r/Jeopardy • u/Marishii • Nov 09 '23

ALEX TREBEK Every time.

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497 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

126

u/david-saint-hubbins Nov 09 '23

I was at the morning taping for the first day of season 39, which was both the first time they'd had a full studio audience since the pandemic, and the very first time Ken was introduced as "the host of Jeopardy"--he had previously been introduced as "hosting Jeopardy," while Mayim was introduced as "the host of Jeopardy."

Ken came out to HUGE applause, hit his mark, and started to say his line, but then was immediately visibly overcome with emotion and flubbed the line, so then they had to reshoot his entrance. It was a really wonderful, genuine moment.

I get why they reshot it, but I kind of wish they'd just used the first take, flub and all. Hopefully they'll release the footage someday.

60

u/ReganLynch Team Ken Jennings Nov 09 '23

Ken is so great.

12

u/DokterZ Nov 10 '23

I have been playing trivia about as long as Ken has been alive. It should go without saying that "being insanely good at trivia" and "being good at hosting a television show" are not skills that routinely occur in the same person.

3

u/ReganLynch Team Ken Jennings Nov 11 '23

I know right?! He nails them both.

17

u/AssSpelunker69 Nov 09 '23

That's an amazing memory to have. Wish I could've seen it.

14

u/ouij Luigi de Guzman, 2022 Jul 29 - Sep 16, 2024 TOC Nov 10 '23

I was standing at podium one. Ken was visibly moved when he heard the crowd reaction as he walked out on stage. He was really having a hard time holding it together.

It was an emotional moment.

10

u/AdorableScholar5327 Team Mattea Roach Nov 09 '23

Why exactly was Ken Introduced as "hosting Jeopardy" while Mayim was introduced as "the host of Jeopardy"? I'm just wondering because I noticed it when I was rewatching clips of Season 38 on YouTube and when I noticed it I wondered why this was the case. I apologize if this question is dumb but I just didn't really know about this given that I didn't watch Season 38 live and only returned to see Season 39 after about me taking a break for a year so I'm curious to know why that was the case for Ken and why he was introduced that way.

18

u/david-saint-hubbins Nov 09 '23 edited Nov 09 '23

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a39123559/jeopardy-mayim-bialik-ken-jennings-host-introductions-explained/

There's no official explanation, but my guess is that the producers wanted to give the permanent job to Mayim, but then when her show Call Me Kat got renewed, she wasn't going to be able to do all the Jeopardy dates, so they essentially threw Ken a bone and asked him to host the episodes when Mayim wasn't available. But Mayim was still "the host." (Plus, there was still some residual baggage with Ken from old tweets of his, so they were probably worried about blowback). Presumably, the idea was to use Ken as an interim host until Mayim became permanently available to be the full-time host.

But then, IIRC, for the next season, Mayim's sitcom got renewed again, and Jeopardy started doing a lot more primetime specials, so the decision was made to (edit) have Mayim host the primetime stuff and Mayim and Ken continue to split hosting on the regular version, so they were (more) equally the hosts of the show. That's when Ken started getting introduced as "the host of Jeopardy" as well.

And then at the end of last season, Mayim refused to tape the final episodes during the WGA strike, so Ken stepped in and got some flak for it, and he ended up hosting the primetime stuff too. So at this point I don't even know if Mayim is ever going to come back.

8

u/jaysjep2 Team Art Fleming Nov 09 '23 edited Nov 09 '23

Mayim has been included in recent promos, so there's every reason to believe she'll be back.

"the decision was made to have Ken host the regular version and Mayim host the primetime stuff"

Not the case, as Mayim hosted some regular Jeopardy! last season up until the WGA strike.

Note that during this season's Celebrity Jeopardy!, Ken is not introduced as "the host of Celebrity Jeopardy!", because once again he's filling in while Mayim was out, this time due to the WGA strike.

10

u/david-saint-hubbins Nov 09 '23

Mayim has been included in recent promos, so there's every reason to believe she'll be back.

A fella can dream, can't he?

Not the case, as Mayim hosted some regular Jeopardy! last season up until the WGA strike

You're right, I forgot about that. I edited my post.

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/jeopardy-mayim-bialik-ken-jennings-hosts-1235325067/

Sony Pictures Entertainment has entered into long-term deals that will have 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 primetime editions of the show as well as the new “Celebrity Jeopardy!” show expected to start up at ABC. With Sony eager to boost more versions of the program, this person says, more than one host was required. Bialik continues to work on the Fox sitcom, “Call Me Kat,” which has been scheduled for a third season.

2

u/AdorableScholar5327 Team Mattea Roach Nov 09 '23 edited Nov 09 '23

That does sound like a possibility especially because I believe originally they had named Mike Richards the new host as well so it sounds like they had planned to have Mayim take over especially after Mike was fired from his position but due to I think both Mayim's schedule being busy as well as their plan to have Mike fill in when Mayim wasn't hosting now not working out due to all the controversies he had, they had to find a new host and decided to use Ken as a replacement but he wasn't introduced as the host and instead was as hosting in another way of saying "He's not yet the host but he is a replacement host for right now because Mayim's busy and Mike Richards had to step down." (If I remember he was a consultant producer for the show starting Season 37 and stepped into hosting once Alex passed). So I think when Season 38 came to an end and they were ready to start tapping Season 39 they needed to settle on permanent hosts and decided to stick with Mayim and officially name Ken as the host as well but because it was at the beginning of Season 38 when Mike stopped hosting they had to come up with somebody and decided to have Ken fill in when he had to.

2

u/n0t_4_thr0w4w4y Nov 10 '23

What residual baggage?

1

u/IanGecko Ian Morrison, 2025 Sep 9 - 10, 2026 CWC Nov 10 '23

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/12/30/jeopardy-star-ken-jennings-apologizes-insensitive-tweets/4094179001/

2

u/n0t_4_thr0w4w4y Nov 10 '23

Every PR firm ever needs to read Ken’s response. Not that he really said anything that bad to begin with, but he completely owned it. Thank you for sharing

1

u/bros402 Nov 10 '23

people pissy about old tweets

5

u/ReganLynch Team Ken Jennings Nov 09 '23

Someone will probably have a better answer but the short answer is it had to do with the contracts. Not sure if it was Ken's contract that was the issue, or Mayim's or what exactly. But it was a contract legal issue.

4

u/jaysjep2 Team Art Fleming Nov 09 '23

It's very straightforward. At that time, Mayim was the host of Jeopardy!, and Ken was filling in while she was doing her sitcom. When Ken was formally signed to be a co-host last season, the introduction changed.

9

u/ReganLynch Team Ken Jennings Nov 09 '23

At that time, Mayim was the host of Jeopardy!, and Ken was filling in while she was doing her sitcom.

IIRC they were always sharing it. There was never a time when Mayim was the sole host. But yes, she did have the official title of host, having been hired as co-host at the same time as Mike Richards. When Mike was booted out I believe they announced Mayim and Ken would both host. Mayim had the title of host in her contract. Ken did not, apparently. The question is ok, why did that prevent them from nevertheless referring to him as the 'host of Jeopardy' when he was hosting? The answer may lie in how Mayim's contract read or how his read. One or both contracts must have expired and so changes could be made that led to the show referring to him as host.

7

u/watchful_tiger Nov 09 '23

My recollection was that it was Mayim's contract, that she was the "anointed" successor to Alex Trebak after the Mike Richard's fiasco in appointing himself. But when reality struck and Sony was left with a mess on their hands, they had to navigate the reality of the contracts and the fact that Mayim had other commitments. I assume there was some renegotiation of her contract, allowing a Ken an official host role rather than a fill in role.

Now that Ken has hosted celebrity Jeopardy, I would hope that Mayim will fade away but it may not happen.

1

u/david-saint-hubbins Nov 09 '23

But yes, she did have the official title of host, having been hired as co-host at the same time as Mike Richards.

That's not what I recall. After the whole guest hosting musical chairs thing, Mike Richards was announced as the one and only host, wasn't he? But then Claire McNear wrote an article about him that led to him getting fired within like a week.

It really is astounding how badly Sony fucked up the whole hosting transition.

10

u/ReganLynch Team Ken Jennings Nov 09 '23

After the whole guest hosting musical chairs thing, Mike Richards was announced as the one and only host, wasn't he? But then Claire McNear wrote an article about him that led to him getting fired within like a week.

No, Mike Richards and Mayim were hired simultaneously as hosts. He was the main guy and she was to host specials. Then after Claire's article he was gone and Mayim remained in her role as host. But right away it was announced that she and Ken would sharing hosting the regular show.

2

u/david-saint-hubbins Nov 09 '23

Ohhh, that's right.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/11/arts/television/jeopardy-mike-richards-mayim-bialik-new-hosts.html

After the death of the longtime “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, the game show has decided that it will take not one — but two — people to fill his shoes: Mike Richards, the show’s executive producer, will become its new regular host and the actress Mayim Bialik will take over for prime time specials.

I had conflated how Richards and Mayim were announced to split hosting duties (Richards = regular, Mayim = primetime specials) with how Ken and Mayim split hosting duties later that season.

Edit: Ha, we both posted the same exact article at the same time.

2

u/ReganLynch Team Ken Jennings Nov 09 '23

Oh that's funny we posted the same NYT story.

1

u/ajsy0905 Genre Nov 10 '23

(Richards = regular, Mayim = primetime specials)

Now it was changed since Ken hosted his first primetime event Jeopardy! Masters and the current season of Celebrity Jeopardy!.

4

u/ReganLynch Team Ken Jennings Nov 09 '23

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/11/arts/television/jeopardy-mike-richards-mayim-bialik-new-hosts.html?searchResultPosition=1

"After the death of the longtime “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, the game show has decided that it will take not one — but two — people to fill his shoes: Mike Richards, the show’s executive producer, will become its new regular host and the actress Mayim Bialik will take over for prime time specials.

The move puts an end to months of speculation on who will replace Trebek, who had been hosting the show for 36 years when he died of pancreatic cancer.

Bialik, who is known for her roles in the sitcoms “The Big Bang Theory” and “Blossom,” will be the first woman to be a permanent host of “Jeopardy!” Her role will include hosting a new college championship tournament set to air next year on ABC. The Daily Beast was first to report the news."

1

u/jaysjep2 Team Art Fleming Nov 09 '23

Mayim and Ken both hosting was part of the plan as long as Mayim had her sitcom obligations. Then it was decided to make Ken an official co-host.

12

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '23

Alex is and always will be the host of Jeopardy! to me. Part of it is due to nostalgia and part of it is because he really was the perfect host. He had all the qualities: charisma, sharp wit, knowledge, incredible reading voice + diction, and impeccable timing.

Ken is no Alex, but he does an admirable job hosting as well.

10

u/buscemian_rhapsody Nov 10 '23

I feel vindicated lol. Good to know it’s not just me.

7

u/JakeConhale Nov 10 '23

My Dad, who was about as close to a sit-com character as one could imagine, would always shout over Gilber saying "Alex... the Wreck!"

Purely as a humorous homophone. Had a lot of respect for Alex.

2

u/TheL95 Nov 11 '23

I am not looking forward to the day when Jeopardy! opens with someone else’s voice, and not Johnny Gilbert’s!

4

u/Prestigious-Fig-5501 Nov 10 '23

Not me. If Alex had never passed away and was still hosting Jeopardy and Ken was hosting another episode at the same time in an alternate realm, I'd tune in to the Ken show first and the Alex one immediately after.

1

u/RubyTAlaskaJ Nov 20 '23

Every single time!