Dishonorable Mention
Dr. Oz
Time Frame: March 22-April 2
Best Known For: The Doctor Oz Show
From the moment that he was announced, Dr. Oz was met with outright derision. For most fans of Jeopardy!, the program is an institution of education, promoting intellect in a variety of fields. Most importantly, it’s one of the few game shows whose ethics are the highlight of the show. The same cannot be said for him, who has been under constant scrutiny in his career for peddling pseudoscience, promoting sensationalism instead of facts, and doing everything that is antithetical to the Jeopardy! way. Whereas almost every other host had some bona fides for why they belonged here, Dr. Oz was always the black sheep, the big question mark as to why he was even invited.
It was difficult to put aside his reputation throughout the entire run. Within days of his first episode, there were already boycotts and petitions begging producers to remove him from the air. Even as the months carried on and a dozen other hosts took over, the unanimous agreement was that Dr. Oz was genuinely the worst person to ever host Jeopardy! both from a representation standpoint, but also as a general host.
Remove everything you know about Dr. Oz outside of Jeopardy!, and it was still a low point for The Post-Trebek Era. Like most hosts, he brought his specific brand of presentation to the questions, reading them and doing his best to interact with contestants in a friendly manner. The issue is that because he’s so rooted in sensationalism, a lot of the show felt more intense and uncomfortable. His banter with contestants felt forced, or at least more to benefit his ego. He never adapted to the show instead of trying to make it an over the top nightmare. While he’s far from a total failure, he did enough wrong to hopefully never be invited back.
15. George Stephanopoulus
Time Frame: July 12-July 16
Best Known For: Good Morning America
The berth between Dr. Oz and the hosts that are actually qualified may as well fill The Marianas Trench. Even if George Stephanopoulus was by far one of the least memorable, he was by no means a bad host. To most people, he is best known for his political coverage, able to keep a calm and collected head on election night as each development is made. As a journalist, he is fine. He does his job and there is reliability to his structure.
If there’s any downside to this approach, it’s that his milquetoast delivery doesn’t exactly compliment the fast-paced nature of Jeopardy!. While his quiet, eloquent talking may do well to present the news, it’s difficult to establish a rhythm that keeps the contestants eager to keep playing, moving forward, and buzzing in with such rapidity. This is one of the hosts in a long stretch of hosts who didn’t really do much to leave a personalized stamp on the show. They did enough to keep the show afloat, but there was very little adaptation or embrace of what makes the show an essential part of people’s lives.
Again, Stephanopoulus wasn’t a terrible host if you’re judging solely on whether he was able to keep the show moving. However, he didn’t always know how to keep it interesting and as a result had one of the least eventful weeks in any 2021 run. It could just be that his personality didn’t have enough eccentricity or that his chemistry with the contestants was at times timid. Whatever it was, he never quite graduated to a level where it made sense for him to be a host. Like most journalists who hosted, he was kind of just there because it was a great opportunity to live out a dream. Shame that it left many snoozing as well.
14. Anderson Cooper
Time Frame: April 19-April 30
Best Known For: Anderson Cooper 360
This is a reminder that while Anderson Cooper rates near the bottom of the list, it’s not from a lack of effort. As one of the most recognized journalists in America, it makes sense to have him host. He has a stern directness, an ability to connect with the common man, and bring focus when needed. By every account, he was a good host. He did his job and there wasn’t all that much to complain about.
The major issue was the cult of personality. Cooper is capable of being personable, of being able to reach out to the contestants and provide levity. The issue is that as a host he’s a bit dry, often suffering from similar fates as George Stephanopoulus. He is very reserved, not providing any clever spin on the material. As he reaches the end of an episode, his congratulations at the end of Final Jeopardy are often cold and calculated. Maybe in time he would loosen up, but for now, he was treating it very much like a job, and not a particularly fun one at that.
An issue with determining who is a great Jeopardy! host is that one wants to be authentic and not step too much on Trebek’s legacy. There is a need to find a balance, and it’s been interesting watching everyone flirt with their own interpretation of what a host going forward should look like. Cooper clearly has no interest in fantasizing about that scenario too much, and it shows. There are moments of personality and humor, but none of it really sticks. At best he’s doing it for the publicity, and that’s not nearly as fun as simply being spontaneous.
13. LeVar Burton
Time Frame: July 26-July 30
Best Known For: Reading Rainbow
It was arguably the highest profile moment in Jeopardy!’s 2021 run after Trebek’s final episode. The famed actor behind Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation was going to give his spin to the program. Many wanted to believe that he would bring the same charisma to his run, making him the rightful heir. This would be another notch on his impressive belt, and even Burton seemed enthused by the proposition. With transparent marketing highlighting everything from him proposing the deal on Twitter to the start of his filming, it was the type of buzz that Jeopardy! had been trying to achieve for months with these hosts and failing. Burton was, quite simply, the biggest deal since James Holzhauer.
It’s difficult to fully assess Burton for a variety of reasons. On the one hand, he could never live up to the months-long hype. No host knocked it out of the park immediately. Most didn’t really find a groove until their second week of hosting. That is why by the time that Burton reached his fifth and final episode that it felt a bit incomplete, like he was starting to find a groove but didn’t. As far as hosts go, he was one of the more nervous, more impervious to mistakes. Not only that, but it felt less personal when he read questions. To hear Burton read a question was to imagine his days on Reading Rainbow where he had clear elocution. It was nice, but on Jeopardy! it came across as robotic.
Would Burton rank a little higher had he gotten another week or, like Ken Jennings, even a few more? It is likely. There is definitely a charm that shined through even his worst moments, a humbleness and eagerness to play the game in the way he believed it should be played. He definitely has the personality that would make for a complimentary Jeopardy! host, but he never quite got there during his run. As a result, he’s easily the most disappointing name on this list. Given that neither of the two hosts that followed was as acclaimed, it doesn’t make sense why he didn’t get the opportunity to try a little longer. Maybe it would’ve been a mess, maybe it would’ve been a revelatory rebound. Who knows? Whatever the case may be, he gave the show a boost in the arm regarding conversation and that goes a long way.
12. David Faber
Time Frame: August 2-August 6
Best Known For: Squawk on the Street
There is a thankless task about hosting Jeopardy! well into the summer months. By this point there have been so many names that have been forgotten, failing to leave an impression. Given that the show had a bad habit of picking up journalists to host, David Faber was yet another example of a host doing their job and doing it passably. Everything that one would expect him to do, he did. He read questions competently and even did good work with the interview segments.
If there was an issue for Faber, it’s that he did very little to stand out. As the successor to LeVar Burton’s high profile week, it was difficult to feel nearly as enthusiastic about anything he did. Was the show ever going to go on summer break? By this point, people were more interested in the inevitable announcement of who would be the official host. Given that Faber was charismatic but not enough to take the gig, he became another name on that list of people fans would have to strain to remember anything memorable about.
There was very little that made Faber’s run feel essential. His friendly demeanor was enough to keep the show worth watching, but many people were still talking about Burton. If there’s any long term legacy here, it’s that this was around the time that contestant Matt Amodio was starting to become a big deal, proving to be more than a short-flamed winner. Having played through four hosts in the 2020-2021 season (a record likely to be unsurpassed), he is on track to become one of the first major Post-Trebek Era icons of Jeopardy!, and for good reason. For what it’s worth, Faber played along and had fun. His warmth is what helps him rank a little higher, even if there wasn’t much else to make him a singular host.
11. Katie Couric
Time Frame: March 8-March 19
Best Known For: Journalist & New York Times Best-Selling Author
For what it’s worth, Katie Couric made history as the first woman host of Jeopardy!, even becoming the first host to wear a dress. As one of the most recognized journalists in America, it made sense that she was one of the first hosts selected. She had a warmth that was necessary for the show, making interview segments feel more relaxed, and doing everything she could to make everything feel more relaxed. There was no pressure while she was hosting. In all honesty, she was a pretty good host who never made people feel pressured to perform. She could compliment a great strategy, cheer up someone in their moment of failure.
There is nothing wrong with Couric as host. If anything, she was one of the first who felt like she was doing it for the fun of it. There was an eagerness to play the game, and she made the most of her time. The only issue is that, like all journalists-turned-short-term-Jeopardy! hosts, she has a very strict personality that didn’t evolve or change throughout her run. How she started the series is how she ended, and it was fine. There wasn’t anything to suggest that she could personalize the show, make it her own, and start a new era with its own clever twist. She was a gatekeeper, doing her best to keep the show afloat during its ambiguous early Post-Trebek Era days.
Would she have made a good host? It’s definitely possible. Even if few of the hosts on this list were necessarily spectacular or could immediately compare to Trebek, they all had a passion that showed interest in trivia. Couric was one of the first hosts that felt like she recognized what was vital about the show’s structure. Her niceness took down the guardedness that other hosts had and allowed the show to feel more vibrant. While there have been better and worse hosts, she is one who alluded to the future of the program very well, and in the process proved that the show could survive without Trebek. Anyone with charisma could host and things would be fine. Luckily Couric was one of them.
Comments
Post a Comment