Longtime ‘Jeopardy!’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Pro Moves to New Game Show

Harry Friedman, the longtime executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, came out of retirement late last month to work on a new game show at NBC. Friedman will serve as the showrunner for Capital One College Bowl Season 2. Friedman retried in 2019 and was replaced by the now-disgraced Mike Richards.

College Bowl is a new quiz show featuring teams from 16 universities answering questions from a wide range of subjects. NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning served as the host for the first season, which aired in summer 2021. The show averaged about 2.7 million viewers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Village Roadshow Television and Universal Television Alternative Studio are the studios behind College Bowl. Manning is an executive producer alongside his brothers Eli Manning and Cooper Manning under their Omaha Productions banner. Richard Reid of Richard Reid Productions and Mark Itkin of Tough Lamb Media are also executive producers on the show. College Bowl is a revival of the original game show, which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963 and 1979 to 1982, and on NBC from 1953 to 1955 and 1963 to 1970. A version also aired on Disney Channel in 1987.

Friedman retired in 2019 after overseeing Wheel of Fortune for 25 years and Jeopardy! for 21 years. He won 14 Daytime Emmy Awards, winning his first as a member of the Hollywood Squares writing staff in 1974. He also won the Daytime Emmy lifetime achievement award and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Richards replaced Friedman at both Wheel and Jeopardy!, but his tenure was short-lived. Richards oversaw a season of Jeopardy! with rotating guest hosts, leading the public to believe it was an audition process for their favorite celebrities. After the season wrapped though, Richards named himself the full-time host. Days later, lawsuits and offensive comments he made during his tenure at The Price is Right resurfaced, leading to him losing the hosting gig. Sony later fired him as executive producer of both Wheel and Jeopardy!.

In April, Sony named interim executive producer Michael Davies as the new showrunner for Jeopardy!, which has featured Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik as hosts this season. “I am both honored and humbled by the faith the studio and the staff have put in me,” Davies wrote in a blog post. “Over the next few months, the scope of our plans will become clear. But, for now, I just want to thank everyone in the Jeopardy! community for your phenomenal support.”

In March, Sony hired Bellamie Blackstone as the new Wheel executive producer. She will oversee the show’s 40th season with co-executive producer Steve Schwartz. Pat Sajak and Vanna White will return as hosts.