Tag / Ken Jennings

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2025: The Year In Live Performances

After a slow 2024, things rebounded a bit in 2025 for live performances, including a comedy show, a play, a live podcast taping, and a concert.

I kicked off the year on Valentine’s Day, heading downtown to the Chicago Theatre to see comedian Taylor Tomlinson’s Save Me tour.  I became a fan thanks to her gig hosting the revived @fter Midnight on CBS and was thrilled to see her perform live, my first comedy show since 2023.  After two opening acts, Tomlinson came out and commanded the stage.  Once she wrapped things up, she came back out with her openers and did a round of crowd confessions, where they riffed on stories the crowd had texted in earlier.  During the show, a snowstorm started to roll through town, which made getting out of the theater and getting home dry and in one piece a bit tricky.

In March, I made my first visit to Texas in 20 years to take Michael to see the stage version of Clue. He was sick when Angelina, Danny, and I saw it in Chicago back in 2022, so the experience was a new one for him.  We travelled from his dorm in Dallas to the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth on a Saturday afternoon to enjoy the show based on the movie.  Sadly, that was pretty much the total of our interaction, as he kept mostly to his dorm room the remainder of our visit.

I returned to the Chicago Theatre in September for a live taping of the Inside Jeopardy! podcast.  Following the podcast taping, featuring Celebrity Jeopardy! champion W. Kamu Bell and Jeopardy Masters finalist Juveria Zaheer, Ken Jennings came out to play an interactive round of Jeopardy with the audience.  Sadly, a limited signal prevented me from playing along on my phone, but it was still a good time.

My final live performance of the year came in late September when Garbage performed at the Salt Shed, which was my first ever visit to the new-ish venue.  Proclaiming that this was likely to be their final headlining tour of North America, the group put on a great performance that left the audience begging for more.  They have some European dates on the schedule for this summer that I would absolutely attend had I won the billion-dollar Powerball, but this might have been the end of the road for me seeing my favorite band.

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Midseason Review – Wednesdays

We have reached the halfway point of our look back at my thoughts on the offerings for the new fall season.  Here’s what Wednesdays had on tap for the fall.

8:00

Joan – Sophie Turner stars in this six-part British series about the so-called “Godmother” of the British criminal underworld.

I guess I would have had to watch it to have any official thoughts on it.  I may get to the recordings one day.

And now the new entries:

Shifting Gears – As much as I like Kat Dennings, I couldn’t find a way past Tim Allen to actually watch this.

Celebrity Jeopardy! – Ken Jennings is back for another go-around with his celebrity friends.

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Out Of Jeopardy

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.

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2023 New Fall Season

Normally, today we would start our annual look at the fall television schedule and the shows I was planning to watch.  This is not a normal time.  The Writer’s Guild of America has been on strike since May 2, and the actors covered under SAG-AFTRA joined the picket lines on July 14.  With no writers and no actors, it is hard to make a whole lot of new TV.  Because of that, this fall’s offerings is a motley collection of reality shows, game shows, repeats, and imported content.

Because of this, we will combine everything for the fall into this post, since it will be a very short list.

Sunday

Nothing!

Monday

Nothing!

Tuesday

Celebrity Jeopardy! – Ken Jennings replaces Mayim Bialik as host and recycled clues will be used due to the ongoing strike.  There’s no telling what celebrities will be participating, since actors are not allowed to promote any projects during the strike.

Wednesday

Nothing!

Thursday

Nothing!

Friday

Nothing!

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Why Make A Choice?

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.

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The End Of An Era

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.

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Book 14 (of 52) – The Answer Is…

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.