They’re just the brand new kids on the block.
“Jeopardy!” executive producer Michael Davies has revealed what he thinks in regards to the reign of the show’s hosts, Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings — especially in light of fan reactions.
“This show is so hard to host,” Davies told Vulture in an interview published Thursday.
“Alex made it his own, but it surely wasn’t his own the primary couple of years,” he continued, referring to the show’s longtime host, Alex Trebek, who died in 2020 at 80. “A number of what happened on ‘Jeopardy!’ got here from him possessing this job for therefore long. I do read every little thing, and look, the strongest thing we’ve got is the fervour of our fans.”
He continued, explaining that he wished fans can be “more patient” with each Bialik and Jennings.
“I wish lots of our fans were more patient in understanding that we’re coping with two hosts,” Davies said. “Mayim is a really experienced actress. Ken is a really experienced ‘Jeopardy!’ player. They’re each at first of their hosting careers. There’s an concept that I hold absolute power in making decisions around Jeopardy!, but I don’t.”
Davies also answered a matter regarding whether he’d ever gotten a way that fans prefer one host versus the opposite.
“I couldn’t offer you an absolute number. We read data from in all places,” he said. “By way of the tiny percentage of our audience that do go on Reddit or Twitter, there are Ken fans and there are Mayim fans. There are some individuals who love ‘Jeopardy!’ and can watch each.
“We even have various fans who post that they don’t like either of them.”
The Post reached out to representatives for each Jennings and Bialik for further comment.
Davies also revealed that he and the others who work on the hit game show do monitor what fans are saying and the feedback they get from the “tiny percentage” of those that air their opinions on social media.
He noted that there’s “zero difference” within the show’s rankings between the 2 hosts – repeating that it’s “the exact same.”
“I stand by the choice to bring Ken in and have Ken be a second host together with Mayim,” the producer stated. “I back each of them. I’m going to the studio day-after-day and take a look at to make each of them higher at hosting the show and make a greater program environment around them. They’ve my full support.”
When Trebek passed after a battle with pancreatic cancer, the show began to check different interim guest hosts, including Katie Couric, Aaron Rodgers and Bill Whitaker.
Bialik and Jennings were also among the many guest hosts.
Trebek had hosted the show for 37 seasons, since its revival in 1984 – so there have been some big shoes to fill.
Jennings was the primary person to host after Trebek’s death.
Last July, it was announced that Bialik and Jennings would grow to be the show’s latest hosts, working on different episodes.
“The very fact is, we’ve a lot ‘Jeopardy!’ to make, and so many plans for the longer term, that we all the time knew we would want multiple hosts for the franchise and we are only so grateful that Mayim and Ken stepped in and stepped as much as put the show able to succeed,” Davies wrote in a press release on the time.
Nonetheless, “Jeopardy!” fans have definitely been split over who they consider makes the higher host, with a lot of debates ensuing on social media.
Last week, an insider confirmed to The Post that Bialik had walked out of the last week of filming for Season 39 in support of the continued Writers Guild of America strike.
Jennings took over hosting the series, which is about to wrap filming Friday.
Jennings can also be hosting “Jeopardy! Masters,” which is a latest concept of the classic game show, by which the highest six highest-rated, current “Jeopardy” contestants compete for a grand prize.
Whoever wins the competition series might be the primary contestant to take the title of “Jeopardy! Masters” champion.
