July 27, 2006
MOM KNOWS BEST (via Bryan Francoeur):
'Jeopardy' Champ Rips Show (AP, 7/25/06)
"Jeopardy!" ace Ken Jennings, who won $2.5 million during his 74-game winning streak, has a few unkind words to say about the show — and dapper host Alex Trebek."I know, I know, the old folks love him," Jennings writes in a recent posting, titled "Dear Jeopardy!" on his Web site.
"Nobody knows he died in that fiery truck crash a few years back and was immediately replaced with the Trebektron 4000 (I see your engineers still can't get the mustache right, by the way)."
Jennings also takes aim at the show's "effete, left-coast" categories and "same-old" format.
The Mother Judd was on Jeopardy with both Art Fleming, who she thought a real gemtleman, and Alex Trebek, who she thought a yutz. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 27, 2006 10:22 AM
Am I missing something? Trebek may indeed be a yutz, but Jennings is joking, no?
I read this piece a few days ago when it first appeared on Yahoo's "most read stories." The dude is poking fun at the show. To headline that he "rips" the show calls to mind the way AP headlines stories about Bush.
Of course, its the headline that pushed it to "most read" story for several days running now.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at July 27, 2006 10:44 AMSean Connery should show up on the next celebrity Jeopardy and spend the whole time insulting Trebeck for real.
Posted by: Mike Beversluis at July 27, 2006 1:27 PMI was on the show in 1995; he was the worst part of being a contestant.
Posted by: LC at July 27, 2006 4:19 PMTrebek's reputation pre-dated him -- SCTV did a parody of Alex pompously hosting a Jeopardy-like show four years before he actually did take over hosting duties in 1984. So his pesonna was already well known in Canada by then.
On the other hand, I actually saw the words "Thank you Don Pardo. Thank you my friends -- A. Fleming" spray painted onto a warehouse garage door in Manhattan in the early 1970s, showing there was at least a slight presence of intellectual graffitii artists roaming the streets of New York when the city was spiraling into lawlessness and bankruptcy.
Posted by: John at July 27, 2006 4:58 PM