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.