I like game shows.  Always have since I was a kid.  I imagine anyone that has been a child in the last 50 years associates The Price Is Right with that gleeful feeling of not being at school.  Perhaps it was a snow day, a sick day, or summer vacation.  Regardless of the reason, Bob Barker meant I was not in school and this was awesome.  (Do kids make the same association these days with Drew Carey as the host?  I am certain they are gleeful to be home, but I kind of assume these days they are glued to YouTube or are streaming something other than CBS Daytime Television.)

While I enjoyed what The Price Is Right signified, my favorite morning game show on CBS in my youth was The $100,000 Pyramid.  ABC has resurrected Pyramid in the last few years as a primetime summer show with Michael Strahan as the host.  There have been other reboots of the show through the years as well (including a version hosted by Donny Osmond, perhaps best remembered for when Joey went on the game show as a storyline in an episode of Friends).  The original Pyramid with Dick Clark will always be my favorite though.  While The Price Is Right may have signified that I was home from school, when it came to the game itself, I loved seeing Dick Clark hold down the fort with Jamie Farr, Nipsey Russell, Betty White, and friends playing the part of celebrity guests.  In all the years I watched the show, I swear I never saw anyone win $100,000.  It always seemed like they won $10,000 or $25,000.  I never saw that elusive year-end tournament in which they supposedly gave away $100,000.

Other game shows from my youth that I fondly remember are Tic Tac Dough, Joker’s Wild, Family Feud (Richard Dawson or Ray Combs version).  I have especially warm places in my heart for Scrabble (hosted by Chuck Woolery), Classic Concentration (hosted by Alex Trebek), PBS’s Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego, and Win, Lose, Or Draw.  I was always partial to the daytime version of Win, Lose, Or Draw hosted by Vicki Lawrence, although the evening version Bert Convy was good too.  With the advent of Game Show Network on cable, I became a fan of old black-and-white games shows.  I really loved the old What’s My Line, To Tell The Truth, and You Bet Your Life.  The best part about those old shows is how often America’s Sweetheart, Betty White, makes appearances.  She’s been entertaining America through games for 70 years now, perhaps longer.  In fact, she married Allen Ludden, host of Password, another classic game show.

Throughout all the years, there were two game show constants in my life.  Probably a constant throughout the lives of anyone under the age of 50.  Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, airing every evening, for as long as I can remember.  I believe that in the vast majority of the country, these shows air at or near 7pm.  Although I know there are a few exceptions, the biggest being Chicago which I believe airs Jeopardy at 3:30pm.  I believe a city in Alabama airs Jeopardy at 10am, and some cities air it after midnight.  But for most of the country, it is a communal experience, something we all share.  We get home from a long day at work or school, have some dinner, hopefully have some loved ones waiting for us to share with the experience of their day.  Unwind with some Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.  Kids watch it with parents, maybe whether they want to or not.  Grandparents watch it with grandkids.  No politics, no current events, no stress.  Just Pat, Vanna, and Alex providing 60 minutes of escape, entertainment, and enjoyment.

I’ve always been a bigger fan of Jeopardy.  Most of the rest of this article will focus on Jeopardy.  I like Wheel of Fortune, but I love Jeopardy.  But I don’t mean gloss over Wheel of Fortune.  It’s like comfort food to me, and when it is not there I miss it.  If there is a breaking news story, the Olympics, or if the Mayor of Detroit is having a State of the City address, and Wheel of Fortune is not on, this tiny disruption to my routine really pisses me off.  It’s as if my comfortable pair of slippers is not there to greet me in the evening.

Jeopardy though, is my true love.  I love this show, I love everything about it.  It’s just a show, I don’t understand why it matters so much to me, but it does.  The theme song brings forth from me a Pavlovian response, it brings forth genuine joy that my next 30 minutes are filled with the greatest TV game show ever.  I was a 4.0 GPA nerd in school growing up, and here was a show that celebrated being the ultimate in the accumulation of knowledge.  Sure, it will have its fair share of pop culture or sports questions that many people will be able to answer, but eventually there will be a category that only the best of the best can answer.  I dream of being good enough to win a game, but I know that European Geography is going to trip me up.  I know lots of categories are going to trip me up.  But I love the fact that wisdom and intelligence is celebrated.  I love the fact that the judges are crazy strict when it comes to getting an answer correct, if the contestant mumbles one syllable, that will not be good enough.  Because Jeopardy demands you be at your best to win, that the cream rise to the top.

The recent Greatest Of All Time primetime tournament felt like the crowning achievement for this version of the show, 35 years and still going strong, over 8000 episodes and still counting.  (The current version of the show began in 1984, but the original edition, hosted by Art Fleming lasted from 1964-1979.)  The GOAT tournament was a ratings bonanza, and pitted its three greatest champions, Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer.  The anticipation, excitement, and anxiety I felt awaiting this tournament I can only describe as like the tension before a big boxing match.  It was a perfect Jeopardy moment, with the Greatest Of All Time victory going to Ken Jennings.  I was strongly rooting for Ken, was very pleased at the result, and come to think of it, discussing my emotions as a way-too-interested viewer watching the Ken vs Brad vs James epic battle play out over four nights very well could be the basis for another article on another day. 

As mentioned above, Jeopardy existed before its current run with Alex Trebek.  Art Fleming hosted the show in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  You may remember Weird Al Yankovic’s song, I Lost On Jeopardy, which features the lyrics, “Art Fleming gave the answers, but I couldn’t get the questions right”.  Then there is the hilarious, screwball comedy, Airplane 2: The Sequel, which features a scene with the original version of Jeopardy in it. 

I grew up watching Jeopardy with Alex Trebek. For me, Jeopardy is Alex, and Alex is Jeopardy.  I don’t want to imagine a world without Alex Trebek hosting Jeopardy.  When Alex announced his cancer diagnosis, it really saddened me quite a lot.  I told a coworker, “I don’t know why this is upsetting me so much, it’s not like I know the guy”.  But as she pointed out, “he literally has brought you 30 minutes of happiness every weekday of your life.  Of course that would mean something to you.”

Jeopardy has been around long before Alex hosted, and presumably will be around long after Alex calls it quits.  The Price Is Right continues after Bob Barker retired.  The Tonight Show continues after Johnny Carson retired.  TV shows continue, generations move on.  But I am savoring every moment while I can with Alex hosting.  Hopefully his cancer treatment works, and he is around for many years to come.  I’ll keep watching my favorite show, preferably for a long time with my favorite host still at the helm. 

Detroit Tigers baseball still goes on, even without Ernie Harwell as the radio announcer, but it is never quite the same as it was.  I feel that Jeopardy will be much the same way for me.  The show will go on, but never quite the same, once Alex hangs it up.

I end this article with something probably only a full-fledged Jeopardy-phile notices and loves when it happens.  There are those very rare instances, when the questions are answered so quickly, or I guess I should say when the answers are questioned so quickly, that the running time of an episode is coming up short.  Those wonderful occurrences when Jeopardy runs the extended theme at the end of the show.  It’s an end credits party for Jeopardy geeks everywhere.  It gives me goosebumps.  Not joking, it really does.  I give you, the long credits roll, extended Jeopardy theme, as I salute you Jeopardy. The greatest game show ever.

– MTR

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