Growing up as a game show nerd, there were a few things I wanted to do when I got to be old enough - I suppose this would have been called a bucket list if that term existed in the 80s.
I wanted to spin the big wheel on TPIR. I wanted to get zinged by Gene Rayburn & the classic "Match Game" panel. I wanted to just sit down and talk to Bill Cullen (something tells me he had stories for days). I wanted to get a spin on the PyL big board. More than anything else, tho - and the one thing that's stuck with me into adulthood - I wanted to play "Jeopardy" for real. I wanted to be in the room when Johnny Gilbert said "THIS! IS! JEOPARDY!". Most of all, I wanted to meet Alex Trebek. Closest I came was an in-person tryout in Boston a few years back. I remember liking "High Rollers" as a kid (something about the game mechanics w/ the giant dice, I guess), but there was something about Trebek; I couldn't put my finger on it, but it always seemed...effortless? I know that's not the right word, because he was one of the hardest workers in his field. He took on Jeopardy - and really, did more than most other hosts in a similar position would have done - and later "Classic Concentration", which you'd think couldn't be more a polar opposite to J!, yet he pulled it off with style, humanity, and humility (even when asked to wear a ridiculous Santa suit). Whoever takes up the J! mantle (Ken Jennings, presumably) has some big shoes to fill. On Monday, November 9, 2020 at 12:52:31 PM UTC-5 Tom Wolper wrote: > On Mon, Nov 9, 2020 at 10:45 AM [email protected] < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> My grandmother had watched the original show in the 60s and 70s with Art >> Fleming , so i remember one night me and her watching and she said >> something to the effect of "this guy is no Art Fleming for sure!" She >> didn't realize how good Trebek was. >> > > I remember game shows being a big part of my school age TV watching. It > seemed the laid back style of the black and white TV era hosts was ending > and the new generation were more like used car salesmen. Trebek was in that > group but stayed genial and low key. He kept those qualities for Jeopardy > and that's a big reason that show has its status among game shows. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/3e2beb31-c841-43ac-b3d3-b0a16c9ff6f7n%40googlegroups.com.
