You know why remakes of Friends, Lord of the Rings, or MCU with a new Wolverine would never win unanimous votes? Because they cast performers who made their characters immortal, to the point that it’s impossible to see anyone else in their shoes, no matter how good they are. Just ask Ryan Seacrest, he is living it as you nod your head along to my little speech there.
Reality TV shows have the reputation of not sticking with the same faces, even ditching their sworn plot concepts in response to fickle ratings. But some have survived the test of time, thanks to the creative, lively personalities that chose to be their face and their identity — at least that was the case with Pat Sajak hosting Wheel of Fortune for the last four decades. After 41 years and over 8,000 episodes, the man who welded himself into the history of the show… no scratch that, became the history of the show hung up his cape, and retired from his role in June 2024.
Of course, life goes on, particularly in matters where monetary politics takes the upper hand. This unchangeable rule also reigned over the ABC telecast which followed Sajak’s announcement of his decision to leave the show by sealing the deal with Seacrest. On paper, he was a great choice — several Emmy nominations in his bag as the long-standing host of American Idol and Live with Kelly and Ryan, as well as an Emmy win for James Oliver’s Food Revolution. He is charming, has remained popular throughout the years, and is already the face of one of the biggest reality shows of this era.
What could have possibly gone wrong? The answer is everything.
The glaring issue? Seacrest is not Pat Sajak — that combined with all the sudden, totally unnecessary, and rather jarring changes being made to the show to fit around his debut have left Wheel of Fortune fans unwilling to welcome the new host and sharpening their barbed, pointy comments to hit where it would absolutely hurt.
They do have my vote on this one — blue gears spinning amid giant golden circles? What happened to themed sets for themed episodes? Was it really that necessary to treat Seacrest like the stereotypical second wife in the movies who has to erase every trace of the first one the moment she enters the house?
The change made to how the ongoing game segment appears on screens is not doing Seacrest any favors either.
Not that overlooking the set and backdrop was an easy task, but Seacrest made sure that those willing to look past him filling Sajak’s shoes were equally irked by his new “rules.”
There is no matching Sajak’s humor, grace, and ability to bond with contestants. And based on the first episode’s reviews, viewers have already issued the verdict – Seacrest can supposedly never reach those heights.
To make matters worse, Wheel of Fortune is also facing steadily rising whispers of staging the episode amid criticisms calling out its poor editing.
I would say “word of advice” to ABC, but they have already crashed and almost burned Seacrest’s debut on the show with their mind-numbing set theme, the shoddy editing, and not properly prepping him in advance. Upending 41 years of constant in one go was not a smart move.
But what if everything apart from the host was turned on its head as an ace up the network’s sleeve that could be retracted as a peace offering if viewers reacted to Seacrest badly, allowing the resultant relief to bury the big shoes Sajak left behind? Not sure if ABC is capable of that kind of hindsight, but if yes, I am angrily impressed.