Wheel of Fortune

Pat Sajak’s final run on Wheel of Fortune is quickly coming to a close. After more than four decades as host of the iconic game show, Sajak’s final episode will air on Friday, June 7. His farewell episode, which taped last Friday, will serve as Wheel‘s Season 41 finale.

After lengthy negotiations, Wheel Of Fortune co-host Vanna White has extended her contract for additional two years to continue on the hit syndicated game show through the 2025-06 season. The news comes as the show just kicked off Season 41 last week, which will be the last for host Pat Sajak. White will provide continuity, working alongside Wheel’s new host, Ryan Seacrest, who will take over for Sajak next fall.

Seacrest and Sony Pictures Television announced Tuesday that Seacrest has signed a multiyear deal to host the long-running game show starting with Season 42. Sajak recently announced the upcoming 41st season would be his last on the show. (Image: AP)

The longtime Wheel of Fortune host announced on Twitter Monday that the syndicated staple’s upcoming season will be his last as host. “Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all,” the tweet said.

The Disney company’s owned and operated stations have ponied up a big increase to keep the long-running gameshows on their schedule. It has renewed both shows, which are the two-most watched shows in syndication, for five years through the 2027-28 season. This will take Wheel of Fortune through its 45th season and Jeopardy! through its 44th.

The TV icon is currently celebrating his 40th season of peddling vowels, and in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, he strongly suggests that those days could be numbered. “Years go by fast,” Sajak says. “We’re getting near the end. It’s been a long [time]. We’re not gonna do this for another 40 years. The end is near. … It’s an honor to have been in people’s living rooms for that long.” Sajak acknowledges: “In most television shows by this time, you would have said, ‘That’s probably enough,’ but this show will not die.”

Paramount Global’s free streaming outlet Pluto TV has launched channels dedicated to syndication mainstays Judge Judy and Let’s Make a Deal and plans to debut Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! channels on Aug. 1. The moves are part of a broader reorganization and expansion of the programming categories offered by Pluto, with five new ones bringing the total to 18.

Wheel of Fortune has found its new boss. Bellamie Blackstone has been named exec producer of the long-running gameshow as it heads into Season 40. Separately, longtime supervising producer Steve Schwartz has been promoted to co-exec producer.

In the current 2021-22 television season, the program is averaging 9.1 million viewers, up 6% compared to last year, according to Nielsen data. The program’s resilience at a time when traditional TV audiences are shrinking has not gone unnoticed. While Disney/ABC has aired Jeopardy on its owned TV stations since 1984, competitors ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal have discussed making a play to get the legendary game show and Wheel of Fortune for their major-market TV stations, according to several network and studio executives who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The three most-watched entertainment shows on all television this season-to-date are the three long-running syndicated games shows.

With Jeopardy in a host vacuum following the botched search for a successor to the beloved Alex Trebek, Sony Pictures Television has locked in the hosts of its other hugely popular — and profitable — syndicated game show, Wheel of Fortune. Pat Sajak and Vanna White have agreed to continue hosting the show through the 2023-24 season. As part of the deal, Sajak has added consulting producer to his responsibilities.

Richards had signed an overall development deal with Sony in 2019, and became executive producer of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in May 2020. He quickly became controversial when he went from behind-the-scenes to Sony’s pick for host of Jeopardy — even before his 2013-14 podcast comments demeaning women and making stereotypical comments about Asian, Jews and others surfaced.

Following a months-long coronavirus-imposed production hiatus, the venerable syndicated game show will be back on the air with original episodes beginning Monday, Sept. 14. Among the COVID-related changes: The show’s signature Wheel has been redesigned to allow for six feet of space between host Pat Sajak and each contestant. Additionally, each player is given their own spinning cap — which Sajak has apparently dubbed, “The White Thing.” The cap fits over each spoke so contestants can spin the Wheel without actually touching it.

Two of America’s longest-running game shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are heading back to the studio. Both shows were hit by the COVID-19 production shutdown, but both syndicated shows, which come from Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Distribution, are set to start filming this week and next. There will, however, be a few adjustments.

Today, Friedman is closing out a 25-year run at Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind both game shows, as he opts to move on after the end of his contract. The well-respected television veteran holds a Guinness World Record for having produced 12,540 game show episodes, more than any other individual, and is the only producer to have won two Emmys in the same category in a tie with himself. For the week of April 6, Jeopardy averaged 11.6 million viewers each weeknight, while Wheel averaged 11.3 million, outperforming nearly all the nightly news shows across networks and all primetime programs on both network and cable.

The popular gameshows are the latest television project to shift plans due to the new coronavirus. Last week, CBS announced that it was suspending production on The Amazing Race in response to the outbreak.

“I remember thinking, not in a morbid way, ‘I think this must be death. This must be what death is like,'” Sajak recalled during an interview with Good Morning America of the health scare that forced him to miss a taping of the game show.

Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak is recovering following emergency surgery, the show said via its Twitter account. “Our taping on Thursday was canceled because host Pat Sajak underwent successful emergency surgery to correct a blocked intestine,” the tweet read. Per the tweet, taping for the show resumed on Friday as scheduled with Vanna White hosting.

Sony Pictures TV, which produces both syndicated game shows, has named Mike Richards as the new executive producer for the two series. He’ll assume the role when the 72-year-old Harry Friedman steps aside after the 2019-20 season, his 25th at Sony.

Harry Friedman, executive producer of both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, will retire when his contract expires on May 1, 2020, Sony Pictures Television, which produces both of the veteran syndicated games, said today.

Less than a week after its on-air talent renewed their contracts, syndicated game show juggernauts Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy have been renewed through the 2022-23 season. Host Pat Sajak and letter-turner Vanna White will keep Wheel spinning, while Alex Trebek contiues to have all the Jeopardy answers. The three-year renewals will take Wheel through its 40th season and Jeopardy through its 39th.