Alex Trebek hasn’t decided what he’ll say at the end of his last episode of Jeopardy, and doesn’t know when it will happen— but he believes that he’ll only need 30 seconds to do it. “It would be the same as when I shaved my mustache—on a whim,” he said, adding that when the time comes, he’ll ask the producers for 30 seconds at the end of that episode “to say goodbye.”
The question of the future hovered over the Television Critics Association panel for ABC’s primetime limited series Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time, which pits all-time great contestants Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer against each other for a million-dollar prize. Executive producer Harry Friedman told reporters that when Trebek does retire, there are no plans to take time off, but that at this point there is no successor to the role of host in place. Trebek has been hosting Jeopardy since 1984, and is currently contracted to continue doing so until 2022. Discussion of his potential retirement began a few years ago, but the 79-year-old legend, currently undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer, said that he doesn’t “see it coming up in the near future.”
Continued Trebek, “thinking about retiring and retiring are two different things. We’ll see what happens.” As long as he feels that his skills “have not diminished too much” and he still enjoys spending time with the contestants and the production staff, he’ll keep doing the show. His plans for after retirement? “Drink.”
Trebek said that his favorite part of hosting Jeopardy is getting to spend half an hour on stage with the contestants. “I love spending time with bright people,” he explained. “I hate spending time with stupid people.” Same, Mr. Trebek, same.
Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time is set to run for seven episodes, continuing tonight on ABC.
11 Comments
I hope he goes out like this
I’m a one-day “Jeopardy!” winner. I cannot even try out again until Trebek retires, and I used to wish he would retire. After his diagnosis, though, I hope I never get to be back on.
http://j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=5723
I’m 33, so I’ve never known a world without Alex Trebek as Jeopardy! host, and I’m not ready yet for one without.(Sidenote: It’s kinda amazing how long Weird Al has been around to the point his Jeopardy song pre-dates the Trebek run going back to the Fleming/Pardo era. May Weird Al do his thing forever too)
Dude has had the gig since a year before I was born, too. I haven’t even watched Jeopardy in forever, but I can’t imagine it NOT being on and NOT being hosted by Trebek. Even though I didn’t watch it at the time, I miss when the comments section here was flourishing enough that it spawned mini-communities like the commenter that used to do Jeopardy re-caps everyday (I think in the What’s On Tonight? articles) that inspired long threads. So much content was generated for free by the community, and now the comments sections are nearly dead and the site itself generates significantly less (and less meaningful) content.
I started watching it now and then recently, it’s still a great show
His plans for after retirement? “Drink.” “I hate spending time with stupid people.”Alex Trebek is officially my spirit animal.
“I hate spending time with stupid people.”Hey, you’ve never even met me.
Fuck, that super-tournament of champions has already started? I thought it began Friday.Goddammitsomuch.
The aired episodes are probably online somewhere.
I wouldn’t wish pancreatic cancer on my worst enemy. It’s incredible that someone Trebek’s age with that nightmare is able to stand, the pain is unholy.
I still miss the mustache.