RIP Alex Trebek

111 views
Skip to first unread message

Steve Timko

unread,
Nov 8, 2020, 12:33:22 PM11/8/20
to TV or Not TV

Joe Hass

unread,
Nov 8, 2020, 12:41:06 PM11/8/20
to TVorNotTV
I will yield to those who got to meet him (outside a teen tournament audition in 1987) but damn...one of the finest game show hosts of all time. It's hard to imagine in 1984 when we thought he had Flemming's big shoes to fill, that instead, Flemming becomes the asterisk to that run.

On Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 11:33:22 AM UTC-6 steve...@gmail.com wrote:

PGage

unread,
Nov 8, 2020, 12:54:31 PM11/8/20
to tvor...@googlegroups.com
Coming by to lay my respects. Clearly the GOAT. Agree with Joe. As a kid one if my summer rituals was to walk the few blocks to my grandpa’s house and watch Fleming’s Jeopardy with him. I knew and liked Trebek when he took over, but never in a million years thought he could fill Fleming’s shoes. At this death, probably most fans of the show think Alex was the original host.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/723862c7-84a5-488c-b7c4-47b657d5f6e1n%40googlegroups.com.
--
Sent from Gmail Mobile

Diner

unread,
Nov 8, 2020, 1:52:02 PM11/8/20
to TVorNotTV
Agreed all around.

When Alex's Jeopardy premiered in 1984, I was in college. At the time the show aired at 12:30 pm on KYW Channel 3 in Philadelphia (it moved to its powerful 7 pm slot on WPVI Channel 6 the following season). Having been a fan of Alex's since his US debut in "The Wizard of Oz," I quickly became addicted to the show. But when the other guys in my dorm saw what I was watching, they mocked it - partly because the Art Fleming version was still so strong in their memories. One guy said "Jeopardy?! With the High Rollers guy?!" In the middle of the game they would yell at the screen "Double! Roll a double!"

Now it's hard to imagine the show without him. And it's hard to imagine television without Alex Trebek as a near-constant presence. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch Alex on a "Classic Concentration" rerun on Buzzr. Boy, he was so great on that show too.

Steve Timko

unread,
Nov 8, 2020, 8:27:27 PM11/8/20
to TV or Not TV
FYi:
ABC will air “Alex Trebek Remembered – A 2020 Special” tonight at 10 p.m.    

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/6512d326-c637-41b6-8aa4-4073bd97c96en%40googlegroups.com.

Doug Eastick

unread,
Nov 8, 2020, 11:10:32 PM11/8/20
to tvor...@googlegroups.com
Checking in here from Alex's home town, Sudbury Ontario Canada.

Seeing his birth year of 1940 reminded me that he went to highschool with my mom and aunt.



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8yxe%2BWt7baUhv_5VOq965iLsbbbUciUXgXB5C_AjHEvJXw%40mail.gmail.com.

danieland...@gmail.com

unread,
Nov 9, 2020, 10:45:08 AM11/9/20
to TVorNotTV
My grandmother had watched the original show in the 60s and 70s with  Art Fleming , so i remember one night me and her watching and she said something to the effect of "this guy is no Art Fleming for sure!" She didn't realize how good Trebek was. 

Tom Wolper

unread,
Nov 9, 2020, 12:52:31 PM11/9/20
to TV or not TV
On Mon, Nov 9, 2020 at 10:45 AM danieland...@gmail.com <danieland...@gmail.com> wrote:
My grandmother had watched the original show in the 60s and 70s with  Art Fleming , so i remember one night me and her watching and she said something to the effect of "this guy is no Art Fleming for sure!" She didn't realize how good Trebek was.

I remember game shows being a big part of my school age TV watching. It seemed the laid back style of the black and white TV era hosts was ending and the new generation were more like used car salesmen. Trebek was in that group but stayed genial and low key. He kept those qualities for Jeopardy and that's a big reason that show has its status among game shows.

M-D November

unread,
Nov 9, 2020, 1:47:02 PM11/9/20
to TVorNotTV
Growing up as a game show nerd, there were a few things I wanted to do when I got to be old enough - I suppose this would have been called a bucket list if that term existed in the 80s.

I wanted to spin the big wheel on TPIR.
I wanted to get zinged by Gene Rayburn & the classic "Match Game" panel. 
I wanted to just sit down and talk to Bill Cullen (something tells me he had stories for days).
I wanted to get a spin on the PyL big board.

More than anything else, tho - and the one thing that's stuck with me into adulthood - I wanted to play "Jeopardy" for real.  I wanted to be in the room when Johnny Gilbert said "THIS! IS! JEOPARDY!".  Most of all, I wanted to meet Alex Trebek. Closest I came was an in-person tryout in Boston a few years back.

I remember liking "High Rollers" as a kid (something about the game mechanics w/ the giant dice, I guess), but there was something about Trebek; I couldn't put my finger on it, but it always seemed...effortless?  I know that's not the right word, because he was one of the hardest workers in his field.  He took on Jeopardy - and really, did more than most other hosts in a similar position would have done - and later "Classic Concentration", which you'd think couldn't be more a polar opposite to J!, yet he pulled it off with style, humanity, and humility (even when asked to wear a ridiculous Santa suit).  

Whoever takes up the J! mantle (Ken Jennings, presumably) has some big shoes to fill.

Steve Timko

unread,
Nov 10, 2020, 12:17:05 AM11/10/20
to TV or Not TV

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/3e2beb31-c841-43ac-b3d3-b0a16c9ff6f7n%40googlegroups.com.

Joe Hass

unread,
Nov 10, 2020, 11:35:24 AM11/10/20
to TVorNotTV
Mike Richards told CNN that Trebek delivered a speech at the start of the last taping day that will air at some point during that final air week.

Joe Hass

unread,
Nov 10, 2020, 11:35:51 AM11/10/20
to TVorNotTV
Jim Lange still makes me cringe decades later.

Joe Hass

unread,
Nov 10, 2020, 11:53:39 AM11/10/20
to TVorNotTV
One of the things we forget about our idols is they have idols, too.

JW

unread,
Nov 11, 2020, 3:34:31 AM11/11/20
to tvornottv

Paul Murray

unread,
Nov 12, 2020, 9:00:56 AM11/12/20
to TVorNotTV
MeTV remembers Alex Trebek with special episodes of Mama's Family and Cheers

See Thelma Harper and Cliff Clavin on Jeopardy! this Friday, November 13, at 9PM | 8C.  

https://metv.com/stories/metv-remembers-alex-trebek-with-special-episodes-of-mamas-family-and-cheers

Kevin M.

unread,
Nov 12, 2020, 10:11:54 AM11/12/20
to tvor...@googlegroups.com
One of the best clips circulating of Alex right now are outtakes of recordings he made for the Jeopardy phone game. I’m sure many have seen these before, but if you haven’t, it’s a classic.


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.
--
Kevin M. (RPCV)

Brad Beam

unread,
Nov 12, 2020, 6:58:54 PM11/12/20
to tvor...@googlegroups.com

From: tvor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kevin M.

>One of the best clips circulating of Alex right now are outtakes of recordings he made for the Jeopardy phone game. I’m sure many have seen these before, but if you haven’t, it’s a classic.

 

Elsewhere, how the CBC avoided losing a second “HNIC” crew member this weekend*. (No surprise – it came down to the mustache.)

https://www.si.com/hockey/news/how-alex-trebek-almost-became-host-of-hockey-night-in-canada

 

*Howie Meeker; with apologies to Marv Albert, the prime minister of the telestrator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JMoPjFQi70

 

_   _

|_>|_>  Brad Beam- Belle WV

|_>|_>  http://www.facebook.com/74bmw

Diner

unread,
Nov 14, 2020, 5:33:22 PM11/14/20
to TVorNotTV
I'm watching a "Classic Concentration" marathon on Buzzr right now. Boy he was good on this show.

BTW, with the deaths of Trebek and Tom Kennedy, there are only three still-living hosts with shows on the current Buzzr schedule: Bob Eubanks (Card Sharks), David Ruprecht (Supermarket Sweep), and Jon Bauman (MG/HS Hour). 
Buzzr did run the 1990s Annie Wood-hosted dating show "Bzzz!" within the past year (and had Wood come back to do promos for it), but it's not on their current schedule.

Jim Ellwanger

unread,
Nov 14, 2020, 5:43:45 PM11/14/20
to 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV
Incidentally, when people in the “Jeopardy!” studio audience would ask Alex what his favorite (non-“Jeopardy!”) show was that he hosted, his standard answer was “'To Tell the Truth,’  because I got to sit down." (Although he did have a chair at his “Jeopardy!” lectern for the last few years.)


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.

Mark Jeffries

unread,
Nov 15, 2020, 7:13:08 AM11/15/20
to tvor...@googlegroups.com
And he sat down on "Concentration" about a year into the run, since he was blocking the prize board behind him.  Goodson-Todman got rid of the podium between the puzzle board and the contestants when they took over the franchise, I guess because they liked the idea of the host standing between the contestants.  However, Hugh Downs and Bob Clayton only did that when there was no gameplay.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/DDDF0580-00F1-4E5A-8920-12046717C7C0%40ellwanger.tv.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages