Despite having almost no on-camera experience, he got the Wheel hosting job, and lasted less than six months before NBC cancelled the daytime version of the show.
You’ve probably only heard of him if you’re a hardcore San Diego Chargers fan, because Benirschke was the team’s kicker from 1977 to 1986. He chose the daytime Wheel, and executive producer Merv Griffin’s choice to replace him was more inexplicable than hiring Pat Sajak to host a late night talk show: Rolf Benirschke. But when CBS tapped Sajak to host a late night talk show to face off against Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show in 1989, he had to give up one of his gigs. Pat Sajak hosted the nighttime version, and when Chuck Woolery left the daytime one in 1981, Sajak took it over. One is the still-running syndicated nighttime version, and the other was a part of NBC’s daytime schedule. In the 1980s, two versions of Wheel of Fortune ran simultaneously on American TV.Some TV shows are so synonymous with their hosts that when those hosts leave, the show doesn’t last much longer.
