The Five and Alex Trebek

I have been a fan of "The Five" since it premiered in July, 2011 on the Fox News Channel. It was supposed to be only a summer replacement after Glenn Beck's show was cancelled at the end of June. It was a breath of fresh air from the din of negativity it replaced. In October, 2011, it was picked up as a permanent show.

It is the second most watched cable news program, topped only by "The O'Reilly Factor", and has occasionally topped all cable shows in the key 25-54 demographic.

Essentially, it is a rotating panel of five co-hosts who individually bring up a topic which the other four debate. The panel includes Bob Beckel, Eric Bolling, Dana Perino, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Andrea Tantaros, Greg Gutfeld and Juan Williams. Beckel, Bolling, Perino and Gutfeld are mainstays while the others substitute as commitments warrant. It is a political/current events/human interest roundtable format type show.

On Wednesday, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the game show Jeopardy, Alex Trebek made an "in-studio" appearance, which covered two segments of the show.

English: Alex Trebek in 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a rarity for this program but given the iconic stature of Mr. Trebek, it was not only necessary, it was deserved.

Many issues were discussed during the program including, the controversial play of current champ, Arthur Chu, whose unorthodox play has made fans of the show annoyed. Alex explained that players can roam the board at will since all categories are fair game.  He stated that this sort of play has been done before.

He also answered questions related to the play of Ken Jennings, who won the most money ever in the regular game, and others who won millions in the "Tournament of Champions" series. He also discussed his friendship and relationship with Pat Sajak, which he said, is “friendly and not competitive”. Finally, since Dana Perino was a contestant a few years ago, he was gracious as he gave her a pass on her performance when she seemed to have difficulty ringing in.

Seeing him in this light was an eye-opener. He is a soft-spoken, gentle man, quiet and shy actually which to me was the opposite of my perception of him. Given the fact that he comes across so confident and assured on his show and the commercials he does, I found him to be as human and down to earth as the rest of us with a deep sense of humbleness.

As an aside, years ago I saw an interview with Paul Newman on a local newscast in New York and that was as revealing as the interview with Alex. Newman was also very shy and embarrassed, not what you would expect from a topline academy award winning actor.

Ultimately, my point is that prominent people have the same insecurities as the rest of us. There really was no vanity exposed by Alex Trebek. Instead, he is a kind, gentle human being, who has found a way to make his living and share himself with the rest of us which was unknown.

As you can see I enjoyed the interview and I think the hosts did a good job. Why wouldn't they? They too are consummate professionals.

Perhaps our leaders could take a lesson here, both from the hosts of The Five and from Alex Trebek, how to speak to each other. It, too, would be a refreshing improvement.