TV

"Jeopardy!" has finally settled on a new permanent host to take over for the late Alex Trebek ... and no, it's not Aaron Rodgers, it's not LeVar Burton, and it's not Anderson Cooper.

Executive producer Mike Richards is expected to take the reins of the famous game show that was hosted by Trebek for 36 years ... according to Variety. Richards is reportedly in advanced negotiations with Sony Pictures Television to become the host of "Jeopardy!" and launch a new era.

It's super interesting ... the entire season was all about big celebs vying for the dream job ... Mayim Bialik, Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos and more. But, in the end, they went in-house. It's not like Mike Richards chose himself -- Sony bigwigs did that. But, well, interesting.

Fact is ... Richards guest-hosted the show in February and crushed it. He's hosted game shows before ... "Divided" and "The Pyramid" for Sony Pictures’ GSN cabler. He's also produced more than 4,000 hours of game shows.

Selena Gomez thinks she's the butt of a couple jokes on "The Good Fight" ... but production tells us she's got the wrong idea about the kidney transplant jabs.

Selena and her fans were upset about a couple wisecracks in a scene from the CBS drama ... where characters are discussing what kinds of jokes are NOT kosher ... but we're told the joke is going over everyone's head, though Selena's camp disagrees.

A production source tells TMZ … the Selena reference is part of a discussion the characters are having about topics that are not okay to make fun of and the idea of cancel culture and being canceled for telling a bad joke, and it's decided Selena's transplant isn't something to wisecrack about.

The clip started making the rounds on social media this week and folks got "RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ" trending for a bit, with Selena chiming in and calling the scene "tasteless."

Despite what production says, Selena's not buying it.

Sources close to the singer tell us ... context or not, the way the show wrote and delivered the scene was inappropriate and people around Selena still feel like the scene is being used as a joke not as an educational moment

Selena's dealt with this sort of thing before ... as we reported, the kidney jokes were flying in the 'Saved By The Bell' reboot and the show removed them after tons of backlash.

Gloria Vanderbilt -- the late mother of Anderson Cooper -- lived in a snazzy, one-of-a-kind Manhattan home for more than 2 decades before she passed ... and now it's on the market.

The CNN anchor's listed his mom's 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom apartment -- located in Midtown East -- for $1.125 million ... and it's truly a sight to behold.

We could mention how the property is located in one of NYC's most coveted locations with tree-lined streets and features a gorgeous view of the river -- or how it boasts spacious rooms and high ceilings -- but it's really all about the aesthetic.

The home's filled with family treasures and artwork, and Anderson's said her long residency -- she lived there from 1997 until her death in 2019 -- is a testament to her love for the place.

Gloria -- designer, artist and heiress to the Vanderbilt railroad fortune -- passed away from stomach cancer in 2019.

Pamela Anderson is out of the 'Bu ... because TMZ has learned she just sold her Malibu estate.

The house -- located in the celebrity-riddled Malibu Colony -- sold for $11.8 million. Turns out the sale may now be in the record books for the Colony. The price breaks down to more than $4,000 a square foot.

The house is 2,700 square feet and the best part may be the incredible backyard with a great pool and guest house. The house has 4 bedrooms and the entire house is sustainably sourced -- courtesy of Pam.

Tomer Fridman from Compass had the listing.

As for the buyer, well, if you're familiar with Kreiss furniture ... the heir to that fortune scooped it up. The new owners -- Loren and Kate Kreiss -- were repped by Sandro Dazzan from The Agency.

The McCains and the Trumps continue to fire shots at each other ... and this time it's pitting John McCain's daughter against Donald Trump's niece.

Meghan McCain went scorched-earth on Mary Trump Monday after the former President's niece took a shot at her on "The View."

Mary, who secretly recorded her relatives for a book she wrote, beamed into the talk show for an interview about her famous family members, and she ripped Meghan for not being part of the discussion, saying it showed a lack of courage on MM's part.

Well, Meghan didn't take the dig too kindly and now she's going after Mary and the rest of the Trumps, saying ... "There is no 'good' Trump family member to me. Continue to wish they would all just leave me and my entire family the f*** alone."

It's unclear why Meghan was not part of the segment with Mary ... Meghan appeared in earlier segments of the show, but Mary was only fielding questions from Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin.

Wayne Brady was the target of a racist, expletive-laced voicemail left at the studio where he films his game show ... and it's disgusting.

TMZ's obtained the audio of the message left at CBS Studios in L.A.'s Fairfax District where the affable comedian and singer hosts "Let's Make a Deal." The voicemail's as deplorable as it sounds ... with the caller dropping a couple of "f***ing n*****" bombs.

The audio lasts only 9 seconds but the caller spews plenty of racism and hate. It's unclear exactly what he's ranting about ... but it's clear he's no fan of Wayne's.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the message was left on the studio's voicemail system. We're told CBS security filed a report and immediately notified the LAPD.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the LAPD looked into it but, in the end, we're told cops determined the VM didn't rise to the level of a crime.

In any event ... sad to think someone feels this way about one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. #SMH

The Royal family's the subject of a new animated series called "The Prince," and the British are up in arms over it -- calling it less satire, and more mockery and disgrace.

The HBO Max series, created by Family Guy co-executive producer Gary Janetti, is a humorous take on the Royal family. It's been a few days now since the show started streaming, and some hater-fueled reviews are in -- many angry viewers took to social media to decry the show as "wrong" and "disgusting" for portraying the family as a dysfunctional family with egotistical tendencies.

The show, starring Orlando Bloom as Prince Harry, also centers around 8-year-old Prince George ... who is portrayed as a spoiled brat who orders staff around and forces kids to join his lavish play dates.

Queen Elizabeth is portrayed as a mafia boss while Prince Charles gets the mommy-boy label who -- behind closed doors -- bitches about having already waited so long to take the throne. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are also depicted living in L.A. from the "smallest palace" Harry has ever been in.

The animators also pushed the envelope when it came to the caricatures. Prince William's head, for example, is massive. Prince Philip has a protruding back and looks all but lifeless.

Longtime soap opera actor Jay Pickett has died -- this while he was actually doing his job in front of the camera.

Jay passed Thursday on the set of a new film he was working on called "Treasure Valley" in Idaho -- so says his costar and co-producer for the flick, Jim Heffel, who shared the tragic news on Facebook ... explaining he actually died while they were preparing to shoot a scene.

He writes, "Jay died sitting on a horse ready to rope a steer in the movie Treasure Valley in Idaho. The way of a true cowboy." Not much more was discussed as to how he ended up toppling over, but it sounds like it was sudden ... and an official cause of death isn't out yet.

Another star from the movie, Travis Mills, took to his own FB page to speculate it appeared to be a heart attack of some sort, while also noting everyone around at the time tried hard to keep him alive ... going on to call it a shocking tragedy.

This is a project that Jay was all in on -- he was writing, producing and starring in it as the lead man. It sounds like a good old-fashioned Western movie ... and was due to be released next year.

Jay certainly has had some movie experience over the length of his long career, but he's definitely more famous for his TV work ... or daytime TV, we should say -- which he got started in the '90s with "Days of Our Lives," on which he played Dr. Chip Lakin.

He was only on 'Days' for about a year, but then moved on to even more legendary soaps ... where he had prolonged roles. Jay was in over 700 episodes of "Port Charles" for several years between the late '90s and early 2000s, playing Frank Scanlon to much fanfare.

After that, Jay went on to star in "General Hospital" for a couple years -- at which point, he was acting in a ton of different stuff ... like "Dexter," "Desperate Housewives," "Hot Line," "Saving Grace" ... and later, "NCIS," "The Mentalist" and other shows and movies up until very recently.

He's survived by his wife, Elena, and their children. Jay was only 60.

Thea Ruth White -- the voice of Muriel on "Courage the Cowardly Dog" -- has died.

Her family shared the sad news over the weekend, saying she'd passed Friday following a surgery to remove a cancerous mass from her liver ... which her nephew, Brad Zitzner, says resulted in her catching an infection shortly thereafter.

By all accounts, she fought hard ... but lost her battle to cancer. Right before going in for the procedure -- Thea's brother, John, posted a video of her asking for well-wishes from fans (young and old) which she said would help her in her recovery. She seemed to be talking in the Muriel voice, too, from the famed Cartoon Network show that she's most famous from.

John posted yet another video on Facebook, which seemed to indicate this is something Thea has been dealing with for a while -- apparently, she'd gone in for an initial surgery just a week ago ... and he has a video up of her talking following that procedure.

Her nephew writes, "Thanks Feefer for your leadership of your family. The role you have taken with my kids and all your family sadly can't be replaced. I can see hundreds of fan tributes already online so your love was shared far and wide."

Brad adds, "You loved life and even know I know the final outcome I love your decision to go for it and to try to win."

Thea hadn't gotten into acting until later in life -- it seems her first major role was on 'CTCD,' on which she starred for four years. She's also lent her talents for shows like "Pecola" and 'Scooby Doo' ... but it looks like she's been faithful to portraying Muriel in a variety of forms.

She was 81.

Bill Maher is back with a vengeance ... and he's making a case that cancel culture and cultural appropriation are destroying America.

Bill's back from a month-long hiatus and he zeroed in on the honchos at the Olympics who were 86'd for decades-old infractions.

He then targeted a subset of cancel culture -- cultural appropriation, and made a case that it's anathema to empathy. In other words, sharing cultures -- rather than walling them off -- is a celebration of diversity rather than exploitation. His example is surfing -- an AP story called the new Olympic sport an indignity to Hawaiians. Bill calls BS ... you gotta watch and judge for yourself, but he's got some solid arguments.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone want to buy a beloved Colorado restaurant featured in "South Park," but it's still just a pipedream ... because we're told Casa Bonita is NOT for sale.

Here's the deal ... the "South Park" creators made it pretty well known this week they want to buy the Mexican restaurant they often shout out in their sitcom, in part because the real Casa Bonita has remained shuttered since the outset of the pandemic.

But, as flattering as their desire to buy Casa Bonita might be, honchos at the restaurant's parent company, Summit Family Restaurant Inc., tell TMZ ... they're not interested in selling, despite filing for bankruptcy.

Since the bankruptcy filing, we're told tons of people have reached out to Summit about purchasing Casa Bonita -- but Trey and Matt weren't among them.

We're told the decision-makers at Summit plan to reopen Casa Bonita ASAP once the current bankruptcy process wraps, with the goal being to get folks back to work in the next month. Summit's owned Casa Bonita for 25 years.

Good news, folks ... Bob Odenkirk is in such good spirits he's now joking around with friends, according to one of them ... actor David Cross.

Cross says the "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" star is doing so good, in fact, fans will soon be hearing from him. Cross updated Bob's legion of fans Friday morning saying, "Just got off the phone with Bob and he's doing great!"

David added, "Both [Bob] and his family are overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and concern everyone has shown. You will be hearing from him soon. But he's doing really well!!!"

That's welcome news considering what he's gone through over the last couple of days. TMZ broke the story ... Bob was rushed to the hospital after collapsing on the set of "Better Call Saul" while filming in New Mexico.

We later learned the emergency was a "heart-related" incident. For a moment it was touch-and-go. He was not conscious during his initial hours in an Albuquerque hospital before he eventually woke up -- and Cross now sounds confident Bob will be back to his old self.

As we reported ... there was an outpouring of support following the medical scare. "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston shared a pic on Instagram and asked fans to "please take a moment in your day today to think about him and send positive thoughts and prayers."

Message delivered.

"Soul!" put Black culture on the TV map at a time when it hadn't really been done before ... and if you've never heard of the first Black variety show on American television, well, it's an amazing story about an openly gay Black host who trailblazed in so many ways in the '60s.

Melissa Haizlip was on "TMZ Live" Thursday ... she produced an amazing documentary about her uncle, Ellis Haizlip, who hosted "Soul!," the PBS show from 1968 to 1973.

Ellis's show became a platform for political expression and social justice at a time when civil rights and the Vietnam War were front and center in America.

Ellis had amazing guests ... Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Patti LaBelle, Jessie Jackson, Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green. Oh, and a 16-year-old Arsenio Hall performed magic tricks on "Soul!"

It's pretty amazing ... when Ellis hosted the show homosexuality was illegal in many states, and homophobia was rampant. He even had Louis Farrakhan as a guest, and confronted him over his condemnation of homosexuality.

Bob Odenkirk was hospitalized for a "heart-related incident" ... sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, and it was touch-and-go for the last day but it looks like he's now out of the woods.

Bob is awake inside an Albuquerque hospital and we're told he's stable and on the rebound, but when he was rushed to the hospital Tuesday after collapsing on set it did not look good. We're told he was not conscious during the early hours in the hospital, although he's now lucid.

Bob's rep tells TMZ, "Bob and his family would like to express gratitude for the incredible doctors and nurses looking after him, as well as his cast, crew and producers who have stayed by his side."

The rep goes on ... "The Odenkirks would also like to thank everyone for the outpouring of well wishes and ask for their privacy at this time as Bob works on his recovery."

TMZ broke the story ... Bob was rushed to a New Mexico hospital Tuesday night after collapsing on the set of his show "Better Call Saul."

Production sources told us Bob and the rest of the cast were shooting when the incident happened, with Odenkirk going down and being immediately surrounded by crew members as they called an ambulance.

"Arthur" -- the longest-running children's animated series in U.S. TV history -- is coming to an end. And it begs a question ... Hey, what gives?!

Carol Greenwald, executive producer of the PBS kids show, confirmed in an email to IGN that "the winter of 2022, the 25th and final season of Arthur will debut." For what it's worth ... she also said the production company and PBS KIDS will "work together on additional Arthur content, sharing the lessons of Arthur and his friends in new ways." Streaming, anyone?

Anyway ... sad to see "Arthur" go away on the small screen. The kids show debuted on PBS back in 1996 and produced over 240 episodes. The show's based on Marc Brown's "Arthur Adventure" book series.

The series -- which in its long run hauled in 4 Emmys and a Peabody Award -- tackled tons of social issues between family and friends in the fictional town of Elwood City.

Most recently, Arthur's longtime classroom teacher, Mr. Ratburn, married a guy in the season 22 debut. No question about it ... the theme was a monumental moment in TV history.

The children's TV show also forever etched its name in pop culture lore thanks to the memorable memes that bridge generations.

Bob Odenkirk was rushed to the hospital after collapsing on the set of his show "Better Call Saul" ... and is still receiving medical care.

Production sources tell TMZ Odenkirk and cast were shooting in New Mexico Tuesday when the incident happened. We're told Odenkirk went down, and was immediately surrounded by crew members who called an ambulance.

We're told it's unclear if he was conscious when he was transported, but a source close to Odenkirk tells us he is still in the hospital under the care of doctors.

Odenkirk became a household name when he played attorney Saul Goodman on "Breaking Bad." "Better Call Saul" -- a spinoff of "Breaking Bad" -- is currently shooting its 6th and final season. No word on how far along Odenkirk and team are in finishing it up or if his medical situation will delay production in any capacity.