Ken Jennings Crosses Picket Line To Host ‘Jeopardy!’ As Mayim Bialik Stands With WGA Strikers

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Colin Farrell, Mariska Hargitay, Danny Strong, Paula Pell, Rachel Dratch, Michael Kelly and Craig Zobel were among the stars who came out to the writers strike picket line outside Paramount Global’s New York City office in Times Square Thursday. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D.-N.Y., and local politicians spoke at the event in support of the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) cause against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that has led to a four-week-and-counting work stoppage due to the organizations’ inability to ink a new contract May 1. “This is about what’s right. We’ve seen income inequality grow exponentially over the last decade; and in your business, it has never been more present,” Gillibrand said to the crowd, filled with not only WGA members, but also those from SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters, among other unions. “We see writers working hard every day to produce content and we have an unfair playing field. Not only does AI want to displace our writers, they simply can’t. AI generates content based on what’s been written before the work you did last year, and the year before. It’s not original. It’s not imaginative. It doesn’t come from the human heart. It’s not about a human experience. It’s not about what people actually want to learn about or know about or see or experience. That is what writers bring to the equation every single time. So this strike is so important for the future of this country. It’s about the value of workers; workers and what they create is fundamentally valuable.”

dragged into another controversy on “Jeopardy!” last night.The congressional representative from New York typified the final — and uncharacteristically “correct” — answer during Wednesday night’s “Jeopardy! Masters” tournament finale. Controlling the board rather early in the game, 24-year-old Mattea Roach picked the $800 question in the “recent events” category. “Subheads in a piece on this NY Rep.: ‘Lied about where he went to … college’; ‘Allegedly Swindled a disabled vet whose dog was dying,'” read host Ken Jennings.

tweeted.Jennings, 48, seemed to agree that Buttrey is indeed “father,” throwing a like at the tweet.“That’s father.” – me, any time Sam Buttrey is onscreenCalling a celebrity or notable figure “mother” or “father” is a recent slang term that signifies god-like icon status.During Buttrey’s final question-and-answer portion of the competition, he took the time to thank the writers and producers of “Jeopardy!” — but fellow contestant Matt Amodio used his time to thank Buttrey.Amodio called the professor the “dearest friend I’ve made in all of Jeopardy!” before the two shared a sweet hug.Matt Amodio and Sam Buttrey: brainiacs *and* besties.

Alex Trebek was the beloved face of "Jeopardy!" for decades, and he left some big shoes to fill after his death from pancreatic cancer. Once "Jeopardy!" tapped former champion Ken Jennings as host, they also added "The Big Bang Theory" star Mayim Bialik after she was a guest host for Season 37.  Since the two began, they've been receiving backlash from fans of the game show, who have been very outspoken on social media. So much so that the show’s executive producer Michael Davies has weighed in on the criticism.  "This show is so hard to host," Davies said during an interview with Vulture.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy showed support for the writers strike while attending the Cannes press conference for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Kennedy has been a producer on the Harrison Ford-led franchise since its first installment. “When it comes to acknowledging the importance of writing, I think everybody up here has demonstrated that you can’t do any of this without great writing,” Kennedy said. “You can’t do any of this without great writing. All of us who create anything…I am in full support and I know most people are in full support of the writers getting what they deserve.” Kennedy said she’d like to see the strike resolved “in an environment where people can talk about what are some really complicated issues that are effecting the entire industry,” but it’s “going to take time.”

told Vulture in an interview published Thursday. “Alex made it his own, but it wasn’t his own the first couple of years,” he continued, referring to the show’s longtime host, Alex Trebek, who died in 2020 at 80. “A lot of what happened on ‘Jeopardy!’ came from him possessing this job for so long.

scathing message on Facebook, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star Wil Wheaton blasted “Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings for crossing the picket line during the Writer’s Guild of America strike, giving him a stark warning.“This is a VERY small town, Ken Jennings, and we will all remember this,” Wheaton typed on the social media platform. “Your privilege may protect you right now, but we will *never* forget.”He also included the hashtag “#WGAStrong” in the post.The actor continued his thoughts in the comments section of the post, calling out those who were speaking negatively about unions.“Hey y’all, if you’re here to s–t on unions, you can f–k right off.

"Jeopardy!" host Ken Jennings was criticized after he crossed the Writers Guild of America picket line to continue filming the game show. "Big Bang Theory" star Wil Wheaton called out Jennings in a Facebook post. "This is a VERY small town, Ken Jennings, and we will all remember this," he wrote.

returning champion James Holzhauer had a rather flirty exchange Friday during the “Jeopardy! Masters” tournament.The saucy nerd banter between the two men occurred after contestant Matt Amodio chose a question under the “Authors” category.“The Detroit Free Press said ‘The Mummy’ was ‘vintage’ this novelist; ‘elegantly erotic & full of enchanting terror,’” read the clue.Amodio buzzed in with the answer “What’s Stoker.”Jennings, 48, declared that the answer was incorrect and after the two players failed to chime in, revealed the answer to be “Anne Rice.”“I also refer to James as ‘elegantly erotic but full of enchanting terror,’” the 48-year-old host said.Holzhauer, 38, retorted to the quip, saying: “Keep it in your pants, Ken.”The rather flirtatious exchange caused Mattea Roach — another returning champ — to cover her mouth as she started laughing out loud.But Holzhauer — who came in second to Jennings in the highest winnings during regular-season play — wouldn’t let the remark die.“We actually had to pause taping so Ken could take a cold shower,” tweeted Holzhauer later that day with a clip of the exchange.The Post reached out to Jennings and Holzhauer for comment.Fans of the game show were divided about how they felt about the spicy exchange.

the site requires the name of the person reporting, their email address and provides a subject line and message box to describe the violation.The guild’s Strike Rule #9 require that members report of any strikebreaking activity such as scab writing or other ways of crossing the picket line.“To the extent possible, you should be specific about the nature of the violation, including the date and place of the violation, the name of the struck company involved, and the name of the project, if any,” the rule states.Disciplinary action is described under Article X of the guild’s constitution as including but not limited to “expulsion or suspension from Guild membership, imposition of monetary fines, or censure.” These methods of discipline are enforceable through the court system. Since the strike began 11 days ago, writers and showrunners have established picket lines at various awards shows, premiere events and by refusing to do any press to promote their upcoming releases.Wednesday the WGA Negotiating Committee, the WGAW Board, WGAE Council and others pledged funds to give to industry workers in need. More than $1.7 million in total has been pledged to the Entertainment Community Fund to aid writers in the industry.

The Writers Guild of America has established a site on its Strike Hub where members can and must report strike breakers. Those who fail to report suspected “scabs” can face discipline themselves. After the last writers’ strike – a 100-day walkout in 2007-08 – a dozen members were brought up on trial for strike breaking, three of whom were found guilty. The current strike is now in its eleventh day.

Mayim Bialik is ending her hosting run a bit early for the current season of Jeopardy!.

ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, according to Deadline.Ken Jennings is set to take on hosting duties in her place, according to the outlet, and they will finish out filming for the season at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, California, wrapping on Friday, May 19.The show is produced by Sony Pictures Television. The Post reached out to Bialik and Sony for further comment.On May 2, the WGA announced that members were going on strike in an effort to petition for higher wages, a better pay structure to include streaming services, and regulation around article intelligence.The WGA is made up of an alliance of two labor unions that represent more than 11,000 writers in the entertainment industry, according to “Today.”As a result, popular shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” have shut down production.

“Jeopardy!” has officially become the first game show to be affected by the WGA strike, and it’s all thanks to host Mayim Bialik. TheWrap has learned that the actor has stepped away from the iconic series during its last week of filming so that she can stand in solidarity with the WGA strike.Ken Jennings — the well-known “Jeopardy!” contestant turned host — will be taking over Bialik’s hosting duties. The final episodes of Season 39 will be filmed between Tuesday, May 16 and Friday, May 19.

EXCLUSIVE: Jeopardy! has become one of the first game shows to be impacted by the writers strike.

After yesterday’s Imagine Dragons party outside Netflix, it was Paramount’s turn to pop.

tweeted a selfie at the New York picket lines captioned “Let’s do this.”Odenkirk and Patinkin also posed together for a photo, which the latter captioned with: “Saul’s unite.” In addition to Odenkirk’s work as Saul Goodman, Patinkin is also known for playing a character named Saul in “Homeland.”Saul’s unite! #wgastrong Support our writers! pic.twitter.com/VdyElwh7C5Adam Scott, who can most recently be seen in “Severance,” also joined the picket line. Ran into Mandy Patinkin, Bob Odenkirk, and Adam Scott on the WGA picket line.

Final Jeopardy!” segment, Holzhauer was in the lead and the clue read: “Opened in 1909 & less famous than an older neighbor, it connects Brooklyn & Chinatown.”Once the first two contestants scribed their responses, Jennings stated that Holzhauer had already begun to write down his answer while the former was still reading the hint.“What bridge did he think of?” Jennings wondered.Holzhauer didn’t write down his reply to the question, however, he did pen the statement: “Stop ducking a rematch, Ken.”The trivia show emcee couldn’t help but burst into laughter and shot back: “You know how much work I had to go to to get all the way over here at this lectern and avoid having to play you again, James?”Holzhauer then referenced the “ducking” bit of his remark, noting: “This is autocorrected, by the way.”Holzhauer and the Washington native are both big champs of the long-running game show, having gone head-to-head in the ABC series’ “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” tournament back in January 2020. Jennings had emerged victorious by winning three games, with Holzhauer scoring one match.

Some of Hollywood’s highest paid writers have been noticeably absent from the picket line over the last eight days — that is, until Tuesday.

Biden’s comments came after a special screening of the upcoming Disney+ series “American Born Chinese,” held to honor Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.“Nights like these are a reminder of stories and the importance of treating storytellers with the dignity, respect and the value they deserve. I sincerely hope the writers strike in Hollywood gets resolved and the writers are given a fair deal they deserve as soon as possible,” Biden said.“This is an iconic, meaningful American industry.