Our final look back at the new fall season gives us Friday’s amazing slate of shows.
9:00
Boston Blue – The Blue Bloods spinoff sends Donny Wahlberg to Boston for some reason.
I never managed to watch this.
Debuting this spring:
Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars – The latest installment of dumbed down Jeopardy! for mostly D-list celebrities to win money for charity.
This past spring, going against the advice of the union, Mayim Bialik opted against hosting the final episodes of the Jeopardy! season in deference to the ongoing strike by the Writer’s Guild. Sony and Jeopardy! producers did not put up much of a fight, since her co-host, Ken Jennings, was there to step in and take her place. When the current season started, Jennings continued to host with both the Writer’s Guild and the Screen Actors Guild still out on strike. With both strikes now resolved, the door was theoretically opened for Bialik to return and continue swapping hosting duties with Jennings. That door is now closed.
Sony announced last week that Ken Jennings would be the full-time host of the syndicated version of Jeopardy! There is a small possibility that Bialik could return in the future to host a future primetime special, but that also seems unlikely at this point. From a show perspective, this is probably the right move. Having two rotating hosts wasn’t really working, and Bialik never seemed to grow into the role the way Jennings did, instead coming off more as an actor playing as a host.
After a tumultuous 38th season of Jeopardy! that saw the initial choice to replace Alex Trebek removed after a week due to a scandal related to inappropriate comments he had made on an earlier podcast, the producers decided to keep their current jury-rigged hosting situation as is. Sony Pictures Television has signed both Mayaim Bialik and Ken Jennings to long-term deals that will see the two continuing to split duties on the syndicated game show, while Bialik will continue to host primetime editions of the show as well as the new Celebrity Jeopardy! slated for ABC this fall.
With more versions of Jeopardy! on the air than ever before, and with Bialik continuing to star on Call Me Kat, which has been picked up for a third season, producers felt that multiple hosts would be needed to handle the load. The search for a new host has been a laborious one, with a parade of celebrity guest hosts completing the show’s 2020-2021 season following Trebek’s death to the naming of Mike Richards as the permanent host before that imploded.
After Alex Trebek passed away in November, Jeopardy! producers must have hoped that their chosen replacement would rival his 36 year stint as host of the long running quiz show, becoming just as beloved. Unfortunately, it’s back to the drawing board on that one. Mike Richards, the executive producer who was announced as Trebek’s successor a mere 9 days ago, has stepped down from the role after a long week of scandal reveals and inappropriate comments from a podcast he hosted years ago. Richards began filming the start of the 38th season on Thursday, and those shows will air for the sake of the contestants.
For the time being, Richards will remain as the executive producer of both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, but you have to imagine that is a temporary measure as his credibility is shot, especially for whoever ultimately replaces him as host. I can’t imagine a way this could have been handled worse by Sony Pictures Television, who seemingly did no background investigation on Richards prior to hiring him for either job. Or, even worse, they did and didn’t see a problem until the public was made aware. His podcast was troublesome enough that when asked to comment on it, he deleted both the episodes and the server that hosted them.
In the long run, this may turn out to be a good thing. Whoever replaced Trebek was going to be under unbelievable scrutiny from fans and players alike. Now, whoever ultimately gets the job is replacing Richards, and they really have nowhere to go but up.
Nearly 9 months after the death of Alex Trebek, Sony Pictures Television has found their new hosts (yes, hosts) for Jeopardy!. Mike Richards, who became the executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune for the 2020-2021 season, has been named the host of the daily syndicated version of the show. Richards, who guest hosted for two weeks at the end of February and into March, had previously hosted the 2012 revival of The Pyramid for Game Show Network and was the executive producer of The Price is Right and Let’s Make A Deal for over a decade before joining Sony in 2020.
In addition to Richards, Mayim Bialik will host primetime and spinoff series, including the upcoming Jeopardy! National College Championship set to air on ABC next year. Bialik, the former Blossom and Big Bang Theory star, guest hosted for two weeks at the end of May and the beginning of June.
When word first leaked of Richards getting the job, complaints about harassments lawsuits during his time at The Price is Right surfaced, along with him seemingly having lied about the circumstances around his guest hosting stint. A skeptic might say the Bialik move was an attempt to head off criticisms of yet another white man gaming the system to get a job, although I also wonder how much someone like Bialik would be interested in the main gig, given her other commitments.
We are on the back half of our look back at the offerings for the new fall season. Thursday night is traditionally the busiest night of the week for my television viewing habits, but not this year. Here’s what was on the slate for this season.
7:30
Connecting – The first pandemic-based comedy arrives on NBC.
I’m not entirely sure this ever aired.
8:00
Grey’s Anatomy – The medical drama enters its 17th season, picking up where the abbreviated 16th season left off.
Well, they’ve turned in 100% on COVID, which I guess makes sense for a medical drama.
9:00
Star Trek: Discovery – The first season of the CBS All Access show moves to CBS proper.
I tried watching the first episode and, having just gone through 7 seasons of DS9, I didn’t have it in me to start up another Star Trek series.
Now, for new entries that will be hitting the screen this winter:
Mr. Mayor – Ted Danson returns in this latest vehicle from Tina Fey.
The Chase – Sara Haines hosts this rebooted game show, featuring three of Jeopardy’s biggest winners.
Clarice – Yet another sequel to The Silence Of The Lambs that may be interesting.
Later today, the final episode of Jeopardy! featuring Alex Trebek will air and an era will come to an end. Trebek, who died in November after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, had taped episodes prior to his death that would have aired through Christmas Day, but produces inserted two weeks of his best episodes over the holidays to avoid pre-emptions. His final week aired this week, culminating with today’s episode. Trebek had hosted the syndicated program since its premiere in 1984.
A new, permanent host of the program has not been announced as of yet. Former champion Ken Jennings, who won the show’s Greatest of All Time Tournament in early 2020, will fill-in for episodes that start airing next week, with other guest hosts expected to finish out the 37th season.
The Answer Is… Reflections On My Life – Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek is dying. The long-time host of Jeopardy!, who turned 80 last month, announced that he had been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer last March. With that backdrop, he finally decided to put pen to paper and write a memoir, with, as the subtitle indicates, brief reflections on the important moments of his life and a behind the scenes look at one of the most popular game shows of all time.
Born in Sudbury, Ontario on July 22, 1940, Trebek introduces us to his parents, a Ukrainian-immigrant chef father and a French Canadian mother, while detailing his early years. After gaining early notoriety as a CBC announcer and host, he came to the US in the early 70s to become host of a new game show, The Wizard Of Odds. This led to a string of hosting gigs, most for game shows whose lifespans were measured in weeks instead of years. In 1984, he was hired as the host of a syndicated revival of Jeopardy!, where he has remained for the past 36 years.
Some of the most memorable Jeopardy! champions get chapters devoted to them, including Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer, Chuck Foster, Frank Spangenberg, and Eddie Timanus, the first blind contestant on the show. Trebek also brings us behind the scenes of the show, with a typical shooting day starting with his review of the day’s game boards and the production meetings to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Trebek continues to receive treatment for his cancer, but is forthright about the limited amount of time he has remaining. For him, the shutdown of the world due to the corona virus may have been a blessing in disguise, as it has given him the opportunity to spend additional time with his wife and grown children. As someone who has been welcomed into millions of homes over the past 36 years, including mine, this was a worthwhile read and a rare opportunity to learn more about the person we all think we know.
In a shocking development, the Cubs reached an agreement today with the local ABC station to air 25 games per season through the 2019 season. The deal should net the Cubs nearly $19 million per season. The Cubs are still looking for a broadcast partner for 45 games that had previously aired on WGN.
The move comes out of left field, as most teams games are moving away from over-the-air channels in general, let along network owned and operated stations like WLS. The deal will likely cause pre-emptions of popular syndicated programs like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune or network programming.
To be honest, this move doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. The plusses of being associated with a hopefully improved Cubs team would seem to be outweighed by complaints from viewers of Dancing With The Stars or Scandal when their shows are delayed. I guess time will tell if the deal works out for all involved.
A little more than a week ago, I upgraded my phone from the iPhone 4S to the newly released iPhone 5S. The biggest difference, aside from a slightly bigger screen, is the jump from 3G (or 4G, if you believe AT&T’s hype) to LTE. I had the 4S for a little under 2 years, and in that time, we traveled the world together (well, at least going back to the UK) and have listened to a lot of podcasts and music. Here is every song (all 2079 of them) I’ve listened to on the phone, with some (ok, very little) bonus commentary. Godspeed.
| Let’s Go-Go-Go White Sox | Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers | 33 | |
| He’s a Pirate | Klaus Badelt | Pirates of the Caribbean (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) | 32 |
| Take Me Out To The Ballgame | Harry Caray | 31 | |
| Thunderstruck | AC/DC | The Razors Edge | 31 |
| Gordon Beckham Intro | 29 | ||
| Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye | Steam | Billboard’s Top Rock ‘n’ Roll Hits: 1969 | 29 |
| Don’t Stop Believin’ | Journey | Journey’s Greatest Hits | 27 |
| sox05_montage | 27 | ||
| We Are The Champions | Queen | Queen: Greatest Hits I & II | 27 |
| Your Love | The Outfield | Play Deep | 27 |
| 2008 White Sox Central Division Champs Montage | Chris Tannehill | WSCR 670 The Score | 25 |
| Take Me Out To The Ballgame | Nancy Faust | 25 | |
| Harvester Of Sorrow | Metallica | …And Justice For All | 20 |
You would hope that these numbers would have been higher, but this past season’s miserable performance by the White Sox has put the songs on their playlist out of mind more often than not.
| Cannonball | The Breeders | The First 1000 Years- Rock | 19 |
| Man Or Muppet | Jason Segel | The Muppets | 15 |
| It’s Time For Our Song | Miss Piggy | The Muppets | 14 |
| Get Out There And Help Those Guys | Jason Segel | The Muppets | 13 |
| Main Title | LOST Soundtrack | LOST Soundtrack | 13 |
| Are You A Man Or A Muppet? | Amy Adams | The Muppets | 12 |
| How Charming, A Finale | Uncle Deadly | The Muppets | 12 |
| I’m On A Boat (ft. T-Pain) | The Lonely Island | Incredibad | 12 |
| Down At The Ole Barbershop | Kermit | The Muppets | 11 |
| Me and Drugs | David Cross | Bigger and Blackerer | 11 |
| The Antichrist | Howard Stern | Private Parts: The Album | 11 |
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