Jeopardy! is not quite back to square one in its search for a full-time host in the aftermath of Alex Trebek’s passing, but after its first choice fell through, the program is in the midst of finding someone who can take over the day-to-day hosting gig while Mayim Bialik is at the helm for primetime specials.
But in the aftermath of the fiasco that led to executive producer Mike Richards’ appointment and subsequent resignation as his past words and actions came to light, one prominent former Jeopardy! contestant spoke out about why it’s so important that the show gets Trebek’s successor correct. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, explained the importance of Jeopardy! as a cultural institution in the United States and the role that Trebek played in it.
Though Alex Trebek may have started hosting the show with the background of just another placid game show host, he evolved with the show and became the kindly face of the part of America that venerates knowledge. That’s why choosing the right host to replace him is about more than simple entertainment values, it’s about respecting what the show represents to American culture. It’s about acknowledging Jeopardy!’s significance as an enriching leader in promoting the joys and benefits of education.
Abdul-Jabbar went on to praise Jeopardy! and its commitment to facts amid “the assault against intelligence and critical thinking the country has faced in recent years,” mentioning groups like “science-deniers” and “history-deniers” and the danger they possess due to democracy’s need for an informed populace. As such, Jeopardy!, he believes, needs to be celebrated due to the fact that “why we have to pay homage to anything in popular culture that promotes knowledge, not as a sign of elitism, but as a triumph of the human spirit’s thirst for understanding.”
To close, the NBA Hall of Fame inductee closed by laying out what the show needs to look for in whomever attempts to fill Trebek’s shoes, both as a host and as someone who became ubiquitous with the search for knowledge.
“The ideal host for Jeopardy! should embody what the show means to its viewership: a passion for knowledge and a respect for a diverse community,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “Maybe the host would also reflect that diversity in order to show that it’s not just white males who can be the gatekeepers to these values. What’s especially shocking is that the producers of a show that is about knowledge demonstrated a substantial lack of awareness of recent cultural history and the coming of age our institutions — from government to the academy to entertainment — have been going through.”
