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27 thoughts on “Buzzy should be the new Jeopardy! host”

    1. MontyTheClipArtMongoose

      Actually, pairing Mayim Bialik & Stephen Miller as the new JEOPARDY! hosts would be amazing... ly idiotic. Awesome, too, but idiotic.

        1. iamr4man

          Yep. He was a real jerk.
          Shatner was a member of a health club my father managed (fun fact, they filmed a Colombo episode there with Robert Conrad being the murderer.) My father was introducing Shatner to my mom. My mom was aware that the club had just hired a barber. My poor my had no clue who Shatner was and asked “oh, are you the new barber?” He found that to be horribly insulting and yelled at her! This was in the 70’s.

          1. cld

            He's just sensitive, --about being bald as a cueball.

            But that sounds like every other Shatner story you hear. Do you ever hear any others? In his mind he's all four of the Beatles and the corpse at Lassie's funeral.

            He bailed on Nimoy's funeral for heaven's sake.

          2. iamr4man

            I do remember the first time I saw him without his hair piece. I was shocked. I was very young at the time and working as a towel boy at the club. Towel boy to the stars!
            Another member was Max Baer Jr. I remember seeing him work out. Incredible physique. I thought about all those Beverly Hillbilly shows where Elly Mae would beat him up. I thought to myself that in real life he could crush her like paper. Acting! It occurred to me that of course, his dad was heavyweight champion.
            He always seemed angry. I think he got himself in a bit of trouble with people who mistook him for Jethro and made rude comments about his intelligence. He showed them he had learned a few things from his father.

  8. Joseph Harbin

    Watching old reruns this month makes one thing clear: Alex cannot easily be replaced. He had a special combination of talents -- impeccable timing, playfulness, and smarts -- that are hard to find in one person. The show will never be the same.

    But since someone needs to be host, I'd be happy with any of three of the guest hosts this year. Buzzy is one of them. He was quite good. Another is David Faber, who was a comfortable presence and who did a great job with pacing and rapport with the contestants. But I think the job ought to go to the early favorite. Ken aced the audition and has done as much as anyone to "earn" the hosting gig. He has great credibility with the Jeopardy! audience, and after the Richards fiasco that's exactly what the show needs.

    1. Altoid

      Can't disagree with you in general, Joseph. But I think a big part of what Trebek did, working up clues with the writers, has been conspicuously missing with these guest hosts. To me, a *lot* of the clues since Alex's time have been cryptic, esoteric, misleading, or otherwise badly written, in ways that used to happen a lot less often. I think he was the eyes of the ordinary contestant/viewer in that process, and he helped phrase the ideas well. That then helped him read the clues with the right emphasis.

      To the extent that Mike Richards has been involved with the writing-- which I presume has been a lot, certainly *should* be a lot-- that's another big strike against him, and another reason why I'm not sorry to see his bid flame out (the echo of Cheney's veep selection is number one).

      I can see both Ken Jennings and Buzzy Cohen being great in that department. I liked David Faber on the set (and Tom Nichols rated him highest, for what that's worth) and think he has the smarts to do the backstage work. But I think at least some of his appeal came from the contrast he made with several disappointments before him, so there's that.

      FWIW I thought the contestant chats were Alex's weakest moments. Most of the time he seemed very obvious about wanting to give them a sentence or two, making a (sometimes semi-judgy) comment of his own, and moving along. Maybe he had more pain for a longer time than he let on. Otherwise, like you say, impossible to simply replace.

      Just as an aside, I will never forget one celebrity episode several years ago now where Wolf Blitzer completely torched himself. He got the buzzer timing fine but kept missing easy, obvious things he should have known just from being the places he'd been. I've never been able to look at him the same since.

      2. Vog46

        What is interesting about Jeopardy is that I'm always amazed at what I don't know, and the categories I really ignore (I'd be a terrible contestant).
        But I get awestruck by the depth and breadth of the knowledge the contestants have

        It's also interesting that one of SNLs best sketches involves celebrity Jeopardy.............who knew smarts could lead to great comedy?

  10. Salamander

    What is this "Buzzy"? Sounds like a cartoon character or ball-team mascot.Or maybe an animal. Is this a California thing?

    1. Salamander

      Oh, I see. "Buzzy" Cohen, Jeopardy champion. If I've ever watched the show, it's been literally decades since my last viewing. I avoid "reality" teevie and game shows. Plus, I haven't thought all that highly about "Quizmasters" since Lou Grant lodged his opinion.

  14. cyrki

    I agree, Buzzy was a competent, sociable host, and he has a good grasp of the game from the contestant side. If he can help with the clues/organization, he's a keeper.

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