I hate that fucker Alex Tredick! Why does he have to be such a cocky bastard? He corrects people’s pronunciation and answers like, “Duh! Didn’t you know that?” Well, no, you fucker, I didn’t know it! I also didn’t recieve a card with all the answers either, so fuck off jackass! To top it off, they have to put a Canadian category in almost every Jeopardy episode! Tonight it was “Manitoba”. Who fuckin’ cares about Manitoba? WTF? Have you noticed that lately, there is more pop trivia than anything else? They used to have a lot of science and intellectual categories. Now they have “TV Shows” and “Sports” and shit like that. Damn! I love this show. Can’t they just kill Alex and put a human being in there? Another thing: What’s up with wasting time talking to the contestants? Jeopardy doesn’t need filler, they need more questions! Grrr…
I’ll take “Tired Old Game Shows That Nobody Watches” for 200, Demo…
I like Jeopardy, but I have never been fond of Trebeck.
You are right about the endless meet-the-contestant chit-chat. You are also right about the pop-culture content. At least Jeopardy isn’t as bad as that Millionaire show in that regard. And there used to be a lot more science categories on Jeopardy until about 2-3 years ago. I miss them.
But some of your criticisms are unfounded. He has to correct the pronunciation so they don’t get a ton of mail saying “That’s not the way it’s pronounced!” (He doesn’t have to enjoy correcting them so much, though). Also, unlike a lot of other countries, Canada does not have its own version of Jeopardy, so the one show has to do for both Canada and the U.S. You have to expect some of the categories will be about Canada, partly to satisfy the audience, partly to be fair to any Canadian contestants. But to be honest, the real reason it doesn’t bother me is that I know a shitload more about Canada than 98% of my fellow Americans.
Ha ha ha! You should try the CD Rom Jeopardy. Alex can really make you feel like a dope in no time. He starts off with cheering comments like “Good Guess!” and “Nice Try!” but it quickly degenerates to the point where he’s just shaking his head at you and saying “NO,” while giving you the look that says you’re a complete idiot.
(I only know this because I sometimes play two of the three contestants. I name one of them for someone I dislike and make them give stupid answers.)
But I’ll take Alex over Regis any day.
I love the show, but yeah, he’s a cocky asshole. Not only does he answer like Duh, didn’t you know that ?, but he acts like he wrote all the damn questions (ok, answers) himself, all by his lonesome. Just thought them up out of that immense mind of his on the way to the taping, in between advising the Nobel Committee.
And FYI, I heard that there is always one Canada-related question (not category) and one French-related question in every show, as he’s French-Canadian. Since I heard that some years back, its never failed to hold true.
Shaky Jake
If you’re younger than 30 or 35 you probably don’t remember when Art Flemming was the host of Jeopardy. He was much more likable than Treblech.
I’d love to see Trebek as a contestant on Jeopardy. I wonder how good he’d do.
I don’t really find him to be all that cocky. Maybe I’m just used to it, having pretty much grown up on the show.
The only thing that really bugs me about the show is the biblical categories. There should be something in the Constitution about a mandatory separation of church and game shows. 
Myabe it’s just perception, because I don’t see a cocky, condencending attitude from him at all.
There was another thread about this somewhere on the board. Someone did mention that every so often, he DOES take the entrance-level contestant quiz as well.
…And he DOES do well.
Ever since Win Ben Stein’s Money came on, Jeopardy has tried to do the funny category titles and it never quite works.
What I love about Ben Stein is that whenever a contestant answers a question with “What is…” Ben makes him wear a dunce cap.
Just this past week, I caught a Jeopardy ep where Alex said something like “I didn’t even know the answer to that question”. Not even you, Alex? Whoa. What chance do we mortals have then?
You put Alex Trebek, Ben Stein, and any person of your choice on Jeopardy. I imagine Stein would wipe the walls with them.
Slight Ben Stein hijack: I always wonder if the question writers cruise Ben’s dressing room to see what he’s reading that week, or if they scan his bookshelves at home regularly. They always seem to ask questions during the Best-Of-Ten that deal with some obscure work of literature, and Ben ALWAYS knows the author/title/subject/whatever.
Anyway, Trebek is indeed a condescending prick. And it bugs the hell out of me when he transforms into Jean-Pierre Froofroo le Over-Pronounciateur whenever a French phrase turns up in those all-too-frequent Canadian categories.
Bah. If I want quiz show purity, I’ll watch Inquizition.
I like Jeopardy and I don’t think Alex Trebek is cocky. However, if you want a lame, brain dead show, go for Wheel of Fortune. There has to be a cue card guy holding up a “CLAP” sign whenever they spin the damn wheel.
If you can’t run the board every so often, just quit wingeing and watch “Squeal of Fortune” or “Millionaire”. Like Bibliophage said:
Quote:
“He has to correct the pronunciation so they don’t get a ton of mail saying “That’s not the way it’s pronounced!” (He doesn’t have to enjoy correcting them so much, though).”
If you saw Trebeck on Letterman, he came off as urbane and witty. Maybe it’s just a sense of priggish brotherhood, but he seems to do okay. Who would you prefer, Bob Sagat???
Now, as to the continuing degradation of question difficulty, I agree wholeheartedly. ESPECIALLY DURING THE RERUNS!!! 
(You realize, of course, that one of us will have to suffer for this? You have caused me to use my second smilie, ever. SWORDS AT TWENTY PACES!!!)
::Shuffles off to find pointy stick::
Famous Last Words
Vanna White: “Z”
I dont’ mind old Alex all that much until no one knows the correct answer and he has to give it. All too often, he will say something like “What is The Correct Answer? That famous painting by Picasso.” It is the inclusion of “famous” that pisses me off. IMHO, it sounds like he is trying to say that the questions aren’t that hard and that the contestants should have known.
I bet he is pretty bright, though, and has to have picked up a shitload of trivia over the years as well.
I also don’t find Trebeck cocky. Someone has to give the answers and the correct pronouciation. I don’t find that he does it in a particularly condesending way.
As a Canadian viewer, I find that the Canadian categories balance out the state categories. Unlike Millionaire, Jeopardy is open to Canadian contestants. I think to have lots of state categories, US history and politics without balancing it out a little would be really unfair. Because of all the trivia games I like to play, I know far more about US history and politics than I do about Canadian history and politics.
I have found that over the years there have been more pop culture categories. I have two theories regarding this. I distinctly recall one show many years ago where all of the great brains playing could answer the most obscure questions, but totally blanked out on the whole Music of the 80’s category. I think that they realized that most of their contestants weren’t well rounded, and the easy questions weren’t all that easy to some of them. My second theory is that perhaps they were losing some of their audience, and wanted to make sure that there were more categories that the home viewer could answer.
I think Trebeck would kick some serious ass if he was a contestant, pitting him against Ben Stein and perhaps Pat Sayjak would make for an interesting episode of Jep.
Sayjak seems to be pretty condescending but considering the nature of the show… I often sit there and just can’t figure out how people aren’t getting it.
It is part of Steins persona to rip on his guests and is part of his show’s charm.
I love watching the brains crap out on pop culture. Last episode I saw, a contestant though that the TV show Martin starred Martin Mull! Whazzaaaaaaaaap!
I also seem to notice an unusually heavy dose on history questions during that lightning round. They’ll usually throw in one science question just to appear complete, but it seems pretty history-intensive to me.
To me, it seems specifically leaned toward politics; lotsa political questions, and, given Ben’s background, it’s hardly surprising that he gets those correct.
Yeah, it’s a hijack, but I’m replying to a mod, so go fuck yourselves. This is the Pit, after all.