[Medianext.MX]

Pat Sajak has just announced he will retire from the host duties at Wheel of Fortune at the end of the 41st season, which begins next autumn. He will stay with the Sony Pictures Television production on a consultant basis for three more years.

variety.com 

'Wheel of Fortune' Host Pat Sajak Announces Retirement - Variety
Pat Sajak, who is approaching his 41st season hosting "Wheel of Fortune,&qu…
  Source: variety.com

[Gary Baldy]

About time. He’s as dull as dishwater. I don’t understand how he’s so beloved to the Yanks as to have stayed on for 41 years- he doesn’t have much personality to me.

[Stooky Bill]

twitter.com 

[JAS84]

About time. He’s as dull as dishwater. I don’t understand how he’s so beloved to the Yanks as to have stayed on for 41 years- he doesn’t have much personality to me.

How has the show survived so long? Our version only ran a decade or so, and our Jeopardy was very shortlived despite the American one running even longer than their version of Wheel. I'd guess Americans and Brits have different tastes? And what's popular in the US stayed popular there, but became old hat here?

[James2001]

Loads of gameshows in America seem to run for decades. Jepoardy is another one, and The Price Is Right, they all just keep going.

Though we've had 40 years of Countdown, though admittedly it seems to be the only one that's run continuously for so long. I think the next one down is terms of how long it's run is Eggheads, and that's been running for 20 years less than Countdown.

[Brekkie]

I found the US version so frustrating - they guess a couple of letters then just buy vowels and in the final round they're given about 6-7 letters automatically before guessing another 5-6.

[Gary Baldy]

I found the US version so frustrating - they guess a couple of letters then just buy vowels and in the final round they're given about 6-7 letters automatically before guessing another 5-6.

Yes, any potential UK revival needs to stick to the UK rules for the final rather than giving them half the alphabet.

Also I know his tweet was in jest and he’s much more of a serious presenter these days but I actually don’t think Nicky hosting the US show is a terrible idea- he knows the format, he has a personality which is more than can be said for Pat, and his Scottish accent isn’t so thick as to not be understandable to the Yanks. It would be a left field choice, but actually quite a smart one.

But I assume they’ll give it to Pat’s daughter (nepotism rules)- she does a lot of online content for the show anyway.

[James2001]

Could revive it in the UK and bring Nicky back

Really don't understand the buying all the vowels in the US, it was very rare on the UK version and it didn't really make things hard to solve.

One thing I also noticed is the letters they automatically give you in the US version are RSTLNE- watching the UK version very frequently it was those letters (or most of them) that the contestant chose anyway, were they directed towards those letters, or did it just happen that those get commonly chosen anyway?

[Neil Jones]

Loads of gameshows in America seem to run for decades. Jepoardy is another one, and The Price Is Right, they all just keep going.

Though we've had 40 years of Countdown, though admittedly it seems to be the only one that's run continuously for so long. I think the next one down is terms of how long it's run is Eggheads, and that's been running for 20 years less than Countdown.

Worked both ways too. Some of the American gameshow formats that bombed in the States were very successful over here.

Classic examples are Blockbusters, Strike It Lucky/Rich and to a certain extent the $64,000 Question. Which only ended in the States because of the Quiz Show Scandal of the 1950s.

[Brekkie]

ITV are trying out Jeopardy and Password in the next few months - not convinced either will fly.