Remembering Alex Trebek

[Carey]

7 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

Johnny Gilbert is 96 years old, too! It is going to be weird for me not hearing Alex saying Thank you, Johnny Gilbert or Johnny Gilbert introducing Alex Trebek. It is going to be a totally different atmosphere.

I'm happy for Johnny Gilbert (yet another icon I grew up with as it relates to announcing amongst other things (including Gene Wood, Rod Roddy and the already mentioned Johnny Olson & Charlie O'Donnell AND Don Pardo).  Never thought I'd even think Mr. Gilbert would outlive Trebek.  It will be weird, I agree.  I wonder if Johnny will retire, as people I know speculated that he might've stepped down when Alex's contract expired after 2021-2022

[KLovestoShop]

Jeopardy was my mom’s favorite show, one she didn’t miss.  She passed away 12 years ago today.  I suspect she welcomed Alex up in heaven.  Alex will be missed for years to come. 

[GenerationX]

My kids have watched Jeopardy! since they were tots.  Oldest son has Asperger's, and Jeopardy! is one of his deep interests.  He wrote Alex a fan letter a couple of years ago and mentioned that his sister was a huge fan, too.  Alex sent pictures and nice notes to both kids.  I'm grateful he took the time to do that, as the kids are both pretty upset.  My wife and I are none too happy, either.  RIP, Alex.

[junemeatcleaver]

I've been watching the Alex "remix" to Savage of and on all day.  Alex reciting the lyrics to pop songs, particularly hip hop songs, was the best.

[mtbingmom]

The special just came on and I'm crying already .

[ams1001]

48 minutes ago, mtbingmom said:

The special just came on and I'm crying already .

I made it to the end before sobbing.

"Have a great life."

[BuckeyeLou]

Oh My!  I am crying at the end of the special(20/20), what a beautiful way to end, Alex was happy & content with his life & his Family.

[ams1001]

The 11:00 news started with a tribute to Alex; they had a reporter talking to people in NYC, and they were outside the bar where Austin Rogers works, but said Austin was too upset to be on camera. 😞 

[Tabasco Cat]

59 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

The 11:00 news started with a tribute to Alex; they had a reporter talking to people in NYC, and they were outside the bar where Austin Rogers works, but said Austin was too upset to be on camera. 😞 

I hope that news crew called him ahead of time.

[bros402]

I love Jeopardy - it's going to be so weird without Alex hosting.

I wonder if he filmed a goodbye just in case? I hope so.

If he did, though, my allergies are going to act up.

[ams1001]

8 hours ago, Tabasco Cat said:

I hope that news crew called him ahead of time.

No idea.

I told my mom it's a good thing we're not planning on going anywhere for Christmas this year since I have no intention of missing his last show. (Or any in between, if at all possible...tonight is going to feel strange.)

[catlover79]

Every time I see the word "genre", I hear Alex saying it. I always will. ❤

[Clanstarling]

19 hours ago, Dobian said:

Most of the time I don't get that sad when a celebrity dies but this is one of those exceptions.  I am really saddened by this.  I knew it was coming but I always put it out of my mind as long as I saw Alex still hosting the show.  He was an icon, just like Johnny Carson was an icon.  A daily fixture in our living rooms with his intelligence and wit.  I will miss him.

I also don't tend to get too sad with most celebrity deaths. But this one was different, and I was pretty choked up. I've been watching Jeopardy well before Alex, but he's the one I always think of when it comes to Jeopardy, I have to think to remember Art Fleming.

But it wasn't just a favorite in my household. My only Jeopardy story, which I would have used if I was ever a contestant, was this:

In 1989 Mr. Starling and I, and our baby, visited his family in the mid-west. At that time we were living in the San Franciso Bay Area. We were watching the Bay Area World Series playoff when the earthquake struck. We were desperate to find out if our neighborhood had been badly damaged - as we lived much closer to the epicenter.  Mr. Starling's 90some year old Nana grew frustrated with our watching the news and talking about the quake - she said "You can read about it tomorrow. I want to watch my Jeopardy!"

PS - our neighborhood was fine.

It won't be the same without Alex. But I will still watch.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Clanstarling

[ams1001]

10 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I also don't tend to get too sad with most celebrity deaths. But this one was different, and I was pretty choked up. I've been watching Jeopardy well before Alex, but he's the one I always think of when it comes to Jeopardy, I have to think to remember Art Fleming.

Alex is the only Jeopardy! host I know. His era debuted about three weeks before my ninth birthday. Don't remember if I watched from the beginning; I just always remember my parents watching Jeopardy and I always feel like it's my whole life and am slightly surprised when I realize I was nine when it started.

[seasons]

I honestly never picked up on any sexism vibe. Patronizing?

He seemed incredibly devoted to his wife.

 

Heard someone suggest Ken Jennings to host. I like that idea! Would soften the blow. 

[ams1001]

8 minutes ago, seasons said:

I honestly never picked up on any sexism vibe. Patronizing?

There was an older episode (when they were showing "from the archive" shows over the spring/summer) that had people talking about a comment he made during the chat portion (IIRC, thinking they mixed up the contestants' jobs because the woman had a job that would have been more men at the time (less so now)). Maybe it was a bit more "product of its time" than true sexism on his part.

[Bliss]

18 hours ago, film noire said:

Very longstanding - and before he began his career  in the U.S., he hosted a quiz show in Canada (starting in the sixties) for high school students called "Reach For The Top". He's in his twenties here:

Trebek's favourite parody was Eugene Levy's, which riffs on his time hosting Reach For The Top:

Farewell, Alex. You made the world a better place.

Sadly, I have no picture to share of Alex and me - it was destroyed in a flooded basement 😞

I was a contestant on his first game show, Reach For The Top, and was totally in LOVE with the handsome gentleman host known by my nickname, Alex. (My maiden name is Alexander.)

I've been a fan ever since... and like many others, I feel as if a family member has passed. Alex has been part of my life - a constant in a world of change - for 50 years! He never forgot his Canadian roots and continued to donate a large share of his wealth to Canadian education (esp his pet fave, geography).

These tears are real. He really did make my world a better place.

Thank you, Alex, for all the joy you created for so many. You were my first celebrity crush, and I'll remember you as the true GOAT of J! God bless.

[ams1001]

I am loving all the pictures and personal remembrances from former contestants. I didn't realize there were so many posting here. 🙂 

[BW Manilowe]

21 hours ago, dvr devotee said:

How far ahead did they usually film? Will we still have new episodes with him this week?

The network morning shows said, in remembering him, the last block of shows with Alex finished taping 10 days ago (October 29th). His last show is on Christmas Day (which isn’t gonna make it easy to watch, what with family commitments [for those who have them] & possible pre-emptions for sports [if whichever leagues are playing their traditional Christmas games this year despite the pandemic] or other national/local holiday programming on your local station which carries Jeopardy!). I’m gonna try though.

Edited November 9, 2020 by BW Manilowe
To fix screwed up punctuation marks & add a comment.

[UYI]

45 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

There was an older episode (when they were showing "from the archive" shows over the spring/summer) that had people talking about a comment he made during the chat portion (IIRC, thinking they mixed up the contestants' jobs because the woman had a job that would have been more men at the time (less so now)). Maybe it was a bit more "product of its time" than true sexism on his part.

That was actually the second episode of the show! 

[BW Manilowe]

20 hours ago, Carey said:

I'll let God deal with cancer and 2020 and whatever else.  In the meantime, I have to thank saber for sharing that message from Alex.  I knew in my heart that Mr. Trebek would have something prepared to be released posthumously.  Very nice words, thank you.

Those actually weren’t words released posthumously; he said them in 1 of the interviews he gave (I think with ABC) after he announced his diagnosis.

[catlover79]

I loved when Alex appeared in Jimmy Fallon's Phone Booth segment in October 2015. Seeing him squished in a phone booth with Shaq was pure gold. 😁

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, seasons said:

Heard someone suggest Ken Jennings to host. I like that idea! Would soften the blow. 

There's definitely been some speculation in that direction over the past several months (at least). I wondered if his new job with the show was something of a test/extended audition (though we haven't seen him on camera much, so far). Or even a placeholder until the time came.

Guess we'll find out in the next several weeks.

[peeayebee]

opening twitter yesterday and reading that alex had passed made me gasp aloud. of course it wasn't a surprise, but you still think that moment will always be down the road. this morning i was seeing remembrances from various people on twitter, and i teared up. i just wanted to come here. i don't have anything special to add, just that i'll miss his presence on tv and the comfort he brought, esp needed in these difficult days. i wish his family and friends peace and love.

[catlover79]

😂

[ams1001]

From the New York Times "The Morning" email newsletter 11/9/20:

Quote

A ‘Jeopardy!’ icon

Alex Trebek began hosting “Jeopardy!” in 1984, sporting a thick mustache and a pale pink pocket square on his first episode. He got the job partly because Lucille Ball, of “I Love Lucy” fame, had encouraged the show’s producer to hire him. He went on to host more than 8,000 episodes, breaking a record set by Bob Barker of “The Price is Right” for hosting the most episodes of a single game show.

On Sunday, Trebek died at 80, more than a year after announcing he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. His death led to an outpouring of tributes from fans who saw him as a steady — and witty — presence in their homes.

In living rooms across the country, five nights a week, viewers could count on “an honest, no-frills test of knowledge” guided by Trebek, as a 2002 Times article put it. “We’re comfortable, like an old pair of shoes,” Trebek said. “We don’t come on with a splash.” Pre-pandemic, Trebek would host five episodes a day, two days a week, from July to April. He would go over the 305 clues for that day’s shows at 7:30 a.m., making notes. If a clue seemed too difficult, he would tell the writers to remove it.

Part of his appeal was his honesty, which extended to his fight with cancer. He spoke about it publicly, saying his pain would sometimes shoot “from a three to an 11” during tapings.

“With his cerebral bearing and aura of quiet, impartial authority, he embodies ideals that feel endangered: the pursuit of knowledge, and the inherent value of facts,” Alexandra Alter wrote in a profile this year. And his honesty included flashes of restrained disappointment when contestants missed an easy question. His tone, he once told New York magazine, tried to convey: “How can you not get this? This is not rocket science.”

Still, many contestants adored him. Some were moved to tears upon meeting him. In one episode that aired last week, a contestant — an Indian immigrant named Burt Thakur — said that he had learned to speak English by watching Trebek as a child, sitting on his grandfather’s lap.

Episodes of the show hosted by Trebek will air through Dec. 25.

 

[Dobian]

2 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

In 1989 Mr. Starling and I, and our baby, visited his family in the mid-west. At that time we were living in the San Franciso Bay Area. We were watching the Bay Area World Series playoff when the earthquake struck. We were desperate to find out if our neighborhood had been badly damaged - as we lived much closer to the epicenter.  Mr. Starling's 90some year old Nana grew frustrated with our watching the news and talking about the quake - she said "You can read about it tomorrow. I want to watch my Jeopardy!"

I can relate, being that I live on the peninsula and was driving a couple of blocks from my house when the earthquake hit.  I thought something was wrong with the car when it started to weave and I pulled over.  Then the shaking stopped and I drove past a convenience store down the street and saw the lights off and everything knocked off the shelves and on the floor.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Dobian

[UYI]

 

[PBnJay]

I had been trying to get on the show for a few years, first with the college tournament, then regular. I tested well last year and was so excited to (maybe) be able to meet Alex in person, but that was not to be. I was heartbroken to hear the news yesterday. Jeopardy has been a big part of my life since college (we all gathered to watch every day, trying not to shout out the answers) and Alex, of course, was Jeopardy. Such a great loss, for so many reasons and for so many people. RIP Alex.

[Prevailing Wind]

29 minutes ago, catlover79 said:

😂

"SWORDS for $800, Alex."

[Tabasco Cat]

4 hours ago, ams1001 said:

No idea.

I told my mom it's a good thing we're not planning on going anywhere for Christmas this year since I have no intention of missing his last show. (Or any in between, if at all possible...tonight is going to feel strange.)

So true. We plan on DVR'ing the remaining episodes through Christmas. Which will be a dilemna in January when we plan on some cord cutting. When the DVR goes out the door, so will everything saved on it. Which raises a question: should we even bother? I think we will and cross the cord-cutting bridge when we come to it. Sometimes I miss my old VCR. We still have boxes full of VHS tapes in the basement from the 1980s. SP tape of Scarface recorded in 1984, anyone? That was recorded before Alex Trebek started on Jeopardy!

(Or possibly just after. I remember winning almost $1,000 at an Atlantic City casino, when casinos there were still new-ish, and blowing most of it on a top-of-the-line VCR at Crazy Eddie's. Scarface was the very first thing I ever recorded.)

Edited November 9, 2020 by Tabasco Cat
correction

[saber5055]

19 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

"SWORDS for $800, Alex."

"I'll take The Pen Is Mightier for $1000, Alex."

I was in LA in the late 80s (for dog shows, of course), and on a day off some of us went to Grauman's Chinese Theater to check out the footprints. A PA from Jeopardy was making the rounds of the tourists, offering free tickets to tapings. Of course, we snatched them up and headed to the Jeopardy studio where we watched a full day of shows being taped. Alex talked to the audience between shows, although I don't remember more than that. We were in the top rows of the audience so didn't participate in the back and forths. (Side note: I was surprised how small the audience seating area is.)

The only things I remember were the future contestants sitting in front of us, bee-bopping to the Final Jeopardy music, and Alex stating that the carpeting on the set, grey at that time, "sucked." That stuck in my mind, as I've posted in this thread before, because I'd never heard anyone use such a blasphemous word before. Hey, it was a long time ago, I was young!

And that's as close to Mr. Trebek as I ever got, having failed every test every year to become a contestant.

I'm still all weepy today. I can't believe he's really gone.

[catlover79]

[ams1001]

39 minutes ago, Tabasco Cat said:

So true. We plan on DVR'ing the remaining episodes through Christmas. Which will be a dilemna in January when we plan on some cord cutting. When the DVR goes out the door, so will everything saved on it. Which raises a question: should we even bother? I think we will and cross the cord-cutting bridge when we come to it. Sometimes I miss my old VCR. We still have boxes full of VHS tapes in the basement from the 1980s. SP tape of Scarface recorded in 1984, anyone? That was recorded before Alex Trebek started on Jeopardy!

Hmmm...I still have my old VCR in the closet.....

I don't have DVR but my parents do, if all else fails.

[catlover79]

I never was on J! but I have a couple of friends who were. They shared their own pics with Alex. Here's Gerry in 2003 and Jenny in 2015:

[saber5055]

A Washington Post journalist I follow, Dan Zak, interviewed Mr. Trebek in 2016.

Here is the article as it appeared in WaPo.

Some interesting text not included in the article.

[BW Manilowe]

I wonder if they’ll show some kind of memorial pic on today’s/tonight’s episode? It’s possible if they hadn’t sent it out to the local stations which air it before they announced the death.

Alex made it 20 months after announcing his diagnosis. I’m sorry it couldn’t have been longer.

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. It was also the era when you were identified by your full name & hometown (I’ve noticed, lately, at least some of the game show reboots are just identifying their contestants by their first name only—I guess they’ve changed how much info contestants give out about themselves on air now, as a safety measure, because it’s so easy to find out pretty much anything about anyone online these days, & you don’t know what someone might do with it). 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.

[Trey]

Here's a link to a very nice interview with Burt Thakur from CBC.  It's rather long at just a little over 9 minutes, but it is interesting.

https://www.facebook.com/cbcnews/videos/391996002169429

[UYI]

21 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

I wonder if they’ll show some kind of memorial pic on today’s/tonight’s episode? It’s possible if they hadn’t sent it out to the local stations which air it before they announced the death.

 

 

They might; when Regis died in July, it was on a Saturday; the first rerun of Celebrity Jeopardy!--the one with him in it--aired with a tribute card there for him two days later on Monday. 

[saber5055]

41 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

I wonder if they’ll show some kind of memorial pic on today’s/tonight’s episode?

This is from Andy at TheJeopardyFan.com about today's episode:

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”.

Edited November 9, 2020 by saber5055

[Dobian]

I didn't know Lucille Ball was largely responsible for Alex Trebek landing Jeopardy.  Let's run down the list of what she has contributed to television.  She and Desi Arnaz literally invented the modern sitcom.  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.  I'm not sure if there is anyone who can top that list.

[catlover79]

🙏❤😢

[seasons]

∆∆∆∆∆

I loved how he phrased it in the form of a question. 💙

[illdoc]

From TVLine: https://tvline.com/lists/alex-trebek-dead-best-tv-cameos-cheers-the-x-files-video/

[ams1001]

A little levity for this heavy thread..

 

[mtbingmom]

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

This is from Andy at TheJeopardyFan.com about today's episode:

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”.

I just saw the beginning and I'm crying again

[saber5055]

4 minutes ago, mtbingmom said:

I just saw the beginning and I'm crying again

Yeah, same here.

[ams1001]

8 minutes ago, mtbingmom said:

I just saw the beginning and I'm crying again

Oh, man, the dark stage at the end of that...

[PaulaO]

Yeah, I started crying too.  I’m kinda misty eyed now.  

[Prevailing Wind]

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