Why Mayim Bialik Is Exiting This Season of 'Jeopardy' Early

Mayim Bialik shocked fans with news that she won't be hosting the rest of Jeopardy!'s season 39.

Bialik, 47, said she's stepping away from the rest of this season of the game show in solidarity with the ongoing writers strike. However, production will continue with the final few episodes of the season hosted by Bialik's counterpart, Ken Jennings, 48, with whom she's split hosting duties with since the season began in August.

The final episodes of the season (before the show goes to its regularly scheduled summer hiatus) will be filmed at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, California, next week, with the planned dates of production falling between Tuesday, May 16 and Friday, May 19, according to a recent Deadline report.

The outlet also notes that Jeopardy! is the first game show to officially be affected by the strike, which seeks to remedy weeks of failed labor negotiations between the Writers Guild of America labor union (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

For the remainder of filming season 39, Jeopardy! will still use contributions from WGA writers, though the content was written before the season began and well ahead of the strike that started on May 2.

The nearly two-week-long strike has grown to include support from a variety of Hollywood A-listers as well as some of the Jeopardy! writers, including Michele Loud, Jim Rhine and Billy Wisse, who are all reported to have joined the picket lines as part of the WGA strike.

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