Wheel of Fortune viewers are continuing to tune in en masse for the Ryan Seacrest era.
The Los Angeles Times published a new report about the game show’s ratings record since the American Idol host took over for Pat Sajak, and it looks like that initial bump that followed his September debut was no fluke.
The site reports new Nielsen data showing Wheel earning an average of 7.9 million viewers through December 1, 2024, which is an increase of 3 percent from the prior year.
That’s only a slight dip from the major jump in audience ratings from September, when Season 42’s premiere week enjoyed an average of 8.31 million per episode. (The premiere episode itself, which aired on September 9, 2024, earned a whopping 9.63 million viewers.)
The Times also reports that the long-lived game show has been watched by more than 58 million people at some point throughout the ongoing season, and both Wheel and Jeopardy! are more-watched throughout their usual hour than any streamer.
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Perhaps the reason for the show’s continued success after this big changing of the guard is that Seacrest reportedly requested all 8,000 episodes of the show as preparation for the gig.
Suzanne Prete, president of Sony’s game shows division, told the publication that in response to her offer to send him 50 episodes, he replied, “No, I want to see every episode.”
He also reportedly received a tabletop version of the game, hand-delivered by executive producer Bellamie Blackstone in Miami, in which he practiced different scenarios for gameplay.
The result of his intense prep routine? “When he stepped on the set, it was like he’d been doing it his whole life.”
Wheel of Fortune, Weeknights, check local listings
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