LeVar Burton No Longer Wants To Host Jeopardy!
Levar Burton is moving on from Jeopardy!. Here's what he had to say.
This article is more than 2 years old
When Alex Trebek passed away, Jeopardy! had the impossible task of finding a new host. LeVar Burton made his desire to be the new host public knowledge. The star has built up a fan base over his decades-long career. Children who watched him on Reading Rainbow have now grown up. He’s well known for his role on Star Trek as Geordi La Forge. And these are just the major roles he’s well known for today. There have been a lot of smaller roles mixed in, and his first major part in Roots. LeVar Burton has always presented himself as a nice actor that fans want to support, so when he wanted to be on Jeopardy, fans signed petitions to make it happen. But then the studio behind the game show wasn’t on board.
Instead, they put together a schedule of guest hosts. Then they had a number of scandals, which insiders have said are scaring away new hosts. Reports say that the once respected show is something that people no longer want their names attached to. Then, only a few days ago, Jeopardy! fans were outraged after the show announced that two of their hosts that have already been canceled following a long list of scandals will be guest hosting the game show until a new host could be found. Fans wanted to know if the game show would simply do anything other than hire LeVar Burton?
Well, now it seems that the actor and host has pulled his name out of the running. During an interview on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, LeVar Burton said that his guest-hosting stint on Jeopardy!, and not getting the permanent hosting job, taught him a lot about what he wants going forward. He said that new opportunities are coming his way now, and he’s looking ahead. It seems like he no longer wants to focus on Alex Trebek’s former game show anymore. He has new things on the way, including, possibly, hosting his own new game show.
That’s right. During the interview, Trevor Noah floated the idea of him moving on to hosting his own game show, and LeVar Burton wasn’t thrown for a second. He seemed very open to the idea of a new show outside of Jeopardy!. Specifically, he said:
I never thought about hosting any other game show outside of Jeopardy! But now, they went in a different direction with their show, which is their right, and now I’m thinking, well, it does kind of make sense, let me see what I can do. So we’re trying to figure out what the right game show for LeVar Burton would be.
LeVar Burton
That sounds like something his fans will be able to get behind for him. It sounds like LeVar Burton has learned a lot from his one shot at hosting Jeopardy!, and while the show has decided to ultimately make their own messy decisions, it’s admirable that the actor shot for his goals in the first place, accepted what happened, and continues to pursue his own dreams and take everything he’s learned along the way with him.
It’s this kind of behavior that led to fans campaigning for him to host the game show in the first place, and that will follow him into his next projects, whatever those may be. Perhaps he’ll host a new game show of his own. Perhaps he’ll develop more Reading Rainbow projects or become attached to ones we haven’t heard about yet. Whatever he decides to do, it’s clear his fans will be watching. As for Jeopardy!, their future seems a little less clear. The only thing we know is that LeVar Burton won’t be part of it.
