Remembering Alex Trebek

[sue450]

On 11/8/2020 at 10:45 AM, Carey said:

 

 

That's a good question.  Unless I'm forgetting someone, the last person to pass on while still an active part of a show was Johnny Olson in 1985 for The Price Is Right.  Bob Barker mentioned that they would continue showing episodes that were taped with John before he died.  After he passed away they had his episodes run on CBS for a month and a half prior to his death.

25 years later in 2010, when Charlie O'Donnell died, the first Wheel of Forture episode that aired did not have Charlie announcing.  That might have been coincidental as I don't know or recall if they held any episodes until later in 2010-2011 as a tribute.  Could be a situation that O'Donnell was too ill to continue and it just happened that his final episode aired the last day before his passing.

I guess we'll find out soon; syndicated episodes usually taped more in advance of their airdate whereas network shows aren't as long

I saw somewhere the last air date will be december 25

[sue450]

oh  alex stayed friends with peter marshall ( he hosted the old hollywood squares) he saw alex the day before he passed...peter said "I love you alex" and alex said  "I love you too petey"   oh this thread is making me cry  it was like alex was a part of the family

[tominboston]

I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about the same time as Alex. (At the moment I'm still on my feet, but I know the prognosis for this disease.) Over the past year and a half, seeing him on TV five nights a week has been an inspiration as we both went through the unpleasantness of cancer treatment. As a longtime Jeopardy watcher, I will of course miss his presence on the show, but also as a fighting role model for us cancer patients. RIP Alex, and thanks.

[Browncoat]

Oh, that opening slayed me.  I was okay until he broke and sniffled, and then the darkening of the set?  I was done for.  I think it's going to be more difficult to watch the next few weeks than I thought it would be.

[ams1001]

And a little absurdity I just came across...

 

[Snow Apple]

50 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

After watching those clips, I have to say "What is a ho(e)?" has to be the best response ever.

A classic. I saw that when the episode first ran and never forgot it........because that was my answer too.

[catlover79]

A little more levity:

 

[Tabasco Cat]

5 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

An old friend of mine was on the show way back when they were still giving the non-winners on each episode “consolation prizes”—a ton of possibly useless stuff, in amounts so huge they may have some left when they die.... Anyway, my friend (who I met through a shared fandom, & who was also on Comedy Central’s Win Ben Stein’s Money—she also lost there, unfortunately) ended up with the dreaded consolation prizes. Among them was a huge supply of Rice-a-Roni. It was so much, she sent all her friends in the fandom a box of it just to get rid of it.

I don't remember Jeopardy! second and third place prizes being like that. I remember "The Olympic Pin Set", and "The Guitar", were popular consolation prizes for a time. I know a lady who was on Let's Make a Deal a long time ago. I think their booby prizes were called "Zonk"s or some such. This woman won one of those. She was living in NYC at the time and said she was flabbergasted the day a delivery truck drove up to her (apartment) building and dropped off 1,000 lbs of fertilizer (the manure kind, not the chemical kind). She never thought they'd actually send it. But they did! I think she donated it to the NYC Parks Dept.

[halfpint ingals]

I am so very thankful and grateful for this autograph I got in the mail a few years ago.  He was a true television legend that will be missed by millions.   I have many good memories of watching the show with my grandparents, parents, and just watching over the years.

[Tabasco Cat]

2 hours ago, mtbingmom said:

I just saw the beginning and I'm crying again

It's a big club.

[Tabasco Cat]

On 11/9/2020 at 3:49 PM, saber5055 said:

The opening of this episode contained a very heartfelt tribute from Mike Richards to Alex. The end credits of this episode contained a title card of “Dedicated to Alex Trebek / Forever in our Hearts / Always our Inspiration”.

It was indeed heartfelt. Mike Richards almost lost it a few times. At the end he solemnly intoned, "This is Jeopardy," as the lights on the stage faded to black (in advance of the regular opening).

Edited November 11, 2020 by Tabasco Cat

[catlover79]

I'm so glad this is still up on YouTube. Here's Alex on Jimmy Fallon's Phone Booth in October 2015 with Shaq, Hugh Jackman, Mr. Met (!!!) and many more!!! 😁😂 

 

[peeayebee]

6 hours ago, catlover79 said:

🙏❤😢

just seeing this screenshot made me choke up like it did alex back then.

 

4 hours ago, ams1001 said:

A little levity for this heavy thread..

 

"I didn't get snow on my wedding day, but i did get 8 inches on my honeymoon." 😄

[Robert Lynch]

So we have two game show hosts still around from the 60s-70s era of television like Chuck Woollery and Bob Barker, leaving only one voiceover announcer Johnny Gilbert, who is in his 90s! There is not a lot of those from that era and they are slowly dying off. I am watching a lot of those 60s game show hosts and it is sad how most are not around at all. I was shocked that Trebek began hosting in the 60s! He really was there for a long time as game show host on different shows. Quite a longevity for someone like him.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Robert Lynch

[ams1001]

8 hours ago, peeayebee said:

just seeing this screenshot made me choke up like it did alex back then.

That got me when it first aired, and still does.

[catlover79]

[Trey]

9 hours ago, peeayebee said:

"I didn't get snow on my wedding day, but i did get 8 inches on my honeymoon." 😄

That was one of my favourites too😀

I also loved Alex's reaction to the poor goat who ate Sakrete.  "That's insensitive, Alex".   Alex, laughing his butt off, "I know".

[BW Manilowe]

12 hours ago, Tabasco Cat said:

I don't remember Jeopardy! second and third place prizes being like that. I remember "The Olympic Pin Set", and "The Guitar", were popular consolation prizes for a time. I know a lady who was on Let's Make a Deal a long time ago. I think their booby prizes were called "Zonk"s or some such. This woman won one of those. She was living in NYC at the time and said she was flabbergasted the day a delivery truck drove up to her (apartment) building and dropped off 1,000 lbs of fertilizer (the manure kind, not the chemical kind). She never thought they'd actually send it. But they did! I think she donated it to the NYC Parks Dept.

My friend was on Jeopardy! in, like, the late 70s or sometime in the 80s. I forget the exact year, but it was during the era when the runners up contestants would get a selection of different things (at least some of which were usually in large amounts), because they were runners up. Stuff like pantyhose, Rice a Roni, & I forget what else.

[BW Manilowe]

2 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

So we have two game show hosts still around from the 60s-70s era of television like Chuck Woollery and Bob Barker, leaving only one voiceover announcer Johnny Gilbert, who is in his 90s! There is not a lot of those from that era and they are slowly dying off. I am watching a lot of those 60s game show hosts and it is sad how most are not around at all. I was shocked that Trebek began hosting in the 60s! He really was there for a long time as game show host on different shows. Quite a longevity for someone like him.

Hosts Wink Martindale & Bob Eubanks are also still around.

[Robert Lynch]

30 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

Hosts Wink Martindale & Bob Eubanks are also still around.

Thanks!

[BW Manilowe]

On 11/8/2020 at 2:56 PM, DXD526 said:

Tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern, ABC will be showing a special program, Alex Trebek, Remembered: A 20/20 Special.

I had posted I missed this “live”. I got to see it after I read about it here, thanks to my YouTube TV app (where I suspected I could find it). So if you missed it & have YouTube TV, it’s there, or still should be.

[Robert Lynch]

Here is a story about Alex's pancreatic cancer diagnosis  from his wife of 30 years, Jean.

[catrice2]

2 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Thanks!

And I believe Dave Ruprecht from Supermarket Sweep....I could be wrong...

[illdoc]

And, as was mentioned upthread, Peter Marshall

[illdoc]

From TVLine:  * MeTV will pay tribute to the late Alex Trebek this Friday at 9/8c with the episode of Mama’s Family in which Mama wins a trip to Hawaii while appearing on Jeopardy!, followed by the Cheers episode where know-it-all barfly Cliff Clavin got his shot on the game show.

[Tabasco Cat]

9 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

I had posted I missed this “live”. I got to see it after I read about it here, thanks to my YouTube TV app (where I suspected I could find it). So if you missed it & have YouTube TV, it’s there, or still should be.

The other day I posted about our plans to cut the cord with our cable company in January. We wanted to do it some months ago. We're comfortable with streaming but we could never live without Wheel and Jeopardy! Without meaning to shill for YouTube TV we recently learned that they carry our local ABC station (if "local" counts as 85 miles away) and we could watch the shows on that. Problem solved, perhaps. I just want to thank you for confirming that something like that is possible. I only wish YT TV would stop jacking up its prices. But thank you just the same.

[Tabasco Cat]

2 hours ago, illdoc said:

From TVLine:  * MeTV will pay tribute to the late Alex Trebek this Friday at 9/8c with the episode of Mama’s Family in which Mama wins a trip to Hawaii while appearing on Jeopardy!, followed by the Cheers episode where know-it-all barfly Cliff Clavin got his shot on the game show.

Thank you for posting that. It's on here, too, and I never would have noticed it.

[ams1001]

 

10 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

I had posted I missed this “live”. I got to see it after I read about it here, thanks to my YouTube TV app (where I suspected I could find it). So if you missed it & have YouTube TV, it’s there, or still should be.

It's available On Demand, too (I have Cablevision). All the other episodes are just listed as "20/20" and the air date. This is listed as "Alex 11-08"...for some reason this made me smile.

[BW Manilowe]

20 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Thanks!

You’re welcome.

[BW Manilowe]

17 hours ago, catrice2 said:

And I believe Dave Ruprecht from Supermarket Sweep....I could be wrong...

David Ruprecht’s still around, as well. However, former SNL cast member/writer Leslie Jones is hosting the recently started ABC reboot version.

[catlover79]

19 hours ago, illdoc said:

From TVLine:  * MeTV will pay tribute to the late Alex Trebek this Friday at 9/8c with the episode of Mama’s Family in which Mama wins a trip to Hawaii while appearing on Jeopardy!, followed by the Cheers episode where know-it-all barfly Cliff Clavin got his shot on the game show.

Likewise, GSN will be airing a tribute of their own:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.yahoo.com/amphtml/game-show-network-sets-jeopardy-195455698.html

[catlover79]

One year ago today, America was moved to tears at this gesture:

 

[film noire]

On 11/9/2020 at 3:59 PM, Dobian said:

 Their studio produced Star Trek, spawning one of the largest television and movie franchises in history.  And she got Alex Trebek a gig on Jeopardy, leading to the most legendary game show run of all time.  

...she helped create generations of Trekkies and Trebekkies ; )

Edited November 12, 2020 by film noire

[lambertman]

19 hours ago, catlover79 said:

Likewise, GSN will be airing a tribute of their own:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.yahoo.com/amphtml/game-show-network-sets-jeopardy-195455698.html

And so will Buzzr, also on Saturday:

12:30pm-2:00pm Card Sharks  (Alex and other game show hosts, incl. the also recently passed Tom Kennedy, compete for charity)
2:00pm-10:30pm Classic Concentration
10:30pm-11:00pm To Tell The Truth

(last three hours rerun until 2 AM)

If you don't have a Buzzr affiliate, you can watch at their website or on the Roku Channel and Pluto TV.

Edited November 12, 2020 by lambertman

[Robert Lynch]

7 hours ago, UpTooLate said:

My friend used to be married to one of the staffers at Jeopardy, back in the 1980s, and had lovely things to say about Alex. She occasionally brought their baby to the set, and Alex would swoop up the baby and play with him for ten minutes. She also said Alex swore like a sailor. She is very broken up at his passing.

When you said he swore like a sailor, I have to think of that guest spot in OITNB.

 

[JerryB]

I interviewed Bob Eubanks for my podcast Here Now the News. It was a special episode honoring Alex. The episode also features an executive from Buzzr, who is also a game show historian. 

Hope you can listen and share with your friends. It's available on Apple, Google, Spotify, TuneIn and other platforms. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/here-now-the-news-with-jerry-barmash/id1535248541?uo=4

[Prevailing Wind]

9 hours ago, UpTooLate said:

She also said Alex swore like a sailor.

Which, as we recently discovered, he learned at his grandpa's knee.  LOL.

[ams1001]

Stephen Colbert tells a story about Alex (from roughly 0:30 - 1:55)

 

[UYI]

 

[catlover79]

Here's a blurb of Alex from a 1979 magazine, and a photo of him with his first wife, Elaine. He raised her daughter, Nicky, as his own. Even after they split, they still co-parented Nicky and stayed friends to the end, along with their respective new spouses.

[Carey]

With all of these awesome tributes from GSN to Buzzr, I think I might have to tune into Groundhog Day, which would be the first time I've watched the movie this close to the holidays, I believe.

 

Saturday Night Live finally gets a week off.  First time since September after airing an all-but unprecedented six episodes in a row.  I missed seeing which episode was "scheduled" to be rerun on November 14th, and I haven't seen or heard of anything related to Trebek and SNL.  There are more than enough Celebrity Episodes to fill not just a 90-minute episode, but a 60-to-90-minute show that sometime precedes one's local news (in addition to the 11:30 - 1:00 slot).  The show will most definitely pay tribute to Alex when they return, but if there's ever a week to run those, this would be it

[j5cochran]

I was in a church council Zoom meeting this evening. My pastor said that he had a first this week, his first time pastoral counseling a parishioner for a celebrity death. Luckily, I appreciate his sense of humor!

[HelenBaby]

On 11/9/2020 at 8:12 PM, Tabasco Cat said:

I don't remember Jeopardy! second and third place prizes being like that. I remember "The Olympic Pin Set", and "The Guitar", were popular consolation prizes for a time. I know a lady who was on Let's Make a Deal a long time ago. I think their booby prizes were called "Zonk"s or some such. This woman won one of those. She was living in NYC at the time and said she was flabbergasted the day a delivery truck drove up to her (apartment) building and dropped off 1,000 lbs of fertilizer (the manure kind, not the chemical kind). She never thought they'd actually send it. But they did! I think she donated it to the NYC Parks Dept.

When I was a contestant in 1997, the show was still giving away consolation prizes instead of cash. Plus the parting gifts. I came in third & got a gift certificate from Service Merchandise for $1,000. Second place was a trip to Fiji! More valuable than $2,000 that the  second place gets now. My parting gifts were reasonable amounts of lotion & vitamins plus other stuff. I gave the lotion & vitamins to my co workers. I worked in a large call center so it wasn’t too difficult to get rid on the stuff. I bought a ring with my gift certificate so I still have it to remind me.

I also met him a few times on the TCM Cruises he attended. He was so friendly & funny. He was always a highlight from the cruises for me. People just loved him. 

[UYI]

SNL is currently uploading a LOT of their Celebrity Jeopardy! sketches to YouTube, so clearly that's at least part of their way of honoring Alex this week. 

[catlover79]

Bumpers from Cleveland, OH, circa late 1990s:

[seasons]

On 11/9/2020 at 9:35 PM, catlover79 said:

I'm so glad this is still up on YouTube. Here's Alex on Jimmy Fallon's Phone Booth in October 2015 with Shaq, Hugh Jackman, Mr. Met (!!!) and many more!!! 😁😂 

 

I love when people can laugh a themselves, not take themselves so seriously.

 

Mr. Met!

[shapeshifter]

An hour from now on ME TV a 1988 episode of Mama's Family, "Mama on Jeopardy" will air, which includes Alex as himself. 

It's not a show I ever watched when it was on in the 80s and do not watch now, but...

[saber5055]

On 11/12/2020 at 7:35 PM, Carey said:

I think I might have to tune into Groundhog Day, which would be the first time I've watched the movie this close to the holidays,

But the holiday that is Groundhog Day is February 2 ...

Game Show Network is playing a tribute to Alex tomorrow, Saturday, "We’re celebrating Alex Trebek’s legendary career and reliving some of our favorite Jeopardy! moments with a marathon this Saturday from 9a-3p."

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

An hour from now on ME TV a 1988 episode of Mama's Family, "Mama on Jeopardy" will air, which includes Alex as himself. 

Oh nuts, I missed it by a half hour. But the Cheers episode where Cliff goes on Jeopardy is on now. That's where the term "Did a Clavin" came from in regards to Jeopardy betting. I've seen the Cheers ep but never saw the Mama's Family ep.

[shapeshifter]

26 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

An hour from now on ME TV a 1988 episode of Mama's Family, "Mama on Jeopardy" will air, which includes Alex as himself. 

Oh nuts, I missed it by a half hour. But the Cheers episode where Cliff goes on Jeopardy is on now. That's where the term "Did a Clavin" came from in regards to Jeopardy betting. I've seen the Cheers ep but never saw the Mama's Family ep

Thanks. I at least caught Alex’s last scene. 

[saber5055]

The Cheers episode is on YouTube I discovered, and I found the Mama's Family Jeopardy episode on Daily Motion. I will watch that tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder, @shapeshifter.