The long and strange cycle of Jeopardy! guest hosts following the death of Alex Trebek may soon, finally, come to an end. That is, of course, if the announcement of a new host actually sticks this time.
It’s been nearly two years of drama since Trebek’s passing, as the long string of guest hosts and outrage following the announcement of Mike Richards as his replacement has filled headlines and sparked plenty of controversy. But all of that is apparently coming to an end.
As Variety detailed in a backstage interview with Jeopardy! producer Michael Davies at the Daytime Emmys, the folks behind America’s most popular syndicated game show are gearing up to officially announce a replacement for Trebek. Davies, now at the reigns of the show following the departure of Mike Richards in the fallout of his own attempt to take over as host, said the “awkward” phase of the show did have some good news: namely in some spectacular runs from contestants:
“The scandal was, as we call it at ‘Jeopardy!,’ ‘the awkward months,’” executive producer Michael Davies said backstage. “But it showed the power of our audience and how passionately our fans care about the program, which is just so important. What’s happened over the course of the season — Matt Amodio, and Amy Schneider and Mattea [Roach] and Ryan [Long] — really made us just remember how incredible the game is. The stars of our show and Mayim [Bialik] and Ken [Jennings] have done incredible job hosting.”
Davies is certainly not wrong, as we’ve seen some records fall and huge paydays during the stretch where no one really knew who would be hosting at any given time. But the bigger story is that the show expects to name permanent hosts “very soon.” And not just one.
Davies added, ‘we hope to have a hosting announcement very, very soon. But with all of our plans for ‘Jeopardy!’ — which is more ‘Jeopardy!,’ not less, more versions — we’re going to need multiple hosts to represent the entire audience, to represent the entire country, in order to take this franchise forward.”
The “more versions” Davies is referring to are the primetime ABC events that Mayim Bialik is currently slated to host, though there has been some speculation that something different is now in the works. The whom here is, of course, the biggest question on fans’ minds, but it’s certainly intriguing that Jeopardy! is comfortable having multiple hosts tackling different formats of the show. By now fans certainly have their favorites, and though it will be impossible to please everyone it seems like they are confident there’s plenty of answers in the form of questions for everyone that wants the hosting podium.
(Via Variety)