The Strike on Hollywood: What Does the Future Hold for Jeopardy! Productions?
Ray Lalonde, the #2 seed for the 2023 Tournament of Champions, announced Friday that he would not cross the picket line to play this November, thus putting more pressure on Sony Pictures.
Jeopardy! is in Jeopardy
For the past couple of months, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike. On July 14th, Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) also made the decision to strike, marking 2023 as the first year since 1960 that both Hollywood writers and actors struck together at the same time. Both unions have been in ongoing labor disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the tension is exponentially growing as negotiations between the unions and the producers remain unresolved. Inevitably these tensions have trickled down to the Sony Pictures Studios, the setting that allows Jeopardy! tapings to operate.
On Sunday, July 16th, Wheel of Fortune Live announcer Randy West revealed in a public Facebook post that game show tapings were “in full swing,” despite SAG-AFTRA’s decision to strike two days prior. According to the same post, game shows are currently covered under the Network Code agreement until June of 2024, therefore SAG-AFTRA will have no effect on Jeopardy! or Celebrity Jeopardy!. However, both shows are written by members of WGA and writing for Season 2 of Celebrity Jeopardy! has been suggested as complete. The main syndicated show is expected to have recycled clues from the past four decades of the show, a decision that has been criticized by fans and contestants alike.
Following the decision of the producers to reuse past categories and clues, Ray Lalonde, #2 seed for the 2023 Tournament of Champions, announced in a Reddit post on Friday that he will be bowing out of playing the TOC this year “if the strike remains unresolved” by the time the show begins taping for the tournament. Ray’s decision not to cross the picket line drew universal praise from users of the subreddit and other visitors to the thread.
In a chain reaction of solidarity, four other top seeds for the TOC announced their agreement to bow out of taping in the same thread: Troy Meyer, Hannah Wilson, Ben Chan, and #1 seed Cris Pannullo. The most recent player to officially qualify for the TOC, Ben Goldstein, also announced in a reply tweet towards 2019 TOC player Josh Hill that he would not be participating in the absence of the best players. The top four of the season have bowed out already.
2023 Celebrity Jeopardy! champion Ike Barinholtz has not formally announced his position on participating in the tournament, but as a SAG-AFTRA member who has spent a great deal of time on the frontlines of the strike, it’s safe to assume that he is also not down to compete in the tournament this fall. This obviously implies a highly probable delay on the TOC being taped and aired this year, but it’s a little more unclear on how non-TOC games will be handled.
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