Mayim Bialik — who is trading off Jeopardy! hosting duties with Ken Jennings for the rest of the year following the disgraced Mike Richards’ exit — recently declared that she gunning for the permanent hosting gig, and it sure looks like things are going promisingly for her. The former Blossom and Big Bang Theory actress’ first stab at the post-awkwardness vibe of Richards’ sole week of taped episodes revealed that audiences are digging her much more than Richards.
That is to say, Bialik, who’s sharing the screen with the same champion (Matt Amodio) racking up wins as Richards did, is doing markedly better than her predecessor, who saw Jeopardy! lose the top ratings spot during his brief tenure. The Wrap breaks it down:
The “Big Bang Theory” alum’s debut as temp host of the syndicated version of the Sony quiz show rose 6% in ratings from the previous week, when Mike Richards was the very short-lived full-time host. Bialik’s week also rose 6% from the comparable week last year.
Ultimately, Jeopardy! (with 8.9 total average viewers) managed to tie with Family Feud (with 8.6 total average viewers) for the top spot, so that’s not a total win, but it’s not a loss, either. Her philosophy towards hosting seems rather healthy, too, given that she previously declared that the host shouldn’t attract too much attention to themselves. And that was one of the problems with Mike Richards. In addition to his history of troubling remarks, it could be argued that engineering himself into the host role was a way to make it, you know, all about himself. Not great! Yet the long-running game show looks to be on the path to recovery.
(Via The Wrap)