Jeopardy! Post-Alex Discussion Post

[imhomerjay]

Ken has reasonably taken this about as far as anyone can. He won the GOAT. I’m not sure how many more times they could reasonably trot him out there anyway.

It’s entirely possible the senior leadership at Sony feel Mike is the better fit. Of course that’s subjective no matter who is chosen, but it isn’t in and of itself proof of anything more nefarious. In the absence of actual evidence, as compared adding one plus one and getting five, that’s what we have to work with.

[BillyGr]

I don't know if Jennings was "retiring" as a contestant on Jeopardy!  However, if he feels like he had no shot I don't know if he should've agreed to host in the first place

Wouldn't he not be eligible anyway, being he was already working for them before he guest hosted?

[SeaBreeze341]

Wouldn't he not be eligible anyway, being he was already working for them before he guest hosted?

Yeah he wouldn't be.  Though I didn't think of that since I figured that he was working for them prior to the GOAT special.  I don't know exactly when Ken started but I figured that they would've waived that rule for special circumstances.

As mentioned, I think Jennings has done more than all he can do as it relates to the show as a player.  A match against Matt Amodio is sorta unnecessary, there will be future super champions in the years and decades to come.  There's no need for Ken (or even Brad) to face off against them just for the sake of finding out who's the best Jeopardy player ever.

Ken has nothing to prove.  He is the goat, but to be fair to Rutter, Jennings can be defeated (convincingly).  Like you said, he'd be ineligible, and I imagine so even if he were to quit the show

[COINBOYNYC]

I think Jennings has done more than all he can do as it relates to the show as a player . . . . . Ken has nothing to prove.

I wonder if Ken would want to compete again, in any context, given that the host will be someone other than Alex.  Is it reasonable to speculate that, even though it's still his beloved Jeopardy and the gameplay would be exactly the same, it wouldn't be the same for him without Alex behind the lectern?

[TPIRfan#9821]

^He's already said he's done competing on Jeopardy! after the GOAT. This was even before he was brought onto the staff.

It might be the lows of Richards in the article, but David Faber was my favorite host so far. I was shocked by how natural he was. My vote's now for him.

[Axl]

Now that it's come around that the sacred cow lied about the circumstances surrounding how he got to be a guest host...

Mike said Ken wasn't available for a taping week because he was obliged to be at The Chase, and Mike stepped in because there was not an easy way to bring another guest host to Los Angeles during the height of the pandemic on short notice. You have proof that wasn't the case?

Wouldn't he not be eligible anyway, being he was already working for them before he guest hosted?

As #9281 noted, Ken made very clear after winning the GOAT that he did not intend to appear ever again as a contestant. Maybe he was already considering taking a job with the show, but it was primarily because, now that he's in his late 40s, he could sense his quick recall trivia skills waning. Take it from me, your ability to quickly and consistently grab facts out of the recesses of your brain recedes as you get older, and he didn't see a need to continue competing knowing that he was only going to get worse at playing the game over time.

[jude_este]

Two Jeopardy! items related to the host search to report this early afternoon.

From The Ringer's Claire McNear on Twitter, Mike has sent the following 1424765285215744010[/tweet]]statement to the staff today about the allegations during his tenure at Price that resurfaced towards the end of last week.

And also, here's an article from The Seattle Times interviewing past champions on their thoughts on Mike Richards and the host search.

[imhomerjay]

Which all makes his GOAT win more impressive.

[MSTieScott]

Mike said Ken wasn't available for a taping week because he was obliged to be at The Chase, and Mike stepped in because there was not an easy way to bring another guest host to Los Angeles during the height of the pandemic on short notice. You have proof that wasn't the case?

First, the quote in question, which apparently came from Mike's first episode (source one) (source two):

But with the Covid outbreak here in LA, folks were understandably a little reticent to shoot. Ken Jennings did a great job, but he’s unavailable due to obligations with his show The Chase so as the producer my job is to quite literally live the mantra: the show must go on.

I don't know when that episode taped, but it aired on February 22.

The Chase began taping on May 1.

To play devil's advocate, "obligations" could refer to some other contractual aspect. But Jennings' unavailability definitely wasn't because of a taping conflict.

[TPIRfan#9821]

Hi r/Jeopardy brigadiers, since someone decided to post an image of the above anonymously there! I promise we don't bite.

[PriceFan07]

I don't know when that episode taped, but it aired on February 22.

The Chase began taping on May 1.

My guess is that the conflict may have been with taping season 1 of The Chase as it premiered in January and may very well have been taping around the time Jeopardy was taping?

[Thatgameshowguy]

My guess is that the conflict may have been with taping season 1 of The Chase as it premiered in January and may very well have been taping around the time Jeopardy was taping?

The Chase season 1 taped the beginning of November, before Jeopardy returned to taping.

[MSTieScott]

Because I misremembered when season one of The Chase aired, I didn't think to check for that. So in the interest of completeness:

According to 1327016514143154176[/tweet]]this tweet from Ken Jennings, season one of The Chase was in full swing by November 12. According to 1330346505539104768[/tweet]]this tweet from James Holzhauer, the first season finished taping by November 21. As stated in 1330996342865293313[/tweet]]this tweet, Jeopardy! did not resume taping until November 30.

As a couple of people in the Reddit thread that linked to this thread speculated, it's possible that the "obligations" may have involved publicity for that first season of The Chase, which debuted on January 7. I didn't immediately find any Chaser publicity appearances from that time frame, but I also did not search thoroughly (none of the Chasers nor the show's official account retweeted any special promotional appearances during that week, that's all I know).

[kishy214]

Hi r/Jeopardy brigadiers, since someone decided to post an image of the above anonymously there! I promise we don't bite.

More of the J! folks here should check out this subreddit. Great insights, and a wonderfully active community.

[Nate Powalie]

Overall, I think Joe Buck's first show as guest host was a solid showing. His announcer voice really showed here, providing eloquent readings of the clue. He also seemed to have some decent chemistry with the contestants.