The name itself won't probably mean anything much, but I cannot pass this one up. This man, along with Bob Barker, was my first TV idol when I was a child.
Réal Giguère, mult-talented television personality, died today at age 85. To game show fans, he is best remembered for hosting the French-Canadian version of Jeopardy! (called Jéopardy, with an accent e and without the exclamation point) from 1991 to 1993 on TVA. In the french-speaking province of Canada, Réal did everything for the media that he was nicknamed "Mr. Television" and "Mr. Canal 10", the original channel name of the O&O and flagship station of TVA, CFTM, in Montréal. He was called so because his lifetime career was devoted to the network.
From humble beggenings in radio, he started doing local TV by hosting bowling shows. It wasn't long after network TVA's launch in 1961 that was hired. He said that in his 40 years of service, he did 26 shows. In the game show field prior to Jéopardy, he was also popular for hosting Galaxie in the 1980s, a capture-a-star format show very similar to Battlestars.
He did almost every other type of show imaginable, including creating and writing a prime time television drama called L'or du temps (The Golden Age), hosting numerous talk shows (among them are Parle Parle, Jase Jase (lit. Talk talk, chat chat)).
I was fortunate to have a chat with Jéopardy announcer Pierre Derek, who stated that Réal was great to work it. He had his trademark laugh that was parodied eveywhere on TV. He was also a perfectionist, he put so much energy to his quality of work. He also started that Jeopardy was his favorite game show he hosted, and the reason it lasted only two years was because of a liscensing disagreement between TVA and Merv Griffin Productions; the show was a ratings it when it was cancelled. In fact, even 25 years after being off the air, people in the province still associates Jeopardy with Réal.
Réal was also very protective of his private life. He was like Johnny Carson. After he retired, he was completly out of showbusiness and people though he was dead for many years. Only in a TVA Special celebrating its 50 years on the air that Réal allowed an interview.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Television.