For the 30 years Jeopardy was on evening television, it became more than a game show in the minds of many people.
Jeopardy was a way of life. Whatever else people were doing, or had to do, life stopped for a half hour so we could test our knowledge of all things trivial. I say with confidence that was due to Alex Trebek. He elevated the show, and himself as well, into being a part of the national zeitgeist.
Trebek, who died over the weekend after fighting pancreatic cancer for more than a year, made Jeopardy into the must-see-TV of game shows. In fact, I’m such a snob about game shows I didn’t even consider Jeopardy one.
All that was due to Alex. An experienced broadcaster since the 1960s, first in Canada and then down in the Lower 48, Trebek oozed culture and refinement, and those two attributes made the well-gussied-up quiz show much greater than the sum of its parts.
We always wanted to test our knowledge by watching the show and barking out the answers before the contestants could. But we also all wanted to see what Alex would do, over the course of the half-hour, to give away the high-brow in him. He’d either properly enunciate a foreign word or name. Or he’d almost cluck his tongue in genuine superiority if a contestant missed a question he thought he/she would get. And Lord help you if you mangled a “question,” or forgot to add a “the” if the question called for it.
In those moments, he would feign (well, maybe I’m being a little harsh here) genuine sorrow while he took money off the board.
I loved arguing with him, even if he was in Television City, Hollywood, and I was a mere spectator watching in Lynn.
“Aw, c’mon, Alex,” I’d say. Once, when I couldn’t take anymore of his sanctimonious nit-picking, I threw an unfriendly hand gesture in his general direction.
That last bit of low-brow behavior left my wife in hysterics, so every time he did it subsequently, I gave him the salute. I wonder if he ever knew just how much of a spot in our lives we gave him every night. Most people eat supper at the table. Not us. We eat dinner at tray tables in our den, and that’s all because of Alex.
No one was better than Alex Trebek when it came to mingling with the contestants. Those who managed to stay around for a few days got pretty chummy with Alex. There was Ken Jennings, the all-time record holder for consecutive wins — and who is now the executive producer of the show. This has fueled all kinds of speculation that it may be Jennings who steps in for Alex. Remember James Holzhauer? He was a professional gambler who cleaned up on the show. Alex loved every bit of it. I rooted for him to lose. Every. Single. Night.
How about Austin Rogers, the bartender who did quite well, and perhaps inspired all contestants who came after him to have a signature gesture (not like mine) at the mention of their names in the introduction. I remember the fun he had with Jackie Fuchs, a/k/a Malibu Barbie, who just casually happened to mention she was the former bass player for The Runaways, where she went by Jackie Fox.
These were all people whose quirkiness was encouraged, and brought out, by Alex Trebek. Will Ferrell loved to portray a long-suffering Alex being tormented by Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery whenever Saturday Night Live wanted to stick their omnipresent harpoon into his backside. Alex loved it, because, he said, it gave him an opportunity to laugh at himself — though he did offer in an interview with ABC News that if he ever finally got to meet Connery, he’d hit him.
And it didn’t matter how old you were, either. It’s easy to say — as I often do — that your average game-show viewer was about on par, intellectually, with Neanderthals. And I know, that is an insult … to Neanderthals.
But Jeopardy was different. I know plenty of young people who stopped and watched in much the same manner the British drop what they’re doing and have a cup of tea.
Alex Trebek dead. It’s hard to imagine. It happens to us all (or so I’m told) and what you leave behind in terms of a legacy is so important.
Trebek leaves a good one. He kept us entertained, he taught us a few things, he was generous with his money, and he always had a healthy sense of humor.
Answer: I don’t know. Question: Who could possibly ever take his place?
He is irreplaceable
