It’s Levar Burton’s Week To Host ‘Jeopardy!”

Image: Sony Pictures Television

Actor, Reading Rainbow host, and spaceship engineer Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr., better known as Levar Burton, will finally get his turn to host Jeopardy! beginning tonight. Burton will host Jeopardy! every night this week, from Monday, July 26-Friday, July 30, in his tryout to be Alex Trebek’s permanent replacement.

My dream job…? The new Host of #Jeapordy
#bydhttmwfi #notevenkidding

— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) March 27, 2013

It’s the culmination of a very niche, nearly decade-long nerd activism campaign. Burton first tweeted his interest in the job back in 2013, when previous Jeopardy! Host Alex Trebek was still very much alive. When Trebek passed away in November,  a campaign to Make LeVar Burton the next host of Jeopardy! took off across social media, and a Change.org petition has more than a quarter million signatures.

Guest host @levarburton is reading next week’s clues and categories!

As part of his appearance, Jeopardy! will donate to his chosen charity, Reading Is Fundamental. @RIFWEB pic.twitter.com/r3GksqjHMX

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) July 25, 2021

And Levar Burton really wants the job.

“I have been watching Jeopardy! more or less every night of my life since Art Fleming was host,” Buron told the New York Times. “Jeopardy! is a cultural touchstone, and for a Black man to occupy that podium is significant. Look, I have had a career for the fucking ages. Roots, Star Trek, Reading Rainbow. Won a Grammy. I’m a storyteller, and game shows are tremendous stories. There’s a contest, there’s comedy, there’s drama. If you don’t know your shit on Jeopardy! you’re sunk in full view of the entire nation. The stakes are high. I love that.”

Happy LeVar Burton Hosts Jeopardy Day! pic.twitter.com/v1bRu7dHIG

— Jessica (@JessicaGoldstei) July 26, 2021

Burton is guest-hosting Jeopardy! for just one week. He’s one of 16 guests hosts the show is auditioning, and Alex Trebek’s permanent successor will be chosen by focus groups and social media response. 

Here in the Bay Area,  Jeopardy! Airs at 7 p.m. nightly ABC-7 KGO. But on Thursday night, July 29, Jeopardy! Will not air until 10:30 p.m. because of the NBA Draft. Come on Jeopardy!, 10:30 p.m. seems pretty late for your elderly-skewed demographic!