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.
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.
