A Tribute to Alex Trebek: Jeopardy! and Film Culture
Unfortunately, Canadian and broadcasting icon Alex Trebek passed away yesterday after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. The Jeopardy! host since its revival in the ‘80s, he became synonymous with gameshow culture, the showcasing of wisdom on a nightly basis, and overall prestige. His signature voice will never be forgotten, and that includes the answers he would state before contestants delivered their questions. Of course, Jeopardy! was about everything under the sun, and each episode was a spectacle of knowledge that made all of us feel inferior; I could take on the various entertainment categories, but stayed out of the picture when it came to pretty much anything else. The contestants felt like brainiacs, but Trebek seemed like the master of all, even if he was just learning about these topics at the exact second that he was revealing them on the big board. His hosting felt effortless, and it’s a gift no one took for granted.
Trebek was no stranger to knowing how to orchestrate the visual medium. He was a host of other notable gameshows before Jeopardy!, including Double Dare and The Wizard of Odds. Well before these, even, he was a CBC workhorse that took on many roles, including hosting Music Hop, Reach for the Top, and I’m Here Til 9, and his many gigs involved basic trivia, music knowledge, and more. Even before this, he was just a Sudbury native wanting to be the next big thing in broadcasting. When I worked at an archive years ago, I stumbled upon a documentary; I apologize, because I do not remember the title or content at all. All I do remember is that the voice narrating the program was very distinctive, and surely enough, it was that of a very young Alex Trebek, in the beginning stages of his illustrious career. Because he wanted to host everything, he subsumed all of the knowledge of the programs he led over the years. Between his professionalism and his database, Trebek was perfect for the comeback of Jeopardy!.
Various icons on the first celebrity edition of Jeopardy!.
Since he was no stranger to music, television, or film, cinema and the other art fields were always treated a little bit more interestingly here than on other game shows. Film felt like a history field, where classics were dug up or obscure answers were offered for contestants. It felt less like the show was checking in on how current you were, and more about how well versed in the entire field you were. There’s a big difference between knowing how many Fast and Furious films there are, and knowing who was in the casket at the start of Sunset Boulevard. Even then, that latter example is still trivia based, and Jeopardy! went further than that, with questions about the actual evolution of film itself. For decades, the breadth of film history (amongst other things, of course) was built upon for those who have never studied it, opening eyes to movements and events. Even though Jeopardy! also discussed popular trends like awards and current films, it never feared to get technical, and that’s where eyes are opened to new things.
Getting a chance to see entertainers geek out was also a pleasure, with the celebrity editions of the show geared to supporting charities (not to be confused with Saturday Night Live’s spoof version of Celebrity Jeopardy!, starring Will Ferrell). Whether it was rock and roll based or topics across the board, understanding how much our favourite artists knew was truly something; seeing them fail was something else, but we always supported them no matter what (we wanted charities to be donated to, after all). Trebek was always a man attached to the arts, even though Jeopardy! attached him to every other discussion as well. I feel like that’s a big reason as to why art was dealt with as seriously as science, history, politics, geography, and other categories. It was the one show where every topic felt of the same nature at the time.
Other shows would eventually show up, like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, or the many other gameshows with trivia components amongst other things (nowadays there is The Wall and the revival of The Weakest Link, amongst many others), but Jeopardy! felt like an academic assembly being attended. This included the entertainment categories, that were as difficult as anything else on that show. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but Jeopardy! was incentive for me when I was younger to dive deeper into film and music. It was a quest to discover more than what the world around me was selling, and what the trends were dictating. There was a whole universe of films, and Jeopardy! was featuring snippets of the encyclopedia of this destination. To me, that speaks volumes of its impact on the entertainment industries. In the days of social media, I can guarantee you’ve seen artists freak out when they show up as an answer on the show. It’s an absolute honour for them to be alongside the most challenging questions in gameshow history. Film wasn’t just fun, here. It was thought provoking, and it carried the same weight as anything else. It’s a much-needed exposure that the world benefited from for nearly forty years. We have Alex Trebek to thank for that.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.