Earlier this week, there were rumors that Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings would be back to host the 39th season of Jeopardy. Today, EP Michael Davies confirmed it and explained how they are splitting up their hosting duties.
I write today with the exciting news that we have closed and signed deals with Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings to be the hosts of Jeopardy! moving forward.
The fact is, we have so much Jeopardy! to make, and so many plans for the future, that we always knew we would need multiple hosts for the franchise and we are just so grateful that Mayim and Ken stepped in and stepped up to put the show in a position to succeed. And succeed it has. With Mayim and Ken hosting, the show is considerably up in viewership year over year, with more than 27M viewers tuning in each week this season. When you consider that almost every other show in broadcast television and syndication is declining, this has been a quite remarkable season: we’re the most-watched entertainment show on all of television. Yes, all of television.
In Mayim and Ken, we have two outstanding hosts at the beginning of their Jeopardy! hosting careers who connect with their own unique fanbases, new fans, and the traditional Jeopardy! viewer. Ken will kick off the season in September, host the inaugural Second Chance competition and the heavily anticipated Tournament of Champions featuring Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, Ryan Long, and many, many more. His initial hosting run will take us through December. In the meantime, Mayim will host Celebrity Jeopardy! on ABC in primetime. When she takes over from Ken in January, the current plan is to have her host a couple of new tournaments as well as the Jeopardy! National College Championship and as many weeks as she can manage with her other primetime commitment to “Call Me Kat.” We know you value consistency, so we will not flip flop the hosts constantly and will keep you informed about the hosting schedule.
Mayim and Ken are both extraordinarily talented and simply lovely humans. They support the staff and each other. They love and respect this institution of a television program. In return, the staff and I are honored to work alongside them.
To conclude, I want to congratulate both Mayim and Ken. They have both been a joy to work with. They have my commitment, my producer oath, that I will focus on nothing but improving the show around them so that they can do their best work and approach every day in the studio with excitement and energy. And speaking of, we’re back in the Alex Trebek Stage on Monday. I simply can’t wait.
I think this is a smarter plan because now we know who will be hosting and when. What do you think?
If you stopped watching Jeopardy because you don’t like Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings as the hosts, then I have some bad news for you. Deadline is reporting that they are in negotiations to be sharing hosting duties again for this upcoming season.
I don’t know why they are bringing back Bialik because she keeps losing viewers. That, and I think, she is awful. She just comes off as pompous, and that makes me miss the late Alex Trebek even more.
Jeopardy had a fun category yesterday. They wanted to know how well the contestants knew “Let’s Go Back In Time Machine Movies.”
There are several movies that have used time machines, so they asked the contestants about the ones that did not have Back to the Future in the title. How well did they do? We all got all five correct.
As much as I loved the category, I wished that the writers wrote better clues. But then again, it could’ve been the snobby way Mayim Bialik reads everything. Am I the only one who doesn’t like her as the host?
In honor of Father’s Day, Jeopardy wanted to know how well you know these Rock Stars who are also fathers. So, they asked the contestants about five of the coolest people to share their DNA with their offspring. How well did they do? Considering I guessed David Bowie to all of them, I only got one right. Tell me you did better than I did.
