Will ‘Jeopardy!,’ ‘Wheel of Fortune’ & ‘The View’ Be Forced Off Air by Writers’ Strike?

ABC/Jenny Anderson; Jeopardy Inc; Wheel of Fortune/Facebook

The Jennifer Hudson Show is following The Drew Barrymore Show and The Talk and delaying its Season 2 premiere amid the ongoing writers’ and actor’s strikes.

This comes after Barrymore backtracked on bringing her daytime talk show back last week following intense criticism from fans and the celebrity world. CBS’ The Talk, which was scheduled to return today, September 18, also announced yesterday that it was “pausing its season premiere.”

Hudson’s show was also scheduled to return on Monday, September 18, but is now on pause for the foreseeable future.

This has set off panic buttons among fans of other shows, including The View, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune, fearing their favorite programs could suddenly disappear during the strikes.

The View, which broadcasts live, appears to be safe for now, at least according to the show’s co-host, Whoopi Goldberg. At the top of an episode back in July, the Academy Award winner explained why The View is still airing despite the ongoing strikes.

“We want to start with an explanation of why we’re still working when there is a SAG-AFTRA strike,” Goldberg said. “Like the soap, soap operas and game shows and news shows, we work under something: a different kind of contract, which is called the network code. Which means that we are allowed to continue on.”

She added, “We support the actors who are out on strike, as we do with the directors — the writer’s guild. People are just trying to get a balance.”

But what about Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune? The long-running game shows returned for new seasons last week and appear safe, for now at least.

There are, of course, some changes, particularly regarding Jeopardy!, which is reusing contestants and recycling old material (and using material written pre-strikes). The latest season kicked off with a Second Chance tournament featuring former players from Season 37.

The Second Chance tournament is expected to run for three weeks and lead into the Champions Wildcard, which will see the winner(s) of the Second Chance facing off against Season 38 champs. The Wildcard tournament is set to run for eight weeks through to the start of December.

Ken Jennings is hosting Season 40 and the second season of Celebrity Jeopardy!, as his fellow host, Mayim Bialik, continues to sit out in support of the strikes.

Wheel of Fortune, which returned last week for Pat Sajak‘s final season as host, is also seemingly safe as it falls under the same Network Code agreement as The View. The show’s Celebrity edition is also allowed to continue airing amid the strikes.

But fans still fear this could all change at any moment, especially in light of the daytime talk shows’ decision to postpone.

“Is there something different about the situations with the talk shows that make them different from Jeopardy!? Or is it just a matter of time if the strike goes any longer before the crosshairs get put on Jeopardy?” asked one fan on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum.

“Jeopardy is in a weird state with it — it’s on strike by the WGA, but since the SAG-AFTRA contract that extends to certain entertainment / game shows isn’t due up until July of next year, the guild has reportedly told Ken (who is in SAG-AFTRA as a host) that he should indeed continue to work on Jeopardy to fulfill that specific contract,” another commenter responded.

“I also sympathize with the show having to balance a complicated schedule of contestants with their own work lives and their crews. It would be heartbreaking to be booted from your opportunity to compete due to the strikes, but also people deserve better compensation,” said another viewer.

“The key difference (I think) is that Jeopardy is not writing new clues. They are recycling old clues and using clues that were written by the writers prior to the strike,” wrote one fan. “Plus I presume anything that Ken Jennings says (outside of answers and questions) is either off the cuff or written by him.”

“The difference is that Jeopardy! is using material written by union writers (albeit recycled material) and tacitly admitting that writers are necessary… The talk shows in question are going entirely without writers. If some producer somewhere decides that the show is just as good that way (or even almost as good), then writers could find themselves out of jobs. And if that starts a trend, it could be very bad news for some writers,” wrote another.

Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings
Wheel of Fortune, Weekdays, check your local listings
The View, Weekdays, 11 am/10 c, ABC