ABC’s fall schedule — such as it is in the midst of the writers’ and actors’ strikes — will feature not one but two former Utahns in starring roles.
Well, both Ken Jennings and Julianne Hough will be featured in hosting roles.
“Celebrity Jeopardy!” will be hosted by BYU grad Ken Jennings, who lived in Murray until he won more than $3 million on “Jeopardy!” in 2004 and moved back to his home state of Washington.
The celebrity version of the quiz show returns Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. on ABC-Channel 4. It’s fun and entertaining, and — judging by Season 1 — it’s pretty easy to play along.
(I knew most of the answers … er, uh, questions … in “Celebrity Jeopardy!” As opposed to “Jeopardy! Masters,” another ABC special version featuring big-time winners on the regular, syndicated version of the show. Occasionally, I knew some of those questions.)
Mayim Bialik hosted the first season of “Celebrity Jeopardy!,” but she’s sitting out Season 2 because of the ongoing actors’ strike. (Bialik is a member of SAG-AFTRA; Jennings is not. And hosts really aren’t acting, are they?)
According to “Jeopardy!” producers, all the writing for the second “Celebrity” season was done before the writers went on strike on May 2, so there’s no problem with the WGA.
(ABC) Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough will host "Dancing with the Stars" this fall on ABC and Disney+.
And over at “Dancing with the Stars,” two-time winner and former judge Julianne Hough is returning as the show’s co-host, alongside Alfonso Ribeiro (“Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
The really good news here is that Tyra Banks is out as host of “DWTS” after three seasons. She says she quit. Whatever the reason, it’s really good news.
The celebrity dance competition is returning to ABC after moving to Disney+ last season. This fall, it will air on both ABC-Channel 4 and Disney+ on Mondays at 7 p.m. MT, and will then be available the following day on Hulu. (No premiere date has been announced yet.)
Julianne’s brother, six-time winner Derek, will return to the judging panel, alongside Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.
The Houghs, of course, were born in Utah and spent much of their childhood here. Their father, Bruce Hough, former chairman of the Utah Republican Party, is running for the 2nd Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Chris Stewart.
(Eric McCandless | ABC via AP) This Sept. 30, 2019 photo released by ABC shows former White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, left, and Lindsay Arnold during the celebrity dance competition series "Dancing With the Stars," in Los Angeles
Lindsay Arnold steps away from ‘DWTS’
Utah native Lindsay Arnold, who’s been a pro on the show for 11 seasons, announced on TikTok that she won’t return this fall so she can spend more time at home in Provo with her husband, Sam Cusick, and their two daughters — 3-year-old Sage and almost 4-month-old June.
Good for her.
Arnold has been dancing on TV for a long time. She made the top eight on “So You Think You Can Dance” in 2012, when she was just 18. She joined “Dancing with the Stars” in the spring of 2013, and was a member of the troupe from the fall of 2013 through the spring of 2015. Arnold was promoted to professional partner in the fall of 2015, and has competed in the past nine seasons. In 2017, she and partner Jordan Fisher won the mirror ball trophy.
On TikTok, she made it clear she’s not necessarily quitting “DWTS” for good — that it’s not like “I’m done forever, I’ll never ever consider doing the show again, because I will. I’ve really been considering the option and seeing if it’s something we can fit into our life … and ultimately this season is not going to work out for me and my family.”
(Sonja Flemming | CBS) Julie Chen Moonves is the host of "Big Brother."
How does this happen?
What with the ongoing Hollywood strikes, CBS is reaching out to its sister companies for programming. It’s getting “Yellowstone” from the Paramount Network, and both “Seal Team” (which used to air on CBS) and “FBI True” from Paramount+.
“FBI True” is a surprisingly interesting series in which retired FBI agents talk about cases they worked — Waco, Whitey Bulger, the Beltway Snipers, the Boston Marathon Bombers, the Golden State Killer, TWA Flight 800, just to name a few. Their recollections are accompanied by CBS News footage and reports from the time of the crimes.
The 17th and 18th episodes are about the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, which killed 168 people. Early in Episode 17, there was a graphic identifying a CBS News reporter as Julie Chen — but it’s not Chen, it’s Connie Chung.
In 1995, Chen was a local news reporter at an NBC affiliate in Ohio. Chung was co-anchoring the “CBS Evening News” with Dan Rather. (Chen — who now goes by Julie Chen Moonves — co-anchored “The Early Show” from 2002-2010 and “The Talk” from 2010-18. She has hosted “Big Brother” since 2000.) Chung was born in 1946; Chen was born in 1970.
Hmmm … whatever was the reason “FBI True” confused the two of them?
It’s not a big deal to misidentify a reporter, but to confuse one Chinese-American reporter with another — particularly when there have been so few of them at CBS News — is distressing because it leans into disturbing stereotypes.
And how did this go uncorrected for more than 3½ months? The episode posted on Paramount+ on April 11. I watched it and noticed the error on July 23. I emailed Paramount+ and inquired about it on July 25.
On Aug. 2, I received an email response telling me, “We have corrected the mistake on all platforms. We sincerely regret the error.”
It’s hard to believe that I was the only one who noticed the error for months. It’s hard to believe the mistake happened at all.
At least it was corrected before “FBI True” starts airing on CBS. Back-to-back episodes will begin airing Tuesdays at 8 and 8:30 p.m. MT on Oct. 3.
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