Pat Sajak retiring?

[blozier2006]

I'd be fine with Goen at the helm as long as those $50 and $75 spaces don't hitch a ride with him.

Make that three votes for Goen, then... I actually think he did better than Sajak, for the period when they both were on the air... at least Goen never seemed to get as snarky as Sajak.

[mrbrown2195]

I wasn't even aware Goen was still alive until I saw his name brought up in this thread.

[imhomerjay]

When the time comes to make the decision, perhaps picking someone with a few more years left in the tank is the way to go. We don't need someone who hosted the show before--it did just fine with someone who hadn't.

[crazypackersfan]

Chances are, they'll go for a "big name" like with Drew Carey. As you'll recall, 5 or so guys had auditions, and they all got beat out by a guy who never auditioned for the job. Now I know this is a different company here, but given the high profile of Wheel of Fortune, they'll want someone who will make a dent in the ratings. Unfortunately, it seems these days that the only way to get a game show hosting job is by being a stand-up comedian, so don't be surprised if the new host is a ridiculous choice.

[Mr. Weatherman]

Chances are, they'll go for a "big name" like with Drew Carey. As you'll recall, 5 or so guys had auditions, and they all got beat out by a guy who never auditioned for the job. Now I know this is a different company here, but given the high profile of Wheel of Fortune, they'll want someone who will make a dent in the ratings. Unfortunately, it seems these days that the only way to get a game show hosting job is by being a stand-up comedian, so don't be surprised if the new host is a ridiculous choice.

Family Feud has used recognizable names (Karn, O'Hurley, Harvey), LMAD has Wayne Brady, Millionaire has Cedric, and before that, Meredith. And of course, Price has Drew Carey. I think Wheel will almost definitely go with a big name, if the current trend with other game shows suggests anything.

[imhomerjay]

And since the track record has been positive overall with going in that direction, doing something similar would not be a rediculous choice, but one that makes a great deal of business sense.

[Flerbert419]

Knowing nothing about what is going on behind the scenes, it is my opinion that Pat and Vanna will leave together.

Their salaries will be combined to hire that big name to host, with nobody hired to take over for Vanna.

The claim will be made that she is "irreplaceable" as a letter turner/toucher.

[PriceFan07]

Pat & Vanna are just as iconic to WoF as Bob is to TPiR. The producers are going to be very careful when choosing a successor for both Pat AND Vanna. They won't just cut the letter-"turner" from the show when Pat & Vanna retire...that doesn't really make sense. To many Bob was irreplaceable on TPiR, but the show has been going for 6 years without him. I don't like the thought of Wheel without Pat & Vanna as much as I hated the thought of Price without Bob. I think the show-runners and producers are going to be very careful when selecting the next generation of Wheel hosts.

[blozier2006]

Knowing nothing about what is going on behind the scenes, it is my opinion that Pat and Vanna will leave together.

Their salaries will be combined to hire that big name to host, with nobody hired to take over for Vanna.

The claim will be made that she is "irreplaceable" as a letter turner/toucher.

This I would be more inclined to believe, since if you want to really get technical, Vanna's presence has been redundant since February 1997, they just have kept her because of her name value. They don't really need someone to reveal the letters (the Toss-Ups make that point clear), so there's really no sense in replacing her when she goes, from a necessity point-of-view.

[Reloaden]

They would probably get a unknown model to touch the letters it would be weird to have no one touching the screen. They could easily pay a unknown female a fraction of what Vanna was making to touch the screens and its pretty much a trade mark of the show.



If they do go with a stand-up comedian hopefully he knows when to be serious and when to have fun. It would suck to see wheel turn into a 30 min comedy game show