Harvey Silikovitz - Jeopardy Superstar for One Game

 

Over the years there have been thousands of contestants on Jeopardy from various backgrounds and circumstances.  I fondly remember Eddie Timmanus who was blind.  Alex Trebek gave him a braille readout card for both rounds and is given a keyboard to type out his response and wager for Final Jeopardy!

On Monday March 10 Harvey Silikovitz identified as an attorney and a karaoke singer first appeared on the show.  Harvey was coping with Parkinson's Disease that was diagnosed in 2019. He first auditioned for the classic game show in 2001 — and went on to miss an additional opportunity since then. Finally, on Monday his quest to become a contestant was realized.  There is a good article about him in the New York Post.

He was absolutely fantastic on Monday as he got 35 questions correct with only one miss and defeated 8-time champion Laura Faddah with a total of $23,600  I thought he would be a winner of several games, but his performance on Tuesday's show was not as good as he only got 13 correct and finished in third place with a total of $13,600.

I read a few discussions on Jeopardy boards on Facebook.  Some posters felt that Harvey was fatigued in the second game as a result of his condition.

I admire Harvey for his persistence in becoming a contestant's and his fight against Parkinson's Disease.  Hopefully in the future he will be invited to a Second Chance Tournament.

Remembering April Fool's Day 1997

 On April 1, 1997, Pat Sajak was the host of Jeopardy while Alex Trebek became the host of Wheel of Fortune for one day.

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It's Official - Mike Richards and Mayim Bialek will be Host of Jeopardy

 

After 16 guest hosts a decision was made for the permanent hosts of  Jeopardy after the passing of Alex Trebek.  Richards will kick off Season 38 as the full-time host of the syndicated show, and Bialik will serve as the host of Jeopardy!’s primetime and spinoff series, including the upcoming all-new Jeopardy! National College Championship. Richards will continue to serve as executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Regular Jeopardy shows will be syndicated while the primetime and spinoff series will be on the ABC Network.

I was rooting for Ken Jennings or Levar Burton to get the gig, but it didn't happen.  I'm looking forward to the next Tournament of Champions where Matt Amodio (What!) will appear.  As of this writing, he has 15 wins.  I would love to see Mark "The Beast" Labatt appear as a contestant.

Variety Reports that Mike Richards will be the New Permanent Host of Jeopardy

 

Variety is a publication that reports on entertainment news, film reviews, awards, film festivals, box office, entertainment industry conferences.  It states that Jeopardy Executive Producer Mike Richard is in advanced negotiations to become the show's permanent host.

Richards was one of many guest hosts that appeared after Alex Trebek's passing.  They all did fine jobs in hosting, but I was rooting for either Ken Jennings or Levar Burton to get the gig. This is not a done deal since a formal announcement would have to be made by the "Powers that Be".

Variety also reports that decade-old discrimination lawsuits cast a shadow on his appointment.  I guess you never know if this issue can deny him this job.

Stay tuned.

When Will the Permanent Host of Jeopardy be Announced?

 

There have been many guest hosts of Jeopardy in 2021.  All of them have been very good.  Obviously, nobody can replace Alex Trebek, but someone must be appointed to succeed him.  I assume that recordings of shows for the next season must start soon since new shows begin by mid-September.  I could be wrong but the new host will be one of the guest hosts who "auditioned" over the past several months.  Most of them have other commitments and may have to give up their previous jobs to become hosts.

Again, I may be wrong, but I predict Ken Jennings will get the nod.  He was given a 6-week gig, while the others appeared for only 2 weeks.  He is popular with the viewers and would be an excellent choice.

Jeopardy Guest Hosts after Ken Jennings

I believe that Ken Jennings's run as Guest Host of Jeopardy will end on February 19th giving him a 6-week audition.  I think he has done a credible job in that role.  I just don't like his repeating many of Alex Trebek's sayings when he spoke to the contestants.

The other guest hosts (in no particular) will be:

• Katie Couric - former Today Show host
• Savannah Guthrie - current Today Show host
• Mike Richards - Jeopardy Producer
• Aaron Rodgers - football player
• Mayim Bialik - Actress
• Dr. Sanjay Gupta -CNN Medical Correspondent
• Dr. Mehmet Oz
• Anderson Cooper - CNN and 60 Minutes Correspondent

Will one of these Guest Hosts become the permanent host?

I am disappointed that Brooke Burns and Meredith Viera are on this list since both have experience as game show hosts.

 

Jeopardy News - Ken Jennings will be the First Interim Jeopardy Host

 

On Wednesday, November 18 I raised some questions about the future of Jeopardy.  A few of them were answered.

• There will be reruns in the weeks of December 21 and 28th.  This makes sense as people will be busy with the holidays and away from their TVs.
• Alex Trebek's last week will be aired from January 4-8.
• Ken Jennings will be the first interim host beginning January 11.

Here are some questions:

• How long will Ken be the interim host?
• What other people will serve as interim hosts?  Steve Harvey, Brooke Burns, and Joey Fatone come to mind as they are currently hosting game shows, but will an actor, newscaster, or former athlete appear as an interim host?  There is an online petition for Levar Burton to be the host.
• Will the time as an interim host be an audition for the permanent host?
• Who will be the permanent host and when will he/she assume the position?

Stay tuned.

What is the Future of Jeopardy?

 

Nobody can replace Alex Trebek as the host of Jeopardy, but someone will eventually succeed him as the host of Jeopardy.  I am certain that by now the producers of the show have privately had discussions.  Will the next host be "grandfatherly" as Alex was, a younger man, or a woman.  There is an online petition to appoint Levar Burton as the host.  Some people think Ken Jennings should be the new host. I proposed Brooke Burns as she has experience as the host of two quiz shows that have featured Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer.

Jeopardy shows with Alex as host were pre-recorded until October 29 and will air until Christmas Day.  There are options for the producers:

• Air reruns until a permanent host is appointed
• Make someone an interim host until a permanent successor is found
• Give applicants trial runs as host as part of their interview
• Appoint a permanent host immediately

Some viewers equated Alex with Jeopardy and may not watch the show again.  We will have to wait and see what will happen.

Brooke Burns Should Be Considered as the New Host of Jeopardy

 

Nobody can replace Alex Trebek as the host of Jeopardy.  Someone must succeed him since the show is so popular, but I just read that 50% of the viewers will not watch the show with a new host.  There are now 34 shows left that were recorded with Alex hosting before his death.  No future host has been announced, but certainly, the producers of Jeopardy have given some thought to a future host after Alex's illness was announced.  He fought the disease with great courage.

Brooke Burns is the host of two shows on The Game Show Network:

Master Minds   (Ken Jennings appears on this show)

The Chase (American version featuring Mark Labatt as The Beast)

She is an intellectual with a good sense of humor who interacts well with the contestants.

I hope the producers of Jeopardy will consider her as the new host of Jeopardy.

Rest in Peace Alex Trebek

 

Today we heard the bad news that Alex Trebek passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.  He was very candid with his fans by publically announcing in March 2019 he had the 4th stage of this miserable disease.  He kept everyone advised of his progress in fighting this terrible form of cancer which has a low survival rate.  My father fought pancreatic cancer from 1995 until he passed away in September 1997,  Alex really loved being the host of Jeopardy as he hosted the show while he was taking chemotherapy.

I have been a fan of Jeopardy since the Arthur Flemming days in 1964.  It was hard to watch it since I was in school while the show was on weekdays at 12 noon.  The show was on hiatus for 5 years until 1984 when the syndicated version hosted by Alex premiered.  For most of its run, it was on weekdays at 7 PM which was much more convenient for me.  I rarely missed a show and always recorded it when I was away from home in the early evening.

If you are interested there were many posts in Bruce's Journal about Alex Trebek.  I assume there are several weeks of shows not yet seen with Alex hosting it.  Somebody will succeed him as the host of Jeopardy, but it will not be the same.  It would be inappropriate to speculate on who will be the new host of the show so shortly after his death.  I have someone in mind I feel could succeed him, but not reveal the name at this time.

Very shortly after his death was announced WABC-7 gave a tribute.  I have chosen to post here the tribute from Entertainment Tonight.

Rest in peace Alex.

Reading Alex Trebek's Autobiography

Since there are no movie theaters, museums, broadway shows, bookstores, or open libraries, one can still read books purchased online.  I ordered The Answer is ....... Reflections on My Life, the autobiography of Alex Trebek, and received it the day it was released.  By the way, today is his 80th birthday.

This is a true autobiography which was not ghostwritten.  It is easy to read in an anecdotal style.  The chapters are very short and are titled in the form of a question.  Alex talks very candidly about growing up in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.  His parents were divorced and his mother had a child by another relationship.  Alex didn't find out he had a half-brother until h was in his forties.  He divorced his first wife in 1981 and remarried in 1990 to Jean who is 24 years younger than him. 

He discusses how his career developed and very often one must be in the right place at the right time to get the right job. He hosted several game shows before he became the long time host of Jeopardy in 1984.  I am about 2/3 of the way through the book and am just starting to read about his hosting of Jeopardy.

It is amazing how Alex has survived pancreatic cancer for almost 1 1/2 years.  He says the chemotherapy is painful, but his numbers are very good.  He will continue to host Jeopardy until he is physically unable to do it.

I recommend this book to all even if they are not Jeopardy fans.

Alex Trebek Has Completed Chemotherapy and is on the Mend

In the video above Alex Trebek announced that he has completed his chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer and is on the mend and has started recording episodes of season 36 of Jeopardy that will begin on September 9.  This is indeed good news, but Alex is not "out of the woods".  He needs to be examined periodically by his doctors to ensure that tumors have not returned.  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has survived this dreadful disease for several years, so let's hope for the best for Alex and Justice Ginsburg.

Prayers for Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek announced on social media that he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.  Sadly, this form of cancer has a very low survival rate.  My father and Uncle Ben suffered from this dreaded disease over 20 years ago.  My Dad was treated with a combination of chemotherapy and radiation and survived about 2 years after the diagnosis.  The doctors felt that radiation shrunk the tumor and slowed the progression of the disease.

As a long time fan of Jeopardy, I am saddened by this announcement.  I was glad to hear that Alex wants to fight the disease and is taking a positive attitude.  My Prayers go out for him. 

Serendipity at the Paley Center Finding Art Fleming's Jeopardy Among Other Things

Today I went to the Paley Center with Karen and Lee without anything specific in mind.  Karen was interested in the Moody Blues.  A search yielded an appearance on the Tom Jones Show in 1969.  Lee was interested in Johnny Cash so we found some of his performances from 1958.  I did a search on Bob Dylan and found an appearance in 1979 on Saturday Night Live where he sang Gotta Serve Somebody.

Just for the heck of it I searched under Jeopardy and found two episodes from the 1970s featuring Art Fleming with Don Pardo as the announcer.  The amounts for each question were much lower back then, and the second and third place finishers could keep their winnings.  If I remember correctly Art Fleming was the host from 1964-79.  The Alex Trebek version started in 1984 and is still going strong.

Jeopardy Season Ends after 46 Weeks and 230 Shows

Today Alex Trebek announced that the Jeopardy season has ended.  He stated that with 230 shows it has the longest season of any game show.  The only other game shows on the air today are Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Wheel of Fortune.  For the next 6 weeks, tournaments will be rerun, but I will likely go online an hour earlier than usual until the next season begins in September.

Jeopardy has some long run.  The Art Flemming version on NBC aired from 1964-1979 while the syndicated  Alex Trebek version started in 1984 and is still going strong.  How long will Alex stay as host?  Who will succeed him?  Time will tell.

Buzzy Cohen - Jeopardy's Latest Superstar and Comic

Buzzy Cohen is getting up there as he has now won 9 games with a total of about $167,000.  He is not quite a big a winner as Dave Madden, Julia Collins, or Ken Jennings, but I think he has the potential to be one of the all time big winners.  He will certainly be invited back for the next Tournament of Champions.  I enjoy his sense of humor as he makes a goofy remark about Alex Trebek in the Final Jeopardy round if he was won in a runaway.  However my favorite Jeopardy comic has to be Vinay Varadarajan as he turned the tables and interviewed Dan Patrick on Sports Jeopardy.  I am really rooting for Vinay to come to the regular Jeopardy show,

Yesterday Was April Fools Day

It seems that jokes on April Fools' Day were more common years ago.  Yesterday Facebook friend Steven Jay Gilinsky announced he became engaged.  He fooled a few people including myself, but retracted the announcement later in the day.  When Jeopardy came on yesterday Alex Trebek appeared for a few seconds without his pants on.  There were a couple of pranks later on the show as they played a few Wheel of Fortune jingles and showed Ken Jennings answering a question.

There was a Morning Zoo reunion on WCBS-FM yesterday morning.  Competing radio station Z-100 was not mentioned but Scott Shannon and other were on that station in the 1980s.  WCBS-FM is now trying to attract listeners in the 25-54 age range who grew up listening to contemporary hit radio in the 1980s.  They don't want old farts like me who grew up in the 1960s listening to WABC and WMCA.

Vinny Varadarajan Sports Jeopardy Superstar Is A Graduate of NJIT

Regular Jeopardy dates back to the Art Fleming version in 1964 while the Alex Trebek version started in 1984.  In the Fall of 2014 Sports Jeopardy debuted on Crackle TV.   Players win points as the winnings are limited to $5000 for the champion.  I watch it mostly on Saturday mornings on http://www.sportsjeopardy.com .  In season one players could only win once, but could come back for a tournament at the end of the season.  In season two there is no limit on games won as there is in regular Jeopardy.

Vinny Varadarajan seen above has become the Ken Jennings of Sports Jeopardy as he has now won 11 straight games.  He is absolutely awesome as he has won most of his games in runaways.  Questions on Sports Jeopardy cover many sports not just baseball, football, basketball, and hockey,

When Vinny is interviewed on the show he is described as an engineering graduate from New Jersey.  I thought he could be an alumnus of NJIT.  I did a Google search on his name and NJIT and found this site listing 2012 graduates.  There is a Vinay Varadarajan from Fords, NJ in the list of graduates.  I really think it is him, but I am not 100% right now.  I found him on Twitter and sent him a tweet asking if he graduated from NJIT.  I just checked his Facebook page and saw that Bryan Sutphen whom I knew at NJIT is one of  his Facebook friends.  I think indirect evidence says he is an NJIT alumnus.

I have to revise this he just responded to my Tweet and confirmed he is a graduate of NJIT,  He remembered that I gave him a Freshman Seminar tour several years ago and that he spent many hours in the Van Houten Library.

Please remember that a new episode of Sports Jeopardy can be seen on Crackle TV every Wednesday.

Looking Forward to the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions

Alex Trebek announced the the Tournament of Champions featuring the big winners of the last two years will begin tomorrow.  The questions are always more difficult during this tournament as the cream of the crop of the players are competing.  I hope there will be a face off between Julia Colllins and Arthur Chu who bring different styles to picking the answers on the board.  Good luck to all of the players.

Random Thoughts of the Day

Happy Birthday to Art Garfunkel and Peter Noone.  We would have played their music tonight, but the CD player was busy with Bob Dylan's complete Basement Tapes which took about an hour.  He actually covered two Johnny Cash songs - Big River and Folsom Prison Blues.

It was a busy night as I had to juggle Cousin Brucie, Bob Dylan, Jeopardy, and the Knicks.  So far they are 2-2.

Alex Trebek announced that the Tournament of Champions will begin next Monday.  I hope there will be a match of Arthur Chu against Julia Collins.