Agreed.
Amen to every word of this. I’ll add that he usually opens a mini-interview with a question that is phrased in such a way to make it perfectly clear that he already knows more than a little about the contestant’s area of interest/expertise, and will often reply to their achievement by implying he’s done it too, only better. He always has to one-up them, as if to knock them down to size, and also make it about him.
Well hell. A week and a half ago I said I wouldn’t post in this thread again. Obviously I got carried away. Sorry. Over and out.
Matt LeBlanc. Really.
If you won’t have him for President, how about Chesley Sullenberger?
With due respect, you’re objectively wrong. He pulls the show off really, really well. It runs very smoothly, even granting they can edit it a little.
Your personal opinion of him as “douchey,” whatever that means, isn’t all that relevant to how well he hosts the show, except insofar as it is in defiance of the majority opinion of the show’s legions of viewers. I mean, you seem to hate the guy based on whatever, and that’s your opinion, but that isn’t a measure of how well a game show host does his job. I’ve seen show hosts who were people I thought were quite likable who just weren’t very good at it.
I just don’t see how they could pull this off without him giving up something else. Neat idea though.
From what I’ve read, Jeopardy! tapes for only 4-6 days each month, so it’s quite possible for someone to do this and other stuff as well.
If I personally find him off-putting, am I “objectively wrong” about being put off? Am I not really put off, I just think I am?
If a host of anything isn’t likable, personable, and engaging, then by definition he’s not doing his job well. Obviously opinions can vary, and that’s mine. I don’t know about “the majority opinion of the show’s legions of viewers” - I suppose that’s true enough, given how long he’s been on the show. But there is no small number of Dopers who find him off-putting; there have been entire threads about it.
Also, something just occurred to me: I’ll bet Trebek reads the Dope. :o
I keep thinking of people who would do well on You Bet Your Life, half hour of chat with a little bit of quiz show mixed in. Obviously they would go crazy doing Jeopardy. Ken Jennings would be a hoot. But ruin the game by answering all the questions first. He’d be good for a week then start mouthing the answers to the contestants. Further, I think the host has to kind of sexless?, maybe not, but harmless? anyway.
Anybody currently doing audiobooks and under 40 would do. I really like Wil Wheaton for the job.
On a slight tangent, I like this article, in which Ken Jennings writes about the Jeopardy! minor leagues: The connection between Jeopardy! and NAQT quiz bowl.
Since the thread was revived, I’ll note that the current champion, James Holzhauer, set a new one-day record on Tuesday, winning $110,914. He’s won five games so far with a total of about $298,000.
This is standard interviewing technique, especially when time is tight. He already knows what he needs to know about each contestant (they provide information before the show), chooses what he thinks might appeal to the audience, and steers the chat in that direction. He doesn’t ask a question to which he doesn’t already know the answer to keep the contestant from going off on tangents. If he already knows something about the field of expertise from personal experience, so much the better.
Wesley Crusher hosting Jeopardy? May you be cast into Ghe’tor for even suggesting such a thing! :mad:
Barack Obama
No, not Wes. Chaos.
When I qualified for the show back in the Nineties, we were asked to list five interesting things about ourselves for Alex’s eventual use, if it came to that (for me, it didn’t).
He certainly has the right combination of gravitas and levity. Maybe this was his intended niche all along!