The Future of Wheel and J!

I can speculate in all he could do, but Jeopardy! is pretty much going to stay the same, since it doesn't need to change (and really, the only "change" I could see happening is enforcing that all clues get played, but that's a very minor nitpick), and the only things I can see Richards changing immediately are things from the past few seasons. The only two that I think are feasible are the TTU getting retired (We'll see; to be fair, I thought the 3 options in the BR would have been retired as well as The 80's, but it wasn't. Also, this would hide the fact that 1/2 Car was also retired to indirectly give us the TTU), and if there is a season where the BR minimum of Season # * $1,000 would get retired, this would be it (I'd say bringing the minimum back to $30,000 would be enough for people not complaining the show is becoming cheaper, but would be justifiable given the current environment and the changing of the guards).

I have a lot more wants gameplay-wise, but realistically, I don't see them happening. Although, Richards might be our best chance of having a great Dream Car Week, Big Money Week, and dare I say Kids' Week, since he's had experience on Price on making those weeks exciting.

I don't think there ever will be a kids' week because kids probably are too short to reach the Wheel and I don't think they have the Wheel 2000 Wheel anymore. These are the changes I'm hoping for:
1. Returning Champions where contestants can play until they lose (I think that Wheel could do it if Jeopardy! could, he did a really good job with Price and Let's Make a Deal and I think he will make some good changes).
2. 10-Year eligibility rule like on Price
3. People who appeared with Woolery, Benirschke, or Goen are eligible to reappear with Sajak (same with Wheel 2000 and the 2012 unaired lottery games; Jeopardy! allows people from the Fleming version to appear with Trebek)
4. Primetime Specials and games
5. Tournament of Champions
6. $40,000 becomes the minimum for the Bonus Round (I don't think it would be a good idea to drop it to $30,000 or anything lower than the current minimum, $37,000)

^ They already were planning a showdown with the three millionaires, but one of them didn't want to do it according to jjman920 who was in the audience for a taping. Here is the thread:
buyavowel.boards.net/thread/11382/wof-goat-matchup-sort

These are all great suggestions. I’m not sure what’s gonna actually happen, but here’s my take.

Jeopardy: There’s not gonna be much, but I would like to see either a set change or music theme change. I’m not sure that’s gonna happen, however.

Wheel: There’s gotta be more; these last three seasons have lacked big time. First off, maybe retiring the Triple Toss Up; it’s a good idea, but I think it takes a bit too much time adding more puzzles and less spinning. Maybe making Prize Puzzles in any round instead of always round 3. Another idea could maybe to have the Jackpot wedge come back, starting at $10,000 this time, but I highly doubt it. Possibly a new wheel template sounds nice, too. Or even a recoloring or new bonus wheel design. I’ve got more in my mind, but the most important one I have is; to make the bonus puzzles a bit easier. No more GLITZY or any crazy puzzles with Z’s, K’s, Q’s.

Mike Richards has done well with LMAD and TPIR and he’s doing well with Michael Davies with Millionaire. But only time will tell what he wants to do with J! and Wheel.

For Jeopardy!, I think he'll do another tournament with notable contestants, though Ken Jennings announced that he's not going to do a rematch.
As I said on Jboard, this tournament could be the second Ultimate Tournament of Champions. It would have contestants from the All-Star Games and a few others and more byes (the same length as the 2005 one). This is how it would work:
James Holzhauer gets a bye to the Finals (Round 5), Brad Rutter and David Madden get byes to the Semifinals (Round 4), Larissa Kelly, Matt Jackson, and Jason Zuffranieri get byes to the Quarterfinals (Round 3), Roger Craig, Colby Burnett, and Julia Collins get byes to Round 2, Jennifer Giles, Alex Jacob, Buzzy Cohen, Alan Lin, Pam Mueller, Monica Thieu, Arthur Chu, Austin Rogers, Leonard Cooper, Ben Ingram, and Seth Wilson start at Round 1. The first place prize would be $5 million, second place would get $2 million, and third place would get $1 million (that was what I said on Jboard, but I think this is too budget-breaking, so it probably would be either the same prizes as the Ultimate Tournament of Champions or $2,000,000-$1,000,000-$500,000). Semifinalists would get $400,000, Quarterfinalists would get $250,000, Round 2 players would get $100,000, and Round 1 players would get $75,000.

Probably nothing...and, frankly, nothing should happen. Jeopardy has far more pressing issues that Mike will need to deal with likely sooner than later...

Besides Alex's health, what other issues are there? Jeopardy! is now more successful and popular than Wheel of Fortune, and not just because of more people watching for Alex.

^ Yeah, the host situation is probably the primary reason.

Once Alex's health situation is over and he has a game plan for when he will leave (hopefully in good health), I think the next priority should be rebuilding Wheel's image much like Mike did Price.

J!'s image is likely going to suffer when Alex is gone; one of the main reasons for J!'s recent popularity surge was Alex's cancer diagnosis. The show gained several new viewers and fans across all demographics, and Alex is now well-known on social media for "roasting" contestants, much like how Steve Harvey caused Family Feud's popularity to surge because of his shocked reactions to answers. Alex's "badass" image to the young crowd these days is a lot like Bob Barker's after his appearance in Happy Gilmore. Pat's not exactly at the same level, although some of his political tweets really don't help matters.

If anyone can make Wheel relevant to the current generation, it's Mike. Part of the reason the current generation loves Jeopardy! so much is not just because of Alex, but because of the cool things you can learn, and how rewarding it is to know the answers you already know. One of the major things that keeps J! relevant is its up-to-date pop culture clues. Casual Wheel fans get tired of having to guess stagnant things like "ENJOYING THE SUN ALL DAY LONG" and "A RELAXING FOOT MASSAGE", and nobody is going to take a picture of their TV and post it under #wheeloffortune when the puzzle is the umpteenth use of "BORN TO RUN BY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN" or "HOOKING UP MY MODEM". Mike's first step needs to be improving the puzzle writing, which should hopefully be a cinch. And I don't see a host change hurting Wheel as bad as the Bob/Drew transition hurt Price at first, or how Alex's departure will change J!. Like I said, Pat's not exactly liked by everyone (and the rumors of him being homophobic really don't help Wheel's lack of wanting to advance culturally), so if they get the right guy, it shouldn't be a big deal. As for Vanna, she will definitely be missed even though many millennials deem her "unnecessary". But given how sought after her job is regardless, it won't be hard for them to find an attractive young-ish woman to replace her; her change will definitely have very little impact on the show compared to Pat or Alex being replaced.

That all being said, I don't see too much changing for either show next season. We know Harry won't be there when production resumes regardless of whether they continue making Season 37 episodes or start on Season 38, but by the time anyone is allowed to go back to the studio, Mike's not going to take the time to give Wheel a new set or have a new Wheel layout made or anything big like that.

These past several years have essentially been Wheel's "Wii U" era. Their "Switch" era has to come eventually.