LeVar Burton Is Moving On From Jeopardy With A New Game Show In The Works
LeVar Burton fans are going to love this news. Though he didn't end up taking the Jeopardy! gig, he will now host another game show. And this one will also have a trivia vibe to it.
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There were many who were pining for LeVar Burton to host a certain live trivia show, taking over for an iconic face of evening television. It didn’t end up happening that way, but it looks like Burton is going to helm a show of his own after all. And the branding attached to this one for sure rings out in the public consciousness. Burton confirmed on his Twitter account after the reporting from Variety that he will be the new host of a show based on Trivial Pursuit. Is it Jeopardy!? No, but this might be the next best thing.
Turning Trivial Pursuit into an actual game show feels like something that could have happened decades ago and frankly, it’s kind of amazing that it has taken this long. LeVar Burton will play host on the show which is based on the popular board game. The production comes from eOne and Hasbro and will, undoubtedly, work to recreate aspects of the game in a live-action format. For those who’ve been living under a board game rock for the better part of the last 40 or so years, the game involves folks answering questions around a variety of categories and topics, each under a certain color designation. Contestants try to complete a pie’s worth pieces after answering questions in each category. It’s a simple, but exciting, prospect for a new program.
LeVar Burton securing this new Trivial Pursuit gig comes on the heels of him coming close to landing the job hosting Jeopardy! following the passing of Alex Trebek. Whether Burton was ever truly considered in the final running for that position isn’t clear. But he did act as guest-host for a week in July. It happened while the show was “trying out” a number of different celebrities and personalities to take over as the full-time face of Jeopardy!. Burton had said afterward in an interview with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, that though he originally had pined for the job, after hosting he couldn’t see himself doing it full-time. Ultimately, the job went to Mike Richards who lasted about a minute-and-a-half before controversy about previous comments and actions in the workplace led to his ouster. Currently, Mayim Bialik is hosting Jeopardy! while they find a permanent replacement (again).
LeVar Burton hosting a game show like this sure does seem like sort of a logical career outcome for the guy who had been one of the fan-favorite choices to helm Jeopardy!. For years, Burton overlapped two completely different genres of television while being beloved in both. He hosted Reading Rainbow on PBS for 23 years, ushering multiple generations into the joy of literature and the written word. And he was also a star on Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons in the late 80s and early 90s. This kind of family-friendly plus science-fiction intersection is tough to find these days. But it’s a reason Burton is so beloved.
LeVar Burton becoming the first host of Trivial Pursuit is so obviously the perfect choice. It won’t carry with it the certain historical “pressures” of Jeopardy! but will also help him lean into the perfect personality for this kind of show while having it center on its own iconic brand. We can’t wait for the first episode.
