lets pretend

[WarioBarker]

(Are we assuming that the show is completely new at this point and hasn't been on the air for EIGHT YEARS as a proven daytime winner?

Why not? The show itself thinks it began in 1983!

(For the record, I was making my response as if the show had never been on television before.)

[saussage]

If I was watching it today for the first time, while Vanna may be eye candy (open for discussion), she's useless on the show. Toss-up is a button mash fest and takes away from whatever flow the show may have, and put less gimmicks on the wheel or gimme the biggest gimmick to grab my attention (nowadays there should be a permanent $20k space on the wheel (cheap bastards don't understand inflation)). While I'm at it, gimme some other DVD to watch.

IMO, WOF went stale on me over 15 years ago. I only now see it for Pat Sajak's receding hair line.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'saussage\' post=\'236816\' date=\'Mar 3 2010, 09:46 PM\']Toss-up is a button mash fest and takes away from whatever flow the show may have, g hair line.[/quote]Says the guy who can't even spell the name of a meat product correctly in his own handle. Remind me not to have you over for Prototype Night at Casa de Eberle.

[geno57]

[quote name=\'SFQuizKid\' post=\'236782\' date=\'Mar 3 2010, 04:34 PM\']Take a look at this article from the September 8, 1972 Life Magazine[/quote]


Jee-zoydz, that writer is one snotty bitch!  (I was gonna write something nastier than that, but this forum is a family show.)

[Johnissoevil]

Wow.  Just...wow.  But here's what I'd write.

Who the heck is this Pat Sajak?  Weathermen don't make good game show hosts.  How about we contact Chuck Woolery instead and see if he wants the job.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'saussage\' post=\'236816\' date=\'Mar 4 2010, 12:46 AM\'](nowadays there should be a permanent $20k space on the wheel (cheap bastards don't understand inflation)).[/quote]I think they understand inflation perfectly.  I question whether you do.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'saussage\' post=\'236816\' date=\'Mar 4 2010, 12:46 AM\'](nowadays there should be a permanent $20k space on the wheel (cheap bastards don't understand inflation)).[/quote]
Until you realize that one good letter call could cost the producers over $100,000. The show gives away enough money per half hour (honestly TOO much IMO).

As for the show, it's hard to say how I'd judge the show in its current format, assuming it's a brand new show with no history. I mean, I still long for the heyday that (IMO) ended sometime around 1995. But if I had to go into it blindly, I suppose I'd say that it's too much going on, and that the Toss-Ups and constant sponsors are unnecessary. Not to mention I'd question why it's necessary to give away $1 million (or $100,000 for that matter) for playing Hangman.

I'd also question the writing for some of the puzzles.

[wheelloon]

Let's pretend Harry Friedman was stuck with only Jeopardy and Hollywood Squares and wasn't hired to foray into other games (Pyramid, WOF...) to try to keep them fresh. Instead, the games are kept more classic and simple... then we wouldn't have needed to have this thread...

/$20,000 space though? Good lord, if and when his forays end, I think we have found his replacement!!!!!

[Don Howard]

Query (as the pretending continues): How many of our number would be in an uproar if it was announced that WOF would end after this season?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'saussage\' post=\'236816\' date=\'Mar 3 2010, 09:46 PM\'](nowadays there should be a permanent $20k space on the wheel (cheap bastards don't understand inflation))[/quote]
God, I missed you.

[tpirfan28]

[quote name=\'saussage\' post=\'236816\' date=\'Mar 3 2010, 09:46 PM\'](nowadays there should be a permanent $20k space on the wheel (cheap bastards don't understand inflation))[/quote]
Say hello to my good friend.

($5000 in 1983 is ~$10,000 today, FWIW.)

[Adam Nedeff]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'236808\' date=\'Mar 3 2010, 11:22 PM\']Wow, you'd really pass on Wheel of Fortune.[/quote]
I've been lucky enough in life to actually have a boss who was an executive at NBC in the 1970s, and who, by his own admission, was vocal about passing on the show when it was presented to them. His recollection: "I sat there, I watched it, and I thought to myself, 'they're spinning a wheel and playing Hangman...this must be a joke.'"

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' post=\'236915\' date=\'Mar 4 2010, 08:36 PM\']His recollection: "I sat there, I watched it, and I thought to myself, 'they're spinning a wheel and playing Hangman...this must be a joke.'"[/quote]
This while playing Tic-Tac-Toe with celebrities in giant squares was damn near the biggest hit the network had? Hypocrite.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'236916\' date=\'Mar 4 2010, 11:41 PM\'][quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' post=\'236915\' date=\'Mar 4 2010, 08:36 PM\']His recollection: "I sat there, I watched it, and I thought to myself, 'they're spinning a wheel and playing Hangman...this must be a joke.'"[/quote]
This while playing Tic-Tac-Toe with celebrities in giant squares was damn near the biggest hit the network had? Hypocrite.
[/quote]
Damn the tic-tac-toe...I wanna know what he thought about a game show with even less game play than Wheel, yet featured a giant pinball machine. ;-)

[WarioBarker]

I've been lucky enough in life to actually have a boss who was an executive at NBC in the 1970s, and who, by his own admission, was vocal about passing on the show when it was presented to them. His recollection: "I sat there, I watched it, and I thought to myself, 'they're spinning a wheel and playing Hangman...this must be a joke.'"

That's not why I'd pass on it -- I passed because certain aspects are cheap, fake, and unfair.