Let’s speculate on who could take the Wheel Of Fortune from Pat Sajak
The A.V. Club wildly theorizes about who might fill Pat Sajak's shoes on Wheel Of Fortune
TV News Pat Sajak
Last night, Pat Sajak shared that, after more than 40 years of standing beside contestants spinning and spelling, he would be stepping away from Wheel Of Fortune. Immediately, the speculation around who should take his place felt reminiscent of the recent, tumultuous quest to fill Alex Trebek’s spot at Jeopardy!. However, Jeopardy! is a different animal, requiring a host to appear knowledgeable without being condescending.
Wheel Of Fortune seems like a much easier gig, at least to our outsider eyes. Sajak’s job was mainly to facilitate small talk between rounds and to repeat a letter that a contestant already said. In a notoriously unstable industry, it seems like a supremely comfortable gig, and even if it’s not the most glamorous, it’s probably pretty coveted. So who—or should—it go to? Allow us to speculate.
82 Comments
Brian Cox, obviously.
There’s always Ronny Cox if Brian isn’t available.
I’d start watching if they hired Perry Cox.
Wheel Of Fortune is rated MA for mature audiences due to strong adult language.
The astrophysicist of course, not the actor.
“I’d like to solve the puzz-” “AHH FUCK OFF”
I vote for Dave Foley, just because I feel like he could use a win.
Cormac McCarthy died
I thought Jeopardy! required a host to appear knowledgeable while being condescending?
So Ben Shapiro?
why not?
Ben Shapiro is condescending, but he has yet to appear knowledgeable.
He talks very confidently (in that weird tilting his face forward way) and that confidence is all that’s needed to make too many people not question the shit coming out of his mouth.
Jon Hamm: the charmer, who looks like he’s about to bite Fallon’s head off. Not that I’d have a problem with that.
Neil Patrick Harris: The television equivalent of “relaxed fit”.
It’s either going to be Vanna, who will then be replaced on board duty by a dude model, or Pat’s daughter Maggie who has been doing behind the scenes social media stuff for the show for a few years. Vanna hosted a few years back when Pat was out for a week and she needed a bit of work, but was still solid.Sajak is an asshole outside of the show, but professionally he’s an amazing TV host who knows exactly when to inject a joke or comment into a contestant interaction. He’s honestly one of the most underrated hosts ever.
Agreed. Evangelical personal life aside, the man does amazing work.
I could see Vanna doing it for a few years, but she’s been at this for decades herself and is probably not hurting for cash. Unless she just really likes it, I guess.I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t get replaced at the board, though. She’s been redundant for a very long time.
She hasn’t had to turn the actual letters since 1997! It’s all on one big video board now so they could get rid of the letter turner position if they wanted to.
Good god, NOT Vanna! I don’t watch Wheel because of her. My mom said she was HORRIBLE when she hosted.
I feel the same way. It feels like they’ve been grooming Vanna or Maggie for a while now.
Although Vanna’s guest stint hosting was pretty rough. It wasn’t BAD per se but it lacked the easy , slightly-corny charm the show is known for. As much as I cannot stand Sajak as an individual, he definitely has that show’s whole aesthetic on lock. The guy made auctioning off an ugly-assed ceramic dalamtian every week look effortless.
One thing they will have to take into account, though – the target demographic is not young people. Bringing in some ingenue with social media cred isn’t going to necessarily appeal to their core demographic of white suburban retirees. Vanna has the continuity and Maggie has the name, and that may be enough to get either of them through. But anybody else under the age of 50 is probably going to have a lot of legwork to do.
Chriss Teigen: so she can Tweet catty shit about contestants she doesn’t like?
Why?
Ryan Seacrest: We think he knows the alphabet and a vowel from a consonant, but we better test him just in case. Hell, The Ryan Seacrest Spelling Test would probably make a more watchable show!
Ellen DeGeneres’ reputation might have taken a hit, but Pat Sajack is a climate change denier…I’m glad Ellen would never do such a thing! Oh wait…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/16/disney-fossil-fuel-ride-ellen-degeneres-bill-nye
Why is Kelly Clarkson in so many of these pictures, yet not being considered to host WOF? WTF?
Watching that video, I never realized how much Vanna’s role is like a ball girl at a tennis match.
Daniel Day-Lewis or we riot.
But we’d settle for Gene Cousineau.
I misread Nathan Fielder as Nathan Fillion and that would have been, of all the people here, probably my favorite pick. Though I think he is tainted a bit by his Whedon support? Second on this list would be Nick Lachey. Jon Hamm would be great, but he has better things to do.My ideal pick? Nicole Byer.
Nathan Fillion has moved over to James Gunn.
[Sets up rickety soap box]
We need to stop asking famous people to denounce their skeevy friends.If you are a decent person, you will not drop your friend like a hot rock at the first sign of trouble. That person has probably not been shitty to you. You may have never seen them being shitty, but you have seen them be vulnerable and generous and kind.Monsters are not monsters all the time.
[Picks up soap box, leaves.]
Thanks for showing up, Joss.
The only way to avoid having a skeevy friend is to have no friends.
I hear Tucker Carlson is looking for work for some reason.
As much as I hate him and his dumb face, the first time a contestant missed an obvious puzzle and the camera cut to tucker showing that stupid, dumbfounded look… I would probably laugh
I think Wheel of Fortune is too socialist for him. That wheel is the biggest wealth redistributor on TV.A they just GIVE you “R-S-T-L-N-E”?! Handouts!
Vowels are now inherited
The correct answer is Slavoj Žižek.“Thish wheel, which shpins round and round, is a form of…ideology. The lie the ideology tells you, is that we all have…equal chance to become succeshful capitalists, to have jet shkis and cars and vacations, and so on and so on.But…the truth, the wheel alsho reveals, is that capitalism is, itself, a game of random chance. That your capital can, jusht as easily as you win, be lost as bankrupt. The only way to truly win the game…is to shtop playing, entirely. To eshcape…ideology.”
Since you mentioned him, what’s your recommendation for a Zizek gateway? I want to read his stuff, but I’m not gonna kid myself and think that I’ll grasp a book that assumes I already have a Ph.D. in American Studies. I need to start with his commercial hit.
You could try Welcome to the Desert of the Real, or Parallax View. Though, honestly, the easiest gateway is the media criticism documentaries he did, Pervert’s Guide to Cinema and Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, since they’re using popular, accessible movies as points of discussion.
I hadn’t thought of taking the documentary route. Every one of his books has been recommended by someone, but this actually sounds like a good start. Thanks. I shall explore.
Bring back Rolf Benirschke, the prodigal son
This piece of toast.
Too brown.
This is probably the best option out. All of the people listed here are actually too interesting and have too much of a personality to stand over a wheel telling, telling people it’s their turn to spin or trying to nicely tell them they made an idiotic guess. If you wanna pick someone who’s already been on TV, it’s just gotta be a blandly attractive–or not unattractive–middle-aged dude. Like… I don’t know why, but Chris Carmac immediately came to mind.
Yeah, but according to AVC’s metrics and SEO advisor, putting these names in a list gets the most clicks.
Mike Richards.
Keith Richards!
Denise Richards!
Dr. Chanukah!
Its the one show that could live without a host. Time to try it out.Player spins wheel, choses letter, gets it right or not, and moves down the line, just like it does now. Every player knows what to do. No one needs Pat to tell them.Christ, Vanna could even be turfed under this idea. Player shouts the letter as always, the board / Siri / AI reveals the letter or “buzz buzz” goes off and your turn is up.
The Ellen slide misses too much. Pat Sajack didn’t remain popular with the audience that watches this show despite being a climate change denier who posed for pics with Marjorie Taylor Green but rather because of it. They would revolt at Ellen.
Nahhh…they cool with teh gays, it’s them trans ones they got issue with. (Publicly anyways. Note it’s all about anti-drag and anti-trans. It’s a much safer fight for them.)
“Pat Sajack didn’t remain popular with the audience that watches this show despite being a climate change denier who posed for pics with Marjorie Taylor Green but rather because of it.”
…sure…
Why no mention of Whoopi Goldberg? She made it clear that she wants the job on today’s ep of The View.
Wait, you watch The View????
Because my alternatives are very slim at 11am Eastern.
The hate shame for The Virw is weird when people can declare their love for the Kardashians and the Vandpump/Real Housewives crap.
Well, I tend to find it entertaining enough but odd in construction most days. It can be good when the entire panel is focused on a recent political development, but you never know when its going to devolve into Joy Behar doing her hacky comedian thing or Sunny doing one of her go-to applause bits. In those moments I start questioning why I watch.
Anyone but Wayne Brady
Stay out of it, Nick Lachey.
Pat Sajack is a climate change denier
Chriss Teigen: The influencer choiceSay what you will about Pat Sajak, but he seems to know how to spell things.
Angry Michael Shannon
Anybody who has watched this show over the past year already knows the answer to this question: Maggie Sajak.She’s been on the show several times, and has a promo spot at the end of every episode. My guess was they were grooming her for it, or at least Pat was/is. Based on the few appearances I’ve seen, she’d do a pretty good job…she has the easy banter thing down, is personable and funny…they could do a lot worse (and probably will).
Cooper Manning. MOR but surprisingly funny. Not so famous that he’d overtake the show. Seems like someone that would be able to act like they care about the success and failure of the contestants.
A FUCKING SLIDESHOW? Fuck off.
It should be Vanna White’s job. If she refuses then look for someone else.Let’s face it, she is synonymous with the show.
Do not be surprised if it is Carson Daly.
Stop trying to make Ellen OK. She’s an asshole and doesn’t deserve celebrity armor…no celebrity does.
AI generated Pat Sajak hologram. Hell they could have just replaced him without anyone noticing he left.
why is it so hard for you guys to spell “Sajak” correctly
I mean it’s all on the home row, fer heaven’s sake!
Unlike Jeopardy!, hosting Wheel of Fortune is one of the easiest jobs on television. It just happens that Pat Sajak is an excellent tv host. Any charming shlub could do the job.Go to a party, find the person everybody is laughing with, make sure they know the difference between a consonant and a vowel, and you’re good to go.
“Unlike Jeopardy!, hosting Wheel of Fortune is one of the easiest jobs on television.”
Right, because Jeopardy is difficult.
Seacreast and Lachey seem like the only feasible ones on this list. Otherwise, the picks would be too controversial or they have/think they have too big a career to do Wheel of Fortune.
We really need to stop stomping for Burton to host game shows. It’s not his wheelhouse. He was easily bottom half for the Jeopardy guest hosts. Yes, he has the easygoing charm, but his timing was terrible. He would be much better served on some kind of gentle, exploratory, edutainment show. Jon Hamm has to be too famous to do this, right? He has “Mad Men” money and rep, not “Home Improvement sidekick” money. Seacrest is probably the host they WANT, and Nick Lachey is probably the host they will get.However… I’d love to see Kenan Thompson get a chance to get out from SNL and into something with long-term stability. He may not have hosted a game show before, but he does a great “Steve Harvey overeacts on Family Fued” impression, so I’d give him a shot.
“Jon Hamm has to be too famous to do this, right? He has “Mad Men” money and rep, not “Home Improvement sidekick” money.”
Hah! Can you please, PLEASE, say just a little bit louder that you think the star or Mad Men made more money than *ANYONE* in the ensemble of the MASSIVE network hit (audiences as big as THIRTY-FIVE MILLION) that was Home Improvement.
Just say it once, for a laugh.
If Richard Karn walked by an envelope containing all the money Jon Hamm made from Mad Men he wouldn’t even take a second glance at it.
Seriously. Mad Men star making more than Home Improvement star. That’s a fucking good one.
Frankenberry
Ed Grimley has been studying the job for years. It’s time to give him a chance, I must say.
Why in the world would anyone suggest Nathan Fielder? Who wants him to stop making his unique brand of TV shows so he can become a generic game show host?