#Ken Jennings will never approach Alex Trebek’s ‘Jeopardy!’ legacy

We’ve lost an icon. And we’re getting a creep.

Fans of the TV show “Jeopardy!” are counting down the days until Christmas, when the quizzer airs the final pre-recorded episode hosted by the late, great Alex Trebek, whose death in November at age 80 from pancreatic cancer broke hearts all over America and augured the end of his incredible 36-year run at the helm of what is widely considered
the greatest televised game show of all time.

But Dec. 25 also ushers in the arrival of Alex’s troubling ”interim” replacement, Ken Jennings, 46, whose reign as the show’s winningest contestant is clouded by a level of flippant cruelty previously unseen on a smart program that, for decades, has delivered a necessary and calming distraction during times of war, recession,
social unrest and pandemic.

Jennings’ weird sense of humor, if you can call it that, reveals more about the guy’s smarmy core than it does about the vast trove of trivia to which he’s devoted his days.

“Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair,” Jennings wrote in a disturbing 2014 tweet. The uproar over the creepy missive of six years ago might have blown over were it not for Jennings’ clueless and defensive 2018 response to the backlash over his insensitivity.

“I never did a public flogging for this but I did apologize personally to angry/hurt people who reached out personally,” Jennings started. “It was a joke so inept that it meant something very different in my head [and] I regret the ableist plain reading of it.”

Ableist plain reading? (Is there an ableist complicated reading?) It seems that Jennings, a man adept with the English language, chose his words carefully. He presented himself not as genuinely sorry, but as a victim of political correctness. He was asking critics to quit nit-picking. He would have been better off saying nothing.

There was more.

In 2015, after “Star Wars” fan Daniel Fleetwood made it a point to see “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” before he died of cancer, Jennings sent out this tweet poking fun at the tragedy: “It can’t be a good sign that every fan who has seen the new Star Wars movie died shortly thereafter.” Ouch.

Three years later, he wrote that an “awful MAGA grandma” mourning her deceased son was “his favorite person on Twitter.” It was unnecessary.

And hurtful.

In contrast, Trebek’s long reign as king of the quiz show in which a correct answer must be delivered in the form of a question is marked by a dearth of scandal or offense. The Canadian transplant was sassy without being raunchy. Seemingly erudite without being a snob.

The secret sauce is that he always respected his audience, never taking himself too seriously as he gave lessons each weeknight on everything from literature and nuclear fission to the Kardashians.

Though he frequently made cameo appearances in TV shows and movies, Trebek never aspired to play beyond the program he elevated with his presence. He was proud to take a seat in America’s living rooms on weeknights, a treasured part of the family.

This past January, Jennings was crowned the “Greatest of All Time” player on “Jeopardy!” He won a $1 million prize in a tournament in which he defeated other top show winners, Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer.

He may have been named the “GOAT,” but he is a pale imitation. Alex Trebek is the greatest human ever to orbit the “Jeopardy!” universe.

Too bad his successor is not someone who might live up to his legacy.