LeVar Burton Finally Guest-Hosted ‘Jeopardy’ Last Night And It Felt…Right
Fan-driven internet campaigns have certainly become A Thing in recent years and, unfortunately, they can be rather hit-or-miss. Many focus on trivial and hate-filled demands instead of bringing awareness to anything more meaningful. Fortunately, that was not the case with theonline push in favor ofLeVar Burton, former host of theReading Rainboweducational program and most well-known for his turn as Geordi La Forge inStar Trek: The Next Generation, to become the next host ofJeopardy!after the passing of the iconicAlex Trebek.
Last night, Burton became the latest celebrity to guest-host the beloved game show and, honestly, it just feltright.
As excited as many of us were to see Burton finally get his shot behind the podium, nobody wanted him to be theremore than LeVar Burton himself. Take it straight from the man himself,who tweetedshortly after the announcement of hisJeopardy!guest host stint: “I am overjoyed, excited, and eager to be guest-hostingJeopardy!, and will do my utmost best to live up to your faith you [put] in me. YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE! Go ahead and take my word for it, this time.” Burton’s spirit of humbleness and appreciation continued on the air, as he opened the show last night with this statement:
“As a longtime viewer of the show, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to guest hostJeopardy!And I’m proud to be here to honor Alex’s legacy, and I’m gonna do my best to ensure that these talentedJeopardy!contestants enjoy their moment here as well.”
As you might expect, his appearance on the game showhad an immediate effect on social media trendsboth in the United States and worldwide. Countless fans took to Twitter to live-tweet the show and encourage others to watch, in the hopes of boosting the ratings and proving that the online demand for Burton translates to actual viewing numbers. Should this entire week go well across the board, it’s not impossible to imagine Burton eventually being awarded the hosting job full-time.
Burton’s Performance, and What He Means to Fans
LeVar Burton did exceedingly well for a first-timer, though the show wasn’t entirely without its awkward moments and rookie mistakes. An early hiccup occurred when one of the contestants tried to squeak out an answer after time ran out on him, leading to a brief moment of confusion on Burton’s part as the next contestant attempted to jump in and answer in turn. She guessed incorrectly, but it wasn’t clear whether the initial contestant’s answer was wrong or he simply ran out of time. Before the “get to know the contestants” segment after the very next commercial break, however, Burton magnanimously owned up to his minor mistake and, likely at the direction of producers, awarded that question (and its $600) to the woman.
The rest of the program went swimmingly, with Burton sliding into the role with ease as he relied on his decades-spanning experience hostingReading Rainbow, as well as the natural charisma that has always made him such a watchable presence. Importantly, he never once attempted to make the proceedings about himself, though he was living out what’s clearly beena longtime dream of his. Alex Trebek had a very similar approach to the job, picking and choosing moments with precision to let his deadpan wit and dry humor add even more enjoyment to the overall show.
This, among many reasons, is why longtime fans of LeVar Burton have thought he’d be a perfect fit for theJeopardy!gig. Burton has become an adored figure amongStar Trekcircles, not just for portraying the fan-favorite engineer with sensitivity and passion (he also went on to flex his directing muscles with several episodes of variousStar Trekspin-offs and even episodes ofNCIS: Los Angelesas recently as this year) but also for his real-life heroics in philanthropy. A quick look athis Twitter feedthis week shows a compassionate advocate for medical research and humanitarian causes. Of course, Burton signed off his firstJeopardy!episode by saying that the total winnings of the contestants would bematched and donated to Reading Is Fundamental, a nonprofit organization supporting children’s literacy.
Burton’s guest-hosting duties will span this entire week until July 30. We’ll be watching every episode and hoping there’ll be much more to come soon after.
