FOX broadcaster Joe Buck is now in the running to be the permanent host of Jeopardy! but his guest-hosting duties won’t affect his work calling MLB games.
Joe Buck is in the running to be the new full-time host of Jeopardy!, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.
Buck will serve a one or two-week stint as the guest-host later this summer according to the report, but it won’t interrupt his schedule to do his play-by-play work for MLB or the NFL on FOX.
Do you remember the scene in The Office when Michael learns Toby is back? That’s my reaction to hearing Buck is a candidate to be the Jeopardy! host.
Buck is the second person from the world of sports to get a shot to succeed the late Alex Trebek. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers just wrapped up a two-week audition where he received mostly favorable reviews from viewers and fans alike. Whether he ultimately gets the job could be complicated because of his full-time job in the NFL.
Joe Buck would be a disaster as Jeopardy! host
While Buck has carved out a long and distinguished career as a broadcaster, I’m not sure he would be a favorable host. When he’s calling an NFL game on FOX or he’s behind the mic for a big baseball game, the Twitter mentions for him are always universally negative. In short, people don’t like hearing Buck’s voice, so having him as the host of Jeopardy! is not going to sit well unless the goal is to get viewers to change the channel.
Katie Couric, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Ken Jennings and the longtime executive producer of the program, Mike Richards. Anderson Cooper, Bill Whitaker, Mayim Bialik, Savannah Guthrie and Dr. Sanjay Gupta are set to guest-host later this spring.
While they all present their cases to be the host, the most popular choice hasn’t even heard from producers. With more than 200,000 signatures on a change.org petition, LeVar Burton, is the people’s choice to be the next host of Jeopardy! but he hasn’t even got a chance to guest-host.