Reminds me of one of Susie Eddie Izzard’s better smirk moments, wondering why God took so many tries to get it right. “What about Azus, Beezus, Ceezus…” :-)
Pat Sajak and Vannah White were very open a few years ago, talking about how they would show up extremely drunk, and just marathon them. Sounded like a shitshow production but was a pretty easy gig for the hosts.
I blame the death of radio. All the old game show hosts were formerly radio guys. Now who do they have to choose from? YouTubers? Podcasters? None of them have the skill set.
Yeah she's going to hang around a year or two so the transition isn't as jarring for the fans. Maybe Maggie will be taking over her position eventually.
I doubt anyone in comments is old enough to remember the quiz show scandals of the 1950s, but I'm sure those in charge of WoF learned from those to not fucking do it.
Btw, movie from 1994 about those scandals, aptly titled Quiz Show, was a good one. Probably takes some creative license in dramatizing what happened, but it was a good watch, from what I remember. Haven't watched it since it was new lol
The quiz show scandals are the reason why Jeopardy has the format it does. Contestants provide questions to the hosts answers.
>My wife Julann just came up with the idea one day when we were in a plane bringing us back to New York City from Duluth. I was mulling over game show ideas, when she noted that there had not been a successful 'question and answer' game on the air since the quiz show scandals. Why not do a switch, and give the answers to the contestant and let them come up with the question? She fired a couple of answers to me: "5,280"—and the question of course was 'How many feet in a mile?'. Another was '79 Wistful Vista'; that was Fibber and Mollie McGee's address. I loved the idea, went straight to NBC with the idea, and they bought it without even looking at a pilot show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!#Conception_and_development
That was around the big career starts for both Ralph Fiennes and John Turturrow. Great movie as I recall, also haven’t seen it since a year or two after it came out.
They absolutely have ways of making it more difficult for people to win. One example being the bonus puzzle. You have a puzzle that starts blank, then they “give” you the RSTLNE letters. But sometimes, the puzzle they choose just conveniently has only one of those letters and the rest of them are blank. They didn’t randomly generate the puzzle. Someone vetted that and chose a puzzle that intentionally gave the contestant less information from the start.
Then they try and play it off like it was the luck of the draw. Sure, the contestant might choose letters that aren’t in the puzzle, but a contestant who starts with half of it filled out has a much better chance of guessing correct letters than a contestant who starts with close to nothing there.
My point being, it’s not random. They make it seem like it’s random, but behind the scenes, they’re making judgement calls based on the likelihood that the contestant is going to win big, and that is one way they manage to avoid giving a million bucks to everyone who gets the wedge.
As I said above, I got to build a shoot for Wheel. And I got to actually build the Wheel itself. And was being watched by no less than *three* agents with FCC credentials. During the actual taping of the game, *four* agents were on site, watching and documenting various aspects of the show.
It was an interesting peak behind the curtain of game shows. And a fun experience.
They pretty clearly edit out most of the spin time for the show, at least.
And doing it for 41 years, you get pretty good at projecting what pie piece it's gonna clack on over to.
This would be an insanely difficult thing to hide. Apart from what others have said about multiple FCC staff being present to observe both the setup of the wheel and the actual gameplay, there are (presumably) recordings of literally every single spin over the last 40+ seasons. Thousands. Maybe tens of thousands of samples for analysis. It would be ridiculously easy for a statistician to go back and determine if there were irregularities.
You could analyze everything from spin patterns (eg does it land on bankrupt at an abnormally high frequency after a certain number of high dollar amounts are landed on) to demographic patterns (eg do contestants who most closely match the show’s target demographic spin unusually well compared to other demographics) to viewership metrics (eg does it land on more interesting tiles, say… the car, boat, vacation, mystery prize… right before the time in the show where viewership is most likely to dip?).
Humans are extremely bad at faking random patterns. Teachers in entry level math classes regularly mess with students by having groups of students flip coins and other groups make up results of imaginary coin flips and then being able to tell which group did which b/c the lack of randomness is obvious in the made up coin flips group. If anything, I’d think it would be harder to hide with Wheel of Fortune b/c you’d have to maintain a sequence of results so close to random as to be indistinguishable but with a substantially larger set of potential outcomes to keep straight in your head. There’s no way a random producer standing in the control booth could manage such a feat without massive mathematical efforts being made. For me, it goes beyond credibility.
Edit: That said, believe what you want. No skin off my back. I still think it’s a fun show. I just like considering the mathematical difficulty in pulling off what you suggest.
Your post brought [Benford's Law](https://statisticsbyjim.com/probability/benfords-law/#:~:text=Benford's%20law%20describes%20the%20relative,5%25%20start%20with%20a%209.) to mind.
That’s so cool, and it’s exactly the sort of thing I was getting at. And even if a producer knew the distribution of outcomes the wheel should follow, to accurately manipulate the wheel in real time in a way that somehow benefits the show, but without deviating far enough from the correct distribution to be detected? Not only would that be insanely difficult, it would kind of defeat the purpose b/c all your “positive” manifestations would have to be offset by “negative” ones, so what would be the point of doing it at all? You’d be taking significant risk (of being caught) with effectively no net gain.
So, now that you've been given new information that shows that it absolutely, positively does not have a brake (which you can find in this thread), have you changed your belief?
I actually watched it tonight for the first time in probably 20 years, just to see his last episode. That wheel is janky AF. It looks like a machine designed to tear rotator cuffs.
I think pampered lives are what cause people to become insufferable much of the time. They expect everything to work in their favor, and they have no personal experience to relate to people who don't have a cushy lifestyle. They would rather step on people neck deep in mud than risk getting mud on their shoes
Yup. This goes one of two ways. He disappears and isn't in the public eye at all like Bob Barker and Johnny Carson... or he goes batshit MAGA on social media. I don't think there's an in between with him. Not saying Johnny or Bob were like that, but they're good examples of people keeping to themselves after they retire. I guess there's a third option and he pulls a Jay Leno.
Happens so much when you are in entertainment and then have to take off the mask.
Look at the drop in support of wrestlers like Ric Flair, Vince McMahon, Undertaker, and Kane whose real personalities came out once they were no longer beholden to an image for a company.
It's getting weirder and harder for us and for them as celebrity is tied more and more to parasocial relationships and communication. We see more of them than we ever did before, and many are used to having stage personas that bleed into the real world - kayfabe, to be on point for wrestlers specifically. What that means is they have to keep up those personas in ways and places that never used to be required. It also means it's harder for us to separate a celebrity's actual personality and opinions from their self-named character.
Basically - what happens if they give a real answer in-character? Are they serious? And what I mean by character here isn't necessarily always a "character", I mean the way they present themselves professionally.
I think we're see a lot of Hamlet situations where people play themselves as a piece of shit for so long they actually become one. They lose themselves.
And in the other direction, we can never really know if they're putting up a persona all the time, or when. We've never met them in person, we just know what they show us. It makes it really easy for an actual nutjob to hide it completely as long as they can pose for every camera. The more we see of their lie the less we would ever suspect it to be one.
Several year ago I helped build a remote shoot for Wheel. Not the traveling stage show, but the actual Wheel of Fortune show itself, they came here to Portland and shot a month's worth of episodes. 5 shows a day across four days, with two different set dressing themes.
I met Pat. He was distant, but generally polite. Didn't hear a bad thing said about him during their time here. Vanna was a total gem. Came and had lunch with us stage hands, asked about things to do in town, told a few stories about her time on Wheel. Friendly, open, and far more intelligent than what you might discern from her on-screen personality. Yeah, totally had a crush on her.
I'm not surprised Vanna was a sweetheart. She doesn't constantly deal with contestants directly, so she still has some soul left in her! Lol but no, seriously, that's nice to hear about her.
Like I said, a total gem. She admitted she knew nothing about our city, and really wanted to learn. So we gave her solid directions to the Oregon Historical Society and the Portland Art Museum (basically across the street from each other), and while she didn't talk to me about it, according to some others she came back a couple days later and thanked them for that, said she had an awesome experience.
I'm sure contestants are coached several times before taping to enunciate with intent, or something like that, to avoid confusion. I'd guess they have to practice certain letters like N and M.
Not to detract from his dickishness but I imagine that after a few decades of dealing with the frequently moronic contestants, I'd probably have trouble keeping it together too. He signed up for it though of course.
Hey Alex Trebek (much better human, no comparison on that front) would get short with contestants too. Especially during player interviews.
“So Miranda says here you grew up with Jeopardy! through your grandparents. Tell us about that.”
“Thanks Alex, so when I was 6…yadda yadda yadda.” A very heart felt tear jerking story but…it goes on just a little too long.
Alex in a deadpan tone ”Good for you. John you have the board make a selection.”
Well, on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune Ken is donating his proceeds to a group that fights for justice for prisoners. I can’t remember the name of it, though. He mentioned that racism can be a cause for unjust prison sentences.
If he's still doing it in a few decades, that might change I imagine! Not that I ever found Trebek to be too abrupt or curt anyhow, occasionally to the point of course but it was his job to keep the show moving.
I need to find videos of this, because I’ve seen him live on SEVERAL occasions treat the contestants like shit. He’s by far my least favorite host because of how much of an asshole he seems like. Super unlikeable host who’s seemingly been phoning it in since the late 90s at least
And his chit chat with Vanna at the end is awful. He makes them both look like there is no chemistry there. You would think they would have a better rapport on screen after working together all these years.
(Source: watched way too much Wheel during the pandemic)
I thought it was just me! I don't watch it with any regularity, not since the 80s and 90s when my dad and I would bet on what color dress Vanna was gonna walk out wearing lol
I turn it on just once in a while to kill time. Pat really should have stepped down ages ago. He really has been coming off as miserly for the last 10+ years at the very least.
Alex Trebek, on the other hand, god bless him, even at the end there, he never seemed even half as whatever the hell it is Pat is.
Wheel of Fortune was the perfect gig for him. I read an book by a producer who, early in his career was hired to produce The Pat Sajak Show (the producer went on to produce David Letterman or something). He said he was surprised to learn Pat Sajak was not interested in doing anything new or difficult. He would do the bare minimum and then run out the door at the end of the day, even if they were in the middle of a set up. He didn’t care about quality at all.
Some people, like a Conan O’Brien or a David Letterman would see a hosting job as a chance to do something new. Pat Sajak had landed a coveted nighttime talk show but didn’t want to invest anymore than the very minimum.
If you saw the episodes where Vanna had to surprise guest host because Sajak got sick…yeah he’s great. It’s not a skill anyone can pick up (Vanna didn’t after 30+ years observing Pat). Seacrest is a pretty natural successor because that dude has proven he can host pretty much anything.
Being a “surprise guest anything” is probably tough. He comes off as condescending and smarmy to me, but I’m sure there are technical aspects that I can’t imagine and couldn’t do myself.
I was wondering the same so I did some searching. As far as I can tell, he hasn't *done* anything, he's just a regular old republican idiot who denies climate change and thinks diversity is for suckers.
For those wondering, that's a super religious school that refuses government financial aid so that they're not required to follow Title IX (which prohibits discrimination of women and now LGBTs)
Private donations from Sajak and the like are the only way they can keep afloat. And just last year... two female students sued the college after reporting instances of sexual assault from male students. They accused the college of performing "phony investigations" and then blaming them "for being raped".
Shitty personal politics, but he was cordial when I met him in person (he had taken his son paintballing the same day I took my son, and we shared a brief chat while waiting between rounds)
Not anti plastic surgery and Botox, though. Literal toxins to keep him looking younger than he is but opposed to something that has saved countless lives.
Go fig.
Thanks Pat. My immigrant, war refugee grandparents loved Wheel of Fortune. They didn’t know what was going on but they knew what luck meant. Miss them every time I see Wheel of Fortune on.
Yeah, I only first learned myself a few months ago. I never looked into anything else he did, I just knew him as "Wheel of Fortune host", and then I was clued in to his politics and the type of energy he invests in all that.
He (and/or the producer) keeps the show totally politically neutral for ratings purposes, but Sajak has been a big Republican donor for decades. He owned a lunatic AM radio station, and he is on the board of the fundamentalist Christian Hillsdale College.
Sajak is a full blown nutjob.
Man I was born in early 80s, this dude has literally been the host of wheel of fortune for my whole life practically. Wild! I think Ryan will be a good host though.
What was the final puzzle for Pat?
I know ow people have their opinions on the man, but I'd still find it sweet if the last Puzzle for Pat was a goodbye message.
RSTLNE. That has guided my life.
As far as Ryan Seacrest goes, why not I guess. He started out hosting cable tech tv shows, now he's a gameshow host. And had a brief career as a top tier TV host.
Always made me laugh how many people were shot down because Larry viewed them as a potential threat. Except Sajak.
Even better is the episode where Hank guest hosts and fails after it gets to his head.
Pat sajak has been the highest paid on camera talent by hourly rate for decades. he gets paid like 20million per year to do wheel of fortune and despite originally it taking a whole evening to shoot an episode by the late 90s they got it down to a science being able to shoot over a month's worth of episodes in a single day. no one else in hollywood has ever made so much for doing so little.
My favorite Pat Sajak factoid:
During Viet Nam, Armed Services Radio blasted news and entertainment across the airways to keep soldiers informed and boost morale. One day, an enlistee by the name of Adrian Cronauer came on the radio, flipped a switch, and yelled out, “GOOOOOOOD MORNING VIET NAM!!”
He made quite a name for himself, which was dramatized in a movie by the same name. You know… Robin Williams. It was highly fictionalized, of course. But the base facts are there.
When Adrian Cronauer‘s time was up and he transferred out, guess who replaced him on his morning show!
Pat Sajak!
"Ryan Seacrest will take over as host of the syndicated game show." *sigh* Because, why the hell not.
Ryan Seacrest??? Isn’t he hosting like 5 other shows?? How many clones of him are out there?
We’ve got to be on at least Ryan G-Crest at this point.
Reminds me of one of Susie Eddie Izzard’s better smirk moments, wondering why God took so many tries to get it right. “What about Azus, Beezus, Ceezus…” :-)
They tape wheels of fortune 4 days a month. That is a Thursday and Friday, every other week. That allows Seacrest plenty of time for other projects.
Probably why Sajak has been doing it so long. It's really a part time gig. Like the Simpsons voice actors, who probably work a a week or two a year.
I think the $15 million/year makes it the best part time job ever.
New capital of the United States: Washington DCeacrest
They're all braindead game shows that require zero prep, all filmed in marathon sessions at the same studio complex.
Pat Sajak and Vannah White were very open a few years ago, talking about how they would show up extremely drunk, and just marathon them. Sounded like a shitshow production but was a pretty easy gig for the hosts.
We have a dearth of hosts
I blame the death of radio. All the old game show hosts were formerly radio guys. Now who do they have to choose from? YouTubers? Podcasters? None of them have the skill set.
Ryan Seacrest owns iheart radio aka the monopoly on all radio stations right now, so it tracks
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Well it’s the other way around I think, iHeart owns Ryan.
We're not the BBCA that regularly have panel shows that would act as a pipeline for this particular skill
Seacrest IS a radio guy. I have to suffer through his shows some mornings and it's horrible prep burger and hidden ads
Yeah that’s my point. He’s kinda the last one of the big name radio guys so he’s the only choice.
Ken Jennings is doing great as Jeopardy host, so yeah, probably podcasters.
Hosting? Sounds more like hoarding
Ryan Seacrest has become a sloppy seconds host.
He is a great replacement though. He’s got that same sort of bland geniality that’s perfect for Wheel viewers.
Why don't they just let Vanna White host?
Would she want to? IDK if my job was look pretty and touch squares and not really talk to people I'd be pretty happy
Besides, she’s been at it as long as Sajak has. I’d think it’s more likely she’s thinking of retirement herself.
Yeah she's going to hang around a year or two so the transition isn't as jarring for the fans. Maybe Maggie will be taking over her position eventually.
It was interesting to learn they do 35 days of filming per year and crank out 6 shows per day.
Im fairly sure turning blocks and hosting a game 35 days a year is good work if you can get it.
$15 mil salary a year for sure
I swear to god he has a foot brake for the wheel.
I think with such a popular show that would be too much potential for a scandal. The prize money is peanuts to them.
I doubt anyone in comments is old enough to remember the quiz show scandals of the 1950s, but I'm sure those in charge of WoF learned from those to not fucking do it. Btw, movie from 1994 about those scandals, aptly titled Quiz Show, was a good one. Probably takes some creative license in dramatizing what happened, but it was a good watch, from what I remember. Haven't watched it since it was new lol
The quiz show scandals are the reason why Jeopardy has the format it does. Contestants provide questions to the hosts answers. >My wife Julann just came up with the idea one day when we were in a plane bringing us back to New York City from Duluth. I was mulling over game show ideas, when she noted that there had not been a successful 'question and answer' game on the air since the quiz show scandals. Why not do a switch, and give the answers to the contestant and let them come up with the question? She fired a couple of answers to me: "5,280"—and the question of course was 'How many feet in a mile?'. Another was '79 Wistful Vista'; that was Fibber and Mollie McGee's address. I loved the idea, went straight to NBC with the idea, and they bought it without even looking at a pilot show. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!#Conception_and_development
you’re absolutely correct and also i love your username.
I'm not old enough but I did see the movie!
Not old enough to remember them, but I'm definitely aware that they happened.
Someone remembers Quiz Show, I loved that movie.
If only they would fix the rigging in professional wrestling , and put those guys who lip-synch the monkeys in jail.
That was around the big career starts for both Ralph Fiennes and John Turturrow. Great movie as I recall, also haven’t seen it since a year or two after it came out.
They absolutely have ways of making it more difficult for people to win. One example being the bonus puzzle. You have a puzzle that starts blank, then they “give” you the RSTLNE letters. But sometimes, the puzzle they choose just conveniently has only one of those letters and the rest of them are blank. They didn’t randomly generate the puzzle. Someone vetted that and chose a puzzle that intentionally gave the contestant less information from the start. Then they try and play it off like it was the luck of the draw. Sure, the contestant might choose letters that aren’t in the puzzle, but a contestant who starts with half of it filled out has a much better chance of guessing correct letters than a contestant who starts with close to nothing there. My point being, it’s not random. They make it seem like it’s random, but behind the scenes, they’re making judgement calls based on the likelihood that the contestant is going to win big, and that is one way they manage to avoid giving a million bucks to everyone who gets the wedge.
Ok. But they arent stopping the wheel with a brake.
There's no brake, but the editing sometimes makes it look that way. That baby spins for a good 3-5 minutes if you put a little mustard on it.
Some say it’s still spinning
As I said above, I got to build a shoot for Wheel. And I got to actually build the Wheel itself. And was being watched by no less than *three* agents with FCC credentials. During the actual taping of the game, *four* agents were on site, watching and documenting various aspects of the show. It was an interesting peak behind the curtain of game shows. And a fun experience.
Charlie doesn't play around
I don’t mean to be pedantic but it’s Peek*
I’d like to buy a vowel, E. Yes we have two e’s. I’d like to solve the puzzle, Peek.
They pretty clearly edit out most of the spin time for the show, at least. And doing it for 41 years, you get pretty good at projecting what pie piece it's gonna clack on over to.
Especially when you're using a foot brake /tinfoil
I don’t think he does, but somebody on the production team. I have believed this for years.
This would be an insanely difficult thing to hide. Apart from what others have said about multiple FCC staff being present to observe both the setup of the wheel and the actual gameplay, there are (presumably) recordings of literally every single spin over the last 40+ seasons. Thousands. Maybe tens of thousands of samples for analysis. It would be ridiculously easy for a statistician to go back and determine if there were irregularities. You could analyze everything from spin patterns (eg does it land on bankrupt at an abnormally high frequency after a certain number of high dollar amounts are landed on) to demographic patterns (eg do contestants who most closely match the show’s target demographic spin unusually well compared to other demographics) to viewership metrics (eg does it land on more interesting tiles, say… the car, boat, vacation, mystery prize… right before the time in the show where viewership is most likely to dip?). Humans are extremely bad at faking random patterns. Teachers in entry level math classes regularly mess with students by having groups of students flip coins and other groups make up results of imaginary coin flips and then being able to tell which group did which b/c the lack of randomness is obvious in the made up coin flips group. If anything, I’d think it would be harder to hide with Wheel of Fortune b/c you’d have to maintain a sequence of results so close to random as to be indistinguishable but with a substantially larger set of potential outcomes to keep straight in your head. There’s no way a random producer standing in the control booth could manage such a feat without massive mathematical efforts being made. For me, it goes beyond credibility. Edit: That said, believe what you want. No skin off my back. I still think it’s a fun show. I just like considering the mathematical difficulty in pulling off what you suggest.
Your post brought [Benford's Law](https://statisticsbyjim.com/probability/benfords-law/#:~:text=Benford's%20law%20describes%20the%20relative,5%25%20start%20with%20a%209.) to mind.
I’d never heard of that. Interesting. The summary about numbers being biased to lower because that is where you start counting is neat.
That’s so cool, and it’s exactly the sort of thing I was getting at. And even if a producer knew the distribution of outcomes the wheel should follow, to accurately manipulate the wheel in real time in a way that somehow benefits the show, but without deviating far enough from the correct distribution to be detected? Not only would that be insanely difficult, it would kind of defeat the purpose b/c all your “positive” manifestations would have to be offset by “negative” ones, so what would be the point of doing it at all? You’d be taking significant risk (of being caught) with effectively no net gain.
"Bankrupt, bankrupt, bankrupt" Then nothing.
So, now that you've been given new information that shows that it absolutely, positively does not have a brake (which you can find in this thread), have you changed your belief?
I actually watched it tonight for the first time in probably 20 years, just to see his last episode. That wheel is janky AF. It looks like a machine designed to tear rotator cuffs.
Especially when a contestant is being annoying. Lose a turn or bankrupt for sure.
They always go bankrupt on the 3rd spin.
47 U.S. Code § 509 - Prohibited practices in contests of knowledge, skill, or chance. That would be illegal.
5 seconds Mr. Marsh. People who annoy you. Pat I'd like to solve... Oh, Naggers.
Great Southpark episode 😂
It’s been fuck pat sajek ever since those pics with MTG.
Wait til he's no longer connected to a major show. The mask is about to fully-slip to reveal the real Pat, and it won't be pretty.
He's had "fuck you" money for quite some time, but was restrained from saying that as he wanted to keep his job...
Imagine having the easy, pampered life he's had and still becoming a bitter, angry old man?
I think pampered lives are what cause people to become insufferable much of the time. They expect everything to work in their favor, and they have no personal experience to relate to people who don't have a cushy lifestyle. They would rather step on people neck deep in mud than risk getting mud on their shoes
Yup. This goes one of two ways. He disappears and isn't in the public eye at all like Bob Barker and Johnny Carson... or he goes batshit MAGA on social media. I don't think there's an in between with him. Not saying Johnny or Bob were like that, but they're good examples of people keeping to themselves after they retire. I guess there's a third option and he pulls a Jay Leno.
Happens so much when you are in entertainment and then have to take off the mask. Look at the drop in support of wrestlers like Ric Flair, Vince McMahon, Undertaker, and Kane whose real personalities came out once they were no longer beholden to an image for a company.
It's getting weirder and harder for us and for them as celebrity is tied more and more to parasocial relationships and communication. We see more of them than we ever did before, and many are used to having stage personas that bleed into the real world - kayfabe, to be on point for wrestlers specifically. What that means is they have to keep up those personas in ways and places that never used to be required. It also means it's harder for us to separate a celebrity's actual personality and opinions from their self-named character. Basically - what happens if they give a real answer in-character? Are they serious? And what I mean by character here isn't necessarily always a "character", I mean the way they present themselves professionally. I think we're see a lot of Hamlet situations where people play themselves as a piece of shit for so long they actually become one. They lose themselves. And in the other direction, we can never really know if they're putting up a persona all the time, or when. We've never met them in person, we just know what they show us. It makes it really easy for an actual nutjob to hide it completely as long as they can pose for every camera. The more we see of their lie the less we would ever suspect it to be one.
Sajak plays Magic!? I wonder what kind of deck he uses.
Mono blue. He's a counterspell kinda dick player
Could be worse. I had an all red deck in Jr high that was nothing but mana, meteors, and lightning bolts.
Top tier comment. I hope he gets mana screwed.
Oh no. You can't get to 3 mana? Whoopsie!
Wheel of Fortune is a red card 🤷
Izzet, but he hasn't picked it up since the commander rules committee banned hullbreacher.
We watched Wheel every night for over a decade. Saw those pics and haven’t watched it since.
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Is he even a great host? Certainly he has been doing it for a long time. Definitely a prick IRL though.
There’s a lot of times where he’s super short and somewhat rude toward contestants. He does it in a sarcastic manner but it’s pretty apparent.
Several year ago I helped build a remote shoot for Wheel. Not the traveling stage show, but the actual Wheel of Fortune show itself, they came here to Portland and shot a month's worth of episodes. 5 shows a day across four days, with two different set dressing themes. I met Pat. He was distant, but generally polite. Didn't hear a bad thing said about him during their time here. Vanna was a total gem. Came and had lunch with us stage hands, asked about things to do in town, told a few stories about her time on Wheel. Friendly, open, and far more intelligent than what you might discern from her on-screen personality. Yeah, totally had a crush on her.
I'm not surprised Vanna was a sweetheart. She doesn't constantly deal with contestants directly, so she still has some soul left in her! Lol but no, seriously, that's nice to hear about her.
Like I said, a total gem. She admitted she knew nothing about our city, and really wanted to learn. So we gave her solid directions to the Oregon Historical Society and the Portland Art Museum (basically across the street from each other), and while she didn't talk to me about it, according to some others she came back a couple days later and thanked them for that, said she had an awesome experience.
Still a lovely lady, and forty years ago she was such a babe it was bananas. Her appearance on The Price Is Right could stop traffic.
If a contestant is dominating the game, he gets REALLY annoyed with them and doesn’t hide it.
"Can I buy an O please?" "I don't know, CAN YOU?"
Oh Wheel for some reason they say “*the* O”. “Can I buy *the* u, please?”
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You don’t want them to accidentally hear you wrong
It's to distinguish between "Ehmmmm" And yes, occasionally they do get misheard
I'm sure contestants are coached several times before taping to enunciate with intent, or something like that, to avoid confusion. I'd guess they have to practice certain letters like N and M.
Not to detract from his dickishness but I imagine that after a few decades of dealing with the frequently moronic contestants, I'd probably have trouble keeping it together too. He signed up for it though of course.
It’s not even that. He does this to celebrity contestants as well during their introductions. There’s a weird sarcasm and condescension.
Hey Alex Trebek (much better human, no comparison on that front) would get short with contestants too. Especially during player interviews. “So Miranda says here you grew up with Jeopardy! through your grandparents. Tell us about that.” “Thanks Alex, so when I was 6…yadda yadda yadda.” A very heart felt tear jerking story but…it goes on just a little too long. Alex in a deadpan tone ”Good for you. John you have the board make a selection.”
Well we don’t need a life story. People gotta say 2 sentences and move on.
And the fact that episodes are 22ish minutes each means they literally don't have time for a long ass life story.
Ken deals with it too but his demeanor never changes. Just sayin.
He's Mormon. They're experts at being nice to your face and not meaning it.
Harsh. Not wrong, either.
Well, on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune Ken is donating his proceeds to a group that fights for justice for prisoners. I can’t remember the name of it, though. He mentioned that racism can be a cause for unjust prison sentences.
If he's still doing it in a few decades, that might change I imagine! Not that I ever found Trebek to be too abrupt or curt anyhow, occasionally to the point of course but it was his job to keep the show moving.
Lol thanks to Alex, my wife and I say "Good for you." To each other in his tone to admit when we're not really listening.
I need to find videos of this, because I’ve seen him live on SEVERAL occasions treat the contestants like shit. He’s by far my least favorite host because of how much of an asshole he seems like. Super unlikeable host who’s seemingly been phoning it in since the late 90s at least
And his chit chat with Vanna at the end is awful. He makes them both look like there is no chemistry there. You would think they would have a better rapport on screen after working together all these years. (Source: watched way too much Wheel during the pandemic)
Totally agree. He seemed miserable every time I tuned in
I thought it was just me! I don't watch it with any regularity, not since the 80s and 90s when my dad and I would bet on what color dress Vanna was gonna walk out wearing lol I turn it on just once in a while to kill time. Pat really should have stepped down ages ago. He really has been coming off as miserly for the last 10+ years at the very least. Alex Trebek, on the other hand, god bless him, even at the end there, he never seemed even half as whatever the hell it is Pat is.
Trebek was the best.
I was going to say that I never noticed a problem but then to think about it, I haven't watched since the mid 90s.
My cousin was a contestant 15+ years ago and Pat, for no good reason, clearly did not like him
Especially the gay folks. Its like his skin crawls when he has to acknowledge them.
Wheel of Fortune was the perfect gig for him. I read an book by a producer who, early in his career was hired to produce The Pat Sajak Show (the producer went on to produce David Letterman or something). He said he was surprised to learn Pat Sajak was not interested in doing anything new or difficult. He would do the bare minimum and then run out the door at the end of the day, even if they were in the middle of a set up. He didn’t care about quality at all.
Sounds like lots of people at their jobs lol
Why do more?
Some people, like a Conan O’Brien or a David Letterman would see a hosting job as a chance to do something new. Pat Sajak had landed a coveted nighttime talk show but didn’t want to invest anymore than the very minimum.
If you saw the episodes where Vanna had to surprise guest host because Sajak got sick…yeah he’s great. It’s not a skill anyone can pick up (Vanna didn’t after 30+ years observing Pat). Seacrest is a pretty natural successor because that dude has proven he can host pretty much anything.
Being a “surprise guest anything” is probably tough. He comes off as condescending and smarmy to me, but I’m sure there are technical aspects that I can’t imagine and couldn’t do myself.
I'm not sure that one person being bad at something makes someone else great at it.
The mask has definitely fallen quite a few times while hosting.
What he do
MAGA moron climate change denier sadly
And he was former weatherman at knbc long before WOF
Surprising number of meteorologists are climate deniers. Mainly because they don’t see a difference between weather and climate.
I feel like tv meteorologist are like chiropractors, they think that the experts in anything related to their field
k nnnnnnnbc
He’s on the board of trustees of Hillsdale College in Michigan. Hillsdale is one of the more prominent “conservative” institutions in the country.
I was wondering the same so I did some searching. As far as I can tell, he hasn't *done* anything, he's just a regular old republican idiot who denies climate change and thinks diversity is for suckers.
He gave Hillsdale College enough money that they named a building after him
For those wondering, that's a super religious school that refuses government financial aid so that they're not required to follow Title IX (which prohibits discrimination of women and now LGBTs) Private donations from Sajak and the like are the only way they can keep afloat. And just last year... two female students sued the college after reporting instances of sexual assault from male students. They accused the college of performing "phony investigations" and then blaming them "for being raped".
Why is he a bad person?
Shitty personal politics, but he was cordial when I met him in person (he had taken his son paintballing the same day I took my son, and we shared a brief chat while waiting between rounds)
Only 41 years? Seems longer.
Well, the show does disavow the existence of the daytime version.
He’s an anti-science, anti-vaccine clown right?
Don't forget climate change denier.
Not anti plastic surgery and Botox, though. Literal toxins to keep him looking younger than he is but opposed to something that has saved countless lives. Go fig.
Well, he’s MAGA so probably.
Also completely lucked into a cushy high paying job, and attributed it to picking himself up by his bootstraps, so pretty likely.
He hosts a radio show and has a big place on the Chesapeake near Pasadena, MD where he will no doubt spew his bullshit real soon.
Thanks Pat. My immigrant, war refugee grandparents loved Wheel of Fortune. They didn’t know what was going on but they knew what luck meant. Miss them every time I see Wheel of Fortune on.
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Anyone else remember Chuck Woollery and Susan Stafford from the 70s and early 80s when this first went into syndication?
I'm also old enough to remember when winners used their prize money to shop for products on the stage!
“I’ll take the cappuccino machine, the porcelain Dalmatian, the foosball table, and the rest on account Chuck”
I date women on TV with the help of Chuck Woolery
"We'll be back in two and two, two minutes and two seconds", as he holds up two fingers and flips his hand over.
At least Chuck Woolley got that sweet sweet “fuck you” catheter commercial money
He must be bored out of his mind. Doing that same shit for 41 years?
Probably but that sweet sweet dough
He only had to work about one month out of the year, and then could do whatever the hell he wanted the rest of the year. He had it absolutely made.
He tried hosting a talk show. This was before the standards were as low as they are today. It was terrible.
Over $10 mil a year for the last decade or two getting sent on free trips for work works less than 100 days a year
Vanna White was the real talent on that show
She's still on it
Pat has been on Wheel for my entire existence. Neat!
Not for mine, because I'm old.
What was it like when they invented the wheel? Like how did people react?
Now he can post crazy-right-wing-uncle memes full time.
Why Vanna's net worth 85m and Pat's is 75m?
She's got that yarn money.
Gotta say, it's *good* fuckin' yarn, too.
Don't believe what the Internet says about net worth.
Absolutely, I googled my net worth and I didn't even pop up. Just a bunch of people with the same name as me. I wish my net worth was 18 million!
Net worth numbers on the internet are usually based on nothing.
Apparently, Vanna learned about investing in real estate from a previous husband or boyfriend who really knew the business.
Because Sajak invested in right wing AM radio and gave a truckload of money to a fundamentalist Christian college.
I feel like she's done more endorsements
Just Karma having it's lil' fun with Patty Cake.
Is it too much to ask to have a drunk Nick Nolte take over as host?
Goodness I love that episode
Personally, I won't miss this MAGA nutjob.
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OH yea. He was pretty far right even before Trump.
Yeah, I only first learned myself a few months ago. I never looked into anything else he did, I just knew him as "Wheel of Fortune host", and then I was clued in to his politics and the type of energy he invests in all that.
I had no idea.
He (and/or the producer) keeps the show totally politically neutral for ratings purposes, but Sajak has been a big Republican donor for decades. He owned a lunatic AM radio station, and he is on the board of the fundamentalist Christian Hillsdale College. Sajak is a full blown nutjob.
What about Vanna? Is she still cool?
As far as I know, yeah.
Pat and Vanna have been 'together' longer than most marriages. unreal.
He should come back as a contestant.
Don't let the door hit you my racist, bigoted dude.
Man I was born in early 80s, this dude has literally been the host of wheel of fortune for my whole life practically. Wild! I think Ryan will be a good host though.
Can I have a job for 41 years that works 22 minutes a day? Oh, they don’t record the episodes five days a week? Even better!
What was the final puzzle for Pat? I know ow people have their opinions on the man, but I'd still find it sweet if the last Puzzle for Pat was a goodbye message.
The final bonus round puzzle was "Back Porch". The contestant easily got it and won $50k + $29k from the main game.
Chuck Woolery made a bad choice.
RSTLNE. That has guided my life. As far as Ryan Seacrest goes, why not I guess. He started out hosting cable tech tv shows, now he's a gameshow host. And had a brief career as a top tier TV host.
Worst guest host of the Larry Sanders Show
Always made me laugh how many people were shot down because Larry viewed them as a potential threat. Except Sajak. Even better is the episode where Hank guest hosts and fails after it gets to his head.
Pat sajak has been the highest paid on camera talent by hourly rate for decades. he gets paid like 20million per year to do wheel of fortune and despite originally it taking a whole evening to shoot an episode by the late 90s they got it down to a science being able to shoot over a month's worth of episodes in a single day. no one else in hollywood has ever made so much for doing so little.
Judith Sheindlin (Judge Judy) makes way more than that. She makes $47 million per year working 52 days a year ($900,000 A DAY) at CBS.
Judge Judy hasn't had new episodes in a few years
A week of episodes in a day, not a month. Doing 20 episodes in single day would be nuts.
My favorite Pat Sajak factoid: During Viet Nam, Armed Services Radio blasted news and entertainment across the airways to keep soldiers informed and boost morale. One day, an enlistee by the name of Adrian Cronauer came on the radio, flipped a switch, and yelled out, “GOOOOOOOD MORNING VIET NAM!!” He made quite a name for himself, which was dramatized in a movie by the same name. You know… Robin Williams. It was highly fictionalized, of course. But the base facts are there. When Adrian Cronauer‘s time was up and he transferred out, guess who replaced him on his morning show! Pat Sajak!
I think he should have left a while ago