I like “Wheel”, but I had to google Ryan Seacrest to find out who he was. So having no preconceived notions of his ability I’ll give it a try.
Agreed, as soon as I heard Seacrest was the choice I thought, “Oh, he’s perfect. Why didn’t I think of that?”
I guess Rolf Benirschke wasn’t interested?
I think Seacrest is fine. I don’t think he’s a great choice, he’s just not a bad one.
It’s worthy of a shrug.
He’s a guy who’s famous for being handsome.
He’s had his kicks.
I guess that’s why my phone didn’t ring… 
I wonder if he was already talking with Wheel when he quit his daytime show a few weeks back. Seems like quite good timing.
Doesn’t Seacrest still have a radio show and the New Year’s Eve broadcast and a whole bunch of other stuff? He seems to like to keep busy.
I can see Seacrest succeeding or failing equally as host of Wheel. The host’s personality matters a lot more than it does on Jeopardy, where the action of the play generates interest and excitement. Ninety percent of an episode of Wheel is watching the wheel spin as a dental hygienist from the Midwest recites letters of the alphabet. Not exciting stuff. Seacrest is a smooth presenter but can come off as a little slick and above it all.
Today was Pat Sajak’s final show as host of Wheel of Fortune. They skipped a round so that Pat could say his goodbye message, but they did give each contestant $5,000 to make up for it.
Hosting game shows is a great gig. They film a week of shows in a day. There’s season breaks in filming several times a year.
It’s not surprising men like Pat Sajak, Wink Martindale, and Alex Trebek hosted their shows for decades.
Pat was perfect for the evening time slot. People came home from work and could unwind listening to Pat’s mellow tone. He rarely got ruffled or snarky when contestants goofed.
He retired at the right time. His speech filter has slipped in the past three years. He’s surprised people by showing irritation. But that comes with getting older. Most seniors get more outspoken and have less patience. I’m experiencing it now at my job.
This is about as “ruffled” as he ever got:
That may explain why Ryan Seacrest went for the job. At one point, he was one of the busiest people in show business; hosting American Idol, a a radio show, Live with Kathy Lee Gifford, etc. That this show only takes up a few days each month still allows him to do other stuff.
Sajak was pretty much the last of the actual game-show presenters/hosts to still be working. Guys who made a career of being game-show hosts (back in the era where there were more game shows being produced) are either now dead (Alex Trebek, Gene Rayburn, Bob Barker, among many others) or retired (Wink Martindale).
Hosts these days (with, I suppose, maybe the exception of some of the hosts on the smaller game shows that Game Show Network self-produces) are people who were already established as well-known comedians or actors before they started on a game show: Drew Carey on The Price is Right, Wayne Brady on Let’s Make a Deal, Steve Harvey on Family Feud, Elizabeth Banks on Press Your Luck, etc.
Sajak’s replacement on Wheel, Ryan Seacrest, at least has extensive experience as a host/presenter on various TV shows, even if he hasn’t hosted a game show previously.
Drew Carey was also the host of the American Who’s Line is It, Anyway? which isn’t exactly the same thing as the host of an actual game show, but still fairly close.
Kinda-sorta, IMO, in the same way that professional wrestling is a competitive sport. 
As this is the Dope and we try to be factual, Kathy Lee was replaced by Kelly Ripa in 2001 when Regis was still host. It was Live with Kelly and Ryan while he was co-host until he left a year ago.
“…THIS! …IS AMERICAN IDOL !!!” is all I remember of him.
She and Vanna should totally swap jobs! Vanna should work on getting a PhD. in Neuroscience and Mayim should search out some modest sequined ‘shmatas’ !