This guy had it locked up ... until the producer decided to hire himself.
No. The only people who thought Burton had a chance were the FReeper wannabes on the Internet who tried to harass their way into getting him the job even after he did poorly in his audition.
If anyone's been paying attention, Richards was actually one of the better hosts among the guests, and since he's already on the show's staff and doesn't have any major scheduling conflicts (the main issue with a lot of the guest hosts), he was the easy choice. I'm glad they're giving Bialik some spin-off shows, too: not only did she have a strong resume for the position, but she did well with her audition, and this would also allow her to pursue other projects (much in the same way Ken Jennings is appearing in other game shows).
Naturally on social media there is some character assassination going on because they dared hire someone who wasn't LeVar Burton. It's pathetic, and a sign of how crass our country has become that we can't even accept the choice to host a flipping game show. It's not like they chose Al Franken, for crying out loud!
(For the record, Richards didn't hire himself, the Japanese higher-ups at Sony hired him. Much in the same way that Alex Trebek was also host and producer, hired by Merv Griffin, for his first few years.)
