In the college championship there was a woman contestant that said she was inspired by Almost Famous to want to write about bands. Trebek said she wanted to “Be a Groupie” and kept it up even after she said no. I thought it was a very uncomfortable moment. Groupies sleep with band members, and the implications of saying that is what she really wanted was really inappropriate. Anyone else feel the same way?
“Feel the same way”?
As in Trebek can be condescending and clueless when talking with any contestant whose blurb he doesn’t immediately “get?”
I thought that went without saying. And now I cannot stop saying “Trebek” in a fake Sean Connery accent.
Agreed.
Trebek isn’t the best person to ad-lib light-hearted banter.
Trebek is the luckiest man alive. He is a high paid, nationally known celebrity, despite having an incredibly easy job that he still manages to not be very good at. The 45 seconds of banter he’s forced to provide always varies between being boring to awkward. About all he has going for him is the fact that he can pronounce the French words in questions.
Suck it, Trebek.
My wife and I really like Jeopardy!, but we agree Trebek is a pompous, conceited, unfunny, awkward ass. Does anyone like him? Can’t they find someone likable?
That’s not what your mother said this morning while I was having sexual intercourse with her!
:: jovial Scottish chortling ::
My goal in life if I ever get on Jeopardy! and am losing pathetically, I want that as one of my answers.
Wouldn’t Pat Sajak be comparably lucky, in that his job is about as unchallenging? And Vanna White’s job is even simpler. All she does is turn letters, and that’s not even necessary since they changed to video screens displaying the various letters.
As for Alex, to his credit, the banter part of the show has to be awkward for him as well. One of the reasons I never tried out for Jeopardy is that I’d have to come up with some stupid stuff to talk with him about during this segment.
But both Vanna and Sajak at least seem qualified for their unchallenging jobs:
Vanna’s qualifications are pretty clear, she has to look pretty in a dress. Obviously she’s not the only person in the world who can do it, but she does it well.
And Sajak is pretty good at filling 45 seconds with some vaguely amusing and inoffensive banter and then keep a narration going while the game gets played (or at least he was, I haven’t actually watched Wheel in the better part of a decade). He’s not a comedic genius or anything, but he gets the job done.
They’re both lucky to have such easy jobs, no doubt hundreds of thousands of people could do equally well in the same position, but at least the people chosen to do those easy jobs are good at them.
Granted Jeopardy tries to keep itself a little more high-brow then Wheel, so Sajaks schtick wouldn’t really work there. But you’d think they could find some more relaxed but vaguely intellectual figure to do Trebek’s job without the awkwardness.
Wasn’t Trebek famous for blowing his top a lot in his younger days? The “surrounded by idiots” portrayal seems to have folowed him to whatever he happened to be hosting, but earlier portrayals(see Eugene Levy’s portrayal on SCTV for example) tend to show him losing it rather than managing to hold on to some sense of composure.
Maybe the reason he’s so awkward is that he’s trying not to leap across the podium and strangle the conttestant.
I once read an interview with Sajak in which he joked, “Sometimes, when it’s very quiet in the studio, you can actually hear my brain cells dying one by one.”
If they were to eliminate the “witty banter” segment, it would diminish our viewing experience not one mote.
If they were to replace it with pre-recorded “who I am” video postcards as are common with reality shoes, it would not violate the show’s core appeal.
BTW, I ran into Alex’s auditon tape from 1969.
Well, what would you expect the whore to say?
::more jovial Scottish chortling::
hh
Well, he did curse at least: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU2w72KAkQQ
Here’s an even older clip of him hosting “Reach For the Top”, the Canadian high-school equivalent of “Knowledge Bowl”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khgnwQPvM0s
Love Jeopardy, can’t STAND Trebek.
Patronizing and condescending, especially toward the female contestants, who are referred to as “very bright young ladies” with a tone of surprise and pat on the head.
Yes, the “meet the contestants” chitchat is awful, especially because when a contestant tells where they’ve been, or what they’ve done, or what they know, Mr. T ALWAYS responds with how he’s been there too, done that too. Or he drops some little bit of arcana to let the player and audience know that he happens to know a little bit about Quantum Physics (or whatever the contestant’s field is) himself.
What an insufferable jerk.
However, I have to give credit where it’s due- except for the get acquainted chitchat, I think he does a great job hosting the rest of the show. Pains me to say it.
While I’m here, am I the only one who HATES those video and audio questions where we have to see the guy, the gal, celebrity, or even Mr. T himself, somewhere “on location” as they give the clue? Those things bring the program to a screeching stop, ruining the momentum, and eating up the clock.
Last but not least, maybe it’s just me, but there sure seem to be way too many categories about “The Bible” and “English Royalty.”
You have 30 seconds.
That would explain some of his political opinions. rimshot
Family Feud now does awful “who we are” videos. They’re kistchy and awful and if Jeopardy ever went that way it would be miserable. The banter is bad because the producers encourage the contestants to come up with stories with an interesting “hook” for Trebek to latch onto, and also because Trebek himself is not able to relate to the contestants on a warm, engaging, human way.
My wife and I cringed through this. I kept asking her, “Do you think he realizes that he’s suggested she’s wants to be a starfucker not a journalist?” Also in the college championship, he joked that an Indian contestant who had paid to receive an elephant’s blessingm had been con’ed. Not saying the elephant’s blessing amounts to much, but Jesus man, can you be more culturally insensitive? Dude is first class douche, pornstache or no.