The story of Alex Trebek's "Battlestars"

We travel back to the early ’80s, where a pre-"Jeopardy!" Alex Trebek meets a pre-"Seinfeld" Jerry Seinfeld and a host of other Hollywood characters on BATTLESTARS, the Star Wars-inspired celebrity quiz that audiences simply did not care for, thank you very much.

The new Spin Again title animation was done by Dan Henrick, whose work you can find at danhenrick.com. Thanks Dan!

My thanks as well to all the YouTubers who have shared their old VHS tapes over the years. Below are links for some source material and further viewing.

Don't forget to subscribe to ‪@ologicalonline‬ if you had some fun with the latest video.


PREVIOUSLY ON SPIN AGAIN:
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The history of the Bob Barker host entrance
   • The Price Is Right host entrance: a v...  


BATTLESTARS EPISODES:
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March 23, 1982 — Jerry Seinfeld, Rip Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, etc.
   • Видео  

Christmas 1981 — Nell Carter, Todd Bridges, Richard Simmons
   • Battlestars - Christmas Episode  

April 1982 — Rip, Debbie, Bowzer, Betty White
   • Battlestars (April 6, 1982) with Bowz...  

June 1983 — “Jimmy” (aka Jim J. aka Jm J.) Bullock, Martin Mull
   • The New Battlestars - Aired June 17th...  

and a bunch more if you dig around on YouTube


ALEX CLIPS:
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Trebek on Letterman — ‪@dongiller‬’s Letterman archive is full of treasures; thank you Don
   • Alex Trebek on Letterman, 1990–95  

High Rollers from New Year’s Eve 1979 (Trebek's odd tuxedo story)
   • Видео  

Trebek’s Double Dare
   • Double Dare Episode #10 - Roger v. Chuck  

The Comedy Shop is available on the Roku channel; Alex’s “standup” appears on S2E3.


RIP CLIPS:
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Rip on Ed Sullivan
   • Видео  

The $1.98 Beauty Show
   • The $1.98 Beauty Show 1978 Full Episode  


JERRY CLIPS:
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Jerry’s Tonight Show debut
   • Once upon a time, Seinfeld was a litt...  


CHAPTERS:
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0:00 Intro
1:59 Trebek's journey
4:19 Question, joke, answer
12:46 Alex Trebek, your huggable host
16:22 Comedy past meets comedy future
26:03 Jerry, Rip, Alex, and the art of hosting
30:19 Epilogue



A FUN FACT FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO SCROLLED THIS FAR IN THE DESCRIPTION:
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Just Men! is the NBC daytime game show whose cancellation early in 1983 created the unexpected timeslot opening for The "New" Battlestars. Betty White was the host of Just Men!, and she would win an Emmy for the show's single season.