For Alex
Like most game show fans growing up in the 80s, I got to know the name Alex Trebek very well. He hosted many shows before I was born, so I’m not one of those super fans who have seen everything, but I do feel like I got to experience the most important ones: Jeopardy! and Classic Concentration.
Alex always hosted with a sense of decorum, poise and dignity. Too many game show hosts from the 2000s and 2010s felt the need to be over the top and act out a part, and that’s why very few of those shows lasted. Alex Trebek began hosting Jeopardy! in 1984 and from the very start, he did not walk out on stage to act out a part. He was there to help contestants play a trivia game and maybe get to know them a little bit before the end of the show. He was truly a game show host and not a circus act.
Alex is more prolific a host than Chuck Woolery and is perhaps more genuinely loved than even Regis Philbin and Pat Sajak. Contestants would sometimes offer him messages of love and support, and Alex was the kind of man who was always genuinely moved by them. Just three days ago, a new Jeopardy! champion was himself moved to tears for being able to appear as a contestant on the show, and he thanked Alex for teaching him English.
I’d always hoped I would be able to compete on his version of Jeopardy!, but sadly, I’ve waited far too long. I didn’t think I was quite up to the same caliber as successful recent contestants like MacKenzie Jones, Jennifer Quail, Jackie Fuchs, Austin Rogers and Cindy Stowell. Maybe I should’ve tried anyway. I mean, you never know, right?
The next several weeks of Jeopardy! episodes have already been taped, so new episodes with Alex will continue to air until the last Friday in December. It’s far too early for a new host to be named, but no matter if they find someone who is willing to fill the role with the same dignity that Alex showed, or if they’re just going to choose a celebrity to make the game a bit more “fun”, Jeopardy! will not be the same without the host that most of us grew up with.
Thank you for a lifetime of entertainment. We’ll miss you, Alex.
About The Author
Joseph
Panthera Editus | In the great frozen land in the north known as Canada, a little to the east of that other frozen land in the north known as Alaska, resides the gaming enthusiast whom most people know as Joseph. When he’s not gaming or writing about gaming, he likes to enjoy life’s little ironies. Twitter
