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Rolling Stone has a new, in-depth profile on Jeopardy, with the modest title, “What Is… The Greatest Game Show of All Time?” I mean, I agree, I think Jeopardy IS the most intelligent and clever game show out there. The GOAT of game shows, if you will. Still, the hubris makes me chuckle. The article is part history of the show, and part anointing Ken Jennings as Alex Trebek’s chosen successor. Why a piece like this is coming out now, instead of a full year ago when Mayim Bialik exited and left Jennings as the sole host, I cannot say. But there were facts and anecdotes throughout the article that made the whole thing a nerdy fun read. A few highlights:

TV history: Jeopardy! began life as a private joke between the legendary TV producer Merv Griffin and his wife Julann, who suggested the “answers in the form of a question” gimmick as a riff on the quiz-show scandals of the Fifties, when contestants were given the answers in advance. The original version, hosted by Art Fleming, ran on and off from 1964 through 1979. But it’s the modern incarnation, which debuted in the fall of 1984 with Trebek as host, that became an institution: a reassuring constant in an otherwise turbulent world. Trebek was one big reason for that. He filled the role for so long and in such an unflappable manner that he lent the nerdy proceedings an almost Rat Pack level of cool.

Random trivia: During commercial breaks, upholding a tradition started by Trebek, Jennings takes questions from the studio audience, which range from Jeopardy!-related (no, he’s never seen a contestant get cold feet and back out) to personal (his favorite sandwich is a BLT) to unanswerable (“Are there more wheels or doors in the world?”).

Biography: By some standards, Jennings was the perfect candidate for the job. He had spent his school-age years in South Korea and Singapore … and watched Jeopardy! daily as a lifeline to American culture. … Twenty years ago, pausing his day job as a computer programmer to appear on the show, he won 74 consecutive games — a record that still stands — and more than $2.5 million. He would later win another $2 million in various tournaments pitting past champions against one another, including 2020’s Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time. He also had Trebek’s implicit endorsement. (Trebek’s widow, Jean, even gave Jennings a pair of her husband’s cuff links to wear on his first episode.) But he was not an experienced broadcaster, which made some fans skeptical. Others rolled their eyes at another white guy in a profession full of them.

Who is Gainsborough’s rival? “I saw the look that the contestants would have when he’d walk out on the stage,” [showrunner Michael] Davies says, “or his facility with the material. I remember at one point, somebody buzzed in and gave the wrong response, and they said, ‘Who is Gainsborough?’ And he said, ‘Oh, no, I’m sorry, it’s Gainsborough’s great rival,’ and named some other obscure artist. It was just a moment, [but] who on earth other than Ken Jennings could have that moment?”

A haven for facts: “Jeopardy! is a weirdly unifying thing,” says Jennings, with “young people, old people, red states, blue states — it’s an institution that has this universal acceptance. Whatever the forces of anti-science and fake news and whatever are, they seem to have some carve-out for Jeopardy!. Maybe because it’s a game? This is a place where nobody says, ‘Why are you doing a category about dinosaurs? Dinosaurs aren’t real.’ Or, ‘Why are you mentioning the moon landing? We never went to the moon.’ For whatever reason, Jeopardy! seems to be immune from that, and maybe that’s a good sign. Maybe we will at some point get back to a more unified culture that agrees on basic facts of the universe. What a dream for America!”

[From Rolling Stone]

“An almost Rat Pack like level of cool,” is a superb characterization of Trebek’s affect on the show. Yet I think it actually works out for the best that Jennings brings such a wholly different vibe as host. I always thought he was a fitting choice from the angle of his being a record-breaking champion, and his comments at the end had my political-philosophical synapses humming (if in a rather trippy way). Here we are in a world where facts are respected in a game show, but not in real life. I only hope we evolve as he says, to once again agree “on basic facts of the universe.” But I’m not holding my breath, either. In the meantime, I will take Time Wasting Diversions for $1,000 and likely spend the rest of my week pondering that age old question: are there more wheels or doors in the world?

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