The internet has spent weeks trying to get Star Trek and Reading Rainbow veteran LaVar Burton a shot at hosting Jeopardy, and it worked!
Alex Trebek passed late last year, ending his decades-long stint as the host of Jeopardy! Replacing someone that iconic is no easy task, and the show has featured a lot of guest hosts since, including TODAY anchor Savannah Guthrie, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers.
But not long ago, the internet coalesced around a favorite replacement: LaVar Burton, star of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Reading Rainbow. A change.org petition calling for him to be made the next host of Jeopardy! has collected nearly 250,000 signatures and counting, with Burton himself retweeting it. “Leaving this here in the event the powers that be are listening…” he wrote.
And they were! Per The A.V. Club, Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards has announced that Burton will be among the hosts during the show’s 37th season. Also in the mix will be Good Morning America anchors Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, author David Faber and sportscaster Joe Buck.
Will any of them become permanent hosts? It’s unclear, but I’m pretty sure the internet will be stumping for Burton when it’s his turn at the lectern. “I think my whole career is an advertisement for being the host of Jeopardy,” the 13-time Emmy winner told Entertainment Weekly earlier this month. “I don’t believe there is anyone out there who is better suited for this job than me. And I will go to my grave believing that.”
Make it so.
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