It was an ordinary day. Just turned on the TV above my fireplace and in a minute or two one of my all-time favorite TV quiz shows came on the screen. "Wheel of Fortune" has been on my CBS television station for more than 40 years and I'll bet I haven't missed more than a couple dozen of them during that time. And...if I did miss them, I probably caught the show on reruns. Well TV fans...my friend and yours...Pat Sajak is getting ready to retire his position as host of "Wheel of Fortune." How can that be......Pat? I know...you like some time off just like everyone else does, but come on, Pat. Can't you talk CBS into letting you do maybe 3 shows a week with Vanna doing the other two? What are we gonna do when you leave? No one can do the show like you can. No one can make us laugh like you can. The newspaper article that I just finished reading told me that Pat will retire from the show after his 41st season, which begins this coming September. I guess everyone deserves to retire sometime and Pat certainly gave us many hours of good entertainment, but I'm not ready for him to retire. I don't remember him asking me what I thought! "Wheel of Fortune" has been a fixture in living rooms across America for generations, holding a special place in the heart of American pop culture. Merv Griffin launched the American game show in 1975 and Sajak, alongside co-host Vanna White, has been the face of the show for more than four decades. The show is the second-most-watched TV game show behind another of my favorites, "Jeopardy!" Jeopardy had lost some of its flavor with the death of Alex Trebec, leaving "Wheel of Fortune" as the best game show on TV, as far as I'm concerned. Pat averaged 8.3 million weekly viewers. It was recently announced that the show is celebrating its 40th anniversary and has been renewed for five more years. You just know that it won't be the same without Pat as the host! A statement was recently released on TV that read "We are incredibly grateful and proud to have had Pat as our host for all these years and we look forward to celebrating his outstanding career throughout the upcoming season. Pat has agreed to continue as a consultant on the show for three years following his last year hosting, so we're thrilled to have him remaining close to the Wheel of Fortune family!" You know the show will never be the same. I remember watching when Vanna filled in for him when he took off for a vacation, but after an episode or two, I watched something else during that time slot. As the host of Wheel of Fortune, Pat has entertained millions of viewers across America and we all look forward to celebrating his outstanding career for one more season. An article I read said that the studio did not immediately respond to a request for comments regarding longtime co-host White's future with the show, or potential replacements for Pat. The article I read about his retirement added a story telling about his behavior being scrutinized online, with social media slamming the host for teasing a contestant with a fish phobia, mocking a white-bearded man as "Santa's helper" and wrestling with another contestant by putting him in a hammerlock after he'd swept the competition. Some might have felt that way, but I suspect most enjoyed Pat's clowning around which he often did on his shows. I will have to make sure I have recorded all his final shows just in case I might miss one of his final shows. Now....who will replace him? I, for one, love Vanna White in her role on the show, but not as the host of the show. It will take a few months, maybe years, to get to enjoy another host that is as good as Pat Sajak was for the past 40 years. Will the show survive? I guess time will tell! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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