G__d_ye, P_t S_j_k
June 9, 2024 12:31 PM Subscribe
“Well, the time has come to say goodbye ... It’s been an incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes night after night, year after year, decade after decade. I always felt that the privilege came with the responsibility to keep this daily half-hour a safe place for family fun. No social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing I hope, just a game.” from ‘The Time Has Come to Say Goodbye’: Pat Sajak Bids Farewell to ‘Wheel of Fortune’ [NY Times; ungated]
Pat Sajak leaves Wheel of Fortune with these final words [BBC]
'Wheel of Fortune' host Pat Sajak delivers speech during final episode [Fox]
Vanna White sends tearful farewell to Pat Sajak on 'Wheel of Fortune': 'I love you, Pat!' [USA Today]
43 Years Ago, Pat Sajak of Wheel of Fortune Made a Brilliant Introduction. Here's Why [Inc.]
Counterpoint: Don’t Pour One Out for Pat Sajak, Wheel of Fortune’s Die-Hard Right-Wing Host [The New Republic; ungated]
Pat Sajak leaves Wheel of Fortune with these final words [BBC]
'Wheel of Fortune' host Pat Sajak delivers speech during final episode [Fox]
Vanna White sends tearful farewell to Pat Sajak on 'Wheel of Fortune': 'I love you, Pat!' [USA Today]
43 Years Ago, Pat Sajak of Wheel of Fortune Made a Brilliant Introduction. Here's Why [Inc.]
Counterpoint: Don’t Pour One Out for Pat Sajak, Wheel of Fortune’s Die-Hard Right-Wing Host [The New Republic; ungated]
Goddamit I had no idea he was a right-wing nutcase.
posted by lalochezia at 12:44 PM on June 9 [18 favorites]
posted by lalochezia at 12:44 PM on June 9 [18 favorites]
as a stuck-up better-than-you smarty-pants Jeopardy fan, of course I don't care. but I did not know about the die-hard right-wing stuff. ew.
posted by supermedusa at 12:44 PM on June 9 [6 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 12:44 PM on June 9 [6 favorites]
G_ F_ck Y__rs_lf P_t
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:52 PM on June 9 [54 favorites]
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:52 PM on June 9 [54 favorites]
as a stuck-up better-than-you smarty-pants Jeopardy fan, of course I don't care. but I did not know about the die-hard right-wing stuff. ew.
The New Republic article is worth reading. I knew about some of the right wing stuff, but it has all the updates and receipts. For example, I didn't know that Sajak had become the chairman of the board of trustees for Hillsdale College in 2019. This isn't mentioned in the article, but Hillsdale is the same college whose curriculum DeSantis was trying to force on Florida public schools and New College of Florida. Hillsdale's history curriculum is also generally what the anti-CRT panic crowd has viewed as the ideal model of what U.S. history curriculum should look like for all U.S. students.
posted by jonp72 at 1:11 PM on June 9 [23 favorites]
The New Republic article is worth reading. I knew about some of the right wing stuff, but it has all the updates and receipts. For example, I didn't know that Sajak had become the chairman of the board of trustees for Hillsdale College in 2019. This isn't mentioned in the article, but Hillsdale is the same college whose curriculum DeSantis was trying to force on Florida public schools and New College of Florida. Hillsdale's history curriculum is also generally what the anti-CRT panic crowd has viewed as the ideal model of what U.S. history curriculum should look like for all U.S. students.
posted by jonp72 at 1:11 PM on June 9 [23 favorites]
Per that New Republic article daaaam that man is a piece of work!
posted by supermedusa at 1:38 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]
posted by supermedusa at 1:38 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]
The Hillsdale College version of US History is like playing WoF without the letters R S T L N E .
posted by torokunai at 1:38 PM on June 9 [10 favorites]
posted by torokunai at 1:38 PM on June 9 [10 favorites]
My sense that we all have fallen into some sort of Phillip K Dick style alternate not fun universe is undiminished.
posted by y2karl at 2:19 PM on June 9 [12 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 2:19 PM on June 9 [12 favorites]
G_ _ _ _or_i_ _ V_ _t_ _ m
really!
I wonder if he and Chuck Woolery discussed Thomas Paine and methodology in the Hegelian dialectic.
posted by clavdivs at 2:20 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
really!
I wonder if he and Chuck Woolery discussed Thomas Paine and methodology in the Hegelian dialectic.
posted by clavdivs at 2:20 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
Wheel of Misfortune: When Pat Sajak Tried to Take Carson’s Late-Night Crown
posted by Servo5678 at 2:27 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]
posted by Servo5678 at 2:27 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]
Chuck Woolery, host of Love Connection is also a Trump-supporting right-wing grifter: "Believe it or not. Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin were both Jewish. I was shocked to find, most of the original Soviet Communists were Jewish."
And then later, he posted: "Amazing to me, I point out that Marx and Lenin were Jewish, Fact of history, and now I'm being called anti-Semitic? why do people do this?"
These dopes think they're being subtle, like the reincarnation of Machiavelli himself.
posted by AlSweigart at 2:36 PM on June 9 [25 favorites]
And then later, he posted: "Amazing to me, I point out that Marx and Lenin were Jewish, Fact of history, and now I'm being called anti-Semitic? why do people do this?"
These dopes think they're being subtle, like the reincarnation of Machiavelli himself.
posted by AlSweigart at 2:36 PM on June 9 [25 favorites]
Merv Griffen as The Duke of Urbino.
posted by clavdivs at 2:47 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 2:47 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]
I recently learned that, when The Pat Sajak Show started having guest hosts once a week, one of them was Rush Limbaugh.
posted by box at 2:51 PM on June 9 [3 favorites]
posted by box at 2:51 PM on June 9 [3 favorites]
Vanna should take over.
posted by Reverend John at 3:10 PM on June 9 [16 favorites]
posted by Reverend John at 3:10 PM on June 9 [16 favorites]
I saw some of his goodbye monologue elsewhere and something about how he phrased "No social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing I hope, just a game" left me primed to be not surprised that he's a rightwing clown.
posted by conorh at 3:15 PM on June 9 [19 favorites]
posted by conorh at 3:15 PM on June 9 [19 favorites]
So glad all the commentariat here are in agreement.
posted by Ideefixe at 3:20 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]
posted by Ideefixe at 3:20 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: the commentariat here are in agreement.
Also: posted by Ideefixe
Eponysterical?
Also:
Metafilter: No social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing I hope, just a game.
posted by Saxon Kane at 3:43 PM on June 9 [10 favorites]
Also: posted by Ideefixe
Eponysterical?
Also:
Metafilter: No social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing I hope, just a game.
posted by Saxon Kane at 3:43 PM on June 9 [10 favorites]
Vanna running the show with Seacrest touching the letters would be pretty kickass.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:57 PM on June 9 [24 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:57 PM on June 9 [24 favorites]
morally BANKRUPT
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:09 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:09 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]
Chuck Woolery, host of Love Connection is also a Trump-supporting right-wing grifter: "Believe it or not. Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin were both Jewish. I was shocked to find, most of the original Soviet Communists were Jewish."
And then later, he posted: "Amazing to me, I point out that Marx and Lenin were Jewish, Fact of history, and now I'm being called anti-Semitic? why do people do this?"
<derail for the sake of accuracy> Lenin had one grandparent (a grandfather) who was born Jewish but converted to Christianity as a young adult. Which means that Nazis would have considered Lenin Jewish, Orthodox Jews generally would not, and I don't know a lot about his life but I would be very surprised if he ever thought of himself as Jewish. It's not clear he even knew his grandfather wasn't born Christian.
Marx is a much more interesting story: his parents were apparently secular Jews who converted to Christianity because that was the only way to retain their civil rights. Where they lived Jews historically had pretty limited rights; they were finally granted equal rights when the area was conquered by Napoleon, but 20 years later he was defeated, the area came under Prussian rule, and those rights were taken away. (The history of Jewish emancipation in Europe is something a lot of people don't know about.) Anyway, a lot has been written about how a community gaining and then losing equal rights within a single generation gave rise to "a deep feeling of alienation and consequent political radicalization among members of the Jewish intelligentsia in the Rhineland and the emergence among them—much more than among the more quietistic Jewish communities in Prussia proper—of radical politics [...] it is among them that one finds the pioneers of radical democracy, revolutionary socialism, and a profound critique of bourgeois society and German nationalism." (And later on many Jews elsewhere were attracted to socialism and communism for the same reasons as many other groups that were systemically locked out of full rights, social equality, and social justice. The idea that this is some kind of gotcha to be "shocked" about is, unsurprisingly, pretty ignorant.)
</derail>
posted by trig at 4:19 PM on June 9 [35 favorites]
And then later, he posted: "Amazing to me, I point out that Marx and Lenin were Jewish, Fact of history, and now I'm being called anti-Semitic? why do people do this?"
<derail for the sake of accuracy> Lenin had one grandparent (a grandfather) who was born Jewish but converted to Christianity as a young adult. Which means that Nazis would have considered Lenin Jewish, Orthodox Jews generally would not, and I don't know a lot about his life but I would be very surprised if he ever thought of himself as Jewish. It's not clear he even knew his grandfather wasn't born Christian.
Marx is a much more interesting story: his parents were apparently secular Jews who converted to Christianity because that was the only way to retain their civil rights. Where they lived Jews historically had pretty limited rights; they were finally granted equal rights when the area was conquered by Napoleon, but 20 years later he was defeated, the area came under Prussian rule, and those rights were taken away. (The history of Jewish emancipation in Europe is something a lot of people don't know about.) Anyway, a lot has been written about how a community gaining and then losing equal rights within a single generation gave rise to "a deep feeling of alienation and consequent political radicalization among members of the Jewish intelligentsia in the Rhineland and the emergence among them—much more than among the more quietistic Jewish communities in Prussia proper—of radical politics [...] it is among them that one finds the pioneers of radical democracy, revolutionary socialism, and a profound critique of bourgeois society and German nationalism." (And later on many Jews elsewhere were attracted to socialism and communism for the same reasons as many other groups that were systemically locked out of full rights, social equality, and social justice. The idea that this is some kind of gotcha to be "shocked" about is, unsurprisingly, pretty ignorant.)
</derail>
posted by trig at 4:19 PM on June 9 [35 favorites]
I recently learned that, when The Pat Sajak Show started having guest hosts once a week, one of them was Rush Limbaugh.
While I don't think Sajak ever had serious beefs with Limbaugh's rhetoric, that was from a time early on where Rush Limbaugh became almost mainstream. He was on sports shows as like just another guest. He was friends with Charles Barkley! Snapple advertised on his radio program! He had a short-lived TV show!
posted by JHarris at 4:37 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]
While I don't think Sajak ever had serious beefs with Limbaugh's rhetoric, that was from a time early on where Rush Limbaugh became almost mainstream. He was on sports shows as like just another guest. He was friends with Charles Barkley! Snapple advertised on his radio program! He had a short-lived TV show!
posted by JHarris at 4:37 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]
I'm sure Sajak was trying to help mainstream Limbaugh by having him on his show.
posted by Saxon Kane at 4:40 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]
posted by Saxon Kane at 4:40 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]
My guess is he's retiring to prepare for the secretary of state gig in Trump II: the apocalypse.
posted by SteveInMaine at 4:49 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]
posted by SteveInMaine at 4:49 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]
not the only pat departure
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 5:05 PM on June 9 [8 favorites]
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 5:05 PM on June 9 [8 favorites]
Whoa, pronoun, way to sneak in the Sunday Good News!
Say nothing but good about the dead. Good, Robertson is dead.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:15 PM on June 9 [10 favorites]
Say nothing but good about the dead. Good, Robertson is dead.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:15 PM on June 9 [10 favorites]
I feel like I’ve stepped into a time warp
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 5:31 PM on June 9 [7 favorites]
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 5:31 PM on June 9 [7 favorites]
_ _ R _ S T _ _ _ T _ N _ S S _ _ L Eposted by valrus at 5:53 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
still happy if I could bring good news to one person.
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 5:56 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 5:56 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
Cool, 29 comments and not a single word about Wheel of Fortune. Fun thread, folks! Cool place to hang out.
My grandmother was a Jeopardy watcher, mostly, but Wheel ran right after it, so we watched most nights. She was obsessed with Vanna White, who she was sure was the most elegant, beautiful woman on the face of the earth.
I don’t think she had any opinions on Pat, but to me, he seemed to understand the same thing that Alex Trebek did: that a game show is about the contestants, and the host’s job is to make sure they’re highlighted and that everyone is having a good time. At that, he was a tremendous success, although I still think many people would think of Vanna as the “star” of the show.
Truthfully I hadn’t watched Wheel intentionally for decades, but the last few years it really seemed like the puzzles were intentionally obtuse, in a way that I don’t remember them being.
Pat may be a shitheel, but something tells me that Ryan Seacrest won’t be up to filling his shoes on Wheel of Fortune.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:05 PM on June 9 [13 favorites]
My grandmother was a Jeopardy watcher, mostly, but Wheel ran right after it, so we watched most nights. She was obsessed with Vanna White, who she was sure was the most elegant, beautiful woman on the face of the earth.
I don’t think she had any opinions on Pat, but to me, he seemed to understand the same thing that Alex Trebek did: that a game show is about the contestants, and the host’s job is to make sure they’re highlighted and that everyone is having a good time. At that, he was a tremendous success, although I still think many people would think of Vanna as the “star” of the show.
Truthfully I hadn’t watched Wheel intentionally for decades, but the last few years it really seemed like the puzzles were intentionally obtuse, in a way that I don’t remember them being.
Pat may be a shitheel, but something tells me that Ryan Seacrest won’t be up to filling his shoes on Wheel of Fortune.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:05 PM on June 9 [13 favorites]
Jiminy Christmas!
posted by Suedeltica at 6:11 PM on June 9 [8 favorites]
In a piece for the National Review in 2010, the right-wing host asked whether it was a conflict of interest for public employees to vote in elections.Ha ha wow, what a guy!
posted by Suedeltica at 6:11 PM on June 9 [8 favorites]
Cool, 29 comments and not a single word about Wheel of Fortune. Fun thread, folks! Cool place to hang out.
Wheel of Fortune jumped the shark when they ended the prize shopping, defaulted to RSTLNE, and added all the weird new min-games.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:41 PM on June 9 [17 favorites]
Wheel of Fortune jumped the shark when they ended the prize shopping, defaulted to RSTLNE, and added all the weird new min-games.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:41 PM on June 9 [17 favorites]
Pat Sajak sucks, this has been known for a long time. But can I just point out what a shitty, boring game show Wheel of Fortune is? It's simplicity, it's lack of depth, it's absurdly slow pace...just terrible television. I also detest Who Wants to be a Millionaire for its absurdly slow pace, too. But at least with that show you might get a handful of decent trivia questions. Wheel of Fortune gives you...phrases. Collocations. Idioms. Sayings. Christ it's so bad.
posted by zardoz at 6:53 PM on June 9 [9 favorites]
posted by zardoz at 6:53 PM on June 9 [9 favorites]
On the one hand, Wheel of Fortune is slow and shallow and not particularly compelling. On the other hand, it did recently give us this legendary moment
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:03 PM on June 9 [13 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:03 PM on June 9 [13 favorites]
Pat was an excellent host. And his sign-off was very good.
posted by davidmsc at 7:16 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]
posted by davidmsc at 7:16 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]
Wheel of Fortune jumped the shark when they ended the prize shopping, defaulted to RSTLNE, and added all the weird new min-games.
I will never get my ceramic dalmation now, dammit.
posted by emjaybee at 7:19 PM on June 9 [16 favorites]
I will never get my ceramic dalmation now, dammit.
posted by emjaybee at 7:19 PM on June 9 [16 favorites]
not the only pat departure
Pat Robertson died in 2023. Look at the byline in that linked AP article.
posted by briank at 7:23 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
Pat Robertson died in 2023. Look at the byline in that linked AP article.
posted by briank at 7:23 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
But can I just point out what a shitty, boring game show Wheel of Fortune is? It's simplicity, it's lack of depth, it's absurdly slow pace...just terrible television.
WoF is a very simple game that requires little to no skill, and to which people at home can play along with family members of various ages. That's the whole draw of game shows (excluding Jeopardy) - the idea that anyone, even you, could feasibly be a contestant. A fundamental aspect of why people love it and why it has been on the air for 48 years. So if your problem with the show is that it isn't complicated enough, and that the barrier to entry is too low, then you are just not the target audience.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:35 PM on June 9 [23 favorites]
WoF is a very simple game that requires little to no skill, and to which people at home can play along with family members of various ages. That's the whole draw of game shows (excluding Jeopardy) - the idea that anyone, even you, could feasibly be a contestant. A fundamental aspect of why people love it and why it has been on the air for 48 years. So if your problem with the show is that it isn't complicated enough, and that the barrier to entry is too low, then you are just not the target audience.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:35 PM on June 9 [23 favorites]
I'd like to buy two vowels...VV
posted by clavdivs at 7:43 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 7:43 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]
My favorite WoF memory was soon after the Planetarium episode of South Park ran. My ex was cooking, WoF was on in the background and the board at the moment was P_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M at which point my ex popped his head in to go “Plane_arium!” (Like in the SP episode) and of course it was correct. Kind of a had-to-be-there moment but a good one anyways
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:43 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:43 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]
That's the whole draw of game shows (excluding Jeopardy) - the idea that anyone, even you, could feasibly be a contestant.
Yes, but Jeopardy is the obvious other juggernaut for game shows, and depending on how to do the math an even longer history. But the fundamentals of these two shows couldn't be more different. I fully realize I'm not the target audience--I figured that out when I was about 12.
posted by zardoz at 8:38 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]
Yes, but Jeopardy is the obvious other juggernaut for game shows, and depending on how to do the math an even longer history. But the fundamentals of these two shows couldn't be more different. I fully realize I'm not the target audience--I figured that out when I was about 12.
posted by zardoz at 8:38 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]
Pat Sajak's deplorable politics aside - he was a great game show host, but man it's gotta be a hell of a drug being that loved for hosting that it can lead you to those sorts of views.
One memory I have of my audition for Jeopardy is that they held the WoF auditions at the same time. Jeopardy tryouts were in a pair of small conference rooms like you would be in to do some weird corporate training or time share promotion. WoF, in the meanwhile, was over in a giant hotel ballroom like where you'd eat rubber chicken and listen to a keynote for a tradeshow.
Jeopardy was quiet as all get out. WoF was loud raucous and full of exhortations for more from the producers.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:38 PM on June 9 [7 favorites]
One memory I have of my audition for Jeopardy is that they held the WoF auditions at the same time. Jeopardy tryouts were in a pair of small conference rooms like you would be in to do some weird corporate training or time share promotion. WoF, in the meanwhile, was over in a giant hotel ballroom like where you'd eat rubber chicken and listen to a keynote for a tradeshow.
Jeopardy was quiet as all get out. WoF was loud raucous and full of exhortations for more from the producers.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:38 PM on June 9 [7 favorites]
Don't let the door hit you right in the butt on the way out.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:51 PM on June 9 [7 favorites]
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:51 PM on June 9 [7 favorites]
My one regret is that in the whole of WoF, 1975 to now, not once have they played the perfectly cromulent phrase "THAT'S A NICE TNETTENNBA". Philistines!
posted by zaixfeep at 9:51 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]
posted by zaixfeep at 9:51 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]
Wheel of Fortune has been a staple of unchallenging television for many years - not that there's anything particularly wrong with that.
Before my mother passed away, I watched many an episode with her during my visits - an experience with which I assume the majority of adults of my generation can identify..
Personally, I was always more of a Jeopardy! fan, but Wheel was certainly tolerable, although I still get a bit peeved when they have a puzzle that isn't quite right. Usually this is in the "Phrase" category and the puzzle solution sounds close to a commonly-used phrase but sometimes they're more than just a little bit off.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:01 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
Before my mother passed away, I watched many an episode with her during my visits - an experience with which I assume the majority of adults of my generation can identify..
Personally, I was always more of a Jeopardy! fan, but Wheel was certainly tolerable, although I still get a bit peeved when they have a puzzle that isn't quite right. Usually this is in the "Phrase" category and the puzzle solution sounds close to a commonly-used phrase but sometimes they're more than just a little bit off.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:01 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
I don't like Pat. I don't think he's a nice man and his political views are awful.
He also somehow managed to keep a pretty ridiculous show like Wheel of Fortune going for decades - decades. WOF first aired two years before Press Your Luck first aired (that's a YT video link - PYL looks shockingly primitive today), and yet somehow WOF is still here, still going strong.
He may be bland, his hosting style may be so lacking in personality as to be nearly transparent, but the man is good as what he does and has made a lot of Americans very slightly happier.
posted by 1adam12 at 2:39 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
He also somehow managed to keep a pretty ridiculous show like Wheel of Fortune going for decades - decades. WOF first aired two years before Press Your Luck first aired (that's a YT video link - PYL looks shockingly primitive today), and yet somehow WOF is still here, still going strong.
He may be bland, his hosting style may be so lacking in personality as to be nearly transparent, but the man is good as what he does and has made a lot of Americans very slightly happier.
posted by 1adam12 at 2:39 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
He kinda didn't seem to know what he was getting into when Weird Al was on a celebrity version of the show...(note: this is NOT the clip where Al asks to buy an umlaut.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:44 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:44 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
I will say this about the criticality of PS to the WoF experience: I have two WoF games, one for my PS3 which includes virtual Pat and Vanna, with licensed voices, and one for my PS4 which features a generic NPC host. The PS3 version is (well, was, RIP my PS3) extremely enjoyable and has high replay value, because it is an authentic-ish recreation of the TV show. Bobble heads for the win! The PS4 version reveals that the game, stripped of a charismatic host, is not nearly as compelling.
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:48 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:48 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
I can not help thinking of Ed Grimley.
posted by DJZouke at 5:06 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
posted by DJZouke at 5:06 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
My kids were gob-smacked when I showed them a few YouTube videos of long-past WoF winners buying terrible housewares from that giant rotating platform.
And as a kid who watched the show for as long as I can remember: I, too, miss the ceramic Dalmatian [SLYT].
posted by wenestvedt at 6:30 AM on June 10 [7 favorites]
And as a kid who watched the show for as long as I can remember: I, too, miss the ceramic Dalmatian [SLYT].
posted by wenestvedt at 6:30 AM on June 10 [7 favorites]
We still watch every night, but there are often catcalls at the word salad that many puzzles reveal when they are solved: absolute AI-hallucination-quality gibberish
posted by wenestvedt at 6:31 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 6:31 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
You just have to think outside the box to come up with answers like HEARTY COUCH or SMOOTH SANDWICH GAMES.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:16 AM on June 10 [4 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:16 AM on June 10 [4 favorites]
In our board gaming group I started saying, "I'll put the rest on a gift certificate," when taking the "get money" default action in games. It caught on with the others who are all at least 10 years younger than I am.
Usually that action is the one you only take if you can't do anything else. One night when I wound up having to take that action twice due to poor play, I groused about getting stuck with a ceramic dalmatian again. One of them asked me what I meant. They were all incredulous when I explained it until I found a clip.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:17 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
Usually that action is the one you only take if you can't do anything else. One night when I wound up having to take that action twice due to poor play, I groused about getting stuck with a ceramic dalmatian again. One of them asked me what I meant. They were all incredulous when I explained it until I found a clip.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:17 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
"No social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing I hope, just a game."
LMAO I read that and though "oh, must be some right-wing POS" and sure enough -- he is. Politics and social issues are only hot topics to be avoided at all costs when you're a dumb piece of shit person who is against social progress and knows they cannot possibly defend their political choices without being embarrassed (but not embarrassed enough to actually improve).
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:21 AM on June 10 [7 favorites]
LMAO I read that and though "oh, must be some right-wing POS" and sure enough -- he is. Politics and social issues are only hot topics to be avoided at all costs when you're a dumb piece of shit person who is against social progress and knows they cannot possibly defend their political choices without being embarrassed (but not embarrassed enough to actually improve).
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:21 AM on June 10 [7 favorites]
Sajak and Limbaugh have one more thing in common - they are/were skilled, experienced professional broadcasters. David Letterman is also one, as is Howard Stern. Don Imus was one, and SCTV's Gerry Todd was both an accurate portrayal and a superb parody.
Before they became who we know them as, they had to learn how to hold a mass audience's attention for hours at a time while being completely anodyne and inoffensive. And no umms and ahhs, and always fill extended silence aka 'dead air'. (Notably, Limbaugh did wash out at a number of radio stations and switched to working in sales within the professional sports industry for a while.) Many of them found fame by being outrageous, but they still operated within the broadcaster skillset.
OTOH, Dennis Miller started as a video essayist for a local Evening/PM Magazine. Had every opportunity to pick up the craft before SNL. Even today, he remainse a skilled stand-up comedy craftsman (though he's simply abhorrent to me - rather than upping his game like Carlin, he just refit his style to the only group who would still pay to see him), but a mediocre broadcaster at best.
posted by zaixfeep at 8:34 AM on June 10 [4 favorites]
Before they became who we know them as, they had to learn how to hold a mass audience's attention for hours at a time while being completely anodyne and inoffensive. And no umms and ahhs, and always fill extended silence aka 'dead air'. (Notably, Limbaugh did wash out at a number of radio stations and switched to working in sales within the professional sports industry for a while.) Many of them found fame by being outrageous, but they still operated within the broadcaster skillset.
OTOH, Dennis Miller started as a video essayist for a local Evening/PM Magazine. Had every opportunity to pick up the craft before SNL. Even today, he remainse a skilled stand-up comedy craftsman (though he's simply abhorrent to me - rather than upping his game like Carlin, he just refit his style to the only group who would still pay to see him), but a mediocre broadcaster at best.
posted by zaixfeep at 8:34 AM on June 10 [4 favorites]
I like to imagine Ed Grimley has either moved on to being a superfan of Press Your Luck's Elizabeth Banks, or more likely Lester Holt. "Y'know, Pat was one-of-a-kind, indeed a shooting star that will never pass our way again, I must say. But -- Lester Holt? C'mon, he's America's Anchorman! A tall, dark, hansome buoy in a churning sea of worldwide unpleasantness, eh? A calming balm to soothe my furrowed brow. How now, furrowed brow? Flat and smooth as an untroubled baby's bottom, I must say."
posted by zaixfeep at 8:51 AM on June 10 [4 favorites]
posted by zaixfeep at 8:51 AM on June 10 [4 favorites]
Also: I am a die-hard "Jeopardy!" watcher AND a faithful "Wheel" watcher. They both help me scratch "puzzle solving" itches - one re: trivia and recall, and the other re: words. They are both fun shows to watch, and both have had excellent hosts.
Alex Trebek was iconic, and now Ken "GOAT" Jennings is doing an amazing job. Pat Sajak was a fantastic host - witty, quick, great interaction with the contestants, etc. BTW, Vanna did a wonderful job with her farewell to Pat on the penultimate episode.
posted by davidmsc at 9:06 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
Alex Trebek was iconic, and now Ken "GOAT" Jennings is doing an amazing job. Pat Sajak was a fantastic host - witty, quick, great interaction with the contestants, etc. BTW, Vanna did a wonderful job with her farewell to Pat on the penultimate episode.
posted by davidmsc at 9:06 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
LMAO I read that and though "oh, must be some right-wing POS" and sure enough -- he is. Politics and social issues are only hot topics to be avoided at all costs when you're a dumb piece of shit person who is against social progress and knows they cannot possibly defend their political choices without being embarrassed (but not embarrassed enough to actually improve).This was in reference to some kind of comment about not wanting WOF to become a place for airing political bunk? Well, I think you have demonstrated why that was kind of a good idea, because just imagine splicing some spew like this into a segment.
I agree with many of the political views of most MFtarians, but I think treating people I disagree with with a modest amount of respect promotes actual dialog vs. the positive-feedback groin-kicking we see in present-day American politics. I mean, geeze, does every frigging thread have to be this back-patting echo-chamber?
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 9:09 AM on June 10 [2 favorites]
Ok, but why do they think gays are a cancer on society, that Black people and women shouldn't vote, that preventing abortion is infinitely more important than taking care of born humans? Guns deserve more rights than schoolchildren. Let's give them tons of time and space to defend those views and more! Listen respectfully as they discuss the Jewish space lazors and the terrible calamity predicted the instant white people aren't the majority vs Everybody Else, and how their weirdly militaristic and monetized Christianity-ish means they should be in charge without fear of judgement for their asshole behavior.
What does conservative thoughts offer, besides oppression? Seriously, anything at all? I have no problem throwing stones at that kinda bigotry.
posted by Jacen at 9:39 AM on June 10 [12 favorites]
What does conservative thoughts offer, besides oppression? Seriously, anything at all? I have no problem throwing stones at that kinda bigotry.
posted by Jacen at 9:39 AM on June 10 [12 favorites]
jacen HAHAHAHAHAH are you expecting the right wing position to be based on rational consideration???? lol.
They are hateful bigots who want complete control and all the money. They do not care about anyone but themselves and their money.
posted by supermedusa at 9:55 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
They are hateful bigots who want complete control and all the money. They do not care about anyone but themselves and their money.
posted by supermedusa at 9:55 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
now I see you are responding to Gilgamesh's Chauffeur. this is what I get for reading the thread backwards.
posted by supermedusa at 10:05 AM on June 10 [4 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 10:05 AM on June 10 [4 favorites]
!backwards threads read Don't
posted by grubi at 10:09 AM on June 10 [6 favorites]
posted by grubi at 10:09 AM on June 10 [6 favorites]
Merv Griffen as The Duke of Urbino.
The Elevator Killer promised to turn himself in, but has yet to do so.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:17 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
The Elevator Killer promised to turn himself in, but has yet to do so.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:17 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
Do we have to give credit to terrible people for being good at things that are entertaining or pleasing to us? If a director is an abusive asshole and petty tyrant but makes really great movies, do they get a pass? I mean, obviously, we see that in the real world if they are white men, the unfortunate reality is that they do get a pass, but should they?
I know, it's the perennial art/artist conundrum, but now with even lower stakes because it's a game show, and Sajak, one assumes, didn't write the puzzles.
WoF is comforting middlebrow entertainment, and that's perfectly OK! I used to enjoy watching it, when I watched game shows. There's nothing wrong with liking it, or having enjoyed the show when Sajak was on it.
And sure, Pat Sajak was crucial to its success, that can't be denied -- but then again, the producers could have found a great host who isn't a fascist with a friendly smile. Or, you know, he could have realized at some point that minorities and women and queers are also human and not spouted right-wing hate. He capitalized on his fame as a Household Name and Gosh-I'm-Just-A-Regular-American persona to buddy up with horrible people. So good riddance, find a host who doesn't suck. Mark him down in the history book as "terrible person who was good as a game-show host, but was also terrible."
I remember having a conversation with a (former) friend about Winston Churchill. I said he was a horrible racist who despised Indians and intentionally caused deaths of millions with his policies. "But we couldn't have won WWII without him!" says my (former) friend. Well, for one, I'm not advocating we go back in time and assassinate Churchill in the crib, and admitting that he was a racist ass doesn't somehow retroactively change the results of WWII and shift us into a "Man in the High Castle" alternate dimension. Second, just because Churchill was effective in WWII doesn't justify man-made famines in India, unless you're trying to argue that they all had to die in order to beat Hitler which, eh, I doubt that argument is going to hold up, and would you really want to make it? Third, if we were to travel back to 1939 to change history, I'm sure we could find at least ONE person in the entirety of the UK who could have done Churchill's job without all the racism.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:34 AM on June 10 [11 favorites]
I know, it's the perennial art/artist conundrum, but now with even lower stakes because it's a game show, and Sajak, one assumes, didn't write the puzzles.
WoF is comforting middlebrow entertainment, and that's perfectly OK! I used to enjoy watching it, when I watched game shows. There's nothing wrong with liking it, or having enjoyed the show when Sajak was on it.
And sure, Pat Sajak was crucial to its success, that can't be denied -- but then again, the producers could have found a great host who isn't a fascist with a friendly smile. Or, you know, he could have realized at some point that minorities and women and queers are also human and not spouted right-wing hate. He capitalized on his fame as a Household Name and Gosh-I'm-Just-A-Regular-American persona to buddy up with horrible people. So good riddance, find a host who doesn't suck. Mark him down in the history book as "terrible person who was good as a game-show host, but was also terrible."
I remember having a conversation with a (former) friend about Winston Churchill. I said he was a horrible racist who despised Indians and intentionally caused deaths of millions with his policies. "But we couldn't have won WWII without him!" says my (former) friend. Well, for one, I'm not advocating we go back in time and assassinate Churchill in the crib, and admitting that he was a racist ass doesn't somehow retroactively change the results of WWII and shift us into a "Man in the High Castle" alternate dimension. Second, just because Churchill was effective in WWII doesn't justify man-made famines in India, unless you're trying to argue that they all had to die in order to beat Hitler which, eh, I doubt that argument is going to hold up, and would you really want to make it? Third, if we were to travel back to 1939 to change history, I'm sure we could find at least ONE person in the entirety of the UK who could have done Churchill's job without all the racism.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:34 AM on June 10 [11 favorites]
Do we have to give credit to terrible people for being good at things that are entertaining or pleasing to us?
The question here isn't if you like them, but if you like something they've done, and those are different. The fandom adage is: it's okay to like problematic things. That link offers four tips, I don't think they're all perfect but they make an attempt:
1. Realize that the thing in question is problematic. Acknowledge it.
2. Don’t make apologies for the thing and don’t make excuses for the problems that it has.
3. Acknowledge the feelings and opinions of other people.
4. Look for less problematic things to enjoy.
posted by JHarris at 12:19 PM on June 10 [6 favorites]
The question here isn't if you like them, but if you like something they've done, and those are different. The fandom adage is: it's okay to like problematic things. That link offers four tips, I don't think they're all perfect but they make an attempt:
1. Realize that the thing in question is problematic. Acknowledge it.
2. Don’t make apologies for the thing and don’t make excuses for the problems that it has.
3. Acknowledge the feelings and opinions of other people.
4. Look for less problematic things to enjoy.
posted by JHarris at 12:19 PM on June 10 [6 favorites]
I for one acknowledge and celebrate Pat because he is the purest and widest-known example of the yawning dull banality of evil that America has yet produced. He is to me what (Parks & Rec) Tynnyfer was to April.
He's what Nick Fuentes would be like if he had been taken over by the Body Snatchers. "You're LGBTQ? That's nice. I think I'm supposed to not like you, no that's not right, I... I... hate your kind. Now I remember. Anyhoo, do you like plants? Here, have one of these huge alien seed pods. Take it home. Don't smoke it, it's not that kind of plant. Just keep it next to your bed. By tomorrow you'll feel like a new person."
posted by zaixfeep at 12:39 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
He's what Nick Fuentes would be like if he had been taken over by the Body Snatchers. "You're LGBTQ? That's nice. I think I'm supposed to not like you, no that's not right, I... I... hate your kind. Now I remember. Anyhoo, do you like plants? Here, have one of these huge alien seed pods. Take it home. Don't smoke it, it's not that kind of plant. Just keep it next to your bed. By tomorrow you'll feel like a new person."
posted by zaixfeep at 12:39 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
Y'know JHarris, your 4-point plan could work even when applied to MeFi itself. Kudos :-)
posted by zaixfeep at 12:44 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
posted by zaixfeep at 12:44 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
My kids were gob-smacked when I showed them a few YouTube videos of long-past WoF winners buying terrible housewares from that giant rotating platform.
I always felt so bad for the people when they still had enough money left to buy something and there wasn't anything worth buying, and the camera just kept panning over the "prizes."
posted by Well I never at 2:13 PM on June 10 [4 favorites]
I always felt so bad for the people when they still had enough money left to buy something and there wasn't anything worth buying, and the camera just kept panning over the "prizes."
posted by Well I never at 2:13 PM on June 10 [4 favorites]
The question here isn't if you like them, but if you like something they've done, and those are different.
I think we are saying the same thing? My point wasn't about liking or not liking Sajak, but about "respecting his talent" as host vs. saying he's a jerk. Wheel of Fortune itself isn't particularly problematic, except by association with Sajak. He's the one who is problematic. And it is rather different than, say, The Cosby Show, which could not have existed without the horrible Bill Cosby at the helm. WoF, on the other hand, totally could have existed without Pat Sajak. (on the other hand, Cosby is clearly a much worse person than Sajak) He didn't create the show, he didn't build the wheel, he didn't write the puzzles. A game show host is a lot like a commercial spokesperson -- a public-facing humanoid facade; Flo from Progressive isn't actually doing any insurance adjusting, and if she turned out to be a horrible racist troll, I doubt anyone would say, "Well I joined Progressive after seeing one of her ads, and they really treated me well when I totaled my car, so we have to give Flo credit for that."
But to go to the 4 points:
1. Pat Sajak, the apparently anodyne former host of WoF, is a right-wing jerk.
2. He sucks. The show is fine. The producers could have found a non-suck to host, so they suck by association.
3. Enjoy the show -- hey, I'll admit, he was charming -- which makes him all the more problematic -- but it's not like watching WoF makes you a terrible person, or not watching it makes you a good person.
4. Hey, there's that new game show hosted by Patton Oswalt, maybe that's good?
(Spoiler: It's entertaining enough)
posted by Saxon Kane at 5:02 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
I think we are saying the same thing? My point wasn't about liking or not liking Sajak, but about "respecting his talent" as host vs. saying he's a jerk. Wheel of Fortune itself isn't particularly problematic, except by association with Sajak. He's the one who is problematic. And it is rather different than, say, The Cosby Show, which could not have existed without the horrible Bill Cosby at the helm. WoF, on the other hand, totally could have existed without Pat Sajak. (on the other hand, Cosby is clearly a much worse person than Sajak) He didn't create the show, he didn't build the wheel, he didn't write the puzzles. A game show host is a lot like a commercial spokesperson -- a public-facing humanoid facade; Flo from Progressive isn't actually doing any insurance adjusting, and if she turned out to be a horrible racist troll, I doubt anyone would say, "Well I joined Progressive after seeing one of her ads, and they really treated me well when I totaled my car, so we have to give Flo credit for that."
But to go to the 4 points:
1. Pat Sajak, the apparently anodyne former host of WoF, is a right-wing jerk.
2. He sucks. The show is fine. The producers could have found a non-suck to host, so they suck by association.
3. Enjoy the show -- hey, I'll admit, he was charming -- which makes him all the more problematic -- but it's not like watching WoF makes you a terrible person, or not watching it makes you a good person.
4. Hey, there's that new game show hosted by Patton Oswalt, maybe that's good?
(Spoiler: It's entertaining enough)
posted by Saxon Kane at 5:02 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
Honestly Saxon Kane that comment started out as being something entirely different, but as in the process of writing it I thought harder about it, and I realized I had to work out somethings maybe for myself. None of the original text I set out to say remains.
posted by JHarris at 9:36 PM on June 10 [3 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 9:36 PM on June 10 [3 favorites]
Metafilter: None of the original text I set out to say remains.
posted by biogeo at 2:43 PM on June 11 [6 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 2:43 PM on June 11 [6 favorites]
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posted by The Manwich Horror at 12:40 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]