That human on Jeopardy

The media hype for today's Jeopardy debut of Watson the super gizmo long ago leaped beyond ridiculous. So a few outlets are trying a different angle: writing up the carbon based life form who reads the questions, uh, answers. Newsweek (does it still exist?) goes longest with its Trebek examination, "Is Alex Trebek in Jeopardy?"

We learn that Alex is low-tech and doesn't blog or tweet. Too bad, because my evil self would like to see a twitter war between Trebek and Sajak. With his frequent tweet-barbs about his fellow Sony employee, Patrick certainly seems intent on a comic feud. But that Internet stuff is just not Alex's thing, man.

The story offers a few other offbeat details. Trebek's wife is a "real estate mogul," though Newsweek doesn't get into specifics on her mogul-ing. Trebek also had a long-ago ambition to be prime minister of Canada, lives in a 10,000-square-foot house, and tapes his shows on Tuesdays and Wednesdays...if you just had to know.

A few comments focus on Jeopardy's ancient demos, which are hardly a surprise. But the show draws so many total viewers that even a few of the beloved 18-49ers show up. Trebek's contract is up in 2014 and he makes a few noises about retirement. Watson doesn't buy that and neither do I.