Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy renewed

It was announced today by CBS Television Distribution that is was renewing Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy for two more seasons, meaning they will run through (at least) the 2016 season. I had never thought about those shows needing to be renewed before. It makes sense, but I could not imagine them not being on TV.

The new deal means that Wheel will have at least 33 seasons and Jeopardy 32. The hosts of each series, Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek, respectively, recently their contracts with their shows through the 2015-2016 seasons. Wheel personality Vanna White did the same.

“The ABC Owned Stations have been a fantastic broadcast partner for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy for the last few decades, and we look forward to many more years of this prosperous relationship,” CBSTVD president of sales Joe DiSalvo said. “Wheel and Jeopardy continue to hit prime-time size ratings every night and truly prove the power that syndicated programming brings to a station’s lineup.”

The two shows still pull down good numbers. Wheel averages more than 30 million viewers per week and has been the No. 1 rated syndicated game show since its debut. Jeopardy averages 25 million viewers a week.

I wish some syndicated deals would go down creating new shows similar to those. I wonder if both will have life after their hosts are retired. I know Jeopardy would not be the same with Trebek.