Jeopardy producers have pegged Dr. Oz to host the long-running game show for the next two weeks.
That’s right. A show that’s intended to promote intelligence has chosen a TV doctor who was once busted for selling the public dangerous weight-loss pills.
Can I get “Terrible Ideas” for $200, please?
Since Alex Trebek’s tragic passing last November, Jeopardy producers have employed a carousel-style guest-hosting schedule. They’ve had Katie Couric, former contestant Ken Richards, and the show’s executive producer Mike Richards host the show.
Future hosts include Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Anderson Cooper, Savannah Guthrie, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Mayim Bialek, and “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker.
We’re okay with the past guests. Future guests? Fine. But it’s their present choice that’s confounding us.
Richards told USA Today that Dr. Oz was good friends with Alex Trebek, and he was looking for people “in the orbit” of Trebek for the job.
While he may have indeed been friends with Alex Trebek (we want proof!), that’s not a good enough reason to book Dr. Oz.
Sure, Alex Trebek may have been friends with Dr. Oz. And yes, he was synonymous with the show. But Trebek wasn’t the sole reason people tuned in.
Viewers watch Jeopardy to witness the intelligence of the guests and to play along. Intelligence, knowledge, class: these are three tentpoles of the show. And they just so happen to be three things that Dr. Oz doesn’t seem to value.
This is the same ‘doctor’ who said we should reopen schools last April. You might be thinking, ‘well, many schools have reopened, and it hasn’t been a disaster.’
That may be true, but Dr. Oz didn’t know that back then. When he made those comments, he said it “may only cost us 2 to 3%, in terms of total mortality.” If you’re a math person, that’s anywhere from 1 million to 2 million dead students.
But, of course, that’s not all.
This is the same doctor who recommended elderberry syrup to fight against Covid-19.
And who can forget his ‘miraculous’ green coffee bean extract fiasco? That’s when he told his television audience that his new pills were a “magic weight-loss cure. ”
The Federal Trade Commission reviewed the study involving the green coffee bean pills and found it to be a scam. It stated that the study was “so hopelessly flawed that no reliable conclusions could be drawn from it. ”
Dr. Oz does not belong on Jeopardy. He belongs next to other shady TV doctors like Dr. Phil and Dr. Drew.