What is...In the Media?

[30 Helens]

 

[chitowngirl]

To be fair, WOF producers had time to get their ducks in a row before announcing Pat’s retirement. Jeopardy had to scramble with Alex’s death. It would have been a bit morbid if they had someone lined up for when the inevitable happened.

[30 Helens]

58 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

It would have been a bit morbid if they had someone lined up for when the inevitable happened

I don’t know, Alex had someone lined up and they didn’t even give her a shot. Plus, it’s not like his death was unexpected. They had plenty of time to consider the possibilities. 

[chessiegal]

2 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

I don’t know, Alex had someone lined up and they didn’t even give her a shot. Plus, it’s not like his death was unexpected. They had plenty of time to consider the possibilities. 

Who did Alex have lined up?

[shapeshifter]

17 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Who did Alex have lined up?

Not sure "lined up" is the best descriptor anymore, based upon the outcome, but, for example:
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/alex-trebek-named-laura-coates-potential-jeopardy-replacement-says-sho-rcna12714

Edited June 30, 2023 by shapeshifter

[annzeepark914]

This show is very different from other game shows. Now that there are contestants who can continue competing past the 5 game limit, having the Jeopardy G.O.A.T. as host means a lot--to the audience as well as the contestants (yes, I'm ignoring the other host who's also very intelligent). 

[SoMuchTV]

If anyone is not yet listening to the Inside Jeopardy! podcast, the one that was released today featured Sam Buttrey.  If you aren't already a Sam fan...

[chicagofan]

Deleted because I posted in the wrong thread.

Edited July 10, 2023 by chicagofan

[illdoc]

Emmy Nominations: J! (Outstanding Game Show) and both Ken & Mayim (Outstanding Game Show Host).

[30 Helens]

Yes, they’re competing against Steve Harvey, Pat Sajak and Keke Palmer. My guess is Ken and Mayim will split the J! vote and Sajak will win as a farewell salute. 

Would love to see Ken win, though.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, 30 Helens said:

Yes, they’re competing against Steve Harvey, Pat Sajak and Keke Palmer. My guess is Ken and Mayim will split the J! vote and Sajak will win as a farewell salute. 

Would love to see Ken win, though.

I agree with all of this.👆
And I do think  Steve Harvey, Pat Sajak and Keke Palmer are all worthy too. 

If not for for the fatality on the set of his movie, Alec Baldwin might have at least been nominated in this category; he was an excellent host for the Match Game reboot. But I can't imagine him ever again in a live comedic role.

[possibilities]

How did I not know Keke Palmer is a game show host??

Edited July 13, 2023 by possibilities

[30 Helens]

6 hours ago, possibilities said:

How did I not know Keke Palmer is a game show host??

She hosts the primetime Password reboot. She does a pretty good job, I think. Almost makes up for all the Jimmy Fallon mugging.

[possibilities]

1 hour ago, 30 Helens said:

She hosts the primetime Password reboot. She does a pretty good job, I think. Almost makes up for all the Jimmy Fallon mugging.

Ah, that explains why I didn't know. Fallon in the ads turned me off watching.

[Bastet]

Steve Harvey and Pat Sajak are jackasses, so whatever their hosting skills (I don't watch their shows), I'll root for them to lose because there must be better people who do just as good or a better job.  I like that both J! hosts are nominated, although they'll probably split the votes as already predicted.  So I guess I'm rooting for Keke Palmer, despite not knowing anything about her hosting (or her at all other than the celebrity news thread here recently alerting me to her baby daddy showing his sexist ass on Twitter).

[alias1]

The only person in this list who actually has any real hosting skills is Ken.  I don't even see how he splits the vote with Mayim.  It's Ken all the way!   Although I agree that Pat Sajak (ugh) might be a token win just because he's retiring. 

[Prevailing Wind]

But he's not retiring til the end of NEXT season. They can give it to him then.

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

But he's not retiring til the end of NEXT season. They can give it to him then.

But they might not want to wait. 😐
Alex got his last Emmy posthumously, and Pat Sajak has had some health issues.
But he looks fine now.🙂
FWIW, Sajak hasn't won since the 90s.
 

[chessiegal]

Leann made the front page of our local newspaper, The Capital.

[shapeshifter]

From the Wednesday, July 19, 2023 NY Times Crossword Puzzle:

[Jaded]

On 7/13/2023 at 11:30 PM, possibilities said:

Ah, that explains why I didn't know. Fallon in the ads turned me off watching.

Yeah, I was looking forward to Password coming back then heard Fallon was associated with it. He's on every episode. So that a no to me watching too.

[30 Helens]

15 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I saw that. And smiled because there was no Mayim equal time rule.

[DrSpaceman73]

In regard to the writers strike, I'm not saying I agree with it, but jeopardy is precisely the type of show where AI could easily replace most of the writers. 

On 7/14/2023 at 12:47 AM, Bastet said:

Steve Harvey and Pat Sajak are jackasses, so whatever their hosting skills (I don't watch their shows), I'll root for them to lose because there must be better people who do just as good or a better job.  I like that both J! hosts are nominated, although they'll probably split the votes as already predicted.  So I guess I'm rooting for Keke Palmer, despite not knowing anything about her hosting (or her at all other than the celebrity news thread here recently alerting me to her baby daddy showing his sexist ass on Twitter).

I can't stand Steve Harvey. I don't know who keeps hiring him.  He's not funny or witty. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

15 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

In regard to the writers strike, I'm not saying I agree with it, but jeopardy is precisely the type of show where AI could easily replace most of the writers. 

Perhaps in the sense of producing reams of plausible-sounding sentences, but it's not good at fact-checking which is or should be a critical component. And if you think about Watson, even though it won, it also had some off-kilter responses -- guessing Dorothy Parker instead of The Elements of Style, -- and had problems with venn-diagram style clues (like the one about a word that means both a dress and a key on your typewriter keyboard and it guessed chemise). There was also the recent news story of the lawyer who relied on ChatGPT to write his filing and cite precedents and it just made everything up. 

  

[ProudMary]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

In regard to the writers strike, I'm not saying I agree with it, but jeopardy is precisely the type of show where AI could easily replace most of the writers. 

 

41 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Perhaps in the sense of producing reams of plausible-sounding sentences, but it's not good at fact-checking which is or should be a critical component.

Both of these comments sort of sum up the AI issue, showing us exactly what the producers want and what the writers want to protect themselves from. In general, it's bad news for creatives.

For a show like Jeopardy!, producers could use AI to format clues and just hire fact-checkers on the cheap to insure the info is correct. 

For original scripts or adaptations, producers would be happy to let AI do the main job and then just hire script "polishers" at a much lower rate.

I don't see much of a compromise position here and that's just the AI issue. They're even farther apart on residuals. This is going to be a LONG strike.

[30 Helens]

I don’t know what their future plans are re. AI, but in the interim it seems they just plan on recycling old clues. There is brief mention of it at the end of this article:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/actors-strike-movies-tv-shows-still-filming-1235538864/

And it looks like the ToC may not go forward, either. Ray Lalonde announced on Reddit that he was boycotting the tournament, and he was quickly joined by Cris, Hannah, Ben, and Troy. (Presumably Ike Barinholtz is out, too.)

https://thejeopardyfan.com/2023/07/tournament-of-champions-boycott-brewing-over-wga-strike.html

 

 

[DrSpaceman73]

3 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Perhaps in the sense of producing reams of plausible-sounding sentences, but it's not good at fact-checking which is or should be a critical component. And if you think about Watson, even though it won, it also had some off-kilter responses -- guessing Dorothy Parker instead of The Elements of Style, -- and had problems with venn-diagram style clues (like the one about a word that means both a dress and a key on your typewriter keyboard and it guessed chemise). There was also the recent news story of the lawyer who relied on ChatGPT to write his filing and cite precedents and it just made everything up. 

  

Of course you'd have to have a human fact checking and reviewing and revising but that I think would take fewer writers than writing them all from the beginning. 

And let's be honest.....the writers dont help themselves any favors on this fight by constantly going back to the same clues and topics. How many times and in how many different ways can you ask about the same 10 Shakespeare plays?  

1 hour ago, 30 Helens said:

I don’t know what their future plans are re. AI, but in the interim it seems they just plan on recycling old clues. There is brief mention of it at the end of this article:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/actors-strike-movies-tv-shows-still-filming-1235538864/

And it looks like the ToC may not go forward, either. Ray Lalonde announced on Reddit that he was boycotting the tournament, and he was quickly joined by Cris, Hannah, Ben, and Troy. (Presumably Ike Barinholtz is out, too.)

https://thejeopardyfan.com/2023/07/tournament-of-champions-boycott-brewing-over-wga-strike.html

 

 

They can always move the toc to later in the season after this finally is resolved. 

[chitowngirl]

I would guess Celebrity Jeopardy and Celebrity WOF would be on hold also?

Edited July 23, 2023 by chitowngirl

[Bastet]

Good on those ToC contestants for standing in solidarity with the WGA!

50 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

I would guess Celebrity Jeopardy and Celebrity WOF would be on hold also?

No, both remain in production. 

According to that Hollywood Reporter article, sources say season two of Celebrity J! was already written before the WGA went on strike.  Celebrity WoF is not written by WGA members. 

Neither are struck productions as far as SAG-AFTRA, since game shows (among several other things) are covered by the Network Code, a different contract that's valid through next summer -- SAG-AFTRA members are allowed to work on game shows during the strike without being in violation of union rules.

[ProudMary]

1 hour ago, chitowngirl said:

I would guess Celebrity Jeopardy and Celebrity WOF would be on hold also?

According to the THR article that @30 Helens posted, no.

Edited to note:  The final line, "The sticking point would be, who's hosting? CJ is Mayim's gig." is mine. I don't know how it ended up in the quote box, but on edit, it won't let me delete it.

Quote

SAG-AFTRA’s National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting, aka the Network Code, covers daytime dramas, variety shows, game shows and other unscripted projects. The current contract for Network Code shows is in effect through June 2024; below are shows The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed will remain in production.

America’s Got Talent (live episodes beginning Aug. 22)
Days of Our Lives
General Hospital
Jeopardy! and Celebrity Jeopardy!*
Wheel of Fortune and Celebrity Wheel of Fortune

*Both the syndicated Jeopardy! and ABC’s Celebrity Jeopardy! are written by WGA members. Sources tell THR that writing on season two of Celebrity Jeopardy! was completed before writers went on strike in May, while the syndicated show will draw on material from its past four decades to begin the 2023-24 season.

The sticking point would be, who's hosting? CJ is Mayim's gig.

Edited July 23, 2023 by ProudMary

[30 Helens]

Technically, ToC can still go forward with recycled clues and without the boycotting contestants, but I hope it doesn’t.

As for C!J!, Ken? Buzzy? Brad!!

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, ProudMary said:

The sticking point would be, who's hosting? CJ is Mayim's gig.

She could host it without being in violation of the strike order, since she'd be working under a different SAG-AFTRA contract than the one she's striking over.  But, even though it was already written before the WGA strike, she backed out of hosting pre-written episodes of regular J! in solidarity with the WGA, so I doubt she wants to do this, either.

1 hour ago, 30 Helens said:

Technically, ToC can still go forward with recycled clues and without the boycotting contestants, but I hope it doesn’t.

I think five of the top six seeds are boycotting, so it would be a pretty lackluster tournament.  I won't watch any new episodes made by recycling old clues, and certainly not a tournament.

Thank goodness there's a union member among the ToC contestants to get the ball rolling on a boycott, and I love what Ray posted (from the article linked above):
 

Quote

Hello everyone,

My name is Ray Lalonde and I was a Jeopardy! champion this past season.

I'd like to break my accustomed social media avoidance and reach out to the broad Jeopardy! community if I may.

There are now credible reports that the producers are making contingency plans to start filming the next season of the show with old and/or recycled material if the WGA strike remains unresolved.

I am a lifelong devoted fan of Jeopardy!. I am and will always be grateful for the experience I had on the show and the opportunity to participate in the TOC is beyond a dream come true for me. That being said, I believe that the show’s writers are a vital part of the show and they are justified in taking their job action to secure a fair contract for themselves and their fellow WGA members. As a supporter of the trade union movement, a union member’s son and a proud union member myself I have informed the show’s producers that if the strike remains unresolved I will not cross a picket line to play in the Tournament of Champions.

My hope in saying this publicly now is to perhaps influence some future decision to proceed without the writers and to encourage any others in the community who feel the same way to speak out as well. A few small voices may not change any minds but we can try.

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Bastet

[30 Helens]

I found it a little difficult to find the posts from contestants other than Ray in that Reddit thread, so I copied and pasted them here in case others were interested. Sorry for the wonky formatting. Not surprisingly, the fan comments regarding these posts are 100% supportive.

 

Quote

diyfou

Hannah Wilson, 2023 May 3 - May 15

2d

I'll stand with you, Ray! A TOC with all recycled clues doesn't sound like much fun to play in, anyway.

Quote

As I have already told Ray personally, though like all of us I am a huge Jeopardy fan and it was a dream to appear on the show, I fully agree with his stance and will not participate in any games comprised of recycled clues while the WGA strike is in effect. Glad to see Hannah's (edit: And Ben's!) post here as well.

- Cris Pannullo

Quote

JeopardyBenBen

Ben Chan, 2023 Apr 12 - 14, May 15 - 23

2d

Ray, thank you for taking this stand. If you are out, I am out.

Quote

jeopardyyort

Troy Meyer, 2023 Jan 19 - 27

2d

I stand with Ray! -Troy

Quote

i_gothed_on_jeopardy

Dan Wohl, 2023 Feb 8-9

2d

I know Ray already saw this in the Facebook group but I want to mention it here too so Reddit sees it- if the strike does end up torpedoing the postseason (including the Champions Wild Card which I was ecstatic to qualify for but will certainly never cross the picket line for), maybe we can organize some kind of alternative online trivia contest/event with as many S39 champs as possible and somehow make it a fundraiser for the WGA.

In thinking about the Celebrity tournament, I think they’ll find it hard to get any “real” celebrities to agree to appear. Unless— and this might actually be cool— if all the celebrities funnel their winnings into a fund for all the workers who are really hurting because of this fight. Make the corporate overlords pay one way or another. 

 

[TakomaSnark]

On 7/14/2023 at 12:06 PM, alias1 said:

The only person in this list who actually has any real hosting skills is Ken.  I don't even see how he splits the vote with Mayim.  It's Ken all the way!   Although I agree that Pat Sajak (ugh) might be a token win just because he's retiring. 

Mayim is well liked by her peers. Don’t assume everyone is a Ken Stan. Mayim has got decades of goodwill in the television community.

[dcalley]

The Washington Post on the TOC boycott: ‘Jeopardy!’ champions vow to boycott tournament over writers strike

[30 Helens]

The Washington Post wouldn’t let me into the above article because I’m not a subscriber. But here’s a Hollywood Reporter article about players not crossing picket lines.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-writers-strike-1235544627/

Looks like Ben Goldstein, Luigi de Guzman and Suresh Krishnan have joined the ranks.

No word yet from Yogesh.

[Bastet]

3 minutes ago, 30 Helens said:

No word yet from Yogesh.

He can just stand there by himself and rant, to an audience of no one.

[illdoc]

As TVLine says, Jeopardy is in jeopardy: https://tvline.com/news/jeopardy-season-40-delayed-premiere-date-writers-strike-update-1235018700/

[Bastet]

56 minutes ago, illdoc said:

As TVLine says, Jeopardy is in jeopardy: https://tvline.com/news/jeopardy-season-40-delayed-premiere-date-writers-strike-update-1235018700/

I normally follow the "Don't Read the Comments" rule, but for some reason scrolled down, and am greatly enjoying watching that idiot "Bob" get his ass handed to him by the other commenters.

[ProudMary]

3 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

No word yet from Yogesh.

 

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

He can just stand there by himself and rant, to an audience of no one

I suspect that Yogesh would be Powers Boothe at the 1980 Emmy Awards.

[alias1]

On 7/24/2023 at 7:06 AM, TakomaSnark said:

Mayim is well liked by her peers. Don’t assume everyone is a Ken Stan. Mayim has got decades of goodwill in the television community.

I agree Mayim is well liked.  If that's the criteria to win, it's a popularity contest and not based on hosting skills. 

[TakomaSnark]

1 hour ago, alias1 said:

I agree Mayim is well liked.  If that's the criteria to win, it's a popularity contest and not based on hosting skills. 

Of course an award is a popularity contest. All of the industry ones are! Ken chose an unpopular path when he decided to cross picket lines to keep hosting. Maybe he should have considered what Mayim, an entertainment industry vet, understood that he, friend of Bean Dad, did not and learned something from her.

Mayim does just fine as a host, she brings different beats than Ken. Personally, I prefer her as she doesn't try to one-up every contestant when they are sharing their personal anecdotes (oh, the outrage if she did what he does - like that 'joke' last week about implying that a contestant's parents had sex in IKEA).

Let's face it, for the Jennings die-hards, Mayim is in 'bitch eating crackers' territory. It's beyond tiresome. And I hope she wins that hosting Emmy.

 

[alias1]

Mayim seems like a lovely person.  Which has nothing to do with her hosting skills.  Just my opinion.

[TakomaSnark]

19 minutes ago, alias1 said:

Mayim seems like a lovely person.  Which has nothing to do with her hosting skills.  Just my opinion.

And I can say the same of Ken. He thinks hosting the show revolves around his ego and Twitter edgelordiness.

I miss Trebek's succinct 'good for you!' replies after contestant interviews. Because he knew not to upstage the stories.

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by TakomaSnark

[30 Helens]

2 hours ago, TakomaSnark said:

Because he knew not to upstage the stories.

 

What you see as upstaging, I see as bantering with the contestants in a friendly way. And I remember Alex doing the same thing, in much the same style.

Mayim’s interactions seem less natural and more forced to me, and therefore I don’t enjoy them as much. But it’s all in the eye of the beholder— there’s no correct perspective here; we all like who we like.

[30 Helens]

It’s official— TOC delayed until they can get some new clues. But apparently recycled clues are good enough for regular chumps contestants, as that appears to be a go, still.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-writers-strike-1235544627/

[ABay]

Trebek had a strong tendency to make the stories about himself.

[possibilities]

I'm not going to watch the recycled clue season. I don't feel right about them trying to get around the writers in this way.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, ABay said:

Trebek had a strong tendency to make the stories about himself.

I wasn't really a watcher then; the show was just part of my parents' den when I visited. But I often tend to make peoples' stories about me in a misguided effort to empathize. It's tricky to recognize when it's appropriate and when it isn't.

 

5 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I'm not going to watch the recycled clue season. I don't feel right about them trying to get around the writers in this way.

Depending upon how they introduce the shows and/or show a message at the end, it could be supportive of the union writers:

Quote

"featuring the best of our WGA written material."
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-writers-strike-1235544627/#:~:text=featuring the best of our WGA written material.

 

[chessiegal]

My onscreen tv guide shows they will be running a repeat of the Second Chance tournament next Monday.