Jeopardy! Post-Alex Discussion Post

[PatrickRox80]

Mike may have been thrown to the wolves with the intended successor search, so what they're giving him to work with does little to reassure me that they have this under control. I'll leave it at it being pretty ominous what his intentions are. I'm taking a wait and see approach for the next 2 1/2 months.

Translation: they don't have a frigging clue what they're doing.

I don't think they ever did. I've had zero faith in them choosing a successor since the parade of guest hosts other than Ken started. The only one that kind of stands out is Aaron Rodgers who at least showed personality. I haven't seen much of the others, but when I do catch them, their styles get repetitive too quickly. Bill Whitaker in particular is about as plastic as you can get.

Focus groups are an established and valuable tool, among many, that can serve them well.

Everything I need to know about focus groups I learned from Impractical Jokers. They risk getting easily swayed because of their minuscule sample size. The representation of what the conductors are looking for is a crapshoot.

[imhomerjay]

Impractical Jokers? That…can’t be a serious analysis of how actual focus groups work. At least I hope no one thinks they understand how actual processes work because of that.

And ominous? What is this? Some kind of Jame Bond villain? He hosted two weeks because Jennings couldn’t make eight because of another obligation. The horror. The nerve.

And what exactly is the better solution overall? You lose your host early in the season amidst a raging global pandemic. Is there a playbook for that? Option 1 is shut down the show for months. Not viable. Option 2 is a single interim host, but it’s extremely unlikely any one person has that much time available. See Ken Jennings.

So they did what they could under challenging circumstances. The staff rose to the occasion while still grieving. Guests generally did the best they could doing something they’ve never done before. All while trying to find an available host who can take the show into the future.

No process will be without missteps. People are human. But sheesh. These aren’t some shady characters with no experience in their field.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Undeserved hate for Mike Richards still runs around here. Don't ask me why.

[sayingsorry]

Undeserved hate for Mike Richards still runs around here. Don't ask me why.

I completely agree and I don't get it.

Sorry if this too blunt but it's not a surprise to anyone at Sony that Alex would unfortunately pass away.

You clearly have to look at Sony taking Mike away from Fremantle as a clear sign he has to be in contention for the hosting job, the Sony brass know what they are doing.

[imhomerjay]

Or you can see it is Sony wanted someone with such a production skill set to join their organization and would have done so regardless of the state of Alex’s health.

His initial hiring is in no way, shape or form a sign about the hosting situation. Two things can coexist without one causing the other.

[SamJ93]

Yeah, the whole "Mikey sucks!" thing is really getting old. I don't agree with every decision he's ever made either, but the fact is he's now successfully produced all three of America's longest-running game shows at some point, and all under some rather difficult circumstances too. He clearly loves the genre and does his best to respect tradition while acknowledging the demands of the modern TV landscape.

He's also absolutely right that a new host will inevitably take some time to grow into the role just like Drew did, and will inevitably face a barrage of criticism too. A lot of TV critics trashed the revival back when it premiered simply because Alex Trebek wasn't Art Fleming. I can only imagine the hate he would have gotten if Internet forums existed back then...

[imhomerjay]

I’ve thought and said the same thing about what it would have been like had we had such forums in 1984. “The dice guy? Hosting Jeopardy? What are they thinking?” (And perhaps a jab at being Canadian too, for good xenophobic measure, who knows.)

And we’ll never really know had Trebek not been the choice how well someone else would have done. It’s just one of those things.

The need to trash, or ascribe conspiracy theories to, Sony and Mike Richards astounds me. Going only by track record, Richards stepped into a situation at Price that would charitably be described as challenging on many levels. Quickly, in TV time, he got the show into more solid footing and on a trajectory for sustained success. And built a new LMAD following a similar template—and that worked exceptionally well.

Sony hiring him is perfectly valid based on that work. Ok, they got someone who was able to help in a pinch to go in front of the camera. Yay for them. In the absence of any other actual evidence, there’s no basis to assume more than that and to suggest some sneaky, nefarious moves afoot.

Every human, and every company since they’re run by, you know, humans, makes decisions they might do differently. Or that they wouldn’t do differently, but that they are criticized for. All part of the game of life.

I already feel bad for the new host, whoever it is. No one person can be enough like Alex, and yet different enough from Alex, and represent all audiences. It’s not humanly possible. Every single thing they do will be under a microscope. Every single thing they ever said thrown back at them. It’s a daunting challenge.

[BillyGr]

Or you can see it is Sony wanted someone with such a production skill set to join their organization and would have done so regardless of the state of Alex’s health.

His initial hiring is in no way, shape or form a sign about the hosting situation. Two things can coexist without one causing the other.

Or even that they were expecting (even if not quite so quickly) to have a situation where a long term host needed to be replaced with a new host (be it Alex or Pat) and wanted someone on their team who had experience dealing with a show where a long term host had to be replaced with someone new?  Not too many people who fit that category.

[SeaBreeze341]

Overall I respect Mike Richards.  The dislike for him back in the day is just part of someone's right to hate someone, IMO.  However, he had totally evolved, as mentioned.  While I probably wouldn't rethink my thoughts on him early on, I respect that the opportunity for him to get better was granted to him.

FWIW, Mike actually came into a situation that was a dumpster fire.  It's not something he created.  Things were rough back then, but it didn't take too long to turn things around to where things are tremendous.  Unlike his predecessor, Richards is more business and made decisions based on what's best for business before making decisions based on what Mike Richards liked.  Loved that he eventually respected the fans and longtime supporters of the show.  In the end, he did great at TPIR and left it better than it was around the time of his arrival there.

If he ends up the host, so be it.  It might work it; if it does, great.  If not, TPTB will adjust and move onto what's next.  Hopefully it won't be similar to Family Feud where there was a host every few to several years.  Though even FF found someone successful, and the rest is history.

At the end of the day, Mike is a tad bit underrated.  For me, the optimism is there that he'll make it work.  We might not see it by 2024, but by 2028, I think we will

[Ccook]

I'd like to see whoever the host is approaches the show like Tom Kennedy did when he took over Password Plus after Allen Ludden took ill and eventually passed away. On PP's finale, Tom said he wasn't replacing Allen because he couldn't be replaced; he was merely filling in while Allen was taking care of other business.

Audiences can speak volumes: in 1969 when Bob Clayton took over Concentration (selected by original host Hugh Downs), the show didn't miss a beat because Clayton was well liked. In March, NBC decided to replace Clayton with Ed McMahon, and ratings tumbled. In September, NBC realized they goofed and brought Clayton back to the host position.

[blozier2006]

I'd like to see whoever the host is approaches the show like Tom Kennedy did when he took over Password Plus after Allen Ludden took ill and eventually passed away. On PP's finale, Tom said he wasn't replacing Allen because he couldn't be replaced; he was merely filling in while Allen was taking care of other business.

That wouldn't be possible here, since in Allen's case, he kept his terminal diagnosis a secret from the general public. In direct contrast with Alex, who openly admitted he was Stage IV from the get-go.

[Nate Powalie]

I watched last night's first episode of the Tournament of Champions, and all I can say is... wow. Buzzy clearly has not lost his energy nor his personality from his past appearances in 2016/2017. No wonder he was dubbed "Mr. Personality" by Alex.

[imhomerjay]

Smooth and polished right out of the gate. Sure, I know there is rehearsal time, but still. A great start.

[sayingsorry]

Energy vs yelling is a big difference. Buzzy always feels like he is yelling every time he talks. There is time for when that excitement is needed but a $200 clue is not it

[imhomerjay]

I haven’t felt like he’s doing anything of the sort.