Alex Trebek is even more appreciated on the one-year anniversary of his death

Variety

“Jeopardy!’s longtime host Alex Trebek passed away a year ago today. And in the 12 months since, it’s become increasingly clear just how challenging the balancing act he pulled off was," says Daniel D'Addario. "Trebek’s particular combination of traits as an emcee would have been impossible to specifically replicate, and the show, to its credit, knew this. (This may be one of the only things for which about Jeopardy! in 2021 that deserves credit.) The venerable quiz show, at first, treated the rotating carnival of post-Trebek guest hosts as a way of trying out new ways the show might be. While certain of the virtues of the Trebek era were fixed, the show revised itself on the margins, every couple of weeks. It became a parlor game to track the hosts’ performances and to imagine each as a potential permanent host. In retrospect, though, the show lost sight of Trebek’s organizing conceit: that the contestants were its true stars. Trebek’s consistency and his elemental qualities — a combination of amusement and prickliness — kept the spotlight on contestants. The best guest hosts managed to do this even while suggesting other sorts of charisma that could propel the show into its next decades, while the worst kept the focus on themselves." D'Addario adds: "Advocacy for that which one believes is a powerful thing. But so is simply showing up and presenting one’s example. In Trebek’s case, that meant living with a great deal of circumspection — a shocking amount, for someone who appeared on television five nights a week. And after a year of brassy self-promotion by potential Trebek replacements, and one in which several of them were found badly wanting, Trebek’s cultivated appeal to all potential viewers, and his power as a uniting force, seems sadly bygone." ALSO: In a new Jeopardy! video, Ken Jennings says he misses Trebek and " I feel like he's probably in the building somewhere."