Last week, Wheel of Fortune finished up it's 41st season. It was a season that saw the show produce it;s 8000th episode.
It was also the last season for host Pat Sajak.
Earlier in the season, there was no mention of this being Pat's last season. But as the date drew closer, Pat began addressing this more openly. As he said in an interview with his daughter Maggie, he didn't want the show to become some long memorial to his retirement.
But doing anything for 41 years is worth some attention and I was wondering how the show would address this.
Pat's last episode that aired Friday June 7th was pretty much a normal episode with 3 new contestants looking to spin the wheel, solve puzzles and win some money.
There was one concession to the special day. To make sure Pat had time to say a few words at the end, the first round was eliminated. The deal was Pat was going to spin the wheel and add $1,000 to whatever he landed on and all 3 contestants would get that amount for the first round. He landed on the $1,000 wedge which meant a total of $2,000 for each player.
“You know what? It’s not my money,” Pat said as he announced each player was getting $5,000 a piece.
The show opened with a clip from Pat's first day on the job. Not for the current syndicated version of Wheel but for the network version that ran on NBC's daytime schedule.
“Wheel” announcer Jim Thornton paid tribute to Sajak’s long run. (Vanna White had a dedicated moment to speak about Pat Sajak in Thursday's episode.)
The winning player went on to the bonus round, solved the puzzle and won another $50,000 which was a good note to end on.
Then Pat took a few minutes to share his thoughts on the past decades of hosting Wheel of Fortune.
Sajak kept his composure but there were flashes of emotion as he thanked the “Wheel of Fortune” staff, his wife and family and for his 41-year partnership with Vanna White.
Off camera, Pat Sajak has been... problematic. I would be terrible guest on Wheel of Fortune with Sajak: "Well, Pat, it's great to be here. I'm married to my wonderful wife of 30 years, Andrea and we have a son and CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL, YOU PRICK! Anyway, just here to have some fun and win a little money!"
But on camera, Pat Sajak was good at what he did. He could vary his tone from snarky to empathetic according to the needs of the guest with a fairly good instinct when to go for a withering comic comment and when to go with a sincere understanding when a puzzle solve went wrong.
Pat Sajak ended his time on Wheel with a level of energy and wit that suggested he could've gone on for another season or two. But Pat said, he would rather leave 2 years too early than stay 2 seasons too long.
Well, we've got Ryan Seacrest on deck for season 42 and there are fans bitching he's too safe or too generic to take over from Pat Sajak. Well maybe so but I think Ryan will do just fine and after the debacle of landing on a host for Jeopardy, I imagine "safe" is exactly what Sony was looking for with Wheel of Fortune.
This fall will be kind of weird with new episode of Wheel of Fortune without Pat Sajak at the helm. But he had a good run and he stuck the landing for this departure.
That is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.
Coming up on future editions of the Touchbase:
- Hacks
- My Adventures With Superman
- The Boys
- Resident Alien
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
Blog Bidness: No posts for Wednesday through Friday.
New movie posts coming Saturday and Sunday.
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