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In what has to be Sony Pictures worst decision since greenlighting 2017’s The Emoji Movie, officials for that company last week announced that fan-favorite Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik has not been invited to return to the long-running series as a co-host. Acting as full-time host going forward will be former Jeopardy! contestant and Bialik’s co-emcee on the game show, Ken Jennings.
According to our The Art of the Steal aficionados over at The Hollywood Reporter, Bialik – one-time Blossom television series star and friend to Joey Lawrence fans everywhere (“Whoa!”) – announced her departure from Jeopardy! via her social media account this past Friday, saying that “As the holiday break begins in Hollywood, I have some Jeopardy! news. Sony has informed me that I will no longer be hosting the syndicated version of Jeopardy! I am incredibly honored to have been nominated for a primetime Emmy for hosting this year and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the Jeopardy! family. For all of you who have supported me through this incredible journey and to the fans, the contestants, writers, staff and crew of America’s Favorite Quiz Show, thank you.”
When the world lost veteran Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, Bialik and Jennings had the unenviable task of stepping into that legendary figure’s oversized and mythical shoes. Both made the best of what could have been an otherwise cringe-inducing move and, in point of fact, delivered a show that Mr. Trebek would have been more than proud of. The salient fact and utter irony that Sony would choose not to continue forward with Bialik on the heels of her recent Emmy nomination for hosting the series displays a shortsightedness which is stunning and Coke 2-like in its hubris.
And what of those Edsel-driving mavens in the upper echelons of the Sony lair? What say they of this unlikely and Ebenezer Scrooge-like power-play? Not too terribly much as it turns out. Though, if you dope out the corporate speak, it sounds like those pesky Sony gremlins are putting in an order at Burger King and attempting to have it “their way”: At the front of their statement they pin the decision to leave Jeopardy! squarely on Bialik before offering the contradictory message that they themselves had decided the hosting duties independent of the former co-star of The Big Bang Theory.
“Mayim Bialik has announced she will no longer be hosting the syndicated version of Jeopardy!. We made the decision to have one host for the syndicated show next season to maintain continuity for our viewers, and Ken Jennings will be the sole host for syndicated Jeopardy!. We are truly grateful for all of Mayim’s contributions to Jeopardy!, and we hope to continue to work with her on primetime specials.”
We’re sorry here at the Vents offices to see Mayim Bialik depart the Jeopardy! fields for greener pastures; Best of luck with future endeavors, Mayim!
