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Things you would done differently Wheel of Fortune

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wdm1219inpenna:
There could be oodles of things said about this topic regarding various game shows.

In fact, I think I will do separate threads about different game shows both past and present for this.

This thread is devoted to Wheel of Fortune.  I may do different threads for different game shows, or if any one of you wants to start a separate thread about other game shows, by all means please do.

One thing I have always wished Wheel of Fortune could do and would do is to show the Used Letter Board for people watching at home or elsewhere.  Often times at a restaurant for example if the show is on, it's usually muted.  I do like how they now at least show which letter the player called for in the lower left corner of the screen.

Another thing is I wish the show would raise dollar values during subsequent rounds of play.  As it is the wheel's template is pretty much $500 to $900 with one large money wedge out there.  Would be nice if they could add a $1,250 space, a $1,500 space and maybe even a $2,000 space instead of having so many $500 wedges.

With the minimum dollar value on the wheel now being $500, I also wish they would raise the price of vowels to $500 or even $1,000.  $250 made sense 50 years ago but with the elevated money amounts on the wheel, it should be raised, I think $500 is a reasonable price for vowels.

I am glad they got rid of the $1,000 gift tag and the Free Play space on the wheel as well as those 1/2 car tags that they used to have. 

I'd also like to see the show have returning champions again.  Right now of the 5 big game shows on, only Jeopardy and Family Feud have returning champions.  Price is Right and Let's Make A Deal do not lend themselves to having returning champions, but Wheel of Fortune still does.

I'd suggest a 5 day limit for champions unless they win $1,000,000 on the bonus puzzle, then they would retire.

I don't mind the toss-up puzzles, I do like the Triple Toss Up where $10,000 could be won and which could help a player catch up.

I am eager to see the new season with Ryan at the helm to see how he does.  I suspect that is about the only change the show will be making for this season.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Otm Shank:
My longstanding peeve is that the prize puzzle bonus is treated as "score money" to borrow a Dick Clark phrase.

Chelsea Thrasher:
Returning champions:
The primary two reasons for Wheel's adoption of "no returning champions" (aside from their occasionally pulling the Friday Finals out of mothballs for a couple of themed/celebrity weeks) were 1) Sajak's stated preference against champions (he's noted it in an exhaustive number of interviews), and more importantly 2) allows the show to consolidate the number of taping days from 39 to, as of season 41, just 34. (five weeks of episodes contain shows taped at prior tapings but then aired together). Cutting five taping dates saves on studio time, crew expenses, and more, while spreading out other costs over six shows instead of five.

One of those reasons is now gone, however, to add champions back you also have to likely reinstate those five tape dates. Does the benefit outweigh the cost? Especially in the current TV landscape and the death valley that is the syndication market?  For three or five day champions with a limit, the argument is almost assuredly no.  For Jeopardy-style unlimited tapings? It's arguably the best change the quiz show's ever made (see: ratings bump for and source of eventual host Ken Jennings, ratings bumps for Holzhauer, Schneider, et al., with it increasing J!'s social media buzz immensely). Wheel doing that, even if it's a more luck-based game, could be an injection of life into the show that justifies the added costs. If they're going to do it, they need to go all in.

Rest of the show:
I despise the Prize Puzzle as it's currently implemented.  If they insist on keeping it, it should never ever count as "score money", as the other poster noted using the Pyramid term.

I actually really like the Triple Tossup, especially once it occurred to them to start linking the three puzzles together thematically. I also like having the initial play-in one.  Not crazy about the "you get to be interviewed first, and here's $1K" opening one. I'd nix that, bump the other opening one to $3K, and winning it controls both the interview and control for R1 - which I actually liked the one year they did it that way.

They have got to get over their allergy to four-digit wheel values (or at this point, anything outside the $500-$700 range). Low dollar should be whatever the cost of vowels is, and there should be a nice spread up through approx. just over of whatever top dollar is. If R1 is $2500, throw a pair of $1000s, a $1250, and a $1500 on the wheel. R2 for $3500, add on $2000.  When you put $5000 on the wheel, add $2500 back. Once you know the puzzle now, there is basically no incentive to spin again and risk it, especially if it's the prize puzzle.

I love the way that the Crossword and Same Letter categories reward having to think about the puzzle slightly out-of-the-box, and I'd love to resurrect categories like Clue and Fill in the Blank that require a little bit of extra-dimensional thinking.

I liked the Free Play wedge, but if it's gone for good, at least bring back the Free Spin token.  One of my favorite part of watching shows from the 80s, especially as someone who loathes the shopping round, was watching someone occasionally managing to bank an absurd number of free spin tokens, so if they wanted to go all in on a free spin *wedge* again I wouldn't even mind.

Wild Card should be able to be used for vowels in the bonus round. It should be able to be automatically exchanged for top dollar in the main game since that's the only time people use it anymore, with the catch that if the letter you call with it isn't in the puzzle, it counts as a bankrupt instead of a lost turn.

As much as people don't like to go on game shows to win things outside of cars/cash and occasionally trips, I REALLY miss Wheel's more eccentric prizes and prize packages of the 80s and 90s.  I'd love to see them get back to those, with the possible tradeoff that every prize except the cash itself now comes with a base level of cash. ("And for gas money, we've stocked the trunk of this Volvo with good ol' American cash, FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!"). Pair that with champions and it's a lot more interesting.

For it's faults, the shopping era - and the vastly superior IMO first decade-ish of the cash format - had this whimsy that the show gave up in the late 90s in the name of a more efficient production. I'd just love to see the show try to recapture that.

Kevin Prather:

--- Quote from: Chelsea Thrasher on August 10, 2024, 03:38:39 PM ---As much as people don't like to go on game shows to win things outside of cars/cash and occasionally trips, I REALLY miss Wheel's more eccentric prizes and prize packages of the 80s and 90s.  I'd love to see them get back to those, with the possible tradeoff that every prize except the cash itself now comes with a base level of cash. ("And for gas money, we've stocked the trunk of this Volvo with good ol' American cash, FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!").

--- End quote ---

Interestingly, many of those more eccentric prizes were items that actually appreciate in value (jewelry, artwork, rare documents, etc.) and some would probably consider them more desirable than trips for that reason. I'd love to see those come back.


--- Quote from: Chelsea Thrasher on August 10, 2024, 03:38:39 PM ---Returning champions:
For Jeopardy-style unlimited tapings? It's arguably the best change the quiz show's ever made (see: ratings bump for and source of eventual host Ken Jennings, ratings bumps for Holzhauer, Schneider, et al., with it increasing J!'s social media buzz immensely). Wheel doing that, even if it's a more luck-based game, could be an injection of life into the show that justifies the added costs. If they're going to do it, they need to go all in.

--- End quote ---

Is there a likelihood of a mega champ on a luck-based game like Wheel? Especially if they continue doing the Prize Puzzle the way they're doing it? Fixing the Prize Puzzle as you said would help, but I still can't imagine someone winning more than five or six games before the wheel starts being unkind.

Jeremy Nelson:

--- Quote from: Chelsea Thrasher on August 10, 2024, 03:38:39 PM ---They have got to get over their allergy to four-digit wheel values (or at this point, anything outside the $500-$700 range). Low dollar should be whatever the cost of vowels is, and there should be a nice spread up through approx. just over of whatever top dollar is. If R1 is $2500, throw a pair of $1000s, a $1250, and a $1500 on the wheel. R2 for $3500, add on $2000.  When you put $5000 on the wheel, add $2500 back. Once you know the puzzle now, there is basically no incentive to spin again and risk it, especially if it's the prize puzzle.

--- End quote ---
I think it was Adam Nedeff who mentioned on socials that a family member of his noticed how homogeneous the wheel values were, further accentuating that this is a real problem that people outide of us are noticing.

The wheel should be the most fun part of the show and spins short of a penalty space or top dollar are just boring vehicles to the puzzle solving. Chelsea's proposed configuration sounds a-ok to me.


--- Quote --- I REALLY miss Wheel's more eccentric prizes and prize packages of the 80s and 90s.
--- End quote ---
While I'm totally okay with the $42,000 greenhouse going away, I do miss, at base level, some variety. With studies showing that most people value experiences over things, that $50,000 shipboard party might be right at home now. There are plenty of other desirable wheel prizes to add to the main game, and through the tech boom of the last 15 or so years, it seems like a massive miss for Sony to rarely ever include their tech as prize fodder for the show. I surely wouldn't turn my back on a 100'' Bravia television.

Other thoughts:

-The million dollar wedge needs to go. I thought it was cool for a few years, but it's become like Syndicated Millionaire where yeah, it's a prize you offer, but when it hasn't been won in a decade by a civilian, the whole thing feels like an exercise in futility. Plus, game shows in general have gone away from the seven figure jackpot, so Wheel looks tired in comparison by keeping theirs. If you want to up the bucks for the bonus round, just create a Double Jackpot wedge to be collected in the main game.

-I honestly do like the hook of a few recent theme weeks having enhanced bonus round prizes. I liked the Margaritaville Home and the WWE experience, and I LOVED the BetMGM running jackpot. More of that, please.

-Growing up I loved Wheel's set design choices- it always seemed half game show, half Las Vegas casino, and I think it lost some of that when Million Colors of Light became the entire design language. Obviously this is changing as we speak, but I hope the new design permeates more than the puzzle board. Give me more gaudy.

-Vowels need to go up. They should be premium clues, not 5 for $1 in the bargain bin. I know it's stayed the same partially to expedite puzzle solving, but that rationale made sense during a time when we didn't have 9-10 puzzles, not including the bonus puzzle. Speaking of...

-It's time to go back to five cononants and a vowel in the bonus round. When the studio is booing your bonus puzzles and you're one step away from using SEXY PIZZA to save budget, we need a change. Going back to the original recipe allows for fairer puzzle writing and makes the Wild Card a more premium get from the wheel.

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