Mayim Bialik Leaves ‘Jeopardy!’ to Support Writers Strike

Mayim Bialik has pulled out of hosting Jeopardy! ahead of her final week of filming, making the long-running game show one of the first to be impacted by the Writers Guild of America strike. Deadline reports that Bialik decided against hosting the final week of filming for Season 39 in order to stand in solidarity with the striking writers. Bialik has yet to make a public statement on the reported news.

However, production on the final run of episodes for the season is reportedly still going ahead with Ken Jennings taking over Bialik’s hosting duties. The final episodes of the season will be filmed at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City next week, between Tuesday, May 16 and Friday, May 19, Deadline reports.

Produced by Sony Pictures Television, Jeopardy! is a WGA show and features contributions from WGA writers. However, the questions for the episodes in question were written in advance of the season and the strike. Some Jeopardy! writers, including Michele Loud, Jim Rhine and Billy Wisse, have joined the picket lines as part of the strike, Deadline reports.

Bialik and Jennings have shared hosting duties this season, with Jennings hosting episodes between August and December and Bialik starting in January. Jennings will now host the last week before the summer hiatus as a result of Bialik’s move to support the WGA.

Recently renewed for another five years, Jeopardy! has aired on ABC-owned television stations in major markets for over 30 years. It is the most-watched show in syndication with around 9 million viewers weekly and is the second-most-watched same-day entertainment show on TV after 60 Minutes.

It’s unclear if the writers strike will affect Season 40 of Jeopardy!, as the show will break for the summer after next week and resume filming in a few months. At that point, it remains unclear how the strike will be shaking out and if any agreements will have been made by then.