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Subscribe My Channel:! Like, Comment and Share Videos. Thanks!Wheel of Fortune: often known simply as Whee is an American telev.
Wheel of Fortune (TV Series 1975– ) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Apr 23, 2015 Wheel of Fortune 1975 NBC, Episode 7 (END).
Wheel of Fortune has been on the air since 1975, making it one of the longest-running game shows on television, but even long-time fans might be surprised at just how the show is taped (via How Stuff Works).
According to Radio.com, the team manages to shoot an entire month's worth of shows in just four days (specifically every other Thursday and Friday) by taping six shows each day. In fact, one episode takes just thirty minutes to film, thanks to the digitization of the puzzle board. Before 1997, when the board was analog, it took almost an hour to tape, just because the board needed to be manually reset so often.
Yet, somehow, despite the rushed filming schedule, the show has time to replay certain rounds if they don't like the first take (via Buzzfeed). According to one former contestant, 'They basically film a whole week's worth of shows in a day, and sometimes repeat rounds if it didn't go 'right' the first time.' In fact, contestants are rigorously coached on how to act, how to call out letters, and even how to spin the wheel (via The Week). If this shocks you, there are a few more things you should probably know as Wheel of Fortune returns for its 38th season (via Today).
More secrets about Wheel of Fortune
While Wheel of Fortune uses some tricks to its advantage, like making the 6-foot diameter wheel look bigger with the angle of the camera, most everything else about the wheel is actually real, not rigged (via Awesome Jelly). Some fans used to believe there was a foot pedal under host Pat Sajak's desk allowing him to control the speed of the spin or where it landed, since they noticed the wheel never stopped on 'bankrupt' or 'lose a spin' during the final spin. The truth is, it does occasionally land on those spots, but it's edited out for the sake of time. The wheel itself is not rigged.
Of course, this isn't the only way that the show is streamlined to save time. For example, to avoid contestants repeating previous incorrect guesses, there's a screen facing them showing those letters, but that's not the only secret screen. The host has one facing him that shows how many of a correctly-guessed letter there are in the puzzle (via ABC News). Before the screens took over, it was the job of a 'finger boy' (i.e. member of production staff) to signal that number to Sajak with their fingers. With so many sneaky time-savers, it's no wonder they're able to shoot so many shows in so few days.
Wheel of Fortune (1975) | |
Premiere | January 6, 1975 |
Finale | September 20, 1991 |
Creator | Merv Griffin |
Host | Chuck Woolery(1975–81) Pat Sajak(1981–89) Rolf Benirschke(1989) Bob Goen(1989–91) |
Network | NBC(1975–89, 1991) CBS(1989–91) |
Style | 30-minute game show |
Company | Merv Griffin Entertainment, (Califon Productions) |
Seasons | 16 |
Origin | US |
Wheel of Fortune (1975–91) is the first incarnation of the popular game showWheel of Fortune. This version, which featured a handful of hosts, aired on NBC in the daytime, although it aired on CBS from 1989 to 1991. It continued to run after the syndicated version ran.
Gameplay
Three players face a game board with a hidden word puzzle displayed in lighted trilons of letters. The first player spins a wheel loaded with money denominations. Where the wheel stops is what the letter the player selects is worth (consonants only). If the selected letter is not on the board, the next player gets a turn. Players' turns continue as long as he/she selects letters on the board. Players may buy vowels, for $250, to assist. The wheel contains spaces such as 'Bankrupt' (player loses all money in the round and his/her turn) and 'Lose A Turn' (turn only), as well as 'Free Spin'. The player solving the puzzle wins the money he/she scored.
In the early days, up to the mid 90s, players used their cash winnings to buy prizes shown on the stage for their retail values, with any remaining money either on a gift certificate or on account (to be used later, if he/she wins another puzzle). Since then, contestants played for money only. The early shows didn't have a bonus game; that was later employed by having the day's top winner selecting five consonants and one vowel on a final puzzle. Letter selected will appear and the player wins a prize of his/her choosing by solving the puzzle.
The show was developed in 1974 as 'Shopper's Bazaar' and the host for it was Edd Byrnes, who played Kookie on the ABC show 77 Sunset Strip. But when the producers spotted Byrnes pacing backstage trying to recite the alphabet, they sought out another host, with Chuck Woolery getting the job. Pat Sajak was hired as host in 1981, and Vanna White came along in 1982. The show expanded to an hour on December 11, 1975 in light of the success of The Price Is Right on CBS expanding to an hour, but it went back to a half hour on January 19, 1976.
Wheel ran on NBC to June 30, 1989, losing steam after Pat Sajak left the daytime show that January to start his own late night talk show on CBS (he was replaced by San Diego Chargers placekicker Rolf Benirschke). Two weeks after the last NBC show, the show resurfaced on CBS with Bob Goen as the new host. Goen remained host when the show returned to NBC on January 14, 1991.
The Shopper's Bazaar pilot employed an upright wheel that started on its own and slowed to a stop when the contestant said to stop. There were no bankrupt wedges but there was a $0 space and two Lose A Turn spaces. Contestants vied for their selected prizes and had to acquire the money values for them by solving the puzzle (the puzzle board was operated from behind--no letter turner on stage).
Wheel returns to network television when a primetime celebrity edition of the show debuts on ABC January 7, 2021 at 8 PM ET.
Wheel Of Fortune 1975 Youtube
Crew
Member | Duration | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hosts | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |
Chuck Woolery | * | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||||||
Pat Sajak | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||||
Rolf Benirschke | * | ||||||||||||||||
Bob Goen | * | * | |||||||||||||||
Hostesses | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |
Susan Stafford | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||||||
Vanna White | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||||
Announcers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |
Charlie O'Donnell | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||||||
Jack Clark | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||||
M.G. Kelly | * |
In Depth
- At a Glance: Additional information about the series
Wheel Of Fortune 1975 Premiere
DVD Releases
External Sites
- Wheel of Fortune on IMDb
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