Mayim Bialik will not be hosting Season 2 of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” as she continues to support the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Variety has learned from sources. On Monday, ABC is…
Mayim Bialik will not be hosting Season 2 of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” as she continues to support the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Variety has learned from sources.
On Monday, ABC issued a press release with changes to their fall schedule, noting that Ken Jennings will host the new season of “Celebrity Jeopardy!,” which premieres Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. ET.
ABC did not respond to Variety’s request for comment.
“Jeopardy!” showrunner Michael Davies revealed earlier this month that material for the star-studded spinoff series’ second season was completed before the WGA went on strike, so the upcoming season will feature completely original material. While Bialik and Jennings split hosting duties on “Jeopardy!,” the former was the sole host for Season 1 of “Celebrity Jeopardy!,” featuring such guests as Simu Liu, Andy Richter, Aisha Tyler, Michael Cera and more.
Back in May, Variety spoke to “Jeopardy!” writers Michele Loud, Jim Rhine and Billy Wisse on the picket line during the fourth day of the WGA strike.
“Our words are on the screen every night,” Loud said. “There is no ‘Jeopardy’ without writers. Without us it’s just an empty blue screen.”
Davies explained on the “Jeopardy!” podcast “Inside Jeopardy!” how the trivia series would proceed with its next season amid the WGA strike.
“We’re going to open the season with a second chance tournament for players from Season 37 who lost their initial game. Winners from that will advance to a Season 37 and Season 38 Champions Wildcard,” he said, adding that questions on these second chance episodes would be “a combination of material that our WGA writers wrote before the strike, which is still in the database, and material that has been re-deployed from multiple multiple seasons of the show.”
That's something I never really appreciated before. In Europe of course we mostly consume media produced in our own language or in English, but it's completely normal to watch (and for broadcasters to air) shows from all over Europe, either dubbed or with subtitles depending on the country. Subtitles being the only tolerable way of course.
If a show started airing in French or German with subtitled on US television this would be a huge deal?
Outside of dubbed anime, I can't think of cases where that would ever happen in the USA. Hell, it is somewhat rare to even get non-American English shows in the USA.
The USA can produce so much television profitably because it is the largest English language television market.
It's common on streaming platforms for foreign language shows to be huge hits. Squid Game was the most notable one, but Dark was another. Both Netflix.
If a show started airing in French or German with subtitled on US television this would be a huge deal?
During the strike? Absolutely. It'd be nothing but a way for them to undermine the strike. Normal day without a stike? I'd absolutely love some new content.
On TV, it would probably gain no traction. I'm sure a lot of old conservative folks would be turned off by being forced to listen to a language they don't understand, and that's exactly the type of people who would phone up their local TV station to complain about it. Younger people might not care so much, and would sit through, but if there's something else on in English they would probably switch.
On streaming platforms, they would just never see it in the first place.
Holy shit, that ship sailed years ago. Ten years ago I told everyone that we have officially made too many cameras. Are you trying to imply this will get worse?
"Work is permitted if covered by the terms of other SAG-AFTRA agreements, including (but not limited to):
...
Network Television Code, which covers
...
Variety programming (including reality shows and game shows
..."
I would also prefer no one host the show while the strike is on, but it is allowed per existing rules.
He's not an actor, is he? Hosting jeopardy isn't an acting gig. So he's under no obligations to a union and his role isn't traditionally filled by union employees. This isn't crossing the picket lines, as near as I can tell.
It's actually very close to a writing gig if the host is doing anything like what Alex's process was. Alex had strong creative input in the rewriting of answers And if he is doing that, and since the normal writers are on the picket line, he is a scab.
Are Jeopardy writers union? If so the show can't be filmed without them. And generally if you're writing staff is on strike and the company hires scabs to fill that position, the rest of the crew (that can afford to) should strike in solidarity.
I liked Mayim for Celebrity Jeopardy, but I am interested in seeing Ken’s interactions with the celebrities. I think his wit will make for a great show.
And I assume you're going to only get trump inauguration reject level "celebrities" as well? "Ladies and gentlemen... our returning champion... The bass player from three doors down!"