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I want to see Chris Rock host for a week or longer.
Is Mike Richards an asshole like some people have said after reading the Ringer story? Maybe. Maybe he was just being assholish at times.
The coverage of Richards is so indicative of current culture norms being applied, good and bad, to years-ago events. Generally speaking, the liberal in me is fine by that, because we need to improve our society's respect for one and all and if going back in time to point out the painful flaws in how we treated one another will help prevent that treatment from occuring again, then good for us, our culture is advancing.
But when we do that, it's best that we not use a microscope when a telescope is called for. Most all of the "shocking revelations" coming out about Mike Richards are things that, had they been reported on at the time they occurred (a) would not have been shocking and (b) were things most everyone in his cohort were doing.
Mike Richards is not the only TV producer in history who wanted his female hosts to look attractive, and yet we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards is not the first ambitious white guy who wanted to reach the top of the industry, and yet we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards is not the first wannabe radio shock jock/podcast guru who crosses the line for laughs and titallation, and yet we're acting like Joe Rogan and Ryan Seacrest never existed.
Mike Richards is not the first young gun brought into an ancient production who then quickly made enemies by breathing new life into dusty old franchises*. And yet, we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards is not the only TV producer in history who wanted to host, and yet we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards is not the only TV producer in history who, in fact, had hosted and would host again, and yet we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards did not executive produce Jeopardy in secret over these past months, and yet we're acting like he did.
Every single "guest host" or "try-out" worked closely with Richards. Every single one knew from the very get-go Richards was in the mix to be the permanent host. In fact, everyone in the game show industry knew that when Mike Richards was lured away from a very comfortable gig at Fremantle, Sony Executives wanted him to follow a path that would put him in place to replace Alex should the time come.
And you know what? When Mike Richards was focused grouped and those Sony Execs were proven right. Does anyone think a billions-dollar franchise would be turned over to someone just because, well, he's a white dude with sharp teeth who gamed the system to get what he wants!?!
Go upthread here and you'll find polls that consistently showed Richards was in the top 2-3 choices from the public. The difference is the other 2-3 changed with each poll, and many of them either didn't want to be the host, couldn't be afforded if they did, or had major negatives against them as well.
Is Mike Richards an asshole like some people have said after reading the Ringer story? Maybe. Maybe he was just being assholish at times. Which to me, makes him human. He's also a TV producer. And entertainer. And ambitious. And highly, highly successful -- as also shown in all these "shocking" stories coming out recently.
*Case in point: Until Mike Richards took over, The Price Is Right producers PAID FULL VALUE FOR EVERY PRIZE THEY GAVE AWAY! Including cars!!! What kind of game show production does that?
The coverage of Richards is so indicative of current culture norms being applied, good and bad, to years-ago events. Generally speaking, the liberal in me is fine by that, because we need to improve our society's respect for one and all and if going back in time to point out the painful flaws in how we treated one another will help prevent that treatment from occuring again, then good for us, our culture is advancing.
But when we do that, it's best that we not use a microscope when a telescope is called for. Most all of the "shocking revelations" coming out about Mike Richards are things that, had they been reported on at the time they occurred (a) would not have been shocking and (b) were things most everyone in his cohort were doing.
Mike Richards is not the only TV producer in history who wanted his female hosts to look attractive, and yet we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards is not the first ambitious white guy who wanted to reach the top of the industry, and yet we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards is not the first wannabe radio shock jock/podcast guru who crosses the line for laughs and titallation, and yet we're acting like Joe Rogan and Ryan Seacrest never existed.
Mike Richards is not the first young gun brought into an ancient production who then quickly made enemies by breathing new life into dusty old franchises*. And yet, we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards is not the only TV producer in history who wanted to host, and yet we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards is not the only TV producer in history who, in fact, had hosted and would host again, and yet we're acting like he is.
Mike Richards did not executive produce Jeopardy in secret over these past months, and yet we're acting like he did.
Every single "guest host" or "try-out" worked closely with Richards. Every single one knew from the very get-go Richards was in the mix to be the permanent host. In fact, everyone in the game show industry knew that when Mike Richards was lured away from a very comfortable gig at Fremantle, Sony Executives wanted him to follow a path that would put him in place to replace Alex should the time come.
And you know what? When Mike Richards was focused grouped and those Sony Execs were proven right. Does anyone think a billions-dollar franchise would be turned over to someone just because, well, he's a white dude with sharp teeth who gamed the system to get what he wants!?!
Go upthread here and you'll find polls that consistently showed Richards was in the top 2-3 choices from the public. The difference is the other 2-3 changed with each poll, and many of them either didn't want to be the host, couldn't be afforded if they did, or had major negatives against them as well.
Is Mike Richards an asshole like some people have said after reading the Ringer story? Maybe. Maybe he was just being assholish at times. Which to me, makes him human. He's also a TV producer. And entertainer. And ambitious. And highly, highly successful -- as also shown in all these "shocking" stories coming out recently.
*Case in point: Until Mike Richards took over, The Price Is Right producers PAID FULL VALUE FOR EVERY PRIZE THEY GAVE AWAY! Including cars!!! What kind of game show production does that?
Does anyone think a billions-dollar franchise would be turned over to someone just because, well, he's a white dude with sharp teeth who gamed the system to get what he wants!?!
Ehhhhh.... no.
I will agree that the whole "they didn't know they weren't competing on a level field" thing is silly. Certainly everyone with any TV experience knew the score going in. Maybe people like Aaron Rodgers or Ken Jennings wouldn't automatically get that but the others certainly would.
Beyond that, though...
You can't make the "it was a different culture then" argument when we're talking about stuff that happened in 2014. When he's referring to women as sluts and hos and whining about women wearing one-piece swimsuits and obsessing about whether a co-worker has pictures of her "boobies" on her phone.... I mean, that was kind of unacceptable back then too.
When your argument includes "he didn't do anything that Joe Rogan didn't do," your argument is in trouble.
The bottom line on this is, "Jeopardy!" is important to a lot of people and the audience feels very vested in the person who replaces Alex Trebek. No one would give a shirt about any of this if Richards was the new host of "Card Sharks." By all appearances they have replaced Trebek with a guy who wasn't very good filling in and seems to be an asshole. They lost a guy who donated a half-million dollars to help shelter the homeless; they replaced him with a guy who mocks people who help the homeless.
I don't know Mike Richards. He comes across as a frat boy douchebag who kinda hates women unless they're in bikinis. Maybe you're right and he only wanted to come across that way, but that's not a great thing either.
I've worked in TV too long to take any focus group seriously. Focus groups give you the response you want. In the real world, have you heard from anyone outside of Sony who thought that Mike Richards was the best, or even close? The poll I saw today had 3% of respondents saying he was the best fill-in host. I saw 12 of the guest hosts and would rank Richards around 10th.
And about this...
Absolutely yes. This is how just about everything works. That's the TV business in a nutshell.