"The biggest thing, probably, since I've seen you, is Pat Sajak retiring," the comedian said. "People ... you can see how stunned they are."
Are we? Maybe a little. Game shows aren't supposed to change. They're supposed to endure, a bedrock of entertainment stability in an otherwise rapidly shifting culture. We don't focus on them, hardly talk about them unless a contestant goes on a run or makes some laughable error.
And their hosts reign for decades, none more so than Pat Sajak, the longest-serving TV game show host in history — 8,000 episodes of "Wheel of Fortune" over 41 years, a tenure that ends Friday.
"Wheel of Fortune" is still the 2nd most-watched game show in the country, after its brainier cousin "Jeopardy!" and some years is No. 1. Though there is a disconnect between the show's huge popularity and the esteem granted its host.
"He's the host of 'Wheel of Fortune,' but really, is there anything Pat Sajak can't do?" Gaffigan deadpanned. "He's, ah, he's ... like a renaissance man."
Meaning: He's not. Sajak is a blandly handsome former weatherman who got very rich playing a mash-up of "Hangman" and roulette on television. Aided almost the entire time by the truly incredible Vanna White — and I say "truly incredible" because while most models hired to smile radiantly on game shows are anonymous and replaceable, White has endured as the nation's letter-turner, becoming a household name whose job is set to continue through at least 2026, when she will be 69.
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Never really watched the show, so Pat Sajak is like a stranger to me, and I rarely watched "Jeopardy" either, but when I did, I enjoyed it. My wife even tried out for it, but she kept answering too fast, and they got pissed at her, so she didn't make it. She was just too smart!
ReplyDeleteKnew someone who DID make it, almost twenty years ago, but she lost all her winnings after getting nervous. She choked. In the final question, she said the Ohio River was the "Green River"...and she had relatives in Cincinnati, yet! Oy!
To be truthful, I haven't been into game shows for decades. Grew up with the classics..."Beat the Clock", "Name that Tune", "Treasure Hunt", even the original "Price Is Right." And "Password." But after I got a little older, game shows didn't interest me anymore.
Last one I really enjoyed was "The $1.98 Beauty Show"--from the late 70s. Hosted by Rip Taylor, the series was a parody of beauty contests. Some contestants were overweight, and on at least one occasion, a male was in drag..
"The $1.98 Beauty Show" was really a subtle satire. Some people called it trashy, and said it ridiculed and mocked plus-sized females. But I liked it! Some of the women were pretty foxy. As the postal workers used to say, to each his zone.
I liked him. Not so sure about his replacement.
ReplyDeleteI was never much of a fan if game shows ... most were mind-numbingly stupid and humiliating. Pat, Vanna, and Wheel of Fortune were never on my schedule. I did watch Jeopardy! occasionally, tho not since Ken Jennings took over as host; Mayim Bialek was better but she was dumped. I think really smart women are not acceptable as hosts. I do enjoy The Weakest Link, hosted by our own Jane Lynch. She's smart, funny, caustic ... and has good writers. I always thought The Wall was sappy and probably somehow fixed.
ReplyDeleteI have not watch Ken Jennings host Jeopardy! since he crossed the picket line during the strike. Marim Bialek honored the picket line, and I would watch her if she still hosted. I do give Ken Jennings some slack as I do not believe he grew up in a union environment and probably no understanding of honoring picket lines. Be Ken is still a scab and I won't watch him.
DeleteMatt W
Sorry, but Biakik was awful as host. she was late in telling the contestants if they were wrong or right.
DeleteSajak is chair of the Board of Trutees of Hillsdale College, the far right school that refuses federal funds.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot worse than that. Hillsdale is one of the deeply conservative institutions affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, and is connected to the advisory board of Project 2025. It's almost frightening to visit that campus. Like time travel back into the distant past. They even have a church, right on the grounds, and chapel attendance is mandatory. They have bed checks, too. You see dresses, and suits, and ties. It looks and feels like the Nixons and the Reagans are having a dinner dance.
DeleteBelieve it or not, I actually went there for a year. My first choice (in Ohio) rejected me, and Pomona wait-listed me. It was 1965, there was a war on, and I had to go somewhere, and fast. My parents would not let me go to SIU...it had a bad reputation as a party school. So I ended up at Hillsdale.
It was not a pleasant experience...more like a co-ed prep school with ashtrays than a real college. They took almost anybody, and their tuition money, so there were a lot of rich preppie screw-ups whom no other school would accept. Required courses in conservative thought. Maybe twelve Jews, about 1% of the student body. But I did meet my present wife there, on a blind date,. We reconnected in 1992, and have been together for almost 32 years now.
After two semesters, I transferred out, but my wife actually stayed at Hillsdale, and earned a BA. She was a closeted liberal, who kept her mouth shut for four years. Unless asked directly, she never tells anyone where she went to school.
Even though I haven't owned a television in nearly twenty years , I've seen Wheel of Fortune a number of times.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like is the wheel. Combining roulette with hangman!
On the rare occasions I've been to the casino that's the game I like to play. Something zen like about the process. A four year old could play as well as an MIT grad.
Never understood the Vanna White obsession. Just not my type I'm a Mary Ann guy. She's a Ginger.
I've a friend who doesn't answer the phone during jeopardy. Pop culture pretty much annoys me. I prefer poetry
Sajak provides a comforting presence in these crazy days and presides over one of the few forms of entertainment that hasn't been tainted by politics.
ReplyDeleteI remember his awful talk show. one night he on Peter Scolari, from the second Bob Newhart Show on. Scolari told an absolutely pointless & boring story for over seven minutes & at the end, Sajak, said to him "What the hell was that about?"
ReplyDeleteThe sole reason I was watching it, it was a new show on one of the nights that Carson took off & they ran reruns.
I've never understood the love for Vanna White, as she does nothing useful on the show, yet is paid millions to do it!
Art Fleming, OG Jeopardy host! Calm, encouraging, minus the show biz.
ReplyDeleteYou don't judge him for his right wing nuttiness. I do.
ReplyDeleteWhoo-hoo! You get a cookie!
DeleteGranted, it was early this morning. But after only reading the byline/subject line or whatever you want to call it in my email inbox, I panicked thinking YOU were retiring! That would NOT be Happy Trails for me :(
ReplyDeleteJudy
I never saw a whole episode and what I did see was pretty boring. There was a commercial in the 90s (?) which featured, among others, a water polo team singing "I'm a Wheel Watcher," which was pretty enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Dennis Fisher. There is nothing forgivable about the garbage he tweeted.
Vanna White trivia (not recently fact-checked but I suspect still true). She makes more than the entire Supreme Court put together. I used to think that was criminal. Not so sure anymore. And of course, as we recently discovered, some of the Supreme Court justices manage to live well above their apparent means.
ReplyDeleteBut does that include all the gifts Clarence has accepted from his sugar-daddy Harlan Crow? The most deeply corrupt SCOTUS member (the term "Justice" just seems too ironic to use to refer to Thomas), he casts a shadow of suspicion over the entire system of justice in the United States.
DeleteHe lived in suburban Western Springs while he was doing whatever he did in Chicago. I lived in LaGranage, and would occasionally bump into him at the grocery store and other places. He gave off the vibe that he was very impressed with himself.
ReplyDeleteThe double-header disappeared faster than summer cicadas. Feel-good soulful family story that was originally posted below the good-bye Pat one. What am I am missing; how and why did that post leave the blog stage? Miss it already.
ReplyDeleteRunning tomorrow — posted early.
DeleteHere's a thought: let's not worry about Pat Sajak's politics. He has done the best job ever of hiding his politics, social preferences or whatever from the job he has held all these years. I was surprised to read the Hillsdale College comments, and I don't doubt their authenticity, but follow me closely here: I. Don't. Care.
ReplyDeleteWheel of Fortune's strong suit all these years has been what a perfect escape it was from our everyday world. People are nice to each other. It's a fun and not particularly challenging game, but not without its exciting moments. Contestants are not the mental giants seen on "Jeopardy!," but everyday folks who are lucky enough to get the opportunity for a windfall of cash.
Pat Sajak treated everyone with pleasant respect, including those whose LGBTQ+ attributes might never get them in the door at Hillsdale, such that his honest opinion of them, whatever that might have been, never showed. That was his one job, and he conducted it masterfully for decades.