RIP Alex Trebek, Jeopardy Host

[Astronuc]

RIP Alex Trebek,

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/entertainment/alex-trebek-jeopardy-host-death-trnd/index.html

Alex Trebek, the genial "Jeopardy!" host with all the answers and a reassuring presence in the TV game-show landscape for five decades, has died. He was 80 years old. The cause of death was not immediately announced, but Trebek had revealed in March 2019 he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

 

[berkeman]

RIP, Alex. My wife and I watch Jeopardy every night -- a great way to stay sharp, although the specialist categories are frustrating (my wife and I each have different specialist categories). What a bright and congenial person.

 

[Evo]

I knew it was coming, but it's still so sad. NO ONE can take his shoes. Another legend has passed.

R.I.P. Alex.

 

[berkeman]

NO ONE can take his shoes.

Agreed. What a hard job to try to figure out how to follow Alex in that role. Probably it will have to be tag-team, eh? Some KenJ, and some of other past champions? I wonder what Alex requested -- he probably did have an opinion on how to follow him and continue the success that he built.

 

[JT Smith]

I'm really sorry that Alex couldn't beat the poor odds of his diagnosis and survive longer. He was a unique human being and will really be missed.

But he can certainly be replaced. We're really used to him and his sense of humor and it will feel funny with a different person. But it's just a game show. There are other Jeopardy shows around the world each with a different host.

 

[BillTre]

There was a different Jeoprady host when I was a kid.

 

[TeethWhitener]

Me and Alex, c. 2012

I’m not great at anecdotes, and besides, other people who have been on the show have much more interesting ones than I do. But I will just mention two things that struck me about Alex Trebek. First, even before I was on the show, he made it seem cool to be smart when being smart didn’t seem very cool. That helped me out a lot growing up. Second, I’ve never ever met anyone who was as good at their job as Alex was at his. People will say, “Well, he had all the answers; all he had to do was read the clues,” but it’s so much more than that. For nearly 40 years, you could turn the TV on and know exactly what to expect. Alex was always familiar, never grumpy or in an odd mood. Aim a camera at anyone else every night for 4 decades and see if you can get that consistency. And that continued off-camera. He was an utterly charming presence who could engage the contestants, the crew, the studio audience, and the television audience at different levels and at the same time. He will be missed.

 

[Astronuc]

There was a different Jeopardy host when I was a kid.

Arthur Fleming Fazzin (Art Fleming) was the original host of Jeopardy, debuting March 30, 1964, and aired until January 3, 1975. A weekly nighttime syndicated edition aired from September 1974 to September 1975, and a revival, The All-New Jeopardy!, ran on NBC from October 1978 to March 1979. The version airing as of 2020, a daily syndicated show produced by Sony Pictures Television, premiered on September 10, 1984. (Ref: Wikipedia)

Alex Trebek was the host of the syndicated game show Jeopardy! for 36 years from its revival in 1984 until his death.

I watched it back in the day with Fleming.

 

[Astronuc]

Alex Trebek's final day in the Jeopardy! studio was Oct. 29, just 10 days before his death.

What dedication. It seems he loved what he did.

 

[jtbell]

My wife and I watch Jeopardy every night

So do we, for about 33 or 34 years now. Before we got married, we watched it on her small portable TV while eating dinner in her apartment.