Wheel of Fortune (Syndicated version, seasons 21-37, 39-present)
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| Wheel of Fortune (Syndicated version, seasons 21-37, 39-present) | ||||||||||||||||
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 CONTESTANT: Pat, I'd like to solve the puzzle: "HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN." PAT: You got it!
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Wheel of Fortune (often known simply as Wheel) is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 1975. It features a competition in which contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those in hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. The current version of the series, which airs in nightly syndication, premiered on September 19, 1983. It stars Pat Sajak and Vanna White as hosts, who hosted the nighttime version from its inception to 2024. The original version of Wheel was a network daytime series that ran on NBC from January 6, 1975, to June 30, 1989, and subsequently aired on CBS from July 17, 1989, to January 11, 1991; it returned to NBC on January 14, 1991, and was cancelled that year, ending on September 20, 1991. (The network daytime and syndicated nighttime versions aired concurrently from 1983 until the former's conclusion.)
While the show was amazing in its first 20 seasons, and season 38, the same can't be said about Season 21-37 and 39 as Wheel went downhill since 21-37; whilst it did improve in Season 38, it all got thrown out the window in Season 39 and hasn't improved ever since.
Why It Should Spin a Bankrupt Now
- Unfair gimmicks and wedges/tags, some of which make prizes too difficult to be obtained:
- The Express Wedge, introduced in Season 31, is terrible. If a player hits it and calls a consonant in the puzzle, they have the option to either continue the round normally, or keep calling letters until they solve the puzzle—with the penalty of going bankrupt if they either call a wrong letter or give an incorrect solution. It doesn't help that the wedge has hardly been affected by budget cuts.
- There used to be "½ Car" tags in the first three rounds (though they were eventually dropped), and they were replaced if one was picked up. The player who landed on and picked up both tags would win a car in the $15,000 range.
- Prize Puzzles, introduced as a regular feature in Season 21, just slow the game down to a halt. The player who wins the Prize Puzzle is rewarded with a prize worth over $5,000 (usually a trip) for solving it. Often, the player will either immediately solve the puzzle without spinning the wheel on his/her first turn or buy all of the vowels. This primarily occured in seasons 21-29, before the Prize Puzzle was relegated to the third round.
- To make matters worse, the introduction of Prize Puzzles ended up blowing much of the show's budget, resulting in cheaper prizes and important wedges/tags (like the Jackpot Wedge, Mystery Wedge and Free Spin tag) being dropped from the show in favor of more ads for the sake of money's name. It's rumored that this was due to Sony's financial problems.
- It doesn't help that, although the Prize Puzzle round has been shortened significantly since season 30 in order to save time, it has never been affected by budget cuts. It was even added to Celebrity Wheel starting in its third season (2022-2023), despite the prize only being relevant during the original broadcast since it is awarded to a home viewer who enters the correct information on the show's website within a limited time.
- The cheapness continued in season 37, as nearly every Bonus Round win seemed to be for either the lowest prize (which, since Season 32, has been the current season number multiplied by $1,000) or for a car valued at less than that.
- In addition, they did away with the cash bonus with cars won in the Bonus Round, decreased a few dollar amounts on the Wheel and removed the ½ Car tags in the first round.
- To make matters worse, the introduction of Prize Puzzles ended up blowing much of the show's budget, resulting in cheaper prizes and important wedges/tags (like the Jackpot Wedge, Mystery Wedge and Free Spin tag) being dropped from the show in favor of more ads for the sake of money's name. It's rumored that this was due to Sony's financial problems.
- The Free Spin, a fixture of the show since the Shopper's Bazaar pilot, was dropped in 2010 in favor of Free Play. The player who landed on this wedge didn't have to buy any of the vowels, which in most cases led to him/her calling out all of the vowels. To make matters worse, the Free Play wedge was removed in season 39, and the show has stopped giving away vowels since.
- The intro didn't change after Season 32. It only changed once for Season 35.
- No returning champions, even though Jeopardy! has kept them.
- Rather questionable puzzle choices, with Season 35 having such bonus puzzles as "QUIRKY AUTHOR", "WOKS AND PANS", and "HUNGRY JAGUAR".
- Prize Puzzles were dropped from the first two rounds in seasons 29 and 30, causing them to only occur during the third round. This saw the number of contestants who won the Prize Puzzle but lost Final Spin and never made it to the Bonus Round decrease significantly; said seasons also saw the fourth round return to the show because of this. The game was slowed down even further and it wasted the contestants' time trying to solve the puzzle. In previous seasons, Prize Puzzles could occur in either of the first two rounds.
- Fake difficulty, again due to the lower budget.
- The $1,000,000 top prize, introduced in 2008, is a convoluted way to add a large prize, as it could've done better without the wedge.
- Because of common misconceptions about how the Million-Dollar Wedge works, occasionally a contestant will lose the wedge on a judgment call and social media will promptly explode about how that person "lost a million dollars".
- After Charlie O'Donnell died in 2010, a series of fill-in announcers took his place (the first of whom was Johnny Gilbert of Jeopardy! fame). But they dubbed over episodes that O'Donnell had done before his death. Producers claimed that it was to try to lessen the "pain of hearing his voice so close to his death". In addition, names like John Cramer, Rich Fields, and Lora Cain didn't show much enthusiasm. Because of this, Jim Thorton would dub over the fill-in announcers when the 2010-2011 season was rerun the following summer.
- No road shows since Season 32.
- The minimum Bonus Round prize changes to reference the season number. This means that the show has to make puzzles harder.
- Some inappropriate moments in a G-rated show:
- The puzzles "CLAM DIGGER" and "LUCK BE IN THE AIR TONIGHT" being spelled respectively as "CLAM IGGER" and "UCK E IN THE A TONIGHT". To make matters worse, the contestant who attempted to solve the former puzzle asked if there was an N.
- The puzzle "LOVE AND EJECTION SEAT" being spelled as "LOVE AND E ECTION SEAT".
- The puzzle "BACK AT WORK" being spelled as "CK T ORK".
- The puzzle "A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE" being spelled as "A STREETCAR NA ED DESIRE".
- Vanna White will only be signed onto the show for two more years.
- The new set and music introduced in Season 39 are mediocre at best.
- Ryan Seacrest's hosting is terrible. Some have even tried to get the show cancelled following Pat Sajak's retirement, despite his wishes for the show to continue.
- The set has become increasingly lazy and cheap.
- The border around the letterboard was flattened in 2005 or 2006, giving it a cheaper look.
- The gigantic LED-illuminated arches from 2004 to 2010 were replaced in season 28 by generic neon lights that intersect. Later on, the lights behind the puzzleboard were replaced.
- The contestant railing was also modified in 2012 to widen the scoreboards and display the Wheel of Fortune logo on the base (right below Pat Sajak); the white bordering around the scoreboards vanished, as a result, making the entire base look less youthful and detailed.
- The color scheme for the Bonus Wheel that was introduced in season 31 is also generic, with cooler blue and purple colors and yellow lettering that contrast heavily with the previous design (which had purple-bluish lettering and spinning rainbow lights).
- The lighting is now way too bright, especially after the neon lights were added to the base as as the contestant spun the wheel.
- The Toss-Up animation introduced in 2010/2011 is a major downgrade, as said animation is simplified to have the bug emerge from the bottom of the screen and spin until it engulfs the camera; in previous seasons, the Toss-Up bug had a more detailed design and would appear from the center, rotating slowly to face the camera before zooming in. The animation got even worse and cheaper starting in season 37.
Redeeming Qualities
- Jim Thornton is a good replacement for O'Donnell.
- Pat and Vanna are still great hosts.
- The set still looks great, even though it hasn't changed since 2010.
- The format is still solid.
- Catchy music.
- The intro finally changed in 2019, even though it was used again the following season.
- Seasons 21-29 are the most passable seasons, though still average at best. The show also improved after Season 37 but went downhill again in Season 39.
- Some unintentionally funny moments, even the inappropriate ones mentioned above.
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