Jeopardy! Megathread

[Alben Barkley]

Probably Ken will get it, which is fitting. Though I still think Cooper did a better job. I was also pleasantly surprised with Savannah Guthrie. Really most of the news personalities have done well, better than Ken honestly in terms of polish at least. But Ken can grow into the role, he’s the most natural successor, the one who doesn’t have anything better to do, and probably the one they can get cheapest. (It was always ridiculous to think Aaron Rodgers could be the permanent host for these reasons, and I thought he was overrated anyway.) All that plus Ken being a fan favorite and safe pick who already has the most experience under his belt means he should be the hands down favorite. Really, I think this endless stream of celebrity guest hosts is meant more to soften the transition between Alex and Ken than anything. I’m not sure it was necessary though, they could probably have just jumped right to him and stuck with him.

Also, I think LeVar Burton flopped hard and was a big disappointment after all the hype built up around him.

[Alben Barkley]

If Ken Jennings wants it, he should get it.

Otherwise, I don't think Brad Rutter or James Holzhauer would say no if Jeopardy asked either of them if they were interested in being the new host...

Ken definitely wants it. James would be a terrible host. Brad maybe would be OK but he’s nowhere near as famous as Ken.

[Alben Barkley]

Well hell, looks like the most likely candidate according to leaks of negotiations is actually Mike Richards:

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-alex-trebek-1235034673/

This is pretty surprising to me. I figured he was just filling in for Ken for a couple weeks, never thought a producer would step in front of the camera full-time. But I guess you never should bet against someone who plays a role in hiring himself!

[Alben Barkley]

I'm inclined to believe the right thing to do was either hire Pat Sajak, or put the show to bed without Alex.

Pat Sajak would not work at all for Jeopardy. He's way too bubbly. Works fine for Wheel of Fortune, but Jeopardy aims for a more subdued, classy, intellectual, almost "elitist" vibe. Alex was perfect for that because he came off like a college professor or something. He was believable as the guy who knew it all, and could be both charismatic and acerbic when necessary. Again, perfect for the show. Pat Sajak would be a horrible fit because I don't think he would have the same bite and aura at all; he seems more like a used car salesman than a college professor. Mike at least seems to know how to imitate Alex decently enough, although I wasn't terribly impressed with his two week stint.

[Alben Barkley]

The news has been pretty f**king grim this week, but we've now been fortunately blessed with low-stakes schadenfreude:

https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/18/22631299/mike-richards-jeopardy-host-search-process-past-comments

Y'know, I didn't actually dislike him when he guest-hosted, as I thought that he did a serviceable-enough job in the role & I actually bought his lie that he was just a last-minute emergency fill-in who, although running the search for the new host, wasn't an actual contender for the permanent job. But now, though, anybody who's been paying attention to talk of this process on here surely knows by now that I've not liked the prospect of him hosting ever since it became an apparent likelihood with that Variety report. And yet still, every single piece of information that has since come about him has somehow only served to make me hate him even more than I already did. It'd honestly be amazing if it weren't infuriating.

Despite my well-documented distaste for cancel culture, it would be nice if for once it takes down a very deserving target in time to get the right man for the job (Ken) in place. Of course they tried to cancel Ken in the first place for absolute bulls--t which might be part of the reason we're in this situation.

[Alben Barkley]

So guessing it's gonna be the anti vax big bang theory actress? Yuck

Still hoping for Ken Jennings but she’s definitely a frontrunner.

Supposedly they actually offered her the job first and she turned it down except for the specials, so doubt she wants it. Still a chance Ken gets it.

[Alben Barkley]

Hopefully it isn't Bialik

If that TMZ report about Sony wanting her for the daily syndicated version but not being able to get her availability-wise due to her sitcom is true, then I can't see her getting it, since this situation hasn't actually changed her availability sitcom-wise. I imagine it'll have to be Ken, given his in-studio presence, his "controversies" being nothing compared to Richards', those reports of him being Alex's preferred successor (leaning into which could be great PR for Sony after this whole sh*tshow), & his frank professionalism through all of this in spite of having been screwed over & treated like sh*t by Mike.

I really hope so.

I also liked David Faber, Anderson Cooper, Savannah Guthrie, and others as host. But Ken has always just seemed like the most logical and natural fit.

[Alben Barkley]

Tbh I am kinda glad Matt’s run is over. He was no James, hence why he made nowhere near as much money despite making it a few games longer. Very good and consistent, yes, but just not as fun to watch as someone with a flashier play style and personality like James had. The robotic “What’s…?” didn’t help. At first I thought that was an interesting quirk, but was just annoyed with it by the end. Seems some answers took more effort to force a “What’s…?” in than the more natural, grammatically correct options would have. Plus the way he paused for a second before every answer reminded me of a Google search loading or something. I have no doubt he did this to be as efficient and optimal as possible, and it clearly worked very well for him. But I also have no doubt even he would admit he was one of the most robotic and machine-like contestants ever (aside from Watson of course), by design. He is a computer science and machine learning/AI expert, after all…

[Alben Barkley]

I thought Matt had looked kind of fatigued for the last few days, especially so in that game, and against two good opponents it finally cost him.  For those not familiar with the taping process, they tape two days a week (usually Tuesday and Wednesday), five games a day with some time between to set up for each new game.  From the first game to the last it's a long day, and to do this two days in a row and then come back the next week (or more) and do it again has to be physically exhausting.  It puts in perspective just how amazing Ken's run was.

One thing to note about Ken though is that he had an enormous advantage on the buzzer due to the fact that not until over halfway through his run did they start training other contestants on how to use it properly before playing (a practice which has stuck ever since). After that, he "only" won another 20 or so games I think. It's quite possible that in today's day and age, with both more robust competition and more preparation from other contestants, he couldn't last much longer than James or Matt did. I still think that in terms of actual raw knowledge and skill, James was actually the GOAT, not Ken. He got a WAY higher percentage of Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy questions right than either Ken or Matt, for one thing. His play style also completely changed the game and forced Ken to upend his own style just to keep up with him and eke out a win over him in the GOAT tournament (ironically, on James missing a Final Jeopardy question despite his like 99.7% accuracy rate and Ken losing originally on a very easy Final Jeopardy question). Luck is of course part of the game, and I don't doubt that any of these guys could beat each other on a good night. I just think that if you had them all play each other 162 times or so, James would probably come out on top in the end. He just hit a perfect storm of bad luck slightly earlier, but still with almost as much money as Ken in half the time.

[Alben Barkley]

https://twitter.com/missmayim/status/1735814025001509226
What happened here? Wording makes it clear that she was fired and didn't quit.

It was long overdue, she sucked as a host and it made no sense to split the show into two hosts anyway.