A&Q about Mike Richards, selected (and de-selected) to host Jeopardy!

A: A seabird in the genus Sula, part of the family Sulidae.

Q. What is a booby?

A. He is being criticized for referring to "boobies" on an open mic in 2013.

Q. Who is Mike Richards, the new host of Jeopardy!?

A. Reverse racism, "toxic white masculinity".

Q. What are the real reasons Mr Richards' selection is being panned by the usual suspects?

A. Yes.

Q. Will the SJWs, BLMers etc succeed in getting Mr Richards fired?

Indeed. Mike Richards, the executive producer of Jeopardy! who was tapped to host the show in the upcoming season announced this morning that he won't be doing that, after all. "[O]ver the last several days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show," he said in a press release. "As such [Why do people include that ungrammatical phrase in statements? Ed.], I will be stepping down as host effective immediately. As a result, we will be canceling production today."

Just a few days ago, Mr Richards was named permanent host of Jeopardy!, succeeding the late loveable Canuck Alex Trebek. For the sake of gender equity, actress Mayim Bialik was tapped to helm primetime specials and spinoffs. 

Mr Richards was in trouble from the minute his appointment was announced, because of a number of "issues" related to political correctness or lack thereof. He was forced to respond to allegations of "pregnancy discrimination" made in a lawsuit that started ten years ago. 

Earlier this week, he had to issue another apology after The Ringer uncovered a number of derogatory comments he made between 2013 and 2014 about women, Jews, and people receiving unemployment on the podcast, The Randumb Show. Apparently he used the word "boobies", not meaning the seabirds.

The real reason for the disapproval of the media elites, however, is that Mr Richards isn't LeVar Burton. Mr Burton, who is of the coloured persuasion, appeared to have the puck nailed to his stick [Will non-hockey fans get that? Ed.] because... errr, BLM, George Floyd, errr, you know....

Unfortunately, Mr Burton's performance in the role of Uncle Tom on a recent stint as guest host didn't go very well. While the erudite Alex Trebek appeared to understand what the correct answers (in the form of questions!) should be, Mr Burton as all wide-eyed, gee-whiz innocence. IMHO he lacked the gravitas to be permanent host. 

Viewers seemed to agree. Mr Burton's episodes drew the lowest average viewership numbers out of all of the recorded guest hosts. His turn behind the podium, from July 26th to 30th, saw an average rating of 4.4, according to Nielsen. This was lower than Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, who guest hosted Jeopardy the week before and garnered an average rating of 4.7, or CNBC's David Faber, who hosted from August 2nd to 6th.

A: Jeopardy! GOAT champion Ken Jennings.

Q: Who got the highest ratings as guest host?

Mr Jenning's week on the air had an average rating of 6.0. I dare to suggest that's because Jeopardy! is basically a quiz show for nerdy white guys who know a little about a lot -- like my goodself! The three Greatest Of All Time champions, who competed in a special GOAT tournament in January of 2020, were Mr Jennings, Brad Rutter, and the annoying James Holzhauer -- all white guys.

Over the years, white men have dominated Jeopardy!. South and east Asian men do pretty well, white women less so. BIPOCs lag well behind. You can draw your own conclusions about the correlation between race, gender and intelligence, but the fact remains that Jeopardy!, like hockey, is a white man's game. 

That's a fact that has not escaped the attention of the show's producers, hence Mr Richards and not Mr Burton. Now that Mr Richards has stepped [or been pushed? Ed.] down, Jeopardy! will continue with guest hosts until a suitable BIPOC can be found.

Anus horribilis 2020: Noted in passing (movies and TV)

Ed. here. 2020 is almost over, thank God, truly an Annus Horribilis if ever there was one. (I know my Latin but Walt insists on leaving the headline as he wrote it.) Here is the first segment of our yearend review, saying farewell to some people who in some way made this world a better place, and who will be missed....

We begin with two stars of the silver screen.

Dame Olivia De Havilland, born 1 July 1916 in Tokyo (! to British parents), died 26 July 2020 at the age of 104. She was one of the last surviving cast members of Gone With the Wind (1939). We all cried when the saintly Melanie Hamilton died. Dame Olivia's touching performance earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. 

She was nominated for that award three other times, and won twice, for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). Her impact on the movie industry extended far beyond her acting ability. Her court victory over the notorious Hollywood studio system -- still referred to as "the De Havilland decision" -- changed irrevocably the way that actors would be treated by studios.

Sir Sean Connery, born in Scotland (and don't you forget it -- Scotland, not "England" or "Britain"!) 25 August 1930, died on Hallowe'en, 31 October 2020. His five-decade-long movie career was dominated by the role of James Bond, being the first to bring the role to the big screen and appearing in seven of the spy thrillers. Bond fans will remember that much of the action in the first and last films took place in the Bahamas, and that was where Sir Sean died peacefully in his sleep.

Sir Sean's acting career spanned seven decades and he won an Oscar in 1988 for his role in The Untouchables, in which I thought he was rather miscast. Other films included The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and The Rock. But his best, IMHO, was The Man Who Would Be King, in which he co-starred with Michael Caine as soldiers of fortune whose karma caught up with them in faroff Kafiristan (a real place, actually.) "Peachey never let go of Danny's head..."

Now to the smaller screen....

Alex Trebek, the genial host of the long-running TV quiz show Jeopardy!, died 8 November 2020 after a long and courageous battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.  Answers: George Alexander Trebek, Sudbury ON Canada, 22 July  1940. Questions: What was Alex Trebek's real name? Where and when was he born?

Mr Trebek became the host of Jeopardy! in 1984, reviving the show after it had been off the air since 1979. His reassuring presence helped make the answer-and-question game show an entertainment institution, watched daily by millions of fans around the world. In 2014 Mr Trebek set the Guinness World Record for most episodes hosted by the same presenter in 2014. 

He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host seven times between 1989 and 2020 for his work on Jeopardy!, which TV Guide ranked in 2013 as No. 1 on its list of "60 Greatest Game Shows". Mr Trebek continued taping episodes of Jeopardy! throughout his fight with pancreatic cancer, with his final shows taped just a week before his death.

Actor and comedian Gerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller, born in Brooklyn NY 8 June 1927, died on 11 May 2020. Those who remember him best as the eccentric Frank Costanza on Seinfeld, may be surprised to learn that Mr Stiller was a classically trained actor and author, as well as a comedian. He spent many years with his wife, Anne Meara, as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara. 

Mr Stiller saw a late-career resurgence starting in 1993, playing the father of the feckless George Costanza on the popular sitcom, a part which earned him an Emmy nomination. The year Seinfeld stopped producing new episodes, Stiller began portraying another eccentric -- Arthur Spooner -- on the CBS comedy series The King of Queens, another role which garnered him widespread acclaim.

Considering the kind of year 2020 has been, it's a pity Frank Costanza wasn't here to lead the Festivus "airing of the grievances". I'll try to keep the tradition alive on WWW. 

Still to come: "Noted in passing (sports and music) and (print media)"

VIDEO: Alex Trebek reveals battle with pancreatic cancer

Canadians are rightly proud of Alex Trebek, the host of the US-produced quiz show, Jeopardy!, since 1984. He doesn't make a big deal out of being a Cancuck from the hard-bitten mining town of Sudbury ON, but, unlike some frostbacks who've made it big in Tinseltown, he doesn't hide it either. His erudite but mild-mannered and wholesome persona has won him won him respect wherever the show is seen.

In his native land, he consistently ranks in near the top of "10 Most Trusted Canadians" polls. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 2017 and got his place on the Canadian Walk of Fame in 2006. South of the world's longest undefended border (TM) he has won five Emmy awards and earned the Daytime Emmy Awards' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

Yesterday, following his principles of openness and honesty, he made a sad announcement on Jeopardy's YouTube channel. Here it is.



Stage 4 is the final stage of pancreatic cancer and generally means the disease has spread to other parts of the body, typically the liver, lungs or bones. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for Stage 4 pancreatic cancer is just three per cent. But M Trebek vowed that he's going to fight it! In the video he says, "With the love and support of my family and friends and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease."

Besides, the 78-year-old quipped, he has to remain host of Jeopardy! for some time yet, because his new contract, signed in October, requires him to continue his role until 2022!

Walt, who regularly watches Jeopardy! to yell answers at his TV set [and to berate the contestants for their ignorance -- I've seen you! Ed.] wishes Alex many more years!

Footnote: Before finding fame and fortune in Hollywood, M Trebek worked for the Canadian Broadcorping Castration. One of his duties, in the late sixties, was to host a high school quiz show called Reach for the Top. It and he were parodied more than once on the award-winning Canadian sketch comedy show SCTV. Here's a sample, featuring Eugene Levy as "Alek", with contestants including the late John Candy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty and the late John Candy -- all of them Canucks except for the Yankee Flaherty who later became an honorary frostback, kind of... eh.