QUIZ SHOWS

13 January 2021

So Ken Jennings has now guest hosted  two episodes of Jeopardy!

Alex Trebek hosted the show for 37 seasons before his death in November and so it's not surprising that people have complaints about Jennings' stepping in.  I personally liked him.  He is obviously nervous (my word, who wouldn't be!), which may explain his speaking faster than some like.  My only complaint is in his chat with the contestants, which seems to be more him and less them.  But he's hosted two times and I'm sure that as he settles into the job, he will find his own voice.

Other guest hosts they have talked about are Katie Couric, Mayim Bialik (of Big Bang Theory), Bill Whitaker (of 60 Minutes) and Green Bay Packers quarterback, Aaron Rodgers (who apparently was a guest on the show and did well).  I would be happy if they ended up with Jennings as the permanent host.

With Trebek's impending death, trivia shows have started to pop up.  The Chase is a new trivia quiz show which features the "GOAT" (Greatest of All Time) contestants -- Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer (of those 3 Jennings became THE greatest of all time on Jeopardy!)

Holzhauer, Jennings, Rutter

We watched The Chase for its first episode and it's so confusing I don't know how they are going to be able to make it work.  Not only is it confusing, it's so slow moving that if they speeded it up, they could probably make it half an hour rather than an hour.

But the trivia questions are what keep you going.  And the GOAT contestants take turns being the host that the contestants are playing against.  I will probably watch it another couple of times to get a feel for how Holzhauer and Rutter are (Jennings was the GOAT contestant the first episode), but feel that I won't become a fan...and I predict the show won't last long.

The Weakest Link is a BBC trivia show that NBC brought back, with Jane Lynch as the host.

They are very clever in the way this show has been set up, with lights and a soundtrack so it looks and sounds like there is an audience, but I suspect that it's just Lynch, the contestants, and the crew and that's it...perfect pandemic show.

I wasn't impressed with the first show but I like Lynch and kept watching it and she has found her voice as host and it's more fun now.

I see that they have brought back To Tell the Truth and Name That Tune, but I'm not interested in them (I watched To Tell the Truth when I was a kid and I wouldn't have a clue about music, since I don't listen to music any more)