Well, now something similar happens again, although this time not quite on so inflammatory a subject as abortion: Ken Jennings has a blog now, and a few days ago he wrote a post in which he poked fun at Jeopardy!, the show that made Ken Jennings, you know, Ken Jennings. Written from the ostensible standpoint that Jeopardy! needs to shake things up a bit to stay fresh after something like, oh, forever with the same basic format, Jennings says things like this:
On Price Is Right, Bob Barker ends every show with a plug for his personal favorite cause. "Spay or neuter your pet!" or whatever. Something like this would humanize Trebek. I propose a new sign-off, along the lines of, "Can our returning champion do it again on tomorrow's show? Tune in and find out, everybody. Legalize cannabis. Good night."
Now, I found that incredibly funny. In fact, the entire piece is hilarious, and you'd figure that it's unmistakably a humor piece. But then along comes an entertainment writer for the New York Post:
In a snarky "Dear Jeopardy!" letter posted on his Web site, ken-jennings.com, the winningest contestant ever needles the game show for being out of step and out of date.
He calls the show's categories "effete, left-coast crap nobody's heard of" and even snipes at show host Alex Trebek.
Man. Wait until this guy finds about Celebrity Jeopardy!. "Suck it, Trebek!"
3 comments:
Um, did I miss something? Of course, The Post overdid its reaction, but I think that Jennings is being a bit snarky, and honestly, painfully unfunny.
And this comes from a major Jeopardy! and Ken Jennings fan, and a member of the championship winning Lancaster High School It's Academic! team and member of the school championship College Bowl team at Buffalo State College, so I do like my quiz shows.
I don't for the life of me see how Jennings's piece can be seen as snarking on Jeopardy!. "Do away with topics like Opera and replace them with the Arby's menu!" "Trebek should do that two-fingered gesture that Isaac did on Love Boat!" Those suggestions are so over the top that it's gotta make obvious that Jennings doesn't mean a word of it, and what he's really parodying is the way old shows are constantly "retooled" for relevance when Jeopardy! just keeps going strong with only the tiniest tweaks to its format (like redoing the theme song that plays while they write down their Final Jeopardy! answers).
Obviously I can't make you think the post is funny, but I can't see how the faked snark can be interpreted as genuine in even the smallest degree.
Add in another vote for "funny." Very, very funny. I don't follow Jeopardy, and only knew who Jennings was from the news reports on his run, so I was surprised to see just how good - and funny - a writer he is. His blog has quickly jumped up in my "favorite blogs" list.
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