Tuesday TV Touchbase: Wheels of Jeopardy

For this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase, the theme is game shows.

Wheel of Fortune

It seems odd to think that just a year ago, we were contemplating after 40 years the concept of Wheel of Fortune NOT being hosted by Pat Sajak.  

Over the past season, I've gotten use to the new "kid" Ryan Seacrest (he turned 50 this year).  Yeah, one might describe Seacrest as a "tool", the generic epitome of Professional TV Host Person.  

But Seacrest did what Sony hired him to do which was avoid the drama that ensnared Jeopardy in the wake of Alex Trebek's passing.  

And Ryan Seacrest does evoke a sense of genuine enthusiasm for the role of host of Wheel of Fortune and he has a solid rapport with Vanna White. I still think Ryan holds open the prize card too long when a contestant loses the bonus round but otherwise, I think Ryan is doing a good job with the gig and I've gotten use to the moderately proportioned lug. 

It would be weird if Pat Sajak came back.

Which brings us to....

Celebrity Wheel of Fortune 

Pat Sajak came back for one more season of the Celebrity edition.  Without the 40 year weight of history of the daily syndicated show, Sajak seems looser with a carefree "this really isn't my job" spirit. 

The show still suffers from questionable definitions of what exactly is a "celebrity" but that's just me getting old and ranting angrily at the TV "Who are you people?" 

And also bitching that these "celebrities" don't seem to have seen the show, demonstrating a distressing lack of awareness of the show's mechanics.  

And the show's format can make an episode seem like a slog.  3 celebrities play a half hour of the game with a winner going on to the bonus round. Then... they do it again for another half hour. An hour of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune is SO LONG!

Jeopardy 

Ken Jennings is the face of Jeopardy and I'm perfectly fine with that. I've always thought the show had the right answer for the post Alex Trebek successor with Ken on day one. Then Mike Richards turned the hosting gig until a circus sideshow which added the complication of Mayim Bialik to the mix (who did a good job and deserved better than she got from this experience) but ultimately, fans wanted Ken Jennings there and so far, he's done a commendable job. 

His contributions to Jeopardy were recently acknowledged with being named to the Jeopardy Hall of Fame.  

My main quibble with the show has to do with the overly complicated nature of some of the clues. Sometimes they are so unnecessarily convoluted, it isn't clear what the hell we're looking for.  

There is also the matter of getting anyone to build any kind of run on the show. A few players have managed to crack a 4 or 5 game streak but some players who appear to be quite knowledgeable or really fast on the buzzer with potential for a good long run get knocked out quickly and badly.  

Jeopardy Masters

Running in primetime featuring the best of the best of Jeopardy contestants, this current season has been less fun than usual for Andrea and I.  Mostly because we can't stand Yogesh Raut. The dude is super smart and super fast on the buzzer but he just rub us the wrong way with his smug attitude and some off screen negative comments about the show.  

We're hoping Victoria Groce or Matt Amodio will hold him off and win this thing.  

My secret crush Adriana Harmeyer is back but she's not in the running to win this thing.  

Apparently the ratings for Jeopardy Masters have taken a hit compared to last year. I think part of the reason for that may be owed to Jeopardy fatigue with the Masters series following immediately after the end of...

Celebrity Jeopardy  

See my complaint re: Celebrity Wheel of Fortune: who are these guys?  

I had heard of winner W. Kamau Bell before but he is not what you might call a household name.  Still, he was worthy competitor who was able to have some fun while still taking the game seriously. 

Pop Culture Jeopardy

OH MY GOD!! MORE JEOPARDY?

The Amazon Prime series wrapped a few weeks ago but Andrea and I are still playing catch up with five episodes to go.  There was some buzz about Colin Jost being up for Ken Jennings' job on the regular show but I do not see that happening. 

Colin is a good fit for PCJ but he is the anti-Ken, perfectly willing to skewer the contestants in a way you could not get away with on the regular show.  

WHEW! 

I think that is ENOUGH of Wheel and Jeopardy for one post.

Coming up on future of Touchbase posts:

The return of the Librarians!

And the 4th season of Hacks! 

That is that for this week's Touchbase.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.