Well, that was quick.
In a stunning announcement Friday morning, Mike Richards – who arguably never should have been awarded the job – “stepped down” as the new host of “Jeopardy!”
His hasty departure came just two days after The Ringer website exposed a barrage of sexist and derogatory comments from his past – and just nine days after he was tapped to replace the late Alex Trebek as the face of the iconic TV game show.
In somewhat of a surprise, Richards will stay on as executive producer of “Jeopardy!” but the search for Trebek’s permanent replacement goes on. In a memo to his staff, Richards said Sony Television Pictures will revert to a guest host rotation as it continues production for the new season, details of which will be announced next week. Friday’s tapings were canceled.
So now what?
“Jeopardy! could possibly install Mayim Bialik as its nightly host. After all, she already has been hired by Sony to host some prime-time “Jeopardy!” specials. Why not just give the entire job to her?
But the former “Big Bang Theory” star comes with some baggage of her own in the form of past controversial opinions, including her views on vaccines and comments on Harvey Weinstein. She also is in her second season of headlining the Fox sitcom “Call Me Kat,” which could possibly cause problems with scheduling.
Aaron Rodgers? He’s back to playing football again.
Of course, the name that keeps popping up is LeVar Burton, who had openly campaigned for the job upon landing a one-week tryout this summer. He has a massive and active fan base and he was trending on Twitter immediately after the Richards announcement was made public.
And then there’s Ken Jennings. The “Jeopardy!” GOAT reportedly generated the best ratings out of all this summer’s celebrity fill-ins and he remains on staff as a consulting producer for the show.
Or why not give some consideration to Trebek’s advice? During an interview back in 2018, he suggested that CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates or NHL sportscaster Alex Faust might make a great replacement at the podium. Maybe they should at least be given a shot during the next round of revolving guest hosts.
In the meantime, it remains almost sadly laughable how much Sony Television screwed up this process. Even before Richards’ past comments — and involvement in discrimination suits — surfaced, his hiring was widely criticized by “Jeopardy!” fans.
After presenting a parade of fill-in hosts that included such notables as Anderson Cooper, Robin Roberts, Katie Couric, Savannah Guthrie, George Stephanopoulos and others, the studio had a chance to bring a fresh, possibly more diverse look to to the syndicated game show scene.
Instead, it went with the unknown “inside” guy — a move that triggered outrage all over social media that the fix was in.
Adding insult to injury: Richards had never made a major dent in the many online polls asking fans to name their choice for “Jeopardy!” host. (He finished fifth in our Bay Area News Group poll).
It’s no wonder, then, that many on social media took delight Friday in Richards’ downfall. Once again, past comments (and behavior) came back to torpedo a showbiz career.
It will be intriguing to see where “Jeopardy!” goes from here. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up again.
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