41 years!
While Wheel bores me, I do respect its popularity and Sajak's longevity. He was a radio guy, moved in to television, and became a television weatherman in Los Angeles. Wheel creator Merv Griffin spotted him, and pegged Sajak to replace Chuck Woolery. Merv and Chuck got in to a money dispute and you can see how that one ended.
I've never had a problem with Pat Sajak-- quick, witty, smart, non objectionable, vanilla-- in a good way. He is just someone you can't help but like. As I have said here many times before, you can't teach that and you can't bottle that.
In fact, I thought the early days of Sajak's late night CBS talk show were pretty good. Be that as it may, the show didn't give you any reason to turn away from Johnny Carson. Johnny was the king.
Back in the old days, you had a wonderful stable of talent where you could choose a replacement.
I'll be watching this one.
And before I go, I have to note Monday's passing of actor Treat Williams. He was killed in a motorcycle accident in Vermont. Williams has a long list of credits. I loved him as David Letterman's agent, Michael Ovitz, in the HBO movie, "The Late Shift." It was a great performance and we can all dream about having someone like that on our side. Treat Williams was 71.
