Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the Atlanta neurosurgeon who has been a regular presence on CNN during the pandemic as its chief medical correspondent, has been named one of the guest “Jeopardy” hosts. The date of his weeklong stint has not been set.
Since Alex Trebek’s final episode aired Jan. 8 after he died of pancreatic cancer, “Jeopardy” has begun using a round of guest hosts. Their best player ever, Ken Jennings, began doing his set of episodes Jan. 11 and is set to wrap his six-week run on Feb. 19.
He will be followed by “Jeopardy” executive producer Mike Richards, journalist Katie Couric, NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, “60 Minutes” Bill Whitaker and “Big Bang Theory” vet Mayim Bialik.
Gupta’s fellow CNN employee Anderson Cooper will also be a guest host at a later date along with “Today” host Savannah Guthrie and Dr. Mehmet Oz, which has generated the most controversy from “Jeopardy” fans who have found some of his medical claims in the past less than legit.
As a way to make guest hosting even cooler, “Jeopardy” will make a donation to the guest host’s charity of choice equal to the cumulative winnings of the contestants that compete while they’re hosting.
A replacement for Trebek has not yet been named.
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Credit: The CW
Credit: The CW
The CW renewed 12 shows early Wednesday for the 2021-22 season, including two programs shot in metro Atlanta: “Legacies” and “Dynasty.”
This will be the fourth season for “Legacies,” a spin-off of “The Vampire Diaries.”
“Dynasty,” a reboot of the original soapy 1980s drama, is guaranteed a fifth season.
The other nine CW series coming back next season are the new hit “Walker” reboot 9 (season 2), “Batwoman” (season 3), “Nancy Drew” (season3), “All American” (season 4), “In the Dark” (season 4), “Roswell, New Mexico” (season 4), “Charmed” (season 4), “Riverdale” (season 6), “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” (season 7) and “The Flash” (season 8).
“Though we’re just a few weeks into the new season, we wanted to get a strategic head start on next season with these early renewals, which allows our production teams to start laying out story arcs and hiring staff, and at the same time, continues to provide us with a strong, stable schedule to build on for next season,” said Mark Pedowitz, chairman and CEO of the CW in a press release.
The CW is considering a spin-off of “Black Lightning,” another show shot in Atlanta that is ending its fourth season this spring. The show based on the character Painkiller and produced by Salim Akil would stay local if the CW gives it a green light.
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Credit: CNN
Credit: CNN
Fueled by the Jan. 6 insurrection of the Capitol and the Joe Biden inauguration as well as the ongoing pandemic, CNN and MNSBC both had strong January ratings months.
CNN, in fact, drew its most viewers ever and was the top-rated basic cable network, according to Nielsen.
Fox News has been the No. 1 cable news network for nearly two decades and finished 2020 as the top dog for the 19th year in a row. But the network fell to third in January among the big three cable networks as some of its fans moved to OAN or Newsmax or a non-news channel. The network did return to the top in prime time during the first week of the Biden administration.
According to Nielsen, CNN averaged 1.91 million viewers for the month (up 151% from January 2020). MSNBC had 1.66 million (up 65%) and Fox News Channel was 1.37 million (down 20%).
“The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC was the top cable telecast with 4.3 million viewers on average in January.
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“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” on Monday highlighted Georgia House rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and some of her extreme beliefs in comedic form.
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