TV Q&A: What’s up with the ‘Jeopardy!’ host debacle and who could host now?

Q: If you had been choosing the next host of “Jeopardy” who would it be? What do you think of Mike Richards?

— Barb via email

Rob: This query arrived a week before briefly tenured Mike Richards exited the “Jeopardy!” host role. I started writing a response during the day on Aug. 18 saying that ultimately the host doesn’t matter, something the late “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek alluded to in January 2020 during the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

“Keep in mind that my success to a great extent has depended on the success of the game,” Trebek said. “You could have put somebody else in as the host of ‘Jeopardy!’ 36 years ago — not everybody, but there are some individuals who could have been named as host — if the show had lasted 36 years, they would be enjoying the same kind of favorable reviews and adulation that I have enjoyed in recent years.”

But that was before the night of Aug. 18 when The Ringer published a damning portrait of Richards and his past disparaging remarks about Jews, women, Asians. By the morning of Aug. 20, Richards had stepped down as host of “Jeopardy!” though he remained the show’s executive producer. Guest hosts will return while the search for a new daily show host resumes.

Ultimately, this is a textbook case of unforced errors and how not to handle replacing a legend.

I did not see all the guest hosts who were on “Jeopardy!” over the past eight months but I do recall seeing positive evaluations of Richards’ performance at the time he hosted. But I also think no one expected that as the show’s executive producer Richards would be named the host. I think viewers saw that as beyond-the-pale self-dealing, which explains the backlash when he was named the host of the daily show with Mayim Bialik tapped to host prime-time special editions.

Sony Pictures Television, which owns and produces “Jeopardy!,” botched the transition from longtime host Alex Trebek on several fronts.

First, naming the show’s executive producer, Richards, the new host makes it seem like the fix was in, that these guest hosts were not really trying out for the job. Some viewers felt understandably suckered. So, no, I would not have chosen Richards based on those terrible optics alone before any of the problematic stuff came out.

Richards is a bland choice and that’s never going to be popular on social media. At least Ken Jennings stepping into the host role would have felt earned. But social media is not the real world so initially the online response seemed of little consequence.

One report suggested Bialik was really the top choice for daily “Jeopardy!” but she was unable to sign on due to other commitments, including starring in Fox’s “Call Me Kat,” but that doesn’t wash given the “Jeopardy!” shooting schedule, which, per The New York Times, is just four days per month to tape four weeks’ worth of episodes (five episodes shoot each tape day). It would not be difficult to fit that in with Bialik’s multi-cam schedule for a sitcom that is unlikely to last for years anyway.

First came reports of Richards’ involvement in lawsuits around the mistreatment of female employees while he was executive producer of “The Price is Right” and charges of Bialik’s past anti-science stances, none of which are a good look for “Jeopardy!”

Naming two hosts did seem to be an attempt to have it both ways: Go with the safe choice (white, middle-age man) for the daytime viewers (largely an older demographic that prefers the status quo) and try someone a little different (but not too different!) for prime time.

At that point there were already some people saying they’ll never watch “Jeopardy!” again but odds are those people probably weren’t watching before or if they were they’d inevitably come back.

However that was before The Ringer article by Claire McNear demonstrated a pattern of Richards’ bad behavior — something far more than she-said/he-said lawsuits – and the Anti-Defamation League called for an investigation of Richards. That’s far more damaging to the, until recently, sterling “Jeopardy!” brand which might well have depressed the show’s ratings.

Although he hosted a week’s worth of shows that taped on Aug. 19 – those episodes will air followed by another round of guest hosts — by then Richards’ departure seemed inevitable, necessary and entirely avoidable if Sony executives had done their homework and actually searched for Trebek’s replacement in good faith.

Q: Any predictions for the “Jeopardy!” host now?

— Linda via Facebook

Rob: That might depend on whether Richards remains as executive producer of “Jeopardy!,” as Sony said he will, and has a hand in the process of picking his own successor.

As Maureen Ryan pointed out, Richards is likely to feel wounded and not necessarily interested in hiring someone supported widely on social media (think: LeVar Burton).

Although Ken Jennings has some past controversies of his own — they are minor compared to Richards’ — he is the least objectionable, easiest choice when considering the demographics of daily “Jeopardy!’ viewers, which is ultimately what matters most to Sony/station executives.

On Monday Sony announced Mayim Bialik will guest host three weeks’ worth of “Jeopardy!” episodes that will follow the one week of episodes Richards taped.

Q: What happened to “Halifax Retribution” on WQED-TV at 9 p.m. Saturdays?

— Carolyn via voicemail

Rob: It was displaced for weekend pledge programming for most of August. The series resumes its first season with the fifth episode at 9 p.m. Aug. 28

Q: What is going on in the sports department at WPXI? For the past week they’ve had regular news anchors doing the sports reports every day. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen something like this before.

— Joe via email

Rob: Covid has changed the way TV stations sometimes do things. And the pandemic isn’t over yet.

Alby Oxenreiter was on vacation and Jenna Harner tweeted on Aug. 14 that, despite being vaccinated, she got covid-19 which is why viewers saw news anchors reading sports reports.

Q: I know there is V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N but Mike Harvey seems to miss a lot. Is he ill?

Also is Sam Hall going to do traffic permanently in the studio?

— Catherine via email

Rob: Harvey had vacation, a house emergency, took his son to college and is at a weather conference this week.

My understanding is Hall is filling in for Elena LaQuatra while she is on V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N but he will be back in the chopper when she returns.