RIP, Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy! since 1984, has passed away after a long bout with cancer. With his passing the show loses its best host, someone who embodied both the show's celebration of knowledge and its demand for cool dignity in presentation and performers. Art Fleming, who preceded Trebek from 1965 to 1975 and again in a late '70s revival, was amiable in the low-key fashion of contemporaries such as Bill Cullen. He was pleasantly memorable -- when my family played the home version of Jeopardy! someone would say, "I'll be Art" -- but not much more than that. Ken Jennings, long rumored to be Trebek's successor, has a peevish quality -- at least, off the air -- that contrasts with Trebek's coolness even when Trebek was his most sardonic. In addition, since his cancer diagnosis, Trebek has seemed warmer, touched by the public response to his illness. The Trebek I met many years ago during his promotional visit to Cleveland was a touch chilly and di...