It’s official. Pat Sajak’s throne as the host of Wheel of Fortune will be usurped by the guy from American Idol.
Sajak’s retirement after this season means top-dog duties at the long-running game show will be passed on to Ryan Seacrest, a man who looks like he has never been out to dinner without asking for ketchup.
Seacrest has made this a habit recently. He took over Dick Clark’s role for New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. He was Regis Philbin’s replacement on what was once Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. If you need an inoffensive, professional replacement for your old, kinda beloved host, Seacrest is your man.
But while that’s a safe choice, it’s also a boldly uninteresting one. Seacrest will be acceptable as host of Wheel of Fortune, a superfluous job only notable when contestants dig deep and throw something like, “pull a rabbit from my cat” into the universe. He’ll be a miner digging inches below the surface when it comes to interviewing contestants and setting up puzzles. It’s fine.
There were so many better options, however. Nearly 4,600 by my count.