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Joe Buck to guest-host Jeopardy!: Why does the show keep picking "random" people who've been on TV?

  • This morning, the New York Post reported that Fox Sports' Buck will get a tryout as a Jeopardy! guest-host this summer, a move that won't impact his schedule as the voice of Fox's Major League Baseball and NFL games. With Buck's selection, "the trend of ill-fitting hosts continues," says Anna Iovine. "Rather than opt for experienced game show hosts or well-known edu-tainment personalities, the guest hosts have been a roundtable of talk show hosts, a football superstar, and a TV doctor who's spewed so much quackery that the American Medical Association is wary of him." Iovine points out that the Jeopardy! guest-hosting roster started off great with Ken Jennings and executive producer Mike Richards. "So why has the show gone in the opposite direction?" she asks, adding: "For whatever reason, however, the show has turned away from internal talent and has looked outward — and outward to people who don't align with the show's message or gameplay," such as Dr. Oz. "While Oz's tenure is blessedly over," she says, "there are more odd-seeming guests on the horizon: CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, actor Mayim Bialik, broadcaster Savannah Guthrie. I'm not saying any of these people will be poor hosts, but they appear to be a random assortment of people who've been on TV. A Jeopardy! host, in my opinion as a regular viewer, should be someone who is excited to learn and just as excited for the audience to learn as well. Vice said it best: For the love of god, let LeVar Burton host Jeopardy! Barring that, the next permanent Jeopardy! host should be someone with Burton's passion for education. No host will replace Alex Trebek, but we deserve better. We deserve a host that will carry his legacy with pride, and see Jeopardy! into the future. No more people plucked from sports, and certainly no more quack doctors. I myself would love if the next Jeopardy! host were LeVar Burton, but even if it's not, please: someone with at least a touch of Trebek's hosting magic."

    TOPICS: Joe Buck, Jeopardy!, Game Shows