Fresh Heir In Late Night

By Richard Zoglin

THE PAT SAJAK SHOW

CBS; weeknights, 11:30 p.m. on most stations

Take on Johnny Carson? Don't make us laugh. Failed challengers to the Tonight show king have piled so high in recent years that noting them has become an exercise in sadism. The surprise last week was that Pat Sajak, whose late-night talk show on CBS debuted to friendly reviews and better-than- expected ratings, proved instantly that he is the man to beat as Johnny's spiritual heir.

Actually, the Pat Sajak Show has stationed itself carefully between those twin towers of late night, Carson and David Letterman. Like Letterman, Sajak has a touch of self-mocking irony and presides over irreverent comedy bits, which range from funny (Sajak goes to the doctor) to lame (audience members are enlisted to play Dunk an Auto Mechanic). But the show's physical look (band on the right, desk and couch on the left) and format (opening monologue followed by brief chat with easygoing sidekick), along with the host's witty but nonthreatening style, are all unmistakably Carson.

Sajak, the longtime master of Wheel of Fortune, appears amazingly comfortable in his new role. In voice and manner he recalls both Jack Paar and Dick Cavett, and, like them, is striving for more substance in his interviews than the thoroughly programmed Carson. He threw Chevy Chase off balance with a question about his draft status during the Viet Nam War and asked Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth about beer drinking at the ballpark. When actor Charlie Sheen alluded to a past run-in with the law, Sajak politely refrained from pressing ahead but at least seemed aware of why. "I wouldn't want to * break a time-honored talk-show tradition and ask a follow-up question," he cracked. What's encouraging is that Sajak gives the impression that someday he might.