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Is Mayim Bialik Leaving Jeopardy? Why She’s Being Abruptly Replaced at the Last Minute
Thursday, May 11th, 2023
With her missing from the last week of episodes on Season 39, it’s understandable why viewers are asking if Mayim Bialik is leaving Jeopardy and what happened to her as the host of the game show.
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Bialik joined as a guest host on Jeopardy in May 2021 after the death of the game show’s former host, Alex Trebek, from pancreatic cancer in November 2020. Bialik continued to host Jeopardy and its primetime specials and spin-offs until 2022 when she and former contestant, Ken Jennings, were announced as the permanent hosts of the series following the resignation of producer Mike Richards, who was hired as Trebek’s replacement in August 2021 but resigned a week later after sexual harassment and wrongful termination allegations.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2022, Bialik opened up about how she prepares for Jeopardy, which airs five days a week. “We do five episodes in a day, and I’m given the clues to prepare the day of filming,” she said. “So I have to review all those clues, practice pronunciations, look things up that I don’t know, and honestly try to get as much rest as I can the night before because they are long days, and I’m on my feet and talking all day.”
She also told the publication about her relationship with Jennings. “It’s been really nice to get to know him. He’s a cultural icon. He’s incredibly smart. He knows so many things, in a way that Jeopardy champions do. Pick anything and he likely knows about it,” she said. When asked what topics she would “feel OK about” answering Jeopardy questions to, Bialik noted her degrees in “neuroscience, and in Hebrew and Jewish studies.”
Bialik also told The Wall Street Journal that she didn’t know how much of a phenomenon Jeopardy was until she started hosting the game show. “How much the social media world pays attention to a lot of things about Jeopardy,” Bialik said “There’s a tremendous amount of attention to everything, from the transition after Alex passed to me, and then me and Ken, and then the clothing I wear.”
But after less than a year a Jeopardy‘s permanent host, could Bialik’s days be done. Is Mayim Bialik leaving Jeopardy? Read on for what we know.
Is Mayim Bialik leaving Jeopardy?
Is Mayim Bialik leaving Jeopardy? The answer is yes, at least temporarily. Deadline reported on May 11, 2023, that Bialik refused to host the final week of Jeopardy Season 39 in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America Strike. Ken Jennings, who hosts Jeopardy concurrently with Bialik, took over her role. The final week of Jeopardy Season 39 is to set to film at the Sony Pictures Lot in Culver City, California, from May 16, 2023, to May 19, 2023.
Jeopardy, which is produced by Sony Pictures Television, is a Writers Guild of America Show and features contributions from WGA writers for its questions and other show segments. Deadline reported, however, that the questions for Jeopardy Season 39 were written in advance of the season and the writers strike. Bialik and Jennings have split the Jeopardy‘s hosting duties since the start of Season 39 in July 2022. Jennings hosted between August to December 2022, while Bialik started hosting in January 2023. Jennings is set to film the last week of Jeopardy Season 39 before the show goes on hiatus for the summer.
In an interview with Variety in May 2023, Jeopardy writers Michele Loud, Jim Rhine and Billy Wisse explained why they were striking and the importance of writers on the game show. “Our words are on the screen every night,” Loud said. “There is no Jeopardy without writers. Without us it’s just an empty blue screen.” Wisse told Variety that the strike was part of a bigger fight to be “fairly compensated for the labor you give.”
Rhine also criticized Jeopardy for turning writing into a “gig economy.” “They’re asking some people to work day-to-day,” Rhine said. Wisse added, “They never tried to make it a gig economy before. There was always some sense that writers were partners in it.”
Jeopardy airs Mondays to Fridays at 7 p.m. on ABC.
For more on primetime shows, check out our photo gallery on the best nighttime soaps ranked.
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Image: NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Two words: Jane Wyman. The sour grapes that she served as viperish vintner Angela Channing kept us coming back for refills of the CBS soap from 1981-90 no matter <em>how</em> (hic) intoxicated she left us. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Who’s Who of silver-screen stars that passed through the series, among them Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson and Kim Novak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Robert Foxworth, who played halo-clad Chase Gioberti, turned down the role of devilish J.R. Ewing on <em>Dallas</em>.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> The foul-mouthed Roy family proves that the only way in which the rich are truly different is that their dysfunctions play out in mansions and exotic locales. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Beaten-down hubby Tom Wamsbgans telling wife Shiv, “I wonder if the sad I’d be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you.” Ouch. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The HBO hit’s bombastic patriarch, Logan Roy (played by the inimitable Brian Cox) originally was set to die in the pilot episode, setting in motion a battle for control of Waystar Royco.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> In 1990, the supernova that was ABC’s short-lived David Lynch series was something altogether new, a traditional soap on an alternately dreamy and nightmarish acid trip. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode that revealed that Laura Palmer had been killed by her possessed father. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2017’s Showtime revival, Lynch muse Laura Dern finally gave a face to Diane Evans, the FBI secretary to whom Special Agent Dale Cooper was always dictating messages.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> As much as we may hate actually going to see the doctor, we can’t get enough of medical dramas set in hospitals. Plus, this long-running NBC series featured George Clooney, whose Dr. Doug Ross was the original McDreamy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode in which Ross saved a child trapped in a storm drain left us breathless and helped propel Clooney to superstardom. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series was created by Michael Crichton. Yes, the same man who gave us <em>Jurassic Park. </em></p>
Image: OWN/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> There was no “there” to which Tyler Perry’s OWN soap wouldn’t go. Yet neither Jeffrey Harrington stabbing his homophobic Mommie Dearest in the breast implant nor Veronica Harrington setting her estranged husband on fire is <strong>What We’ll Never Forget:</strong> That would be Crystal R. Fox’s fierce portrayal of long-suffering Hanna Young. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2022, Tika Sumpter, who played Candace Young, tied the knot with co-star Nicholas James, aka off-kilter Officer Justin Lewis.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Over the course of its 2016-22 run, the creators of the NBC series proved master manipulators where our emotional well-being was concerned. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The unbreakable bond between the Big Three — the Pearson siblings. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> So upset were fans upon learning that a slow cooker was the cause of Jack Pearson’s death that the makers of the responsible appliance posted a Facebook message addressing the incident. “We love [Jack], and we love you, too. Don’t further add to our heartbreak by no longer using Crock-Pot Slow Cookers.” </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Unlike its American brethren, the British sudser makes a big deal of the “little people.” In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a “have” amongst the “have-nots” who populate Albert Square and hang at its beloved Queen Vic pub. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The 2008 tearjerker in which Dot Cotton recorded an episode-long farewell monologue to former hubby Jim. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> For 28 years running, June Brown’s Dot wore the same dress on Christmas Day. </p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Productions/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> In a way, we grew up with the characters on Aaron Spelling’s 1990-2000 Fox hit, which originated as the fish-out-of-water story of sheltered Minnesota twins transferred to schmancy West Beverly High. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The heated debates that erupted over Season 3’s Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Since the network wasn’t initially as sold on Luke Perry or the character of Dylan McKay as Spelling was, the EP at first paid the future teen idol’s salary himself.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> While we could wax poetic about the shocking plot twists which befell the Lyon family as they fought for control of their hip-hop dynasty, the truth is, what we <em>really</em> loved was Taraji P. Henson’s trash-talking Cookie. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Sadly, the show will likely be most remembered for star Jussie Smollett staging a fake attack against himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Henson darn near got a spinoff focused on her character, but that Cookie crumbled before the proposed show could launch.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Nineteen seasons in, Shonda Rhimes’ medical drama never forgets that sometimes all it takes to get a <span style="text-decoration: line-through">patient</span> series off life support is a transfusion of fresh blood. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Season 5’s finale, which kept us waiting till the last second to learn whether Izzie Stevens or George O’Malley died. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Original cast member Ellen Pompeo was TV’s highest-paid actress — to the tune of $20M/year — when she stepped away from her role of Meredith Grey in 2022.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> The suburbs-set 2004-12 series beautifully combined slapstick comedy with dark drama while chronicling the lives of Wisteria Lane’s residents… as seen through the eyes of a dead neighbor! <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Early in Season 1, Gabrielle Solis mowed her lawn in a full-length evening gown to prevent her hubby from finding out their hunky young gardener had been too busy tending to her needs to do the chore himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Said gardener was played by none other than a post-<em>Passions</em>, pre-<em>Chesapeake Shores</em> Jesse Metcalfe.</p>
Image: Fox/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> After Aaron Spelling spiked his <em>Beverly Hills, 90210</em> spinoff with <em>Dynasty</em> vet Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward, it went from plain and boring to wild and crazy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 scene in which a back-from-the-dead Kimberly Shaw ripped off her wig to reveal her scarred head. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Years after the show ended, Locklear dated and even got engaged to former leading man Jack Wagner, who’d played her love/hate interest, Dr. Peter Burns.</p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Prods./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> ABC’s answer to <em>Dallas</em> was heavy on the glitz and glamour and even heavier on the catfights and spectacles. (Moldavian massacre, anyone?) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Joan Collins’ Season 2 debut as Blake Carrington’s ex, Alexis, who elevated bitchcraft to an art form and moved the series out of Dullsville. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The role of the scheme queen was originally supposed to go to Sophia Loren. Elizabeth Taylor and Jessica Walter were also pursued, Collins told <em>W</em> in 2018. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Based on Grace Metalious’ novel, ABC’s 1964-69 serial about a small town with big secrets was so addictive that at one point, three new episodes aired every week. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Lee Grant’s stunning turn as the sublimely cynical Stella Chernak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The exit of rising star Mia Farrow in 1966 not only killed the popular Allison/Rodney/Betty triangle with Ryan O’Neal and Barbara Parkins’ characters, it began the series’ slide toward the primetime graveyard.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Only one thing ran deeper than the oil wells on CBS’ 1978-91 smash, and that was the grudges onto which the Ewing and Barnes families held with a viselike grip. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 9 finale, in which the “late” Bobby Ewing stepped out of sometime wife Pamela’s shower and erased Season 8. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The Season 4 episode that resolved the “Who shot J.R.?” cliffhanger is the second-highest-rated primetime telecast ever. (FYI, Kristin Shepard did it.)</p>
Image: CBS/Getty Images
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