At last, there’s a solution to the ongoing question of which host, Mayim Bialik or Ken Jennings, will host “Jeopardy!” The answer: both.
Sony Pictures Entertainment has signed long-term deals that will see the two hosts continue to split duties on the popular syndicated game show, according to a person familiar with the matter, while retaining Bialik to host prime-time editions of the show , as well as the new “Celebrity Jeopardy!” the show is expected to begin on ABC. With Sony eager to push more versions of the show, this person says, more than one host was needed. Bialik continues to work on the Fox sitcom, “Call Me Kat,” which has been picked up for a second season.
A spokesman for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has been navigating the ultimate successor for Alex Trebek for months, the long-running “Jeopardy!” host who died in 2020, did not respond to inquiries for comment.
The dual-host solution speaks to the ambitions behind the venerable game show, which originally debuted on NBC in 1964 before evolving into its current afternoon version 20 years later. “With all our plans for ‘Jeopardy!’ — which is more ‘Jeopardy!’, not less, more versions — we’re going to need multiple hosts to represent the entire audience, to represent the entire country, to move this franchise forward,” executive producer Michael Davies told Variety. in June
But the search for a host has been laborious. Producers initially relied on a parade of celebrity guest hosts ranging from Katie Couric to LeVar Burton to round out the show’s 2020-2021 season. The final answer was to be Mike Richards, an executive producer, but he stepped down after just two weeks due to the discovery of controversial comments he had made in the past.
More to come…