Our Review of Wheel of Fortune: The New Era

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Last year, when I heard the news that Pat Sajak was retiring from Wheel of Fortune, I knew I better prepare Faith. When season 41 began, I told her, "This is Pat's last season. Next year, there will be a new host." 

Faith's favorite show ever!

Faith and I have faithfully watched Wheel of Fortune every night since she was about 5 years old. It's how she learned that AEIOU were vowels. The show was also a great way to reinforce the rest of the alphabet. Counting was reinforced, too. When Vanna turned the letters, she counted how many T's, N's, or other letters there were. 

She also learned some geography skills with the different trips they were giving away. Upon winning a trip to Aruba, she would ask, "Where's that?" Sometimes I honestly didn't know and had to look it up. More often than not, the prize was somewhere in the Caribbean! 

I have tried through the years to get her to watch other game shows, but she has only been interested in Wheel of Fortune. And although we comment almost every night on what Vanna is wearing, Pat has always been her favorite. There have been so many times that he said or did something that made both of us laugh like crazy. (We had to rewind this bonus round like 10 times!) 


Back in the day when we watched Wheel, we did not have recording capabilities. We also just had a TV with an antenna and had to position it in the window so we could watch it on our local station. There were times we couldn't get it to come in very well or we would miss it altogether because we were gone. Faith would get so upset! 


We eventually got limited cable with DVR, which made our lives so much better. After that, it was a very rare occurrence to miss Wheel. 

Besides watching it on TV, we also had the PS2 and PS3 versions of the game, which Faith and I have had a lot of fun playing over the years. She especially loves the PS3 version because it has both Pat and Vanna on it. We tried the PS4 as well, but the hosts are different, so she doesn't like that one as well. 

Faith liked to make her own contestants on the PS2 version of WOF

Along with playing the game and watching the current episodes on TV, Faith also likes to watch reruns on YouTube. (If you're looking for reruns, check out Wheel of Fortune Fanatic's channel).  It's fun for her to see the really old ones, from the 80s and 90s. Every now and then, she'll watch one where they have to spend their money on prizes. Talk about flashbacks to my childhood! I also have over 200 episodes on our DVR that she watches from time to time as well. 

As premiere week for Wheel of Fortune the New Era drew near, I was seriously wondering if it would be the end of our Wheel-watching days. Without Pat, how could it ever be the same? 

Every year, we hope they call our Spin ID but every Faith has to say, "Not us!" 

As the first episode appeared on our TV screen, the first thing I noticed was the set was way too busy. When Ryan took his place near the contestants, I noticed he wasn't using cue cards like Pat had always done. I read that he has an amazing memory, which is pretty impressive that he memorizes everything about all the contestants and all of the puzzles. But, without the cue cards, he didn't seem to know what to do with his hands. Sometimes they were in his pockets, sometimes he had them clasped together, and other times, he was clapping (that's Vanna's job!) 

There were no funny quips during the short interviews with the contestants. Ryan seemed like he was trying to be so professional and likeable. I also noticed the contestants seemed way energetic. I had also read that since Ryan had so much energy, they wanted the contestants to be the same way. One reason for this was to draw in a younger crowd. 

During the toss-up rounds, I really did not like the boxes on the bottom of the screen with all three players in them. I felt like I was watching a sporting event or something instead of a game show. It was weird. I also noticed I was so distracted by everything going on that I had a hard time focusing on the puzzles. 

Faith's Wheel of Fortune cake when she turned 13! 

One thing Faith was so bothered by happened during the bonus round. The contestants are always given the letters RSTLNE and then they have to choose 3 more consonants and a vowel. Because premier week was sponsored by LG, the contestants were given the bonus letter of "G." Faith didn't like the fact that Ryan was giving them an extra letter! 

Normally during WOF, Faith and I can't wait to see Pat and Vanna's closing monologue. Even though it's pretty short, it's just fun to see what they are going to talk about. It was also just nice to see the comradery they had with one another, having known each other for so long. 

One of Faith's favorite clips ever: 

It was just kind of sad to see that Ryan and Vanna's monologue felt forced. Ryan would say something, and it didn't seem like Vanna knew how to respond. I'm sure it will get better between them over time. After we made it through the first episode of the new Wheel, I asked Faith what she thought of Ryan Seacrest. She responded, "He's boring!" 

As the week went on though, when it was time to watch Wheel, she would say, with Ryan Seacrest! I think she is warming up to him, probably a little more quickly than I am! This says a lot as she really, truly does not like change. But we have survived lots of changes with the set, changes to the puzzle board, new rules, and other different things each season, so I'm sure we'll survive this big change, too. It will still be a part of our nightly routine. 

I don't mean to be so hard on Ryan. But to me, he's the American Idol guy. Maybe WOF should have followed in Jeopardy's footsteps and hired a contestant that was on the show, like the "New Baby Buggy" guy. Wouldn't that have been fun? At least we still have Vanna, for now! 


By the way, I'm such a Wheel of Fortune nerd, I actually read Vanna's autobiography. I love that through the years she hasn't let fame and fortune get to her head and that she seems like a genuinely kind person. 

This year will certainly be different and interesting, but also still fun to watch with Faith. Every time they have a "What Are You Doing" puzzle, Faith yells out, "none of your business." I doubt that will ever change! 

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