Michael Peterson Davies[4] (born 3 March 1966) is a United States-based British television game shows producer.[5] He is best known for bringing the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to American television. Since 2014, he has hosted a podcast entitled Men in Blazers alongside journalist Roger Bennett. Since 2021, he has served as the executive producer of the game show Jeopardy! following Mike Richards' departure from the program due to various controversies.
In the early 1990s, Davies served as a development associate at Merv Griffin Enterprises.[7] For a time afterward, he served as a senior vice president at Buena Vista Productions (a subsidiary of Disney).[8] In February 1998, Davies joined ABC as executive vice president.[8] During this time, he served as a programming executive at WABC-TV, an ABC affiliate in New York City.[9] He also served as the head of the network's reality programming division.[10]
Diplomatic Productions
On December 12, 2000, Davies founded Diplomatic Productions, his first production company, with the help of ABC and Disney.[11] On May 12, 2005, Diplomatic folded into Embassy Row after Davies joined forces with entertainment marketer Tera Banks and LivePlanet co-founder and former CEO Chris Moore.
The duo were invited to provide analysis and humorous segments for ESPN live from Rio de Janeiro during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, especially from Bob Ley's "Panic Room".[15] The duo did a live show from Portland, Oregon, for the 2014 MLS All-Star Game, interviewing the likes of Clint Dempsey and Alex Morgan while raising money for MLS Works and the Wounded Warrior Project.[16]
In September 2014, they conducted a New York City FC exclusive interview with Frank Lampard after Lampard joined NYCFC from Chelsea.[17]Fox Sports announced in April 2014 they had cancelled the Davies-produced program Crowd Goes Wild, a daily sports talk show from the national sports network Fox Sports 1.[18]
Ahead of the 2014–15 Premier League season, NBC Sports signed Davies and Bennett from ESPN for its English Premier League coverage and confirmed that Men in Blazers would have its own half-hour television show on Monday nights at 10 pm EST, starting 22 September 2014.[19][20]
In 2021, Sony appointed Davies to serve as interim executive producer of Jeopardy! when Mike Richards was let go after controversies came to light.[24][nb 1] On April 14, 2022, Davies announced that he would be taking over the position full-time.[25][26] So far, under Davies' tenure, he has created daily box scores for each episode,[27] creating a "Second Chance Tournament" to air before the show's "Tournament of Champions",[28][29] creating a new holiday for the show entitled JeoparDAY! held on the show's birthday every year on March 30,[30] as well as creating daily recaps of the show known as Jeopardy! Highlights.[31]
In August 2022, Davies, along with former Jeopardy!Clue Crew member and current producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss and Jeopardy! champion Buzzy Cohen, began hosting a podcast about the game show entitled Inside Jeopardy! which takes a look behind the scenes from the quiz show like gameplay analysis, behind-the-scenes stories, official announcements, and special interviews.[31][32][33][34]
Personal life
On December 28, 1989, Davies married Selena Richards in Reno, Nevada.[2] The couple divorced in 1992.[2] Afterwards, he married documentary producer Claude Davies whom he later divorced.[citation needed] He had a daughter, Brea, through his relationship with Selena and three children through his relationship with Claude.[3]
^Despite claims that Michael Davies will serve as an interim executive producer on Wheel of Fortune following Mike Richards' departure, he never actually assumed that role, with the show's senior producer Steve Schwartz serving as an uncredited interim executive producer for the rest of the show's 39th season before settling with Bellamie Blackstone in the 40th season.