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Posts moved from the Alex Trebek obit.
- Thread starter oldradiotapes
- Start date
Any thought of just letting the show end, with the lasting memory being of the host who made it iconic? Sitcoms and drama series often go out on top when key cast members are no longer interested in continuing them; why not a quiz show? Or is that unthinkable because of the money that would be left on the table and the fact that the production company doesn't have another concept in the pipeline to take its place? Would the show lose viewers if it were to continue with a much younger host? A female host? A funny host? A black host? A host from the sports broadcasting world?
Game shows are not the same as comedies or dramas. There is no reason why a game show cannot continue after a popular host gets a different show/dies/retires -- IF a host with the proper "chops" (for lack of a better term) takes over.
The Price Is Right continues to this day, not only after the retirement of Bob Barker in favor of Drew Carey, but after Bill Cullen left decades ago. Let's Make a Deal survived Monte Hall. Password survived Allen Ludden. Concentration survived Hugh Downs. The only major shows I can think of that didn't survive the departure of their hosts were Hollywood Squares (sorry, but Jon Bauman was Bowzer of Sha Na Na, not the Second Coming of Peter Marshall) and Match Game (Gene Rayburn was the one and only host of that show in all its incarnations).
And, as far as game show hosts that came from sports broadcasting, outside of Dennis James, Joe Garagiola, and Vin Scully, how many were there that were successful?
All your reasons are correct. A new show would compete with all the other done-and-gone show ideas that did not last. This one is a franchise, and they will do anything they can to preserve it.
They will likely look for the what radio programmers seek if a morning show moves to a bigger market: same but different. Same in the sense of having the same sort of personality and fit, but different enough so viewers would not think the person was imitating the previous host. It would help if the person were known from another area of TV, which is why I like Crainbebo's idea of a TV anchor person.
As a long-shot, I wonder whether someone as different as Megyn Kelly would work: a woman, younger, intelligent and well known.
Still a pretty divisive figure. She could never shake the association with Fox during her brief stay at NBC. Maybe Chris Wallace could pull it off, but somehow I don't sense that he'd be interested in doing a game show for any price. Obviously, none of the other Fox, CNN or MSNBC anchors would be a good fit for a game show right now. I'm not even sure about the OTA network anchors, to be honest. Jeopardy may have to start looking for the right combination of smarts, gravitas, looks and personality in a local anchor with no previous national exposure.
All good points. I do think that a woman would be right. There would be a change that is seen, first, as "woke" but then as on that does not invite direct comparisons with another man.
Who would be other female candidates? I'd love to see that happen!
Jeopardy is a high-IQ show that requires decorum, and needs a host that reflects those values. Art Fleming and Alex Trebek were able to do so for many years each.
A TV news anchor, regardless of what network or station he/she came from, will not be able to. News doesn't cater to the most intelligent of US viewers, and hasn't for decades. Alex's replacement should be someone with game show experience, but doesn't have the reputation as a buffoon.
If I were to pick one guy, I'd go with Richard Karn. He's got the experience both as the host of Family Feud and as Tim Allen's straight man on Home Improvement, and he doesn't make a fool of himself. Ken Jennings may be the greatest Jeopardy panelist of all time, but how is he on camera as a host? He's not a professional actor or broadcaster.
Besides, no self-respecting news anchor would ever want to be a "Quizzzzzzzzzzzzzzmaster" (to quote Ed Asner as Lou Grant).
The only ex-Feud host that I'd pick would be John O'Hurley, but he would be down the list by a bunch. They were comedians...not serious people, albeit O'Hurley did decently on Feud and TTTT in 2000-01.
Sorry Keith, Richard 'TRIPLE THE POINTS!' Karn would just lead to a permanent cancellation of J! by 2022. He can stick to comedy. Loved him on Home Improvement, but he wasn't great with Feud. Steve Harvey is way funnier albeit the questions are more naughty.
Another choice, from ABC, and a woman: what about Martha Raddatz? Or Katie Couric, ex-NBC/CBS?
It would (in ET/PT land) just lead to Wheel going to 7:30 everywhere and every Jeopardy! affiliate putting on 7:00pm news.
Martha MacCallum? Poppy Harlow? Rachel Maddow? No, all intelligent, well-spoken, serious, pleasing to the eye and (although Harlow has a bit of "vocal fry" that gives her a duck-like sound on occasion) the ear, but all too partisan in the current public incarnations to take over the ultimate nonpartisan institution that is Jeopardy. Joie Chen, who was with CNN back in the '90s and '00s -- doing her job professionally and personably with little evident bias -- comes to mind, but she's now nearly 60 and has the Al-Jazeera America stain on her resume.
How about Gayle King? She was a capable news anchor here in Connecticut before assuming her odd role as professional best friend to Oprah Winfrey. Not being a regular watcher of local TV news from any other markets, I really can't comment on people from bigger markets, or even the local one as I cut the cord back in 2010 and only go to local stations on the internet for important local or state stories, which are posted minus the anchor chatter.
If Jane Pauley were 15 to 20 years younger, she would be a better choice than any of these. Replacing an octogenarian with a septuagenarian, of either (oops, any) gender, wouldn't guarantee long-term stability in the position. David, since you know more about Hispanic media in this country than anyone on this board, are there any Hispanic women now doing English-language news that come to mind as a possible Trebek successor?
Interesting question.
I've never known a recent generation Hispanic person who was a follower of the show, so I came to the conclusion that it is culturally very focused on mostly white American culture. I don't enjoy the show because there are so many questions about cultural and sports subjects that I don't know. Popular English language TV shows, baseball and other American sports and cultural items seem to give an advantage to non-ethnic persons or members of minority groups that are very mainstream.
Fort that reason, I can't think of anyone who would be cross-cultural enough to handle that show unless we look at someone who is 5th or 6th generation American who is Hispanic in name and ancestry only.
Trebek had the advantage of growing up in Canada with a considerable exposure to French, which he showed with great grace when pronouncing Latin and Romance Language terms in the program. Jeopardy would have to become culturally a bit broader if it wanted to increase its ethnic appeal.
After re-reading this, I am frightened about how hard it is to talk about a real and sensitive subject today. I had to change a dozen words, rephrase several statements and I am still apprehensive that I will offend someone. I hope that what I am saying about considering the racial and cultural future of that show is taken in a positive manner.
Setting aside potential limiting factors, my first choice in a female host would be Meredith Vierra.
I think someone like a Savannah Guthrie would be a good fit and carry the show forward for a long time. Kate Snow, Erica Hill, Erin Burnett. Anderson Cooper seems a great fit, Dan Harris—heck, Lester Holt would be fantastic, but let’s be realistic.
There could be many great candidates, but you would essentially be looking at a career change.
The show should go on. It’s bigger than one person. Alex should be mourned and long remembered, but I suspect he would be the first to have advocated for it to continue.
I think someone like a Savannah Guthrie would be a good fit and carry the show forward for a long time. Kate Snow, Erica Hill, Erin Burnett. Anderson Cooper seems a great fit, Dan Harris—heck, Lester Holt would be fantastic, but let’s be realistic.
There could be many great candidates, but you would essentially be looking at a career change.
The show should go on. It’s bigger than one person. Alex should be mourned and long remembered, but I suspect he would be the first to have advocated for it to continue.
Categories concerning black American history, arts, sports, education, etc., come up frequently, and the popular music categories contain R&B and hip-hop hits and artists. The last time I watched, a Grammy category was used and one of the answers led to the question "Who was Selena?" None of the panelists was identifiably Hispanic by name, and all were stumped. Selena, the late Tejano star, comes up a lot in Jeopardy. So do Selena Gomez and Gloria Estefan. The contestants usually come up with those two because both have had numerous hits in English.
Thinking about all this got me trying to remember whether I've ever seen any categories devoted to Hispanics in the United States, and if so, what were they called? You know, I can't recall a category with Hispanic, Latino, Latinx or any other catch-all term. "African American" is used for the plentiful categories about black people here, except for the "Historically black colleges and universities" category. (That last one is guaranteed to include Howard, Grambling or Tuskegee -- and sometimes all three! They are the Selena, Gomez and Estefan of Jeopardy's black cultural awareness.)
The closest Jeopardy ever gets to Hispanic, in the small sampling of shows I've seen, is with categories about specific places: "Puerto Rico," "South of the Border," "South American history." That last one, of course, will always include Bolivar, Peron, Pinochet/Allende and Chavez -- again, sometimes two or three of them! Oh, and if you want to ace the small-money answers in "South of the Border," be prepared to ring in and shout "Who was Pancho Villa?"
One last cultural-awareness anecdote: Not too long ago, a contestant of Asian descent came in for a few days of internet ridicule for missing a baseball answer perhaps even you would get right. It was about a certain event in 1947 in Brooklyn and the correct question, of course, was "Who was Jackie Robinson." Our clueless Asian-American guessed "Who was Babe Ruth?"
You asked about Hispanics. The crossover between Black American history and other items as well as r&b music is minimal with most Hispanics.
And are very significantly unknown to Hispanics.
And most of those are known due to movies and other dramatizations plus a bit of High School world history.
I recognize the name when presented, but I don't know what era he played in or for what team or what he looked like. So I understand the fact that someone whose cultural heritage is not very mainstream would not have an answer for that.
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I wonder if the next host of Jeopardy will not be a nationally known name. A good candidate may be lurking in a top 50 market.
Big problem with that scenario: lack of time. There's only seven weeks of episodes left. We may be in for a long stretch of reruns, which we should be used to by this point in the pandemic.
Big problem with that scenario: lack of time. There's only seven weeks of episodes left. We may be in for a long stretch of reruns, which we should be used to by this point in the pandemic.
The cross-cultural challenges, even cross-generational challenges that Jeopardy has to negotiate makes me wonder about its future. I hope it can, but it's beyond my pay grade to answer that question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XYTzLw1PMQ
If one is wondering where Al Yankovic got the idea of Jeopardy song it came from Greg Kihn who later had a morning show on KUFX San Jose until he left in 2012.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?633121-Greg-Kihn-out-at-KUFX
What's wrong with Alec Baldwin? He's a great host. For that show.
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