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I've been an avid Wheel Watcher since 1987, which is practically my entire life, and Ive noticed that if TPIR can keep its theme song, concept and set the same way for over 30 years, then why can't WoF? Wheel has always been the game show of all game shows, but I think that they could bring back a lot of the show's old-school nuances. I'm not saying go COMPLETELY old-school, just enough to bring back the spirit of Wheel. Examples: 1) They should start using the classic Changing Keys theme music again, that song screamed WoF. 2) Bring back the red, yellow and blue sunburst backdrops AND circular puzzleboard borders, the newer "touch" board can stay, but Jesus! It looks like WoF in 2090! 3) They should get rid of those stupid Toss-Up puzzles, and bring back the old "Try not to hit Bankrupt; if you do, you lose your cash but not your merchandise, because once you buy a prize its yours to keep". 4) Shopping needs to come back! Only this time they can make the prizes and merchandise more awesome and interesting instead of cheesy (enter The Sharper Image). 5) Vanna White should start wearing those gorgeous sparkly dresses and gowns again, like in the days when she had the big hair and feathered bangs (HOT). 6) Another thing that needs to come back is the changing of the wheel configurations round by round. The $1,500 space was terrific, it served as a nice alternative to either the $2,000 or $5,000 wedges if they werent landed on. Anyway, I'm done ranting now.
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Ummm.....if you're going classic, old school then you can't ask for "Changing Keys". You would have to ask for "Big Wheels".
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[quote name=\'animill9\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 04:06 AM\']5) Vanna White should start wearing those gorgeous sparkly dresses and gowns again, like in the days when she had the big hair and feathered bangs (HOT).
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You're not by chance related to N2Nuno, are you?
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[quote name=\'animill9\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 04:06 AM\']I've been an avid Wheel Watcher since 1987... Anyway, I'm done ranting now.
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Sure thing. And I want a million dollars in cash, a Maserati convertible, Justine Waddell's phone number, the throne of Norway, my own independent oil company, an all-access pass into the Pentagon, discount front row seats at Fenway Park, an authentic copy of "The Declaration of Independence", a mansion overlooking the French Riviera, a 50-year supply of South African wine and cyborg implants so I can live forever.
And "Jeopardy!" should go back to that dark blue set with the crooked red neon bars and the old synthesized theme, because it's a classic! Alex should grow back the mustache too!
-Joe R.
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Shopping was a bad idea from Day One. Ceramic ducks, $8 Tiffany gift certificates, ugly blue couches. An all-cash wheel would have been preferred from WOF's NBC beginnings.
I can see the 1st Toss-Up puzzle staying to determine opening control but the rest is waste.
I also miss the contestants who would say, "May I have an N, please?". An N!!!!!!!!!! bellowed at volume ten makes me want to dash for the gun rack.
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I agree with Don. Shopping too entirely too long. The game:prize description ratio can get quite low when Jack Clark goes on and on about the Gucci playing cards, the cookie jar shaped like Merv Griffin, the trip to South Dingleberry, NJ, and another seven or eight items. It's not good TV, at least in my mind.
[quote name=\'Don Howard's sig\']Tomorrow is Cindy Crawford's 40th birthday. What's the game show connection? None. But so what?[/quote]
The Mole. 'Nuff said.
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[quote name=\'animill9\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 04:06 AM\']I've been an avid Wheel Watcher since 1987, which is practically my entire life, and Ive noticed that if TPIR can keep its theme song, concept and set the same way for over 30 years, then why can't WoF?
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So you want it back to the way it was as you remember, but not the way it was 10 years before... because 1987 Wheel is classic and '70s Wheel isn't.
Next.
Brandon Brooks
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Actually, if we're going to go back to the way it was originally, doesn't someone need to dig up a Todd Russell episode? I don't think shopping was a part of that run.
(Attention Mr. Howard: there is no excuse for the fact that I beat you to this question. You're not due for bannination but I'll be keeping an eye on you.)
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Because I'm actually curious about such things:
Does anyone have any reliable figures on how many of the original NBC WoF episodes survive? Or did NBC did as thorough a job with them as with the original "Jeopardy!"?
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[quote name=\'MrBuddwing\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 02:06 PM\']Does anyone have any reliable figures on how many of the original NBC WoF episodes survive? Or did NBC did as thorough a job with them as with the original "Jeopardy!"?
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I think that's an age-old question, man...there's been so much (ex-rectum) speculation b/w here and ATGS that I don't think anyone has an accurate figure.
Just like the way Marshall's HSq eps. were gone, then several syndie and NBC primetime eps. turn up. Ditto for CBS Joker's Wild.
Back to the original thread, I liked shopping, but some of those plugs took up about three minutes...that's a whole round of gameplay on some days.
[quote name=\'Don Howard\']I also miss the contestants who would say, "May I have an N, please?". An N!!!!!!!!!! bellowed at volume ten makes me want to dash for the gun rack.[/quote]
Honestly, I like how the contestants used to say "N as in 'Nancy' "...and how Chuck or Pat would say "All right, what is this PHRASE?"
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There would simply be no time for shopping today. I loved 'Wheel' in the Eighties too but short of a version of 'Changing Keys' I don't think any retro-changes would be feasible.
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Based on what little I've seen thanks to Page o' Clips, I like shopping. A lot. Yes, I realize it's long, and yes, I realize there is no way in hell it's ever coming back*...but damn, I still think it's a more interesting format that what Wheel's running with now.
Just my two cents.
*Although it still irks me how they proclaimed that they were "bringing back shopping" during those Retro Weeks several years ago and then totally bastardized it.
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The shopping was fun while it lasted, but I think when they realized they could play more puzzles by eliminating the shopping, that seemed more favorable. Merv didn't want any shopping on Wheel in the first place. The shopping was Lin Bolen's insistence, to attract the ladies.
The "set for the week" angle done sometime in the mid 90s was too much. It seemed as if every week, there were different backdrops behind the players, or at times, there was a lack of a backdrop. They still change the set every week, but the changes aren't as drastic.
Let's face it, Vanna is too old to be "eye candy". I'm not saying she's not beautiful, but the days when she would twirl in a different dress every show ended at just the right time.
The theme music, I agree, is not near as catchy or as memorable as Changing Keys. The graphics are intrusive, and unnecessary. If Chuck Woolery did return, I'm sure the first thing he'd say is "This isn't the Wheel I remember!"
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Based on what little I've seen thanks to Page o' Clips, I like shopping. A lot. Yes, I realize it's long, and yes, I realize there is no way in hell it's ever coming back*...
The shopping wasn't so bad when the 1978 "Jeopardy" theme played in the background...but I digress. :)
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Keep everything as is on "Wheel"...just bring back Chuck Woolery. ;)
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[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 03:34 PM\']Merv didn't want any shopping on Wheel in the first place. The shopping was Lin Bolen's insistence, to attract the ladies.
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Where do you get that? The original version of "Wheel" (created by Merv) was called "Shopper's Bazaar"--that would seem to indicate that shopping was integral from the beginning.
...Not that Wikipedia is flawless... (http://\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Fortune\")
* * *
I still want a ceramic dalmatian.
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[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 05:16 PM\'][quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 03:34 PM\']Merv didn't want any shopping on Wheel in the first place. The shopping was Lin Bolen's insistence, to attract the ladies.
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From the "E! True Hollywood Story" done on "Wheel" a couple years back straight out of the man's mouth.
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[quote name=\'HairMetalLives\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 05:26 PM\']From the "E! True Hollywood Story" done on "Wheel" a couple years back straight out of the man's mouth.
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Couple years back? Wasn't it just last summer?
But yeah, I remember that too.
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[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 07:29 PM\'][quote name=\'HairMetalLives\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 05:26 PM\']From the "E! True Hollywood Story" done on "Wheel" a couple years back straight out of the man's mouth.
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Couple years back? Wasn't it just last summer?
But yeah, I remember that too.
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Speaking of that, has it ever appeared on StarTV in Canada yet? Months ago i was scanning the starTV website about it but nothing.
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The "Retro Week" format was a nightmare. To "go shopping," you had to land on the Shopping space on the wheel. Then you got to pick a prize off the turntable. It wasn't retro at all. I remember during one of those retro weeks the set looked like something stright from "Laugh In". The only 2 good things that came from that week were a recreated turntable and an interview with Dick Stiles (former set designer), and how he came up with the ideas for Wheel's sets.
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I have to agree with the consensus: shopping would not help the show at all. But damned if it wasn't cool back in the day (that 70's shopping music [based off of "Big Wheels"] sure was catchy. Anyone have an MP3 of that?).
Frankly, if I were doing a reboot, I'd just throw out the gimmicks, leave in a couple of Toss-Ups and the current bonus round and go from there.
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[quote name=\'WorldClassRob\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 06:20 PM\']Keep everything as is on "Wheel"...just bring back Chuck Woolery. ;)
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Put that Guinness Charlie...Woolery left Wheel? Oh, it's time for the Jackpot round!
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The story is that Merv's original title was "Wipeout"--supposedly, he pitched the show to Bolen and then she turned around and said "And we'll set it on Rodeo Drive and have the contestants shop for prizes!"
As I've said before, he should be relieved that Bolen didn't say to him, "And then we'll have the contestants play a giant pinball machine!"
As for contestants, Bolen obviously wanted them hyper (as you would note from the other NBC daytime shows of the time), Merv didn't. She won. After she left, the contestants got less hyper (something that I didn't know when I tried out for the show and hurt me, IIRC). Today, with Merv gone, they're hyper again.
Actually, even though I only see the show a few times a year now (and the last time I saw it, I was as sick as a dog), it only seems to me that the overproduction with the graphics added in post and SFX and music cues are the only bad things now. It's still pretty much as it was and for the most part, I don't object to the gameplay tweaks currently being used.
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I've been watching Wheel lately more than I ever have. I think that besides all the flash, whooshes, and bling, all of which are inevitable, the show has been improving. My only quibble is that the last toss-up almost always leads into the final spin, which is too predictable.
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To echo what some others have said, IMHO, reduce it to two toss-ups, one $1k before the interviews and one after Round 3 worth $2.5k (I never was a big fan of those), add another prize to the wheel in round 3 like a jet ski, sailboat, or Sony electronics package - a free plug ;), OR, instead, have the Mystery Round give away a prize again, like a sailboat, automobile, or extravagant trip, instead of just $10k everyday. In the bonus round, keep it as is, except maybe make the top prize $250k, and add something like a $50k trip around the world, for more variation. Oh yeah, bring back returning champions, it doesn't matter to me how long they're allowed to stay, that's the "classic" part of Wheel I miss most...
Set-wise, I think maybe a new modern $100k neon sign in the middle of the set would harken back to the Wheel of years past, and help the set not look so bare as it does some weeks. It would be kinda cool if they could also add some kind of neon design around the puzzle board that could be similar in build to the curves of the 81-97 puzzle board or the triangular design of the 97-03 board, because it all looks so bare in its current form...
Oh yeah, Retro Week was despicable... :(
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 04:24 PM\']In the bonus round, keep it as is, except maybe make the top prize $250k
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Why? No, I'm not gonna bash you for being an idiot, I'm simply going to ask for your rationalization as to why this makes the show better.
You may, if you like, argue the converse and tell me why slashing it to $50K would make the show worse. I'm willing to listen to it either way.
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My only real obstacle to enjoying the current show is the behavior of some of the contestants. I can put up with flashing lights, in all their forms.
Well, okay, if there's anything else, it's the breakneck editing on some shows, especially any "special" week.
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To be honest, the show is getting more and more tolerable, and starting to feel like the Wheel I liked in the mid-90s. The news stuff our anchor showed on air last week is making me appreciate the show a little more.
Just cut back on the editing, get a standard set, I don't mind the themes for center stage, esp. the Halloween week--that one is nice. However, the show needs a real contestant backdrop IMO. Other than that, it's better, but the editing is jarring.
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I'm not an avid Wheel watcher by any means. but I do catch the show on occasion. Someone (I think Chris Lemon) asked a poster what changing the top prize brings to the show. I agree with that, but I'm forced to ask what all of the graphics bring to the show? For over 15 years, the 4-bell chime that signified time was short and final spin time was adequate. Why suddenly do we need a graphic? Why even have a $5000 space on the wheel if there is never a possibility to spin the wheel when it's out there because usually it shows up just in time for the final spin. The background behind the puzzleboard looks barren most of the time now. The incessant clapping...
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[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 10:51 PM\']I'm not an avid Wheel watcher by any means. but I do catch the show on occasion. Someone (I think Chris Lemon) asked a poster what changing the top prize brings to the show.
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Which of course the poster never responded to because it's an utterly dumb idea.
I agree with that, but I'm forced to ask what all of the graphics bring to the show? For over 15 years, the 4-bell chime that signified time was short and final spin time was adequate. Why suddenly do we need a graphic?
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Not a damn thing. That's because it was also an utterly dumb idea. WoF is a good show, it's just overproduced.
Now I have an idea. Bring back returning champions. I really don't get why it was eliminated in the first place. "More contestants can be seen" ... not that strong of an argument.
Brandon Brooks
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[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 11:36 PM\']Now I have an idea. Bring back returning champions. I really don't get why it was eliminated in the first place. "More contestants can be seen" ... not that strong of an argument.
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This is true. If more contestants is what they want, bring in a new set of players every time there's a new puzzle.
Oh, God, I was kidding. Please don't really do this.
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[quote name=\'HairMetalLives\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 07:26 PM\']From the "E! True Hollywood Story" done on "Wheel" a couple years back straight out of the man's mouth.
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Interesting.
I stand corrected.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 08:41 PM\'][quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 04:24 PM\']In the bonus round, keep it as is, except maybe make the top prize $250k
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Why? No, I'm not gonna bash you for being an idiot, I'm simply going to ask for your rationalization as to why this makes the show better.
You may, if you like, argue the converse and tell me why slashing it to $50K would make the show worse. I'm willing to listen to it either way.
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That's why I included the word maybe. It wouldn't make the show or the bonus round itself significantly better, because the current format is my favorite in Wheel's history. It would just be to provide more money to be won for the contestants, and allow Charlie O' to call out another dollar value at the top of his lungs... ;)
What the heck, maybe it would grab a few more viewers every night because the show would have more money on the line... *Runs for cover*
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Feb 21 2006, 12:05 PM\']It wouldn't make the show or the bonus round itself significantly better, because the current format is my favorite in Wheel's history.[/quote]
And if you like it, that automatically makes it good?
(I'm not disagreeing with your assertion that the current bonus format is good. I'm just questioning your reasoning.)
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Feb 21 2006, 11:05 AM\']It wouldn't make the show or the bonus round itself significantly better,
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<Anne Robinson> That is the correct answer. </AR>
So you do understand, then, in the business world, that increasing the amount of money spent on an aspect of a project, while providing no discernible improvement in the overall project, that's how people tend to get fired, right?
(Or, apparently, made CEO of Radio Shack. But I digress.)
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 12:33 PM\']Actually, even though I only see the show a few times a year now (and the last time I saw it, I was as sick as a dog), it only seems to me that the overproduction with the graphics added in post and SFX and music cues are the only bad things now. It's still pretty much as it was and for the most part, I don't object to the gameplay tweaks currently being used.
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You pretty much nailed it. I don't really have a problem with the current format, save for the unnecessary extra toss-up before the first main round. The problem is that presentation-wise, the show is all flash and no class. This goes for the set, the music, the graphics, the editing, and of course, the obnoxious contestants. It all overshadows the game, instead of complementing it nicely.
I think Wheel was at its best when it was taping at Television City. But even if they could get the vibe of the show back to something like it was in the late 90s, I'd be content.
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I don't really care about the shopping, but when I downloaded some videos of older 199x shows recently, I really noticed how much better the game was without the tossups etc. I can live with the flash, but there's way less game now.
And yes, on the returning champs. Since I got my tivo I've been watching way more GSN than ever before, and I notice that everything I really enjoy has returning champs. Leland on Blockbusters. Ken on Jeopardy. Others on Password, and so forth.
I like to see someone play the game *well*. Returning champs, especially those for more than a couple of days are usually excellent at the game, and they provide a natural attraction to tune in tomorrow.
Technical issues that make running shows in order are *long* gone.