"The show’s soothing rhythm is so sacred that when I adopted an unorthodox strategy of frenetic hops about the board rather than a stately march down the selected category..."

"... during my 11-game stint, I went viral as a 'Jeopardy! villain.'... Now, I’m struggling to keep watching. 'Jeopardy!' is changing, and the show threatens to destroy its own appeal by abandoning the unvarying formula we’ve come to depend on and sidelining the people who most make it succeed. It all started with the loss of Trebek. At my tapings, Trebek told us that if he were ever to retire, his one piece of advice to his successor would be, 'Stay out of the way, and let the contestants be the stars.'... When Trebek died... most fans expected for a replacement already to have been named and, after a bit of welcoming fanfare, for the show to return to normal as soon as possible. Instead, 'Jeopardy!' trampled over Trebek’s directive. The hunt for the new host became a public circus of 'on-the-job tryouts' featuring a glamorous roster of A-listers, and the star of the show became the week’s celebrity guest host. Each episode, their followers tuned in to root for them, not the actual contestants."

Writes Arthur Chu in "I was a ‘Jeopardy!’ villain. Now the show faces a bigger threat" (WaPo).

"This guy might be the perfect pick because he’s already got everyone responding ‘Who is Mike Richards?'"

A tweet quoted in "Who is Mike Richards? Meet Alex Trebek’s reported ‘Jeopardy!’ host successor" (NY Post). 

Richards has been the executive producer of the show for the last year, and he has lots of experience with game shows and, specifically, with Trebek. When he subbed as host, he displayed a "command of the fast-paced game and easy on-air manner." The choice seems to be to have someone who blends into the show. 

Some people wanted Ken Jennings and some wanted LeVar Burton. There are, unfortunately, some people crying racism over the failure to pick Burton. The NY Post quotes this tweet: "YALL COULD HAVE A WHOLE ICONIC LEVAR BURTON BUT YOU PICKING CHAD MCWHITERSON FOR… WHAT???"

I think a problem with Jennings is that he's indulged in some partisan politics on Twitter and displayed contempt for people. I can see how that goes with his persona as a smart guy but it can't be good for a big TV quiz show where I think the idea is to radiate generic love for everyone who watches.

Goodbye to Alex Trebek.

Jeopardy! is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends. Thank you, Alex. pic.twitter.com/Yk2a90CHIM

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 8, 2020

"Yesterday morning my wife came to me and said, ‘How are you feeling?’ And I said, ‘I feel like I want to die.’ It was that bad."

"There comes a time where you have to make a decision as to whether you want to continue with such a low quality of life, or whether you want to just ease yourself into the next level. It doesn’t bother me in the least."

Said Alex Trebek, quoted in "Alex Trebek Is Still in the Game/In his new memoir, the longtime “Jeopardy!” host delivers clues and facts about himself, and looks back on his life as he struggles with advanced pancreatic cancer" (NYT).

Also:

“There’s a certain comfort that comes from knowing a fact,” Trebek said. “The sun is up in the sky. There’s nothing you can say that’s going to change that. You can’t say, ‘The sun’s not up there, there’s no sky.’ There is reality, and there’s nothing wrong with accepting reality. It’s when you try to distort reality, to maneuver it into accommodating your particular point of view, your particular bigotry, your particular whatever — that’s when you run into problems.”

And:

One morning last year, early in the course of his treatment [for pancreatic cancer], Trebek felt so sick that he lay down on the floor of his dressing room, sobbing from the pain. Producers suggested canceling the rest of the day’s tapings, but Trebek insisted on hosting all five episodes. When he walked onto the stage and greeted the audience, he felt focused, like himself....

“Once I introduce him on that stage, he is Alex Trebek,” said the longtime “Jeopardy!” announcer Johnny Gilbert. “You can tell that that’s what he’s living for.”

Here's the memoir: "The Answer Is …: Reflections on My Life" (out next week).

"'Protect Alex Trebek at all costs': Live audiences banished from 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel of Fortune' tapings amid coronavirus fears."

WaPo reports.

The cautious approach may protect audience members as well as the hosts and announcers, some of whom belong to high-risk populations that have been issued special precautions by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Jeopardy!” announcer Gilbert and “Wheel of Fortune” hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White are all older than 60, which the CDC says puts them at “higher risk of getting very sick from covid-19.”

Trebek, the 79-year-old host of “Jeopardy!,” is doubly vulnerable because of his age and his recent cancer treatments. Since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, he has been undergoing chemotherapy, which can compromise the immune system.

Fans’ love for the “Jeopardy!” staples was obvious Monday, when many reacted to the news by cheering the producers’ decision to limit exposure to the public on the show’s set. “Protect Alex Trebek at all costs” became a common refrain on social media....

"His name — quickly forgotten, obviously — Michael Avenatti."

This clip keeps getting better and better every time I watch it.

On Jeopardy tonight, ALL THREE contestants didn't know who @MichaelAvenatti was.

Alex Trebek remarks: "His name quickly forgotten obviously." pic.twitter.com/bCvQkTouVA

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) November 15, 2019

Who is Alex Trebek?

#Jeopardy taped their Tournament of Champions this week.

SPOILER ALERT:
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Alex Trebek is an unstoppable machine of game show hosting. Not this time, cancer.

— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) September 19, 2019

"Jeopardy!" spoiler alert.

"James Holzhauer’s ‘Jeopardy!’ Streak Ends Just Shy of a Record/The show’s most dominant player in years came just $58,484 short of the $2.52 million Ken Jennings won during his famous run," the NYT reports.

The surprising end caused even the famously dispassionate host to practically lose his composure.

“What a game!” Alex Trebek exclaimed after [Emma] Boettcher’s final score popped up. “Oh my gosh!”

Holzhauer walked over to give Boettcher a high-five.

“Nobody likes to lose,” Holzhauer said in an interview. “But I’m very proud of how I did, and I really exceeded my own expectations for the show. So I don’t feel bad about it.”

I like the way Boettcher used a James-style approach to the old game, and I hope she goes forward and breaks some new records. I like to see an amazing champ, and she beat the most amazing champ, so let's see her carry on the tradition.

Parallel great runs on "Jeopardy!"

1. James:

Same name, different James. Congratulations on 30 wins! pic.twitter.com/5h33A8datj

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) May 30, 2019

2. Alex: "Alex Trebek Reveals Some of His Tumors Have Shrunk by 50 Percent: ‘It’s Kind of Mind-Boggling’" (People):

Although the cancer has a 9 percent survival rate, Trebek has been responding very well to chemotherapy. “The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory.... I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers... I told the doctors, this has to be more than just the chemo, and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this... I’ve got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayer, and I will never ever minimize the value of that.”

"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.

Alex Trebek said the wrong thing — the Trumpish thing — about #MeToo.

Alex Trebek's unprompted swerve to his trash #MeToo opinion here is...bizarre @vulture pic.twitter.com/x53zSfJn97

— Claire Cifelli (@clairekcifelli) November 12, 2018

I found that via WaPo, "‘A scary time for men’: Alex Trebek talks #MeToo, politics and the kind of ‘Jeopardy!’ player that bothers him."

“You know, when the #MeToo movement started, I had discussions with the staff during production meetings,” he said. “I said, ‘My gosh, this has got to be a scary time for men.... I’m fortunate that I’ve never been in a position of power where I might be able to lord it over somebody sexually. I said, ‘But there are guys out there — young guys are stupid in their teens.’ There’s nothing stupider than a teenage boy. They’re operating on testosterone.”

When [the Vulture interviewer David] Marchese responded that youth isn’t always an “acceptable excuse” and that “young men are not the only ones who are a problem,” Trebek launched into an explanation of a scene from the 1994 film “Disclosure,” starring Demi Moore and Michael Douglas.

“This conversation has taken a turn,” Marchese said.

“You took a turn,” Trebek shot back.

On social media, Trebek was almost instantly excoriated for echoing an opinion voiced by Trump as well as his son, Donald Trump Jr., and other conservatives. (Trebek, who says he is an independent, was critical of Trump during the 2016 election.)

 Here's the Vulture interview.

The message from social media is: We'll come after you if you give priority to concern for the accused. And maybe even also: We'll come after you if you voice an opinion voiced by Trump.

Why not bring in "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek to moderate your gubernatorial debate?

That's the right question, but you don't ask the question first in "Jeopardy!"

I'm reading "Alex Trebek moderated a gubernatorial debate in Pennsylvania. It didn’t go well" (WaPo).

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) and his Republican challenger, Scott Wagner, sat on stage, their faces frozen and their hands clasped. And Alex Trebek, the “Jeopardy!” host and the moderator of Monday night’s debate, let loose, joking that the only thing with a lower approval rating that the Pennsylvania legislature was the Catholic Church.

Polite laughter from the audience quickly turned to boos. Trebek, dressed in a purple flowered tie with a matching pocket square, looked out at the crowd watching the two candidates face off at an upscale hotel in Hershey, Pa. “Don’t go there,” the white-haired television host said, wagging a finger. “I was born and raised in the Catholic Church and I’m just as ticked off as everybody else is over what has happened with the church.”

He went on, unfazed by the ticking clock and the fact that the debate was nearly halfway over. “When I was a young teenager I attended a Catholic boarding school run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Two-hundred and fifty students, other boys and I, spent three years sharing the same accommodations 24/7 with 44 priests and not once in those three years was there any sexual misbehavior. Now boys are pretty sharp, we talk, we would have known. So I believe that there are Catholic priests out there who are able to minister to their congregations without preying — that’s P-R-E-Y — on the young people.”

The comments on WNEP-TV’s live feed were merciless. “Where is this going?” said one. “When do we get to hear from the candidates?” added another. A third viewer put it succinctly: “Alex, shut up.”...

Trebek’s celebrity may have attracted some viewers who wouldn’t ordinarily spend their Monday night watching a political forum. But....

What do you mean, "but"?! We made a celebrity President of the United States and that leap of faith worked out pretty well.

Jill Greene, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, told the Reading Eagle that Trebek’s conversational tone was “problematic” and criticized his frequent interjections and asides.

I haven't watched the debate, but I'm leaning toward Trebek now. "Conversational tone was 'problematic'" — ugh. "Frequent interjections and asides." He brought style and spontaneity and a showbiz-based sensibility of moving things along and keeping people interested. I'm guessing.

It reminds me of Trump's defense of his own style, which I've heard enough times to be able to paraphrase: They say I should sound presidential, and believe me, that would be so easy, but you would be so bored.

Okay, here, I found an example:

Man in shorts... Alex Trebek...

For all 10 of the April Fool's jokes in yesterday's "Jeopardy!," go here. #8 amused me the most:

Whither "the man in the street" and "John Q. Public"?

The other day, talking to Meade, I made the stray observation: "Nobody says 'the man in the street' anymore."

It was a common colloquialism in news reports years ago. It's hard to take note of when something stops getting said. Decades could pass before you notice that something has disappeared from the language. Maybe the death of "the man in the street" began in the 1970s, with the success of the women's movement, as it became less and less possible for mainstream folks to convince themselves that "man" includes woman. Perhaps there was a transitional period in which reporters — perhaps literally in the street with their microphones seeking random comments from passersby — said "the man — or woman — in the street," before that got old and sounded corny and then nobody ever said it again.

Yesterday, Meade and I were watching "Jeopardy!" It's "College Championship" time and all the players are college students. The board full of answers in need of questions is stocked with things that younger people know — pop singers, movie superheroes, school-level math, history, and science and so forth. The kids buzz in and get many questions right. But yesterday, they had an answer that drew absolutely vacant stares and even puzzlement when Alex Trebek revealed the question. The answer was: The middle initial of John Public. The question: What is Q? I laughed a lot, because I could see that from the kids' perspective, that was just some weird nonsense.

Nobody says "John Q. Public" anymore. Like "man in the street," the term embodies the general  public in a single person. This time, that person has a name, John Q. Public. I'm going to assume, it's gone away because we won't accept the idea that the public can be personified as a male, and that also means the whole idea of the general public as one person just doesn't work anymore. If there was ever a period when people adapted to changing times by saying, cutesily,  "John Q. — and Jane Q. — Public," I missed it.

Now, it just seems goofy, I suppose, to people who don't remember the common usage, to hear that John Public has a middle initial and it's Q. What's the Q for? From the OED:

1937   N. & Q. 6 Mar. 177/2   ‘John Citizen’..is not so frequent in American usage as ‘John Q. Public’... It is probably a play on the name of an early president, John Q(uincy) Adams.

I think it's more like Jesus H. Christ. An initial just seems funny. And if you want funny, there's no funnier letter than Q.

As for Jesus H. Christ, well, what's that about? Hilariously, there's a Wikipedia entry for Jesus H. Christ — which, you may realize, is "a vulgarism" that "is not used in the context of Christian worship." Mark Twain referred to it in his autobiography as typical of "the common swearers of the region," so the usage goes way back. Some people attribute it to "the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus (Ἰησοῦς)... transliterated iota-eta-sigma, which can look like IHS." There's also an idea that the H is for Harold — from mishearing "hallowed be thy name" the Lord's Prayer as Harold be thy name.

IN THE COMMENTS: Paddy O said "Monty Python had man in the street segments":

The lawprof on "Jeopardy."

Going back to that Saturday post reminds me to link to the rest of the "Jeopardy" series by my colleague Shubha Ghosh. Part II:

At various points during the green room briefing, each of the contestants was called into a side room for make-up.  Our make-up artist also does Vanna White and had just come back from a shoot in the Philippines with the hostess and famous right of publicity plaintiff.  Between applications of powder and eyeliner, I learned that make-up artists in Los Angeles are all free lance and look around on a day by day basis for gigs like the one in Jeopardy.  I wish I had more time to talk with the make-up artist, and not only about how better to highlight my features....

Ha ha. (Shubha is a guy.)

... I have to admit my heart skipped several beats as the door was opened and a short walk down the hallway revealed the Board and the glaring neon blue and silver of the contemporary Jeopardy stage.  Recent repeated viewings of the broadcast had imprinted  the design, totem-like, on my brain.  The set had a familiarity beyond the television viewings....

Part III:

... We saw how the Board was set and  reset, where the videoclues were displayed, how the sidelights came on and off indicating when we could buzz in... We practiced a game with easy questions, some involving Sony products, to get used to the feel of the buzzer, the flash of lights, the cadence of the questions as they filled the sound stage. I fumbled with the buzzer, kicked myself for not getting “what is a walkman?,” and ever so briefly worried whether I had on too much make-up....

Part 4:

... At one point, the judges stopped the game for an interminable period of time to see if my answer “prehistorical” was close enough to what they wanted “prehistory.”  What the…?...

At the end of it all, a dollar separated me from a tie with first place....

As they tape the end credits, the contestants stand on the stage next to Alex Trebek and engage in banter.  Alex asked me what kind of law I was involved with, and I said intellectual property. “That must be really interesting with the Internet and all, “ he said.  “Yes, the Internet and other things,” I replied, launching into a law professor shtick on the reasons intellectual property is interesting. He interrupted me: “Well, I think all you need to protect intellectual property is a good gun.”  I stared back at him: “Yes, well, that seems to be how the rap industry operates.”  Blank stare back.....

Wow, awkward banter with Alex Trebek! How many people get to do that?

Stop that cameo.

Matt Drudge managed to get John McCain to talk about him on the Leno show by calling the movie he did a cameo in a "boob raunch fest." McCain even went to the trouble to have a dorky joke written to defend against the boob barb. ("In Washington, I work with boobs every day.") Now, I suppose, McCain looks cool.

Just last week, Entertainment Weekly slammed nonactor celebrities -- including Leno -- for doing all those vanity cameos:

In Bewitched, James Lipton makes a cameo appearance as an oily interviewer of movie stars with his own infotainment television show -- which is to say, as himself, fawning host of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio. Only in this case, instead of coaxing deep thoughts about craft from real thespians, he urges a fictional, shallow movie star, played by Will Ferrell, to relive past flops.

This must stop. Lipton's show is its own mesmerizing bonfire of the vanities, but the gimmick of casting pop-cultural celebs as themselves in fictional situations has become the lazy filmmaker's shortcut to meta chuckles; it's also a depressing index of who's willing to shill his reputation. Regis Philbin plays Regis Philbin in Miss Congeniality 2, Jay Leno plays Jay Leno in Mr. 3000, James Carville plays James Carville in Old School, and it's the rare plot involving media coverage that doesn't include Larry King. For the love of self- respect! Quizmasters, ringmasters, and moguls (I'm talking to you, Alex Trebek, Al Sharpton, and Donald Trump), keep it real!

And now Drudge had to go and say "boob raunch fest" and make those things seem exciting again.

No drinking game yet, but ....

Why is Slate teasing us with the line "Play the Jeopardy drinking game!" when its TV writer Dana Stevens hasn't come up with the game yet? But I don't care so much because it made me click on the link to Stevens column and read his comments on the Emmy nominations, which are really clever! I never noticed Stevens before. I particularly loved this:

In an unintentionally comic juxtaposition, Larry David of Curb Your Enthusiasm finds himself up against a dead guy, John Ritter, who appeared in only 3 episodes of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter before his untimely death last fall. When I read this, I could only think what a perfect plot it would make for a future Larry David episode: the hopeless plight of competing with a beloved dead actor, and Larry's increasingly difficult-to-conceal resentment that his moment in the sun was being overshadowed by awards-show piety. I wonder if he'll have the courage and/or bad taste to take this real-life gag on as material next season.

That really is Larry David. And as for that drinking game, I'll be looking for it. I've started TiVoing Jeopardy, which, I don't mind saying, I used to watch back in the 60s when it first started and Art Fleming was the host. We used to find the announcer, Don Pardo, especially amusing, long before he became the ironic version of himself that announced Saturday Night Live. By the way, are we hoping Ken Jennings keeps winning or do we root for anyone new who starts off halfway sharp, like that guy with the Marx Brothers tie last week? The main reason for wanting Jennings to keep prevailing, in my opinion, is to keep up the pressure on Alex Trebek to let it slip that he's irritated by Jennings and his mannerisms. I'd like to see Trebek go all Howard Beale.

UPDATE: Dana Stevens is female, contrary to the impression give by my use of pronouns above. Why did I assume a "Dana" would be male? Have I watched "Radio Days" one too many times? No, there was just a picture of what looked like a guy to me at the top of the page that seemed to illustrate the activity of "Handicapping the Emmys," which was the title of the piece "by Dana Stevens." Didn't the email address "surfergirl" in the body of the article make me think otherwise? No! I was perfectly ready to believe a guy would adopt the nickname surfergirl. A Beach Boys fan, presumably.