TMC
05-02-2002, 07:39 PM
http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&group=rec.arts.tv&selm=9VeA8.140%24op2.102378%40newsfeed.slurp.net
Why Sajak is always ready to spin again
May 2, 2002
BY PHIL ROSENTHAL TELEVISION CRITIC
Game shows come and game shows go, and then there's "Wheel of Fortune,"
which just keeps spinning round and round.
"It's a diverting half-hour and that's all it's supposed to be," host Pat
Sajak said during the "Wheel" world's recent Chicago visit, subject of a
WLS-Channel 7 behind-the-scenes infomercial at 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m.
Sunday.
"While we're not doing award-winning material out there necessarily, we are
a benign half-hour. We're entertaining. We're not out to embarrass anybody.
That's not the object of the game, and people seem to like that."
The appeal of "Wheel" is that it remains what it has always been, a
trumped-up version of the kids' game Hangman.
It's not young. It's not hip. People aren't being insulted or putting things
in their mouths that they wouldn't want in their homes.
Tune in to "Wheel" any weeknight at 6:30 on Channel 7--the three weeks of
shows shot in Chicago are set to debut Monday--and you'll see that it's more
or less the exact same show Merv Griffin dreamed up 27 years ago, with just
a few tweaks.
"I don't understand [the new wave of game shows]," said Sajak, 55, who
replaced Chuck Woolery as host 20 years and roughly 5,500 half-hours ago.
"Part of it is I'm getting older and I'm officially entering the fuddy-duddy
stage, but I get embarrassed for people. I don't understand why people want
to put themselves in that position, though apparently everyone wants to get
on television, even if it means being humiliated. I'm not a big fan of it.
It's not the business I got into."
Born in Chicago, Sajak got his first big break when he managed to leap from
forecasting weather in Nashville to doing it at NBC's flagship station in
Los Angeles, where the weather rarely changes.
While he left the network version of "Wheel of Fortune" (which ended in
1991) in 1989 to be CBS' erstwhile late-night answer to Johnny Carson and
Arsenio Hall, he continued to do the syndicated version of "Wheel" (which
began in 1983) because, well, it only required 39 days of work and paid
really, really well.
Good thing, too. The CBS talk show tanked in 15 months, leaving him with
some unanswered questions that he isn't terribly interested in pursuing
anymore.
"It's like a guy who strikes out in a World Series," Sajak said. "You
figure, 'Get me back to the Series and I could do it.'
"But I've gotten a little fat and lazy. ... I'm a full-time father and
husband now. ... I'm real comfortable with my life. From time to time,
people come to me to talk about doing a show or syndicating something, and
it's nice to have anybody want you to do anything in this business, but it's
not very tempting anymore."
He sits in as host occasionally on "Live With Regis & Kelly" and CNN's
"Larry King Live." "And that lets me scratch that itch every now and then
without having to worry about coming back the next day," he said.
Hosting a talk show, like hosting a game show, requires a very specific kind
of personality, a star who wears well over time and doesn't mind pushing the
spotlight onto others for the sake of the program as a whole.
"If you can add anything to it over time, that's fine, but the players and
the game have to be the star," Sajak said. "For a lot of people, it's hard
to keep that in focus. That's why comics and others who have tried game
shows have not succeeded because it's not a natural performance mode."
So "Wheel" may spin in place, but that place is on top.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_132000/Speedway_Adventures.html
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_132000/Superfriends_Game.html
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_132000/From_Nurse_to_Worse.html
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_132000/The_Sports_Bar_Site.html
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_6882/Bookworm.html<a
href="http://www.gwgs.co.uk"><img
src="http://www.gwgs.co.uk/i/gwgebanner.jpg" border="0"></a>
;) [/B][/QUOTE]
Why Sajak is always ready to spin again
May 2, 2002
BY PHIL ROSENTHAL TELEVISION CRITIC
Game shows come and game shows go, and then there's "Wheel of Fortune,"
which just keeps spinning round and round.
"It's a diverting half-hour and that's all it's supposed to be," host Pat
Sajak said during the "Wheel" world's recent Chicago visit, subject of a
WLS-Channel 7 behind-the-scenes infomercial at 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m.
Sunday.
"While we're not doing award-winning material out there necessarily, we are
a benign half-hour. We're entertaining. We're not out to embarrass anybody.
That's not the object of the game, and people seem to like that."
The appeal of "Wheel" is that it remains what it has always been, a
trumped-up version of the kids' game Hangman.
It's not young. It's not hip. People aren't being insulted or putting things
in their mouths that they wouldn't want in their homes.
Tune in to "Wheel" any weeknight at 6:30 on Channel 7--the three weeks of
shows shot in Chicago are set to debut Monday--and you'll see that it's more
or less the exact same show Merv Griffin dreamed up 27 years ago, with just
a few tweaks.
"I don't understand [the new wave of game shows]," said Sajak, 55, who
replaced Chuck Woolery as host 20 years and roughly 5,500 half-hours ago.
"Part of it is I'm getting older and I'm officially entering the fuddy-duddy
stage, but I get embarrassed for people. I don't understand why people want
to put themselves in that position, though apparently everyone wants to get
on television, even if it means being humiliated. I'm not a big fan of it.
It's not the business I got into."
Born in Chicago, Sajak got his first big break when he managed to leap from
forecasting weather in Nashville to doing it at NBC's flagship station in
Los Angeles, where the weather rarely changes.
While he left the network version of "Wheel of Fortune" (which ended in
1991) in 1989 to be CBS' erstwhile late-night answer to Johnny Carson and
Arsenio Hall, he continued to do the syndicated version of "Wheel" (which
began in 1983) because, well, it only required 39 days of work and paid
really, really well.
Good thing, too. The CBS talk show tanked in 15 months, leaving him with
some unanswered questions that he isn't terribly interested in pursuing
anymore.
"It's like a guy who strikes out in a World Series," Sajak said. "You
figure, 'Get me back to the Series and I could do it.'
"But I've gotten a little fat and lazy. ... I'm a full-time father and
husband now. ... I'm real comfortable with my life. From time to time,
people come to me to talk about doing a show or syndicating something, and
it's nice to have anybody want you to do anything in this business, but it's
not very tempting anymore."
He sits in as host occasionally on "Live With Regis & Kelly" and CNN's
"Larry King Live." "And that lets me scratch that itch every now and then
without having to worry about coming back the next day," he said.
Hosting a talk show, like hosting a game show, requires a very specific kind
of personality, a star who wears well over time and doesn't mind pushing the
spotlight onto others for the sake of the program as a whole.
"If you can add anything to it over time, that's fine, but the players and
the game have to be the star," Sajak said. "For a lot of people, it's hard
to keep that in focus. That's why comics and others who have tried game
shows have not succeeded because it's not a natural performance mode."
So "Wheel" may spin in place, but that place is on top.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_132000/Speedway_Adventures.html
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_132000/Superfriends_Game.html
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_132000/From_Nurse_to_Worse.html
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_132000/The_Sports_Bar_Site.html
http://www.geocities.com/tmc_6882/Bookworm.html<a
href="http://www.gwgs.co.uk"><img
src="http://www.gwgs.co.uk/i/gwgebanner.jpg" border="0"></a>
;) [/B][/QUOTE]