The taping for Season 38 took place on Thursday, kicking off with a ceremony prior to honor Trebek and featuring Jennings and fellow former contestant Buzzy Cohen. Per the Times: The story states that Sony attributed the former contestants’ relegation to the green room to coronavirus procedures, limiting the number of people in the room. But the anecdote doesn’t help Richards’ case as a potential host who brought tensions to the “Jeopardy!” set. Afterward, the people said, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Jennings had expected to attend Mr. Richards’s debut taping. Instead, they were escorted from the sound stage to a nearby green room, where they watched the taping over a closed feed. They were told that Mr. Richards was too nervous to have them in the studio, the people said. One of the people likened it to inviting Joe DiMaggio back to Yankee Stadium and then not letting him in the dugout.
In a memo to staffers on Friday, Richards wrote, “As I mentioned last week, I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role. However, over the last several days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show. As such, I will be stepping down as host effective immediately. As a result, we will be canceling production today.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
