| Wheel of Fortune | |
|---|---|
| Format | Game show |
| Created by | Merv Griffin |
| Directed by | Jeff Goldstein (1975–1978) Dick Carson (1978–1999) Mark Corwin (1999–present) |
| Presented by | Daytime Host Chuck Woolery (1975–1981) Pat Sajak (1981–1989) Rolf Benirschke (1989) Bob Goen (1989–1991) Hostess Susan Stafford (1975–1982) Vanna White (1982–1991) Nighttime Host Pat Sajak Hostess Vanna White |
| Narrated by | Charlie O'Donnell (1975–1980, 1989–2010) Jack Clark (1980–1988) M. G. Kelly (1988–1989) Jim Thornton (2011–present) |
| Theme music composer | Frankie Blue John Hoke[1] |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 5,000 (as of February 27, 2009)[2] |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Merv Griffin (1975–2000) Harry Friedman (1999–present) |
| Producer(s) | John Rhinehart (1975–1980) Nancy Jones (1980–1995) Harry Friedman (1995–1999)[3] Karen Griffith (1997–present) Steve Schwartz (1997–present) |
| Running time | approx. 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Merv Griffin Productions (1975–1984) Merv Griffin Enterprises (1984–1994) Columbia TriStar Television (1994–2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002–present) Califon Productions (1975–1991, 1983–present) |
| Distributor | King World Productions (1983–2007) CBS Television Distribution (2007–present) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC (1975–1989, 1991) CBS (1989–1991) Syndicated (1983–present) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 720p/1080i (HDTV) |
| Original airing | Daytime January 6, 1975 – June 30, 1989 (NBC) July 17, 1989 – January 11, 1991 (CBS) January 14 – September 20, 1991 (NBC) Nighttime September 19, 1983 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. The show first aired as a replacement for the original version of Jeopardy!. Griffin created two different pilot episodes, hosted by Chuck Woolery and Edd Byrnes.
The program began airing as a television network version on January 6, 1975 on NBC, with Woolery and Susan Stafford hosting and Charlie O'Donnell as the program's announcer. In 1980 and 1981, O'Donnell and Woolery departed from the show and were replaced as announcer and host by Jack Clark and Pat Sajak, respectively. In 1982, Vanna White replaced Stafford, who left the show to do humanitarian work. The nighttime syndicated version of Wheel of Fortune premiered on September 19, 1983, and is currently ongoing. Several months after Clark's death in 1988, O'Donnell returned as announcer until his own death in 2010, after which Jim Thornton replaced him. Sajak continued to host the daytime version until his departure in 1989 when he left to focus on his late night talk show, The Pat Sajak Show. Upon Sajak's departure from the daytime version, he was replaced by Rolf Benirschke, who was then replaced by Bob Goen when the program switched networks from NBC to CBS later that year. The daytime version moved back to NBC in 1991, but was canceled eight months later.
While retaining most of the elements from the daytime version, the syndicated version of Wheel of Fortune has added many new gameplay elements and is the longest-running syndicated game show in United States television history, with over 5,000 episodes aired.[2] In a 2008 article, TV Guide named Wheel of Fortune as the "top-rated syndicated series."[4]
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At the time of Wheel of Fortune's debut, Jeopardy! (another of Griffin's creations) had just ended an 11-year run on NBC. Griffin conceived a hangman-style game after recalling long car trips as a child, on which he and his sister would play hangman. After discussing the idea with Merv Griffin Enterprises staff, they thought that the idea would work as a game show if it had a "hook". He then decided to add a roulette-style wheel, because he was always "drawn to" such wheels when he saw them in casinos. He and Murray Schwartz, then the president of Merv Griffin Enterprises, consulted an executive of Caesars Palace to find out how to build such a wheel.[5]
In 1973, Griffin conceived a pilot episode, which was taped under the name Shopper's Bazaar and hosted by Chuck Woolery. Unlike the actual show, this pilot had a vertically mounted Wheel.[6] Edd Byrnes hosted the second and third pilots, which were both titled Wheel of Fortune. All of the pilots contained game elements which were either retooled or dropped before the time production began in 1975. Woolery was eventually selected to host, the choice being made by Griffin after he reportedly heard Byrnes reciting "A-E-I-O-U" to himself in an effort to remember the vowels.[7] Susan Stafford turned the letters on the pilot episodes, a role that she also held when the show was picked up for series.[5][8]
Wheel of Fortune premiered on January 6, 1975, at 10:30 am (9:30 Central) on NBC. Lin Bolen, then the head of daytime programming, purchased the show from Griffin to compensate him for canceling another creation of his, Jeopardy!, which had one year remaining on its contract and aired its final episode on the Friday before Wheel of Fortune's premiere. This version aired on NBC, in varying time slots between 10:30 am and noon, until June 30, 1989. NBC announced the cancellation of the show in August 1980, but it stayed on the air following a decision to cut The David Letterman Show from a 90-minute format to 60 minutes.[9] The daytime version of Wheel of Fortune moved to CBS in 1989, and remained there until 1991, when it was moved back to NBC for its final eight months.
The current syndicated version premiered on September 19, 1983. When it debuted, the syndicated version offered a larger prize budget than its daytime counterpart, most notably in the addition of a $5,000 wedge to the Wheel.[10] Although only nine local stations picked up the show at first,[11] Wheel soon benefited from a rule enacted by the Federal Communications Commission, which freed the hour before prime time for local or syndicated programming on network affiliates; one year after entering syndication, it was available to 99 percent of the television market. Its success led to Griffin creating a syndicated revival of Jeopardy! with current host Alex Trebek.[12] By 1986, Wheel had the highest ratings of any syndicated television series in history.[10]
Currently produced by Sony Pictures Television and distributed by CBS Television Distribution,[13] it is the longest-running syndicated game show in American television history and the second-longest in either network or syndication (behind the current version of The Price Is Right, which began airing in 1972).
After seven years as host, Chuck Woolery left Wheel of Fortune following a salary dispute with Griffin;[14] his last episode aired on December 25, 1981.[15] His successor, Pat Sajak,[10] took over on December 28. Griffin said that he chose Sajak for his "odd" sense of humor; although NBC executive producer Fred Silverman initially rejected Sajak for being "too local", he was approved as host after Griffin said that he would not tape any more episodes until Sajak became host.[16]
On January 9, 1989, Sajak left the daytime version to host a late-night talk show (The Pat Sajak Show) for CBS. He was replaced on that version by Rolf Benirschke, who had an eight-year career as a placekicker of the San Diego Chargers. Benirschke hosted the program for only six months, until NBC cancelled it on June 30. Bob Goen became the daytime version's host when it moved to CBS on July 17, 1989. This version briefly returned to NBC on January 14, 1991, replacing Let's Make a Deal,[17] but left the air permanently on September 20 of that year.
Original hostess Susan Stafford missed a month of episodes in late 1977 after she fractured two vertebrae in her back, with Summer Bartholomew filling in for her.[18] Bartholomew and Cynthia Washington (then the wife of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Gene Washington) both filled in for Stafford again in May and June 1979 after she dislocated her shoulder in a car accident.[19] Stafford left the show in October 1982.[5] Bartholomew, Vicki Iovine (then known as Vicki McCarty) and Vanna White rotated as guest hostesses[20] until White was chosen as the permanent hostess in December 1982.[14] In the wake of the nighttime version's popularity, White became highly popular among the young female demographic,[21] and among adult fans interested in her daily wardrobe.[22] Sajak and White have hosted the nighttime version continuously since it began, except for two weeks in early 1991 when Tricia Gist, then the girlfriend of Griffin's son Tony, filled in for the honeymooning White.[23]
In January and February 2011, the show held a "Vanna for a Day" contest. In this contest, home viewers submitted video auditions to take White's place for one episode, with the winner determined by a poll on the show's website.[24] Katie Cantrell of Wooster, Ohio (a student at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia) was named the contest winner in late February 2011.[25] Cantrell took White's place for the second and third rounds on the episode that aired March 24, 2011.
Charlie O'Donnell was the program's first announcer until his departure in 1980, when he left to work on The Toni Tennille Show in wake of the announced but retracted cancellation of Wheel.[9] O'Donnell was replaced by Jack Clark, who was on the show until shortly before his death in July 1988.[26] Los Angeles radio personality M. G. Kelly took over as announcer when the nighttime version's sixth season started in September 1988.[27] O'Donnell returned in 1989,[28] and remained with the show until shortly before his death in November 2010.[29] Don Pardo, Don Morrow and Johnny Gilbert have occasionally served as substitute announcers.[28] Following O'Donnell's death and a search for an announcer, Jim Thornton was confirmed as the permanent announcer when Season 29 began on September 19, 2011.[30]
Merv Griffin was responsible for creating the original version of Wheel of Fortune and also served as executive producer until his retirement in 2000.
John Rhinehart was the program's original producer from 1975 until his departure in 1980, when he became a producer on The People's Court. He was replaced by Nancy Jones, who served as producer of the network version until its cancellation, and of the syndicated version from 1983–1995. Harry Friedman became executive producer in 1999, having worked as producer since 1995.[3] As of 2011, the show uses multiple producers. Amanda Stern is the current producer of the show. Karen Griffith and Steve Schwartz, both longtime staffers, are the supervising producers.
Jeff Goldstein and Dick Carson each served long stints previously as director. Mark Corwin became the director of the current version in 1999.
The core game is based on hangman, starting with a category and a blank word puzzle, with each blank representing a letter in the answer.[31] Three contestants take turns spinning the Wheel to determine a dollar value and guess a consonant, earning the value multiplied by how many times the guessed letter appears in the puzzle.[14] Calling a correct letter keeps the Wheel in the contestant's control, and a wrong letter passes control to the next contestant. The Wheel features two Bankrupt wedges and one Lose a Turn, both of which forfeit the contestant's turn, with the former also eliminating any cash or prizes the contestant has accumulated within the round. Also present are Free Play (which allows a contestant to make any move with no penalty, or call a free vowel), a Wild Card (to call an additional consonant after any turn or in the Bonus Round), a Gift Tag ($1,000 credit toward purchases from the sponsoring company), and a Million Dollar Wedge. Any contestant with at least $250 may buy vowels for that amount during a turn. A contestant must solve the puzzle in order to keep any cash or prizes accumulated during that round.
Each game features three Toss-Up puzzles, which reveal the puzzle one letter at a time and award cash to whoever rings in with the right answer. The second determines who starts Round 1, and the third determines who starts Round 4. Round 1 features a progressive cash Jackpot prize which is won if the contestant solves while on the wedge. Round 2 features two Mystery wedges, which may be flipped over to determine if they conceal a $10,000 cash prize or Bankrupt. Either Round 2 or Round 3 is a Prize Puzzle,[32] which offers a prize to both the contestant who solves it and to a randomly selected member of the Wheel Watchers Club, the show's viewer rewards program. A Prize Wedge is available during the first two rounds, awarding a prize if the contestant solves. Two "½ Car" tags are placed on the Wheel during Rounds 1–3, which award the contestant a car if he or she solves while holding both tags.
In addition to the three Toss-Ups, each game has at least four rounds,[14] the last of which is always at least in part a Speed-Up. The host spins the Wheel to determine the value of each letter, with $1,000 added to the value of his spin, and vowels are free.[33] Contestants call one letter at a time, and are given three seconds to attempt a solve if that letter appears in the puzzle. Play proceeds from the viewer's left to right, starting with the contestant who was in control of the Wheel at the time of the Final Spin, until the puzzle is solved.
Originally, after winning a round, contestants spent their winnings purchasing prizes that were presented onstage. According to the E! True Hollywood Story episode on Wheel of Fortune, Lin Bolen is credited with implementing the shopping concept and the idea to have the wheel horizontally mounted. This story sometimes conflicts with other accounts; for example, on an A&E Biography episode, Griffin said that his initial idea of the presentation of the show was "a stage full of prizes." The shopping element was eliminated from the syndicated version on the episode that aired October 5, 1987,[34] both to speed up gameplay and to reduce the taxes paid by contestants.[14] Shopping was dropped on the daytime version when the show moved from NBC to CBS on July 17, 1989.
At the end of the game, the highest-scoring contestant plays a bonus round. The contestant spins a smaller wheel with 24 envelopes to determine the prize. He or she is given a category and a puzzle for which every instance of R, S, T, L, N and E is revealed; after providing three more consonants and a vowel, the contestant has ten seconds to attempt solving the puzzle. Prizes in the bonus round currently include cash amounts ranging from $30,000 to $50,000 in increments of $5,000, an automobile with $5,000 cash, and a top prize of $100,000 (whose envelope is replaced with $1,000,000 if the contestant has the Million Dollar Wedge). Michelle Loewenstein became the show's first millionaire on the episode that aired October 14, 2008.[35] Contestants who win the $1,000,000 may receive it in installments over 20 years, or in a lump sum of $660,000.[36]
Various changes have been made to the basic set since the syndicated version's premiere in 1983. In 1996, a large video display was added center stage, which was then upgraded in 2003 as the show began the transition into high-definition broadcasting. The set decorations change with each weekly set of themed programs. The production is currently designed by Renee Hoss-Johnson, with previous set designers including Ed Flesh[37] and Dick Stiles.
The show was taped at Studio 4 in NBC Studios in Burbank from 1975 until NBC cancelled the daytime series in 1989. Production then moved to Studio 33 at CBS Television City (Bob Barker Studio) in Los Angeles, where it remained until 1995.[38] Since then, Wheel has occupied Stage 11 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.[39] Some episodes are also recorded on location, a tradition which began with two weeks of episodes taped at Radio City Music Hall in late 1988.[40]
The production schedule for show tapings is typically one week on, and three weeks off per month. During the active week, five or six shows a day are taped in front of a live studio audience. At the end of the production week, 25 to 30 shows have been completed. This provides five to six weeks' worth of television programming.
The first pilot used a vertically-mounted wheel which was often difficult to see on-screen. Set designer Ed Flesh, who also designed the sets for The $25,000 Pyramid and Jeopardy!, designed the Wheel mechanism. Initially made mostly of paint and cardboard,[37] the Wheel mechanism is framed on a steel tube surrounded with Plexiglass and more than 200 lighting instruments, and is held by a stainless steel shaft with roller bearings. Altogether, the Wheel weighs approximately 2,400 pounds (1,100 kg).[41]
In the show's early days, the first puzzle board had three rows of 13 manually operated trilons, for a total of 39 spaces. On December 21, 1981, a larger board with 48 trilons in four rows (11, 13, 13 and 11 trilons) was adopted. This board was surrounded by a double-arched border of lights which flashed at the beginning and end of the round. When a letter was placed in the puzzle, its space lit up and the hostess turned the trilon to reveal it.
On February 24, 1997, the show introduced a computerized board composed of 52 touch-activated monitors.[41] To illuminate a letter during regular gameplay, White touches the right edge of the monitor.[42]
Alan Thicke composed the show's original theme, which was titled "Big Wheels". In 1983, it was replaced by Griffin's own composition, "Changing Keys".[43] The theme was replaced in 2000 with "Happy Wheels", composed by Steve Kaplan. Frankie Blue wrote the theme for the 2006–2007 season and John Hoke wrote the program's current theme.[1]
With few exceptions, anyone at least 18 years old has the potential to become a contestant through Wheel of Fortune's audition process. Those ineligible include employees of CBS Television Distribution, Sony Pictures Television, or any firm involved in offering prizes for the show. Contestants who have appeared on a different game show within the previous year, three other game shows within the past ten years or on any version of Wheel of Fortune itself are also ineligible, as are people under the age of 18. Potential contestants are given a 16-puzzle test with some letters revealed. The contestants have five minutes to solve as many puzzles as they can by writing in the correct letters. The passing score has never been publicly disclosed. The people who pass continue the audition, competing in a mock version of the game using a miniature wheel and a puzzle board.[44]
Numerous board game versions of the game show have been released by different toy companies. The games are all similar, incorporating a wheel, puzzle display board, play money and various accessories like Free Spin tokens. Milton Bradley released the first board game in 1975. In addition to all the supplies mentioned above, the game included 20 prize cards (to simulate the "shopping" prizes of the show; the prizes ranged in value from $100 to $3,000). Two editions were released. Other home versions were released by Pressman Toy Corporation, Tyco/Mattel, Parker Brothers, Endless Games and Irwin Toys, each including and updating gameplay elements seen on the show at the time.
Additionally, several video game versions have also been released for computers, the internet, and various gaming consoles.
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