Oz is, unlike Jennings and Richards, comfortable playing host on TV unlike Couric, he’s given no indication he’s not interested in boosting his profile with daily appearances on a very widely watched game show. (This, verging on the hyperbolic, had the strange effect of trivializing Trebek, a truly gifted and empathetic broadcaster whom one can imagine bristling at his truisms presented as teachings bearing daily repetition.) Katie Couric, the first host to enter from outside the show’s own universe, brought new energy to the show as well as a different sort of tribute: The former news anchor induced the show to make a daily donation to pancreatic cancer research through the Stand Up to Cancer organization she cofounded, seeking an end to the disease that killed both Couric’s sister and Trebek himself. The next in the spotlight, the show’s executive producer Mike Richards, ended with a similar but more verbose daily benediction about how viewers ought to take Trebek’s advice to improve society.

The series’ first guest host, former champ Ken Jennings, thanked Trebek at the end of every one of his broadcasts, a well-intended gesture that came to emphasize the long shadow cast over the franchise. Could Oz’s credentials have so effectively gulled a show whose questions are vetted against sources - and whose last host was renowned for his interpersonal skills and not his academic record? (Little wonder past “Jeopardy” contestants sound more than anything surprised in a widely-circulated petition of protest.) But it’s outright baffling in light of the amount of energy that has thus far been expended in promoting the Trebek legacy to viewers. Oz’s booking is confusing on the merits: There are several daytime hosts who could competently read cards and who have not actively pushed wrongheaded views.

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