Alex Trebek posthumously wins 8th Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Game Show Host
Jeopardy! also won, for Outstanding Game Show, while Larry King received a posthumous award
TV News Alex Trebek
Tonight marks the 48th Daytime Emmys, the award show designed to honor those shows—soap operas, game shows, children’s programs, and more—that air outside the typical window covered by the Primtetime Emmy Awards. Tonight’s event honored shows and performers from many walks of television life, including Sesame Street, Kelly Clarkson, Ina Garten, Julie And The Phantoms, and more, but there were two categories where the victories were a little more poignant: Outstanding Game Show, and Outstanding Game Show Host, which were won by Jeopardy! and host Alex Trebek, respectively.
Tonight’s posthumous win for Outstanding Host was Trebek’s eighth, concluding a run that began with his first nomination for the award in 1987, his first win in 1989, and several more across the course of his long career. Most recently, he won in both 2019 and 2020; he also has the second-most number of wins in the category, total, coming in only behind Bob Barker of The Price Is Right fame. Jeopardy!, meanwhile, has been at the top of the pack for some time now, with tonight’s victory scoring the show its 17th win in the category overall.
The Daytime Emmy’s In Memoriam section touched on Trebek’s life and career—as well as those of fellow TV legends Regis Philbin and Larry King, who died in 2020 and early 2021, respectively. Philbin was remembered by his long-time collaborator Kathy Lee Gifford, while King also received a posthumous award, winning for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host for Larry King Now.
Meanwhile, other wins far tonight included an Outstanding Song nod for Netflix’s Julie, victory in the legal field for the ever-popular The People’s Court, and a win for Outstanding Drama Series for General Hospital. As usual, the Daytime Emmys pre-date the Primetime Awards by a decent span of time; the latter awards are scheduled for September 19 of this year.
4 Comments
Bob Barker … still kickin’ at 97. Nineteen Emmy wins. Gimme Trebek anyday, but Barker is a legend.
I don’t mean this as any kind of slight against Trebek or anyone else, but I never saw the point of posthumous awards.
What is “a good choice”?
I still love how I was in a Greek mythology phase (I was 7) and when Jeopardy was still daytime, I was watching with my grandmother, and the Final Jeopardy question was Greek related. I really wasn’t paying attention, but I off handedly just said “What are Jason and the Argonauts?” My grandmother laughed, and then the music ended, and none of the the three contestants got it right, but I did. Trebek was one of those once in a lifetime gameshow hosts that kinda seemed like a dick but really wasn’t. He was like Letterman or Conan, or even latter day Colbert or Meyers. They’re filling a role, and they know what’s required, and they do it well. And they also don’t give a shit. I was between contracts in 2013 and I got back into watching Jeopardy every night. I had a friend in Philly and we would compare notes and scores the next day…we were always essentially 50-50. And seriously. We’ve all read how game shows are filmed essentially three months out of the year and then they’re done until the next season comes around. Yeah, it’s a pain in the ass for three months, but then you don’t do jack shit for the next nine. That’s not a bad gig. I miss Trebek.