Jeopardy! Post-Alex Discussion Post

[BonusShell]

I'm not the first one to make this observation, but it appears that some individual(s) at Sony really does not want Ken Jennings to be Jeopardy! emcee. (Which is unfortunate, IMO.) Based on what I've read elsewhere, it appears there are a host of reasons for this (beyond Jennings being a white male):

*Ken's chances were probably badly hurt by his offensive tweets (for which he has since apologized).

*As I previously wrote, Jennings may be too much of a reminder of the Trebek Era. While no Sony executive would publicly make such a statement out of respect for Alex and his fans, the company may want to take Jeopardy! in a "new direction" in a quest to find new viewers (which would be most unfortunate, IMO).

*Though I do not share this sentiment, having the most famous and successful Jeopardy! contestant become Alex's successor may be a bit awkward for some viewers and contestants. I recall someone on Jeopardy's Reddit board liken seeing Ken Jennings host Jeopardy! to watching an episode of Win Ben Stein's Money.

*Time and again, I have read that Jennings rated poorly among focus groups.

Regarding the last point I made, I am not a fan of focus groups because it is easy to see how they can be manipulated. My guess is that they yield mixed results at best. Additionally, executives are paid large amounts of money to make tough decisions, and hiding behind focus groups gives them a handy way to cover their a--es.

I'm curious if you folks agree with my opinion that some person(s) at Sony is (are) very opposed to having Ken Jennings host Jeopardy! And I'm also curious as to your opinions of focus groups in general.

[PatrickRox80]

Regarding the last point I made, I am not a fan of focus groups because it is easy to see how they can be manipulated. My guess is that they yield mixed results at best. Additionally, executives are paid large amounts of money to make tough decisions, and hiding behind focus groups gives them a handy way to cover their a--es.

I'm curious if you folks agree with my opinion that some person(s) at Sony is (are) very opposed to having Ken Jennings host Jeopardy! And I'm also curious as to your opinions of focus groups in general.

I still stand by what I said about focus groups earlier. It’s become their way of hiding behind their ineptitude. That this procedure found nothing wrong with Mike but drew the line at Ken’s tweets reeks of favoritism. The difference is Ken owned up to his mistakes while Mike gave fake apologies and is being rewarded with sensitivity training.

At this point, the procedure in finding someone to host Jeopardy!, temporary or permanent, is no different than finding a ringmaster for a three-ring circus. The fans are treated to an absolute clusterf***, but nobody’s laughing.

[BonusShell]

I still stand by what I said about focus groups earlier. It’s become their way of hiding behind their ineptitude. That this procedure found nothing wrong with Mike but drew the line at Ken’s tweets reeks of favoritism. The difference is Ken owned up to his mistakes while Mike gave fake apologies and is being rewarded with sensitivity training.

At this point, the procedure in finding someone to host Jeopardy!, temporary or permanent, is no different than finding a ringmaster for a three-ring circus. The fans are treated to an absolute clusterf***, but nobody’s laughing.

This is a great post.

Also, I'm not the first to say this, but "sensitivity training" sounds like a complete joke, as people who are forced to undergo it usually double down on being jerks. Once a person reaches a certain age, it's very hard to instill in him or her the importance of treating others with respect and sway him or her from any bigoted viewpoints that are held. For similar reasons, "ethics training" that so many professionals are required to undergo often fails, as one's moral compass is pretty well established by young adulthood (if not sooner).

Mike Richards being kept on as EP seems like a face-saving move on the part of Sony executives, though I have read rumors that he won't have that job for too much longer. IMO, Richards should have already been fired as EP of both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

[urbanpreppie0004]

Jiminy Christmas.

One- Focus groups are used by a NUMBER of industries to make decisions. Not as some way to "hide behind their ineptitude."

Two- Many, many, many industries are also using sensitivity training- sexual harassment, racial, and gender identity. People's moral compasses aren't "set" by young adulthood. People can and have changed to be more sensitive to the changes of society.

And I say this as someone who doesn't like Mike Richards these days.

[pricefan18]

Two- Many, many, many industries are also using sensitivity training- sexual harassment, racial, and gender identity. People's moral compasses aren't "set" by young adulthood. People can and have changed to be more sensitive to the changes of society.

My bigger issue with it personally isn't about that (although I do agree it doesn't typically do a lot on its' own, one has to WANT to be better, racism woulda died in the 60's otherwise if that wasn't the case w/the passage of civil rights laws, but that obviously did not happen), it's more a purveying shift in our culture to where you have to have one sole opinion over any others, and you're damned if you don't, and I don't just mean on these topics I mean as a whole. I don't think that does society much good on a collective level. It's generally how civilizations end up collapsing frankly, once they are so fractured and at each others' throats over any and everything. We're at a pretty rough point I feel like right now, and I think it's unfortunately only likely to become worse before/if it gets better.

[PatrickRox80]

One- Focus groups are used by a NUMBER of industries to make decisions. Not as some way to "hide behind their ineptitude."

When focus groups show as much cracks as the ones Sony used to vet their guest hosts, that shows zero integrity in decision making. All it does it make a mockery out of companies who use those studies to determine the best course of action. Since Mike Richards only knows what's best for Mike Richards, the focus groups were going to skew themselves in his favor no matter what. And now Sony is paying the price because they botched things so badly.

Two- Many, many, many industries are also using sensitivity training- sexual harassment, racial, and gender identity. People's moral compasses aren't "set" by young adulthood. People can and have changed to be more sensitive to the changes of society.

If we're talking about someone making those comments in high school or even college, then that's forgivable because that's the time when minds are still developing. But Mike was in his late thirties chose to make those comments on his podcasts. What's worse is he was coming off legal troubles a few years before, so he didn't learn a thing about how to show respect. He doesn't get a pass there.

[urbanpreppie0004]

I'll just say this. People can change, as adults. I have seen it.

Mike Richards though...

[imhomerjay]

Like any research, a focus group can be done well or…a dumpster fire, or somewhere in between. If we take at face value that certain episodes were selected by Richards to show the groups, without the input of the longer tenured producers and even after he was a candidate, that raises questions, sure. But by and large, most of the guests were not wildly inconsistent either way. Picking “the worst” of some hosts, even if we assume that to be true, isn’t all that different than their better entries. Some might have had butterflies that settled, but of those who might have been actual contenders? They were mostly steady.

There are other details we don’t know. What was the makeup of the groups? How were sessions presented? Who operated them? We don’t know enough to say if or to what degree those factors were skewed. In and of itself that doesn’t condemn the focus group input to being a “cover.”

There’s not really an elegant answer here for the executives tasked with the decision. They’re back to having to make the best of a bad situation, this one of their own making of course. Meanwhile, the staff will soldier on trying to produce the best show they can with the hand they’ve been dealt.

[BonusShell]

I may have been a bit extreme in my assessments regarding focus groups, sensitivity training, and ethics training, but I still remain pretty skeptical about all three of those things.

Regarding the subject of Mike Richards hosting Jeopardy!, below is an old "news" segment (that was uploaded to YouTube on March 1) that's both laughable and cringeworthy. The subject of the video was how Richards became an "overnight sensation" while guest hosting Jeopardy! (I also saw a second ABC News video on this same topic, but I am currently unable to find it.)

If one ever wonders why so many people currently get their news from crackpot outlets, it's because the mainstream media has such little credibility.

[jude_este]

Some information related to the upcoming season from the social networks of an affiliate that airs Jeopardy! and from a contestant competing on the show.

First, the Season 38 premiere week video has dropped from the Fox affiliate in Syracuse, New York, that focuses on Matt Amodio's return while excluding shots of Mike Richards as host.

And according to a 1435315233082552323[/tweet]?s=20]contestant competing on the final show hosted by Mike, contestants competing that week were only sent their headshot photo and weren't given the picture with him in it.

[Bluescreen_ODeff]

Just looking at the paused video and comparing it with last year's set, there have been some changes.  It looks more "prime time"-ish.  I see the following changes:

1. The host lectern is different.
2. The contestant lecterns have a different side background.
3. The contestant background is different, with added purple spotlights.
4. Where there was just a curtain on the top of the set, now there are stars like in the GOAT series.

I think it's nice.

[RatRace10]

According to the Jeopardy subreddit, this weekend's rerun airing of Jeopardy is going to be the last Alex Trebek episode to air on television for a while. For the first few weeks at least, all reruns will be Mayim episode. People are speculating that she has been already picked as permanent host and they are focusing the reruns on her to "establish" her. The weekday reruns which are normally a year old will only be a week old once her episodes from this season start airing.

[JayC]

It could just be because Mayim will be hosting for three weeks after the first week. I'm surprised they didn't go with Alex's season 37 episodes and run those as long as they could on the daytime and weekend reruns.

[imhomerjay]

There comes a point where rerunning Alex becomes too much of a distraction with the show needing to move into whatever the next era is.

[BillyGr]

According to the Jeopardy subreddit, this weekend's rerun airing of Jeopardy is going to be the last Alex Trebek episode to air on television for a while. For the first few weeks at least, all reruns will be Mayim episode. People are speculating that she has been already picked as permanent host and they are focusing the reruns on her to "establish" her. The weekday reruns which are normally a year old will only be a week old once her episodes from this season start airing.

Would they start off by rerunning her older episodes when she guest hosted the first time?  That would bump it out a couple weeks (and would cover a few weeks of Saturdays as well if they used them there).

There comes a point where rerunning Alex becomes too much of a distraction with the show needing to move into whatever the next era is.

Though, if done for the Saturdays, it could be promoted as one last tribute - with the number of Saturdays in the year, they could almost pull one show from each year, then end with the last few shows to fill out the remaining weeks...