LOS ANGELES • After weeks of guest hosts on “Jeopardy!” that included celebrities from TV, sports and journalism, the daily syndicated quiz show chose its executive producer, Mike Richards, as the successor to beloved host Alex Trebek.

But after fan backlash to a selection process that recently turned messy, producer Sony split the pie by naming another guest host, actor Mayim Bialik, as emcee for “Jeopardy!” prime-time and spinoff series, including a new college championship.

In a nod to “Jeopardy!” devotees, longest winning-streak champion Ken Jennings will return as a consulting producer. Richards will retain executive producing duties for “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” Sony Pictures Television said in a statement Wednesday. The studio also appeared to deflect the idea that it was bowing to the dismay that some fans expressed when word leaked last week that Richards would be the pick.

“We knew early on that we wanted to divide the hosting responsibilities and it became very clear that Mike and Mayim were the undeniable choices. They were both at the top of our research and analysis,” said Ravi Ahuja, Chairman of Global Television Studios for Sony Pictures. “We took this decision incredibly seriously.”

As a guest host, Ahuja said Richards was “at ease behind the podium and a double threat as producer and host. Mayim has a wonderful energy, an innate sense of the game, and an authentic curiosity that naturally represents the ‘Jeopardy!’ brand.”

Richards was the second of the temp hosts who filled the void left by Trebek’s death, with “Jeopardy!” champs Jennings and Buzzy Cohen, actors Bialik and LeVar Burton, NFL player Aaron Rodgers and TV journalists among the others.

The studio didn’t break the game-show mold by choosing Richards. White male hosts have long been the convention, with a few women (among them Meredith Vieira, Jane Lynch, Leslie Jones) and a larger contingent of Black men (Wayne Brady, Steve Harvey, Anthony Anderson) making inroads in recent years.

While Richards proved an excellent host, a “fantastic opportunity for radical change has been lost,” said Deepak Sarma, a Case Western Reserve University professor and Netflix cultural consultant. For the marginalized, Sony’s decision confirms suspicions that “penetrating some privileged worlds is impossible,” Sarma said.

Richards has an extensive, Emmy Award-winning game show resume. He was the executive producer of “The Price is Right” and “Let’s Make a Deal” for more than a decade and produced the 2020 revival of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” His on-camera experience includes hosting “The Pyramid” and “Beauty and the Geek,” a reality show.

He joined “Jeopardy!” as the replacement for retiring executive producer Harry Friedman starting with the 2020-21 season, and was in the job for only a few months when Trebek, 80, died last November of pancreatic cancer. Trebek was host for 37 seasons. “No matter who they picked some of the viewers were going to be unhappy, because it wasn’t Alex Trebek,” said media consultant Bill Carroll.

Jennings, who holds the record for most regular-game winnings with $2.52 million and the longest winning-streak, 74 games, had been considered a front-runner, along with Cohen and Bialik (“The Big Bang Theory”). Burton had his own chorus of supporters, including the petitioners whom he credits with getting him on the show last month.

Mike Richards

the associated press file