Agreed, but the guy who was more or less in charge of the selection and vetting process simply chose to slot himself into the position. It can sometimes be difficult to impartially vet oneself, and perhaps others in management weren't aware of his past comments. As you say, when Richards was picked it caught a lot of people off guard and it seems very few had even considered him in the running prior to the announcement. Considering how well-known, popular and beloved Jeopardy is and Trebek was, and how long the new permanent host could possibly be around based on the length of Trebek's tenure, it was not and should not have been a decision taken lightly.
I didn't realize that Mike Richards already had a week of shows in the can. Regarding Burton, I didn't watch any of his shows as guest host, but as I mentioned above, this isn't a decision to be made quickly or taken lightly. In Burton's case, just because someone publicly campaigns for a role and gets lots of fan support, most likely from people who grew up watching him on Reading Rainbow and may remember him from Star Trek, that doesn't mean they're the right fit for the job. He may or may not be, but the goal is to ultimately search for the right host who checks all the proverbial boxes...Not choose the winner based on a popularity contest.
You may have a point, but shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are legacy brands in their own right and they should be looked after as such. I'm not sure what the ratings or demographics are like, but obviously there's a reason they've kept them around for this many decades.
I wonder how this may effect the viewership of this longtime ratings winner. Probably not much, but with no permanent host for quite a while now, one may wonder.Well, that escalated quickly! Mike Richards has stepped down before even taking over as permanent host. For now, they'll continue with a TBA list of guest hosts.
Mike Richards has stepped down as the host of 'Jeopardy!'
Mike Richards strategized for years to become the host of an iconic TV game show.www.cnn.com
It's like finding a University of Tennessee football coach
Back in the 90s while working at a TV station that carried the Wheel/Jeopardy combo, I was told that the power of those shows back to back would force the Central and Mountain time zones to go to an 8-11pm prime time, rather than 7-10. The shows have to be split in those zones as we know.
In Memphis they're also split between two different stations. Wheel is on WMC NBC 5 at 6:30 and Jeopardy is on WREG CBS 3 at 3:30.
In Colorado Springs, Wheel and Jeopardy run back to back on KKTV 11 (CBS) at 6:00 and 6:30. I doubt there are many other markets that follow that pattern in the Central and Mountain zones.
www.cnn.com
Would be interesting to know how Wheel and Jeopardy do against the first hour of network prime-time. Although, as viewership for traditional broadcast (or linear, as the trades are calling it now)continues to fall, the concept of prime-time itself isn't what it used to be.
Besides that not being how things work, let’s also not forget that to US audiences Alex was at best known as the host of several middling game shows before taking on Jeopardy. The idea someone is going to come in and match what Alex was three decades later isn’t realistic.
