Mayim Bialik Declines to Host ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Amid Strikes, Replaced by Ken Jennings - eviltoast

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.”

  • sab@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    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?

    • Margot Robbie@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I want to watch some crazy Japanese game shows with subtitles on American TV.

      Whatever happened to Takeshi’s Castle?

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      1 year ago

      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.

      • sab@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Your market at home is also much greater than what any European country could ever dream of. Spain has some occasional hits in Latin America (La Casa de Papel was huge everywhere), but they don’t have anything comparable to the American industry.

        But for sure, the international market is huge - how terrified Hollywood is of offending China is solid evidence of that. :)

        • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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          1 year ago

          I would expect the Spanish market to be a lot more international since there isn’t one country that could dominate the way the US dominates the English market.

          Mexico has 2.5 times more people than Spain, but the two countries have a similar GDP. There are also other close countries like Colombia and Argentina. In contrast, the USA has over five times the population of the UK with the USA having a higher GDP per capita than the UK. Other English speaking countries either have local languages to compete with, have far smaller populations, and/or have lower GDP per capita.

          Hollywood needs the foreign market, now more than ever. However, it is really hard to compete with the giant that Hollywood is in its local market in English, let alone a foreign language.

    • xyzzy@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      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.

      On network TV? Never.

      • sab@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        True, I remember Squid Game was huge in the US. Did people watch it with subtitles?

        • xyzzy@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I don’t know about most people, but the default was dubbed so I guess they probably watched it dubbed. I’ve never been able to stand dubs, but that’s just me.

          • GeekFTW@kbin.socialOP
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            1 year ago

            I’m fine with some dubs, like if they’re real well done, or dubs of some shows I grew up with for the nostalgia. Otherwise yeah subs or bust.

            • sab@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              I think in animated shows it’s fine. Classic Disney movies often have fantastic translations, and it makes it fun to meet people around Europe because we all know the same songs but in different languages.

    • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • moody@lemmings.world
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      1 year ago

      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.