In August, the sense of stability and solidity the program cultivated over decades evaporated seemingly overnight. Within days of naming Mike Richards as its permanent host to replace Alex Trebek, it had to replace him as host for making a series of offensive remarks, eventually firing Richards as the show’s executive producer too.
The show recruited Mayim Bialik, originally hired to emcee “Jeopardy!” network specials and spin-offs, as a fill-in to replace Richards as host of the syndicated program. And it had to endure an incredibly awkward week of episodes hosted by Richards, which were taped prior to his termination but aired after his firing.
By last week, however, those dramatic events of late summer seemed, if not ancient history, at least in “Jeopardy’s” rearview mirror. Ken Jennings returned for a second stint as guest host; he and Bialik will preside over episodes through the end of calendar year 2021.
By the time Jennings returned to the lectern, he did not see a familiar face at the returning champion’s position in the studio. In an episode that aired October 11 (and the first episode after Richards’s ouster as executive producer), Matt Amodio lost after 38 wins and just over $1.5 million in earnings.
Amodio’s winning streak ranks second behind only Jennings’s run in 2004, and his earnings total ranks third behind Jennings and James Holzhauer. Likewise, the man who defeated Amodio, Jonathan Fisher, completed his own 11-day run as champion in October, earning early $250,000 in the process.
Jennings’s comportment also changed during last week’s episodes when compared to his first stint behind the lectern. His first round of episodes taped in late November 2020, mere weeks after Trebek’s death last November 8. I noted in January that Jennings seemed subdued in his first week of episodes as host, no doubt in part due to the somber mood at the time and his nerves.
In the episodes that aired last week, however, Jennings appeared more willing to open up a bit. He engaged with contestants, for instance making comments about a Russian category as it related to a contestant who had studied in St. Petersburg. Overall, he seemed less ill-at-ease than he had in January, and even occasionally willing to crack a joke.
But one negative trait cropped up on several occasions last week when Jennings made comments about contestants’ wagering and strategy. “You could have bet bigger; you’d be in the lead,” he said last Monday after a contestant got a Daily Double correct. He made similar remarks liking particular contestants’ aggressive betting strategies during Final Jeopardy.
In fairness, Trebek would also occasionally participate in this same behavior. He could try to goad people into big wagers (“If you made this a true Daily Double and responded correctly…”), to the point that two champions noted this tendency in a book published nearly 30 years ago.
But Jennings seemed to do this more frequently during last week’s episodes. Moreover, as a former champion himself, for Jennings to insert his commentary about how contestants choose to play the game could add more pressure to an already intense environment for most players. If Jennings wants to host “Jeopardy!,” he should host “Jeopardy!.” and not armchair quarterback contestants from behind his own lectern.
As to the permanent host of “Jeopardy!,” that remains unknown. The show has not announced plans for emcees beyond the end of the calendar year, although it should do so shortly, as episodes airing in January will likely get taped in the next few weeks.
As former champion Arthur Chu noted in a column written after Richards’s departure, a lower-key host search is consistent with the “Jeopardy!” ethos, which places the contestants—and not the emcee—at the heart of the show. Richards, who supervised last season’s rotating cavalcade of guest hosts, turned “Jeopardy!” into a mini-circus, one in which people tuned in to watch the host, not the contestants, and in which most of the people “rooting” for a particular guest host to get the permanent nod were by definition going to be disappointed.
“Jeopardy!” could, and should, entertain other names than Bialik and Jennings as the permanent host for the syndicated program. But Michael Davies, who developed the American version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and succeeded Richards as executive producer, should also use a more dignified, and less chaotic, process to select the show’s ultimate host. The fact that “Jeopardy!” has started to move on from the tumult of the summer suggests that the production team will do exactly that.
I’m for an Art Fleming hologram.
“Soooorry, noooooo”
And heck, he can punch out any rowdy participants with those fists!
I don’t care if a host is a lefty as long as they don’t bring their politics into the show.
Now THAT I would pay to see.
I’m troubled. (sarc) Jeopardy isn’t woke enough. Why are there not more non-white people on that show?
And why is it that Family Feud seems the be the only show with a non-white host.
Think about that one.
I liked Buzzy too, the Mr. Quarterback was surprisingly good too.
What happened to Amodio? He just took a big dump on his last day.
“As a regular Jeopardy watcher, I’m fine with either Mayim Bialik or Ken Jennings.... or the two of them sharing it.”
I agree but favor Jennings a little. He’s so smart and quick.
In an episode a few days ago a contestant missed identifying an eel who’s picture was shown. Jennings gave the correct answer by saying “as Dean Martin would say, ‘that’s amore’”.
I had forgotten about it but yeah, afterward I remembered hearing something about it.
“More about celebrity crap “
I can’t believe that Wheel of Fortune is doing a celebrity version in addition to their regular version.
He’s very smart.
“He says no that’s the wrong answer and stares at him.”
I think if you get the correct answer within the time limit then it’s ok. I think the offscreen checkers would have invalidated the answer if it were outside the rules.
I basically stopped watching Jeopardy after Alex Trebek died. It just wasn’t the same, whichever host they tried.
I agree about the questions not being an improvement compared to, say, 10 years ago. It’s not just the increasing proportion of pop-culture questions, but also that the contestants must rely less on factual knowledge and more on ability to pick up hints and allusions contained within the questions. The show’s writers seem to be trying to show how clever they are.
Oh, well, time goes on and things change.
Good point. I figured out when I was in high school (through 1972) that prizes came with a hefty tax. That’s when I “owned” the idea that I would not want to be on a game show.
I remember when I was a kid in the 60’s. When someone won on a TV show my little kid brain literally interpreted it as “they’re set for life!” i.e. “now that we have a new washer and dryer we can retire in luxury.” 😜
Art Fleming would have hammered the guy.
Ya. There’s a better way to go about it. Jennings hinted to him that he was close and should try again.
Ken Jennings (Round II). Who Wants to Be the Next ‘Jeopardy!’ Host?
“Why are there not more non-white people on that show?”
Because those less mentally acute would be embarrassed on the show. The show is like a 30 minute test. Maybe it needs to be cancelled since testing is racist.
no to Jennings, no to Bialik
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