When Wheel of Fortune begins its 41st season in syndication in September, it will be the beginning of the end of an era for the very popular game show since Pat Sajak announced that he will be retiring as host at the end of the season.
Sajak, 76, has been the host of Wheel of Fortune since 1981. He replaced original daytime version host Chuck Woolery, who left the show in a contract dispute. He hosted both the daytime and nighttime shows until 1989 when he left the daytime show to host a late night talk show on CBS.
The big question is who will replace Sajak? it's against HSGN policy to speculate as mentioned in a previous post on the passing of Jeopardy host Alex Trebek but Sajak's daughter Maggie as well as his long-time co-host Vanna White could be in the mix. White actually hosted while Sajak was recovering from surgery. One website mentioned about the possibility of Ryan Seacrest being considered as a potential replacement.
Merv Griffin, who created and produced Wheel of Fortune discovered Sajak when he was a weatherman on the NBC owned station in Los Angeles. Before that, Sajak hosted an unsold pilot for Mark Goodson titled Puzzlers. NBC initially didn't want Sajak to replace Woolery because officials felt he was too local. Griffin threatened to stop taping unless Sajak would host but Fred Silverman, who headed NBC back then gave in and as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Viewers can not only play along with the classic game but tune in after the bonus round to hear the banter between Sajak and White before the closing credits.
