Althouse: "Alex Trebek announced a few days ago that he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and that he plans to keep working as he fights the disease."

March 9, 2019

"Alex Trebek announced a few days ago that he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and that he plans to keep working as he fights the disease."

"Let me be clear: This is not an elegy. I hope Alex will be hosting 'Jeopardy!' for a long time to come. It’s impossible to even imagine the show with anyone else. But he’s been doing one job so long, and so well, that I think we sometimes take him for granted. Let’s make sure that we appreciate the man as long as we have him. 'Jeopardy!' contestants are, by strict policy and even the weight of federal law, kept far away from anyone who actually runs the game. Apart from what home viewers see on camera, you don’t hang out with Alex. He remains, I like to say, a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a Perry Ellis suit.... Alex Trebek fascinates America, but we don’t quite get him. He’s a game show host, but he’s not hearty or ingratiating.... In person, he’s decidedly not the stern, judicial presence you might expect. On TV, he’s all business. He has 61 clues to get to, and not a lot of time. Hosting such a dense, fast-moving game is an insanely hard job, but he makes it look effortless... But when the cameras stop rolling, Alex is a looser, even goofy presence... He still has the slight testiness, the dry imitation hauteur you can see when he spars with contestants in the interviews, but he’s gracious and candid and self-deprecating...."

Writes Ken Jennings (in a NYT op-ed).

Yes, it seems impossible to imagine the show without Alex Trebek. Meade and I like to watch the show, and when we heard the bad news, Meade said that if Alex Trebek dies, they should just retire the show. But in a way, I can imagine the show without Alex Trebek, because I remember the "Jeopardy!" of the distant past, with the original host Art Fleming. I remember resisting the new person when the new person was Alex Trebek.

But who could replace Alex Trebek? When Meade and I talked about it, the first name I thought of was Ken Jennings. But it's been so long that Alex Trebek has been the show's identity. 35 years! To hear Alex read the questions — the "answers" — is to feel that is the only way they can be read — a perfection in style and intonation.

96 comments:

rcocean said...: Give Trump the job - in 2025; 3/9/19, 5:33 PM
rhhardin said...: I've never watched the show so it's all good to me.

Same strange spelling as leopard though.; 3/9/19, 5:35 PM
rcocean said...: "Alex Trebek fascinates America, but we don’t quite get him. He’s a game show host, but he’s not hearty or ingratiating."

Really? Is there a word of this that's true? Alex is quite pleasant. He often jokes, and I don't know anyone who's "fascinated" by him.

Maybe the writer wants a someone to do a little dance and shoot some seltzer down his pants. And of course, roll his/her eyes at all that "old-fashioned" history/literature stuff.; 3/9/19, 5:36 PM
Big Mike said...: To hear Alex read the questions — the "answers" — is to feel that is the only way they can be read — a perfection in style and intonation.

What is "True"?; 3/9/19, 5:39 PM
Chuck said...: Writing at The Bulwark, Jonathan V. Last's suggestion last week to replace Alex Trebek was... Ken Jennings.; 3/9/19, 5:39 PM
Bob Boyd said...: The next host will won't be a white male.
What woman would make a good Jeopardy host?; 3/9/19, 5:41 PM
rcocean said...: Is the Bulwark still pretending to be "Conservative" - after sending a liberal Abortion fanatic to cover CPAC?

Anyway if "The Bulwark" if for Jennings - that just confirms he'd be a disaster.; 3/9/19, 5:41 PM
Henry said...: A friend of mine has run an online trivia league for many years. There are a number of former (and future) Jeopardy contestants that play on his platform. I logged in over there to get some reaction.

Very first message is the video that Alex Trebek recorded himself.

Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year...

Third comment:

What is "fuck cancer"?; 3/9/19, 5:43 PM
rcocean said...: "What woman would make a good Jeopardy host?"

Take the difficulty in finding a male host with the intelligence and charm neccessary. Now, multiply that by 10 - that's how hard it will be to get a GOOD female Jeopardy host.

Of course, it diversity uber alles, so I agree. The next host will be black or a woman. What about Whoppi Goldberg. She's Jewish. Someone told me they're smart.; 3/9/19, 5:44 PM
Lucien said...: rcocean is on the right track, but with the wrong Trump: Ivanka could do the job, still have time left for her family, and isn't over 70.; 3/9/19, 5:45 PM
Bill Peschel said...: I know I'm supposed to be misty-eyed about this, but I remember watching Art Fleming at noon when I came home from school for lunch (yes, kids, I lived a block away from the school, and I was allowed to walk home for lunch).

I remember Trebek when he hosted "High Rollers," involving big colorful dice.

So I'm sorry he has cancer and he won't be around long, but in the end, he'll be remembered as a game-show host, not a singer whose songs touched me (like Bowie) or an actor whose performances moved me (like Rickman).

We're in an era now where celebrities are dying daily, both those who we still remember and those to whom we respond, "Oh yeah, he did that thing years ago."

Imagine this: The media world expanded with the introduction of cable, a hole that had to be filled with content and making more stars than during the studio system / three TV channels days.

Now we have had the internet since about 1995, and bloggers and YouTubers and Instagrammers, and 300 channels of content.

There will come a time, a few decades from now, when we'll have a dozen celebs dying or dropping off the twig every day. How will we react then?

It's an old observation that our grandparents went from horse-drawn carriages to moon launches in their lifetimes. We get to see the dying off of studio-system stars (Mickey Rooney, Olivia de Havilland) to YouTubers (McSkillit!) in ours.

This is ... progress?

Ha! Ha! Saved my post again. F@#$$%@ you Google!; 3/9/19, 5:50 PM
Scott said...: Who could replace Alex? That's easy. Steve Harvey.

Just kidding. The replacement has to be a Black woman.; 3/9/19, 5:50 PM
Be said...: Whom to ask for.

I remember vaguely the original Jeopardy host. Something Alex Trebek did was modernize, then conserve. As a person who loved watching both modern versions of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, both among generations here *and* overseas (both shows used to be major in Western Europe, though with different hosts and geared towards the native language), I'd hate to see the BRAND NAME leave.

Aside from that: Stage Four Pancreatic Cancer is similar to Stage Four Lung Cancer: Ugly to Deal With.

Alex Trebek is at an excellent age, and should be able to leave gracefully if he'd like to. I'd still like to see him continue hammering young jerks. This said, he has a hard road ahead of him.; 3/9/19, 5:55 PM
traditionalguy said...: I know. Alex Jones. His questions will be far out and conspiratorial ones. And if you don't get the answers right, he yells at the guests.; 3/9/19, 5:57 PM
Birkel said...: Will Ferrell, of course.; 3/9/19, 5:57 PM
Wince said...: This is pretty awful, considering.; 3/9/19, 5:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Art Fleming was great as the host, he made the show. Alex took it up from there, Tough act to follow.; 3/9/19, 5:58 PM
svlc said...: I would like to see Buzzy Cohen host Jeopardy.; 3/9/19, 6:04 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

Will Ferrell, of course.

Hahahaha. Best comment!

I'm not one prone to fanboying and I don't typically get emotional over celebrity deaths, but I have to admit to being taken aback by the news. I've watched the show, save for a few years abroad, pretty continuously for 20+ years. Absolutely love the old canuck. He mastered the art of being biting in the most subtle way. I always felt like he aspired to something greater and semi-resented his quizmaster station in life. But then again, he worked once a week (they shoot all five shows in a day) and made $10 million a year. Not a bad gig.; 3/9/19, 6:09 PM
David Begley said...: Unfortunately, I know about pancreatic cancer. My friend, former Creighton President Fr. John Schlegel, died from it.

The survival rate is something like 3%. The surgery is not that successful. Little progress has been made. A high school classmate wife, however, had the surgery and is now fine.

John didn’t do the surgery or anything else. He went on a victory tour.; 3/9/19, 6:10 PM
Birkel said...: EDH,
I hope the people who love me, family and friends, feel free to joke about me and remember my incredible successes, victories, frailties, and faults without reservation - when my time comes. To be remembered seems quite the victory.; 3/9/19, 6:16 PM
SweatBee said...: I could watch Jeopardy without Trebek, but I don't think I could watch it with Ken Jennings. I quit following him online a while back because he comes across as kind of a jerk.; 3/9/19, 6:16 PM
MikeD said...: What Althouse & Meade said!; 3/9/19, 6:17 PM
charis said...: People always vow to fight pancreatic stage 4, but they lose. It's an awful enemy.; 3/9/19, 6:19 PM
gspencer said...: "The replacement has to be a Black woman."

It'll come down to who will sustain ratings.; 3/9/19, 6:21 PM
jimbino said...: Next host should be the bartender who almost won the $1 million prize recently.; 3/9/19, 6:22 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “I would like to see Buzzy Cohen host Jeopardy.”

Believe it or not, that was my second choice.

He’s so vivid.

I always root for the most interesting looking contestant.; 3/9/19, 6:29 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Mark Steyn could do it. It would be different—but we wouldn’t want the new host to be an imitation of Alex Trebec. Steyn would be erudite, entertaining, and also let the contestants shine.

Toy; 3/9/19, 6:29 PM
Drago said...: rcocean: "Is the Bulwark still pretending to be "Conservative" - after sending a liberal Abortion fanatic to cover CPAC?"

Oh, it's worse than that.

The fake conservative Bulwark's hack leftist "journalist" attacked the pro-lifers at CPAC (no doubt warming LLR Chuck's heart) and this hack followed it up by smearing Trump and Melania (hmmmm, smearing....where else have I seen someone doing that?) by purposely cropping a picture of Trump and Melania being very somber at a memorial to the dead in Alabama and pretending that it was really all about their marriage.

When called on it, this piece of greasy garbage lefty (who no doubt has a big fan in LLR Chuck) took it down and pretended she hadn't known that the Trump's were standing in front of a series of crosses........which she had cropped from the photo.

Unexpectedly.

"conserving conservatism"....by supporting one radical leftist policy after another.

The lefty billionaire funded The Bulwark.

One of LLR Chuck's favorite go-to sources.......

Double "unexpectedly".; 3/9/19, 6:32 PM
Rick Lee said...: My first thought on a replacement was also Ken Jennings.; 3/9/19, 6:32 PM
Scott said...: Yes, Mark Steyn would be a trip!; 3/9/19, 6:37 PM
Drago said...: Ken Jennings?

This Ken Jennings?

“Barron Trump saw a very long necktie on a heap of expired deli meat in a dumpster. He thought it was his dad & his little heart is breaking,” wrote Mr. Jennings shortly before 2:30 p.m. Eastern time.

The tweet appears to be a reference to a report by TMZ.com that young Barron cried when he saw a photo of comedian Kathy Griffin holding what looked like the bloody, severed head of the nation’s 45th president."

I imagine all the "conserving conservatism" one Democrat victory after another "conservatives" at The Bulwark will be in heavy support of that suggestion.; 3/9/19, 6:40 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I wish I woulda started over,

Thanked Him for gettin' older,

Not made promises unsober.

Dusty pictures on the walls,

Frameless memories all,

Surely appreciation of skill trumps all.; 3/9/19, 6:41 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: I was sorry to hear of Trebek's illness. I never saw the show with the original host. We were never great fans, but for a simple half-hour of TV entertainment that doesn't totally insult your intelligence, Jeopardy is OK.

Trebek seemed to genuinely like and respect the contestants, who are allowed to maintain their dignity and not required to jump up and down, clap, and generally act like chimpanzees, like they do on many other game shows. (To be fair, Jeopardy contestants probably have two or three SD's of IQ over those poor slobs.) I never felt like I wanted to take a bath after watching it.

I hope that in the end, he has the sense to eschew the chemotherapy and futile surgeries (yes I know there are successes, but we all know the odds) and enjoy his loved ones and remaining life with dignity and an unclouded mind.

Which is all any of us can do.; 3/9/19, 6:43 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Bummer. He seems like a nice man. I hope he can beat it.; 3/9/19, 6:48 PM
MountainMan said...: Like Bill Peschel I first started watching the game on daytime TV, but during the summer break when home from school (we couldn't go home for lunch!), when Art Fleming was the host. Got hooked on the game then and have enjoyed it as an evening show with Alex. It will be hard to adjust to the show without him.

I think they should give Andy Richter a shot. He has done some game show work, has been an entertaining sidekick with Conan, and is very intelligent. I think he still holds the one-day record on Celebrity Jeopardy - $68,000, I think - when he mopped the floor with Wolf Blitzer.; 3/9/19, 6:54 PM
David Begley said...: Laura Coates

Alex (missed his last name), who calls the LA Kings hockey games.

The above two are Trebek’s choices.

Trebeck’s contract ends in 2020. He will be 80.; 3/9/19, 6:59 PM
FullMoon said...: Personality not required. Enunciation is critical.
Would like to see Alex as a contestant. Pretty easy to seem knowledgeable when you have the answers written down for you.; 3/9/19, 7:03 PM
William said...: I wish him well, but it's logically impossible to imagine your non existentence in a meaningful way. I think therefore I am not doesn't scan......,I can affirm that I'm God or a dog with varying degrees of credibility, but I cannot say that I do no not exist.......I think Anthony Weiner would make an interesting host. He has a springy presence, and he would introduce an atmosphere of danger and the unexpected into an otherwise staid show.; 3/9/19, 7:15 PM
tcrosse said...: Mark Steyn could do it.

Another damn Canadian.; 3/9/19, 7:21 PM
PackerBronco said...: Obama could do it because let's face it, game show host is where his true talent lies.; 3/9/19, 7:30 PM
tim maguire said...: It was hard to imagine Family Feud without Richard Dawson, but it’s gone on without him. Maybe not “fine without him” compared to Jeopardy, but no game show has endured like Jeopardy. OK, maybe retire it when Trebek is done. Otherwise it will become just another off-brand bit of programming nobody watches but for nostalgia.; 3/9/19, 7:38 PM
Sprezzatura said...: The show should continue w/ a new dude (or gal).

But, in addition to the change re the answer-reader, the name of the show should change so that it is more accurate:

"Nerdy."

Or: "Dork-fest-y"

Or, perhaps: "Who Got the Most Swirlies and Wedgies-y?"; 3/9/19, 7:44 PM
Ralph L said...: UNC thinks they've made a breakthrough on treatment.

If it's found in stage 1, I think survival is about 10%, but at that point it's asymptomatic.; 3/9/19, 7:44 PM
Sprezzatura said...: I vote for Ferrell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zq3KCBed5Q; 3/9/19, 7:46 PM
Ralph L said...: I've watched a fair amount of Wheel of Fortune recently. Pat Sajak is amazingly quick-witted, and Vanna just stands there like a stick.

In DC, Jeopardy was on two stations at 7 and 7:30. A friend of my brother would watch up to the 5 minutes of final ads and run over to another friend's house and astound them.; 3/9/19, 7:51 PM
Barry Dauphin said...: Keith Richards could host, since he just goes on and on.; 3/9/19, 7:51 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: Great article. Can't add anything to what's been said above; in unlikely event someone here has never seen Ken Jennings hoe answer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoPFkjF-Bdo
A great moment in TV history.; 3/9/19, 7:55 PM
eddie willers said...: I had the Milton Bradley home version. What a pain in the butt to set that board up. Clip in the Answer. Clip in the Question over that and then clip in the dollar amount on top of the others.

Whew!

So hard that I bet a frustrated kid went on to create Trivial Pursuit.; 3/9/19, 8:09 PM
frenchy said...: I don't know if it's irony or synchronicity, but it's at least interesting to note that Art Fleming died of pancreatic cancer.; 3/9/19, 8:11 PM
Francisco D said...: How about if the show is retired in honor of Alex Trebek?; 3/9/19, 8:13 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Answer: Doxxing

Question: What do leftwing fake news organizations like CNN do to teenage boys they do not like?

Answer Answer: Doxxing is a leftwing hate crime.
Lets make it offical.; 3/9/19, 8:18 PM
Karen of Texas said...: If I had a vote, Mark Steyn.

My dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2010 at age 78. He underwent the standard offered surgery, called a Whipple procedure - a barbarity if ever there was one. He never recovered and his remaining time was spent in assisted living and then back in hospital. His mind was wonderfully intact before the operation - and for a few weeks after. Then it was downhill rapidly. I wish he had opted to go home for hospice and take drugs until the end. If it happens to me, I will. He passed away at the end of May 2010.

I wish Mr. Trebek a peaceful and graceful end.; 3/9/19, 8:25 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Great show, great guy. I wish nothing but the best for Mr. Trebek.

And the SNL skits of the show with Will Ferrell and dumb Hollywood contestants was very funny.; 3/9/19, 8:29 PM
tcrosse said...: There once was a big-band boy singer who created both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

Who was Merv Griffin?; 3/9/19, 8:29 PM
Stephen Taylor said...: Wow, Art Fleming. Before I started school, I'd spend days with my grandmother, who was a school teacher before getting married. She was very bright, read constantly, including three newspapers a day, and she never missed "Jeopardy". I would watch with her, and I was astonished at how much she knew. She seemed to never miss an "answer". I think it came on at 9:30, right after "Concentration". I miss Art Fleming, and the announcer, Don Pardo. Good memories. I'll miss Alex Trebek as well. I could see Ken Jennings.; 3/9/19, 8:31 PM
eddie willers said...: There once was a big-band boy singer who created both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

Who was Merv Griffin?

I remember a puff piece/interview with him (maybe 60 Minutes) and the question that closed the interview was, "So who has made the most money on game shows?" Merv...."I guess it was me".; 3/9/19, 8:36 PM
gspencer said...: Karen of Texas. My dad went the same way. Diagnosed in December, 1974; passed in early March, 1975. At age 58. Pancreatic cancer will have its way.; 3/9/19, 8:36 PM
Anonymous said...: The replacement has to be a Black woman.

Preferably one with a penis.; 3/9/19, 8:40 PM
Be said...: Judging from the commentariat that's never even seen the show, let's let the Brand live and die with Mr. Trebek.; 3/9/19, 8:41 PM
Scott said...: Hey, here is an episode of Jeopardy! hosted by Art Fleming in 1974.

Alex Trebek is good. Art Fleming is much, much better.; 3/9/19, 8:50 PM
tcrosse said...: Give me Intersectionality for $800, Alice.; 3/9/19, 8:51 PM
RMc said...: I met Trebek in an Ann Arbor bookstore back in the 90s. He was wearing a Toronto Argonauts jacket, and we talked Canadian football. (Never mentioned 'Jeopardy!', I don't think.); 3/9/19, 8:55 PM
Karen of Texas said...: @gspencer - It was very difficult being with my dad as he went through it. At 20 years younger, for both of us, I am sure it would have been even moreso. And yes, it will.; 3/9/19, 9:28 PM
themightypuck said...: The obvious choice is Merrick Garland.; 3/9/19, 9:28 PM
stephen cooper said...: I had one of my first visits with an oncologist recently. Not for possible pancreatic cancer, but for one of those other cancers that usually kill within 3 or so years (doctor said I, as of today, had a 95 percent chance of not having the killer version of it, but he also said come back in a couple months because your chances of having the killer version are probably going up real real fast - I think he is wrong because he does not understand nutrition and the aging process all that well, but he would say, and I quote, that I am just being "hopeful")

Pancreatic cancer is a difficult diagnosis, it is like being told you had a bullet through your heart and you will probably die soon but some people - one in ten or one in twenty - get lucky and live another decade or so. At age 78, like Alex is, your best bet is to find the best doctor you can, and get the best advice you can.

And don't fear death (if you have a need to fear something, fear tfw you let God down). God is our friend, death is our little brother or little sister, who had a bad start in life, but who one day ---- who of us have not dreamed of such a day ----- some day even our poor little sibling death will realize, reflecting on oneself, that one is just another creature of God's (by God's permissive will, not God's positive will, in death's case, poor creature) who, even though bearing the name of death,wishes for an end, at last, to death, and an end to all the awful things that go along with a world where death has not been fully conquered.

Good luck Alex.; 3/9/19, 10:05 PM
Quaestor said...: Alex Trebek is good. Art Fleming is much, much better.

Trebek improved when he lost the porn star moustache.; 3/9/19, 10:06 PM
Quaestor said...: Art Fleming was also lost to pancreatic cancer.; 3/9/19, 10:08 PM
Ralph L said...: take drugs until the end. If it happens to me, I will.

Mom said after exploratory surgery diagnosed it, her father just waited to die, and did 2 months later. Twenty years later, she went through 8 miserable months of chemo and radiation, partly because my father wanted her to. High dose chemo killed her before the cancer did.

They've identified a gene marker for those with family histories of panc. and melanoma that's 16% accurate. Having had the latter, it's no good for me.; 3/9/19, 10:08 PM
mccullough said...: Megyn Kelly would be a good host of Jeopardy.; 3/9/19, 10:30 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Barry Dauphin said...
Keith Richards could host, since he just goes on and on.

3/9/19, 7:51 PM

"I'll take 'Heroin' for $300, Keith."; 3/9/19, 10:40 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: There is a very odd George MacDonald YA book called At the Back of the North Wind. It was published around the turn of the 20th century, so it is in the public domain. The North Wind is both death and a beautiful lady. The hero, a very poor young boy, gets a fever. In the midst of the fever, he meets the North Wind. She is both welcoming and wonderful, not scary at all. The boy recovers but he has become other worldly, his experience in the back of the North Wind makes him a very gentle, healing soul. He keeps trying to find his way to the back of the North Wind.
The book is surreal. The figures in stained glass windows have conversations. Cherbim look down at the world through holes in the sky. At one point the boy's mother finds a ragged book on a beach, and the wind keeps blowing the pages to reveal the same nonsense poem. He falls into a revery as she reads it to him: (I'm only quoting a bit of it):
I know a river whose waters run asleep run run ever singing in the shallows dumb in the hollows sleeping so deep and all the swallows that dip their feathers in the hollows or in the shallows are the merriest swallows of all for the nests they bake with the clay they cake with the water they shake from their wings that rake the water out of the shallows or the hollows will hold together in any weather and so the swallows are the merriest fellows and have the merriest children and are built so narrow like the head of an arrow to cut the air and go just where the nicest water is flowing and the nicest dust is blowing for each so narrow like head of an arrow is only a barrow to carry the mud he makes from the nicest water flowing and the nicest dust that is blowing to build his nest for her he loves best with the nicest cakes which the sunshine bakes all for their merry children all so callow with beaks that follow gaping and hollow wider and wider after their father or after their mother the food-provider who brings them a spider or a worm the poor hider down in the earth so there's no dearth for their beaks as yellow as the buttercups growing beside the flowing of the singing river always and ever growing and blowing
The boy finds the back of the North Wind at the end of the book, meaning he dies, but it is a good thing.
I need to read it again.; 3/9/19, 10:42 PM
stephen cooper said...: Lewis, that was a wonderful comment.

By coincidence, after my earlier comment, but before reading your comment, I discussed, tonight, George MacDonald on Bruce Charlton's blog (where I comment under the name Stephen Cooper).

Not sure if he will approve my comment or not.

Lilith and Phantastes are two of my favorite books, not odd at all, just intensely real.
Never read Back of the North Wind, I will have to give it a try.; 3/9/19, 10:59 PM
readering said...: These day, got to be a Harvard grad, right? So Conan O'Brien or Colin Jost.

Or maybe Yale. Allison Williams.; 3/9/19, 11:31 PM
madAsHell said...: I went to high school, and played football with Richard Karn. His CV includes "Tool Time", and "Family Feud". Great guy!; 3/10/19, 12:03 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Growing up, I had the seen the original "Jeopardy!" with Art Fleming in the 1970s, but the revival with Trebek is a kind of touchstone for me because it was revived in 1984 and some of my new friends and I started watching it regularly the very first week I was in college in September of 1984- indeed, we watched the very first new episode that first Monday afternoon, and it became a regular thing my entire freshman year.

I wish Trebek well, though I haven't watched an episode in quite a few years now.; 3/10/19, 1:31 AM
Admin said...: Fantastic job done. I just loved your work here. Lovely. I visited your blog for the first time.
Very big list.
Not completed reading all but done with few. Really mind blowing qoutes.
ariana grande age; 3/10/19, 1:57 AM
rehajm said...: Key is the diction and the tonal quality if the voice. Quick but with the space between the words. Assured but not authoritative. Warm notes not bracing. No gravel. They can find that, maybe

I’m not sure why Ken Jennings would be good. People know he was a good contestant I guess. You’re looking for someone to play on the other side of the ball.

I don’t accept Drew Carey on TPIR.

I’ll stick with Countdown for a while post Trebeck. Nick, Rachel and Susie. Rachel is the one you’re supposed to lust but Susie is the one you do.; 3/10/19, 4:21 AM
rehajm said...: I miss Dick Clark on Pyramid. He was a great ‘replacement’. Who was it before him?

Alec Baldwin would be a great game show host if not for more baggage than Rose boarding Titanic. Prolly not Jeopardy! though.; 3/10/19, 4:30 AM
rehajm said...: Jeopardy?; 3/10/19, 4:30 AM
stlcdr said...: Even in the UK many years ago, we at least understood the premise of jeopardy!

He was also on a rather fun episode of The X-Files.; 3/10/19, 4:37 AM
stlcdr said...: Maybe Jeopardy! Should end, also.

“Who was the last host of ‘Jeopardy!’?”; 3/10/19, 4:39 AM
gadfly said...: So Alex will soon join Weird Al, who "lost on Jeopardy, baby." Trebek will likely not turn 79 on July 22 since Pancreatic cancer spreads so quickly and stage 4 is the final stage. The now inoperable cancer has metastasized and is in his lungs and liver. If our Jeopardy host is attempting humor with the three year contract joke - I, for one, am not laughing.; 3/10/19, 6:27 AM
Breezy said...: CNN aired an episode of Objectified last evening, with Mark Levin interviewing Alex Trebek. It was recorded a couple years ago. Alex Trebek is delightful, down to earth, and quite the handy man it turns out.; 3/10/19, 6:40 AM
Breezy said...: Chuck Woollery was supposed to be the Jeopardy host, but became unavailable due to a suicide attempt. So they called Alex.
Also learned that Alex Trebek did not want to be the star of the show as on Wheel of Fortune - the stars are the contestants and the questions. He knows where he fits in.
I wish him the best of luck.; 3/10/19, 6:46 AM
iowan2 said...: While I do love the show, and have nothing but awe and respect for Trebek, and Flemming Jeopardy! is the star, and does not suffer human maladies.
Trebek 'played' it straight up. I believe the next host will do fine, if he remembers he is not the star, the star is the game and contestants. (The answer writers aren't getting much credit here).; 3/10/19, 7:32 AM
Anthony said...: I was going to suggest Kelly Miyahara because she’s a friend of mine but maybe she’s too bubbly and attractive.; 3/10/19, 7:39 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Hey, here is an episode of Jeopardy! hosted by Art Fleming in 1974. Alex Trebek is good. Art Fleming is much, much better."

Thanks for that! I note:

1. The players sit down. I don't like that.

2. They get to buzz in before the question has been fully read!

3. The board is an old-time board, like the scoreboard at Wrigley Field. There must be some people in there moving cards around.

4. Art Fleming used the kind of super-clear enunciation and lilting intonation that is what I like so much about Alex Trebek. It makes the show feel fun but serious.

5. The modest demeanor of the contestants (as they show off their smartness) is just about exactly the same as it is today.; 3/10/19, 8:11 AM
Ralph L said...: They get to buzz in before the question has been fully read!
College Bowl allowed that. I knew several guys from our national champ team. They would sometimes ring in after half a sentence, usually correctly.; 3/10/19, 8:35 AM
Ralph L said...: modest demeanor of the contestants

Except for Buzzy and the paralegal from DC who talked over Alex.; 3/10/19, 8:37 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Blogger Bob Boyd said...
"The next host will won't be a white male.
What woman would make a good Jeopardy host?"

Condi Rice?; 3/10/19, 8:47 AM
tcrosse said...: What woman would make a good Jeopardy host?

Fiona Bruce; 3/10/19, 9:34 AM
Drago said...: I hear R Kelly might be available soon.; 3/10/19, 10:53 AM
Bilwick said...: "Trebek improved when he lost the porncstar mustache." I've seen some other, older quiz shows he hosted on BuzzR, the old quiz show network, and back then Trebek had the total Seventies pornstar look--not just the mustache but the hairdo, too.; 3/10/19, 2:23 PM
RobinGoodfellow said...: “It’s impossible to even imagine the show with anyone else.“

I remember when it was impossible to imagine the show with anyone else but Art Fleming—but we survived the transition.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Alex on Jeopardy, and I’m sad to hear of his health problems.; 3/11/19, 3:57 PM
RobinGoodfellow said...: Blogger As my whimsy leads me.. said...
Mark Steyn could do it. It would be different—but we wouldn’t want the new host to be an imitation of Alex Trebec. Steyn would be erudite, entertaining, and also let the contestants shine.

I’d watch that!; 3/11/19, 4:01 PM