Following Mike Richards’ abrupt departure from his role as the host of the weekday edition “Jeopardy!” show, Mayim Bialik has been allocated the slot as the host of the show.
Gatekeepers News reports that Mayim Bialik will host the episodes of the “Jeopardy!” game show, that are taped this week.
According to sources, she will host three weeks of the game show since it typically tapes a week’s worth of episodes on a single day.
The show’s producer, Sony has also confirmed the news, adding that “additional guest hosts will be announced” as it moves forward with production of the new season, which will premiere in mid-September.
Many saw Bialik’s appointment as a consolation prize since Richards was named the host of the popular weekday show which only one such prime-time tournament is currently scheduled to air.
However, with Richards’ abrupt exit from his daily hosting job, amid controversy over his past offensive remarks, Bialik may now be positioned as a frontrunner for the weekday job.
On Monday, a person familiar with the issue also confirmed that studio executives are considering her for the role.
According to the person, “The studio loves Mayim but at the time of the decision for the current season, her schedule for ‘Call me Kat’ was set and she wouldn’t have been able to juggle the syndicated show and her fox sitcom.”
“Now that there is some more time to figure things out, she has become a real viable choice for Sony,” the person continued. “It just makes sense to ask her to step in for several weeks while they figure out next steps.”
Although there has been some speculation that Richards, who currently remains the executive producer of “Jeopardy!,” is making decisions about the next host, the source debunked this noting that it isn’t the case.
The person, however, said Sony Pictures Entertainment chief executive Tony Vinciquerra and Global Television Studios chairman Ravi Ahuja are the people directly involved.
The person added, “They very much don’t want to go through another extended audition process,” the person added.
