Ken Jennings finally developed a personality.
It took a while but he's gotten pretty good at being the host. His demeanor has relaxed, he banters well with the contestants, and can be quite whimsical with some of the clues.
shareI'm glad he dumped that stupid "The Chase" show. We were all hoping he'd take over after Alex, because he's the only one who seems the best successor to the previous host. He's no Alex Trebec, but honestly, I'm glad he isn't. It's better for the New Guy to define himself independently and not try to be exactly like the guy before him.
shareYou can watch re-runs of Jeopardy with Alex 24 hrs a day on Pluto. The difference is stark. Alex was so good compared to what we have now.
I realize it's impossible to replace people who are the best at what they do. It's like the guy who replaced Rush (Dan Bongino). He's not very good. But not terrible.
Keep in mind that Alex had many more years of experience and more time to refine his role as a gameshow host. Ken's relatively new right now. He hasn't had a chance to grow much into the role yet.
Watch some of Alex's first seasons and you'll see a very different man (and I don't mean the thick, curly head of dark hair either). When Jeopardy did some memory-lane-style shows, bringing back episodes from the 80s when it switched over to Alex and became more modern, you'll notice Alex talked and acted very differently in his early days. In fact, dad joked that he talked like a car salesman in the early seasons, versus the later ones.
I agree, he's much better this season, and has a pretty good sense of humor. Unlike Alex though, Ken has admitted that they practice the intros before the taping. Alex's intro conversations were completely unrehearsed, and that's the first time he got to speak to the contestants.
I've never been to a taping, but I'm guessing that Ken and the guests get a chance to refine their conversation a bit, and I wouldn't be surprised if the writers even occasionally provide Ken with his witty replies.
No hate mail please, but I also think Ken took speech therapy to eliminate his Lisp!