Mike Richards leaving Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune as executive producer

Not long firing his exit as full-time Jeopardy! host, it now appears as though Mike Richards is also losing his other responsibilities on the game show.

In a memo sent out to staffs of this show and also Wheel of Fortune, it was confirmed that Richards will no longer serve as executive producer. In this memo, Suzanne Prete, EVP, Business and Strategy for the two aforementioned shows, noted that executives had hoped that tension around Richards would have cooled following the botched hosting hire, but that turned out to not be the case.

According to Deadline, the sentiment around Richards in-house was that he was too “compromised” in order to continue in the EP role, and did not have the role necessary in order to properly do the job. For the time being, Michael Davies will step up to help the shows on an interim basis while Sony works to ensure that both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune function as normal for now.

One of the most important things worth mentioning here is that Jeopardy! and Wheel both have staffers and important people behind the scenes who have been there for decades. They will continue to be more than capable of doing their jobs even without Richards around. We don’t look at his exit as a sign of concern at all; instead, it’s a measure of ensuring peace moving forward.

So does Richards’ exit change the way that Jeopardy! hires their next host? Probably not; given his controversial role in the first hiring process, we have a feeling that Sony execs would have shielded him from any significant part of the process over the past week and a half. They have kept their cards close to the vest when it comes to hiring their next host as of now.

What do you think about Mike Richards no longer being a Jeopardy! executive producer?

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