Just a warning, America: When you turn on your television this week, something will be different. After more than 40 years, “Wheel of Fortune” has a new host, who is himself something of an institution in America, the guy who seems to be hosting All these days: Ryan Seacrest.
Just listen to his current list of jobs: “I’ll start with the beginning of the year, New Year’s Eve, the premiere, which marks the beginning of the year; ‘American Top 40’; ‘On Air with Ryan Seacrest,’ mornings on KIIS-FM, then broadcast nationwide; ‘American Idol’; and ‘Wheel of Fortune.’ And then a few specials here and there.”
“Wheel of Fortune” (distributed by CBS) is the latest (and probably highest-profile) project for Seacrest, who grew up in the small town of Dunwoody, Georgia, where, even as a kid, he was very busy. “Believe it or not, I played football in high school,” he said. “I played a power forward. I was stronger, but not as strong as him. that strong. I haven’t played much, but I’ve trained a lot. I’ve trained a lot, but I’ve played less in matches.
But high school football in Georgia is no small feat. “It’s a big deal,” Seacrest said. “That’s my excuse!”
But you can’t get much further from Hollywood than Dunwoody, Georgia, which is not lost on Seacrest, who said he’s always dreamed of being on the air. “I was listening to Casey Kasem [while] “I was mowing the lawn, I had the Walkman headphones on and I imagined what it would be like to be in Hollywood,” he said.
He drove to Los Angeles in his packed Honda Prelude. “At the time, I had a contact at a radio station called STAR 98.7, which was loosely affiliated with the station I worked at in Atlanta. I ended up meeting the program director. I remember driving home to Burbank every day, putting my answering machine on, going to the micro-cassette, waiting for his voice.”
Eventually the call came, which led to radio success and then the show that changed his life: “American Idol.”
He said, “I know the DNA of this show. I mean, this is the house that I go into and say, ‘Oh, we built this bathroom, I know this door creaks, you want to go here for the spoons and the silverware.’ I kind of know that world very well.
“Everything I do has somebody who’s a bigger star or a supporting cast, and it’s not about me. It’s about a contestant, it’s about a story, it’s about something else or someone else. And I think that makes me feel a little more comfortable,” Seacrest said.
Meanwhile, “Wheel of Fortune” was a house built by its creator Merv Griffin, and meticulously maintained by host Pat Sajak for more than four decades. Today, Seacrest must figure out the floor plan, including the rules of the game, which he says took a lot of practice: “Everywhere I worked, producers would sometimes come in, they would bring contestants, and we would play ‘Wheel of Fortune’ in hotels just to get comfortable with the rules and the scenarios and the things that could happen, so at some point it becomes second nature.”
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During the first tapings that “Sunday Morning” attended, Seacrest seemed comfortable in the role of host and collaborator with television royalty Vanna White.
“I’ve known Ryan for probably 20 years,” White said. “But over the last couple of months, we’ve been traveling together for the show and we’ve gotten to know each other a little bit better. So I think our chemistry is good.”
When asked if she was nervous about the chemistry aspect, White said, “I had no idea what to expect, having been used to one person for so long. I was really scared, but he’s doing a great job.”
Seacrest said: “It’s an incredible, special franchise. It’s more than just a TV show. It’s something that means something to people. And when I found out that this was an opportunity for me, I didn’t think about it. I was like, ‘Absolutely. Let’s figure it out and get started.'”
Of course, “figuring it out” required finding a way around his busy schedule, which sometimes includes breaks to recharge. For Seacrest, that’s still happening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where he now serves on the board of trustees.
So why take even more risks? more Of his experience as a museum board member? “It’s not really a job, it’s an escape, you know?” he said. “You walk around this museum and you forget about everything that’s going on in the world, and you get to look at the different pieces that are on display.”
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“What’s interesting is that it’s right across the street from the old E! Entertainment building. It’s now in Universal. But when I was at E!, I was on the radio in the morning, I was reporting on E! News, I was hosting ‘Live from the Red Carpet.’ And I would walk across the street to LACMA, take a deep breath and walk around. I always came back refreshed. It was there for me, so I try to be there for that.”
When asked if he had reached “peak Ryan Seacrest” and no longer needed to take on more jobs, Seacrest responded, “I don’t know if I’ve reached ‘peak Ryan Seacrest,’ but I feel like I’ve reached ‘full employment’ right now. I don’t think I should take another job right now. I want this one to go well. I want all of them to go well, but this is new. And I want it to be something that makes people say, ‘OK, you know what? I get it, that makes sense.'”
He ended by describing the show as Merv Griffin did: “The beauty of Wheel of Fortune is that it’s the kind of show that you can watch on TV or in the background, and play, or yell at a contestant if they don’t understand, and you’ve got it right in front of them.” I mean, that’s what the show is. East.“
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Story produced by John Goodwin. Editor: Mike Levine.
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