LOS ANGELES -- In a politically torn, culturally divided and socially splintered America, there was one thing nearly everyone could agree on: Alex Trebek was awesome.
For 36 years, the “Jeopardy!" host was a figure of consensus in an era that increasingly lacked it, and died at the end of an election week when those divisions were in full force.
At at time when emotions, opinions and personal details feel like they're at the center of every broadcast, post and podcast, the exceedingly Canadian Trebek held them all in check, instead valuing formality and factuality, dignity and decorum.
Trebek gave the role a gravitas, and a virtuosity, that didn't seem possible before him.
“Alex was the Sinatra of our business,” Wink Martindale, a longtime host of several games shows, said in a statement. “The word class defined him. In my view, there will never be another with such multiple talents.”
