Jeopardy! has seen many iterations come and go during its decades on air, from the days of Alex Trebek to today with multiple hosts in a short span. Soon, it will air Celebrity Jeopardy!, a competition pitting pop culture icons against one another so the prize money may go to their charity of choice. Things will look a little different this year, though, as ABC announces its air time and hosting plans amid uncertain circumstances.
Jeopardy!, like countless other programs, finds itself affected by the ongoing WGA strike, which sees writers across the industry in an ongoing protest that began back in May. Many shows have halted production but Jeopardy! announced it would be continuing on, using various methods to work around the absence of writing. Not everyone on the game show’s team is part of this plan, however. How will this impact the upcoming season – and will there even be one?
‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ is indeed returning this fall
Clue: Hollywood's brightest ✨ are back when this show premieres Wednesday, Sept 27 at 8/7c on ABC! Answer: What is #CelebrityJeopardy!? pic.twitter.com/gYPy3Zyy2j
— Celebrity Jeopardy! (@CelebJeopardy) August 21, 2023
Firstly, yes, there will be a new round of Celebrity Jeopardy! this autumn. It will begin airing on Wednesday, September 27, at 8 p.m. This second season of the reimagined game show is, TV Fanatic reports, part of a plan to lean into reality television amid the ongoing WGA strikes.
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However, in solidarity with the protesting writers, regular Jeopardy! co-host Mayim Bialik will not be hosting as she was expected to. So, Ken Jennings will be filling in that role in her stead. Indeed, Jeopardy! as a whole has already started filming reportedly without Bialik.
Treading new ground on familiar turf
Jennings has been the subject of some criticism for continuing to work on Jeopardy! while the writers are striking. This is actually an example of history repeating itself. A writers’ strike lasted from November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008. During that time, Alex Trebek continued to host.
This time, the Jeopardy! producers are looking at ways of getting creative. For instance, old questions are going to be recycled and the contestant pool will be comprised of former participants who have their chance to play on the Alex Trebek Stage, which was christened not long after Trebek’s final episode aired, after the host died in 2020 of pancreatic cancer.
Celebrity Jeopardy! is helping to fill ABC’s roster of unscripted content, in addition to Shark Tank and The Golden Bachelor. Scripted programs such as Grey’s Anatomy and Abbott Elementary have been completely disrupted by the strike.
