‘Jeopardy!’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Not Airing at Usual Time Friday in Some Areas

Game show fans, it’s time to adjust your Friday night plans. Due to the NFL Draft, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!‘s usual time slots will be temporarily moved for some ABC stations and affiliates. The draft takes place on Friday at 7 p.m. ET, so the popular shows will be pushed back. Check your local listings for the new time slot. This will mean that fans will have to wait longer for another episode with the current Jeopardy! guest host: lifelong fan and former celebrity contestant Anderson Cooper.

Jeopardy! has had an interesting time adjusting to the death of longtime host Alex Trebek, and a rotating slate of guest hosts has started to ease fans into the idea of a new permanent host. The popular demand seems to be for former Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton to take over the job. “For a long time — 2013 — I tweeted for the first time how much I would love to have that job when Alex [Trebek] retired,” Burton said on The View about the fan petitions in his favor. “More than anything, I am eager to put my skills up against those of anyone else in contention and then let the chips fall where they may. The important thing for me is that I have an opportunity to compete for the job, and that’s all I ever really wanted.”

Jeopardy! fans were touched to read a selection from Savannah Guthrie’s interview with Trebek’s widow Jean for America: The 2021 Inspiration List. “I think right now, talking with you, I’m good. You know? I’m good,” she said. “I absolutely have moments of waves of grief that just come over me. I miss him a lot.” Jean revealed how touched she was to see the swell of support from Trebek’s fans while he was battling pancreatic cancer. “I think one of the beautiful things, the blessings that came — if you can call it a blessing — was that he got to really see the outpouring of love and admiration that he gave to the world.”

“And some people just, you know, you don’t see that while you’re still embodied, you don’t get to really witness all the love that people feel for you. And I know that was in and of itself a huge inspiration for Alex.” Jean also explained Trebek’s lasting impact and why he was such a beloved public figure. “I think that is one of Alex’s gifts was that he could be very resolute and know that the truth will not hurt you and he wanted to empower people to move through whatever challenge they had in life with a sense of inner strength, inner dignity and love, and love,” Jean explained.