J on GSN

[Ian Wallis]

It was always known that "a few" were still around (most collectors have several), but the overwhelming majority are gone. Just because you saw one or two on GSN doesn't mean that the entire run survives and everybody's been wrong all these years..

One that would seem to be still around, surprisingly, is the very first episode from 1975.  Numerous clips were used from it on the E True Hollywood Story from several years ago.  You'd think GSN would have it because they own (or once owned) the Griffin library.  Maybe the chose not to air it because it's a little too different from the rest of the Woolery episodes, such as the short-lived "Buy a Vowel" space.  Would have been nice to see it in its entirety though!

[TroubadourNando]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'212727\' date=\'Apr 11 2009, 03:54 PM\']
such as the short-lived "Buy a Vowel" space.
[/quote]

Out of curiosity: how exactly did that space work? Exactly the same as if you attempted to buy a vowel freely?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'TroubadourNando\' post=\'212772\' date=\'Apr 11 2009, 11:17 PM\']
[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'212727\' date=\'Apr 11 2009, 03:54 PM\']
such as the short-lived "Buy a Vowel" space.
[/quote]

Out of curiosity: how exactly did that space work? Exactly the same as if you attempted to buy a vowel freely?
[/quote]
From what I've read, you automatically had to go for the vowel. If you didn't have $250, you forfeited your turn.

[TroubadourNando]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'212777\' date=\'Apr 11 2009, 11:26 PM\']
From what I've read, you automatically had to go for the vowel. If you didn't have $250, you forfeited your turn.
[/quote]

Interesting. Were you still penalized the $250 if the vowel wasn't in the puzzle?

[Twentington]

[quote name=\'TroubadourNando\' post=\'212778\' date=\'Apr 11 2009, 11:28 PM\']
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'212777\' date=\'Apr 11 2009, 11:26 PM\']
From what I've read, you automatically had to go for the vowel. If you didn't have $250, you forfeited your turn.
[/quote]

Interesting. Were you still penalized the $250 if the vowel wasn't in the puzzle?
[/quote]

Most likely.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'TroubadourNando\' post=\'212778\' date=\'Apr 11 2009, 08:28 PM\']
Interesting. Were you still penalized the $250 if the vowel wasn't in the puzzle?[/quote]
Since you were buying a vowel just like any OTHER time you buy a vowel? Yes.

[TroubadourNando]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'212876\' date=\'Apr 12 2009, 02:35 PM\']
[quote name=\'TroubadourNando\' post=\'212778\' date=\'Apr 11 2009, 08:28 PM\']
Interesting. Were you still penalized the $250 if the vowel wasn't in the puzzle?[/quote]
Since you were buying a vowel just like any OTHER time you buy a vowel? Yes.
[/quote]

I asked because the idea of being forced to take that risk due to nothing more than luck rubbed me the wrong way, but I guess that's why it was shortlived.

I guess maybe it made more sense to someone back in that era?

[Fedya]

I asked because the idea of being forced to take that risk due to nothing more than luck rubbed me the wrong way, but I guess that's why it was shortlived.

You're worried about risk-taking when the whole point of the show is spinning a big honking wheel?  :-p

A forced "Buy a Vowel" space is no worse than "Bankrupt" in that regard.

[TroubadourNando]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' post=\'212950\' date=\'Apr 12 2009, 09:52 PM\']

I asked because the idea of being forced to take that risk due to nothing more than luck rubbed me the wrong way, but I guess that's why it was shortlived.

You're worried about risk-taking when the whole point of the show is spinning a big honking wheel?  :-p

A forced "Buy a Vowel" space is no worse than "Bankrupt" in that regard.
[/quote]

Bankrupt is meant to be a penalty space though, isn't it? The impression I'm getting of Buy A Vowel is that it was meant to be a beneficial space that happened to carry an unintended negative consequence of being spun.

That, and having some letter-guessing spaces take money away while most give you money is something I could see leading to an unnecessary complication; I'd imagine that if the Buy A Vowel space was never terminated, at least one contestant would have been thrown by it. But then again, this is Wheel I'm talking about, the show of a million gimmicks - so I'm just wasting my time even stating this.

...On another note, the Edd Byrnes pilot for Wheel is available among collectors, is it not? Did that have any of the unusual spaces like Buy A Vowel or the category space from the Shopper's Bazaar pilot?

[chad1m]

[quote name=\'TroubadourNando\' post=\'212953\' date=\'Apr 12 2009, 10:37 PM\']Did that have any of the unusual spaces like Buy A Vowel or the category space from the Shopper's Bazaar pilot?[/quote]Wouldn't've mattered. Kookie would've let you buy a "4" for all he cared.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'212956\' date=\'Apr 12 2009, 10:46 PM\']
[quote name=\'TroubadourNando\' post=\'212953\' date=\'Apr 12 2009, 10:37 PM\']Did that have any of the unusual spaces like Buy A Vowel or the category space from the Shopper's Bazaar pilot?[/quote]Wouldn't've mattered. Kookie would've let you buy a "4" for all he cared.
[/quote]
Now, that, was flipping funny. Well done!!!

And I say that, as a friend of Kookie's son.

/No, he doesn't have the pilot.
/No, he doesn't care.

[TroubadourNando]

[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'212956\' date=\'Apr 12 2009, 10:46 PM\']
[quote name=\'TroubadourNando\' post=\'212953\' date=\'Apr 12 2009, 10:37 PM\']Did that have any of the unusual spaces like Buy A Vowel or the category space from the Shopper's Bazaar pilot?[/quote]Wouldn't've mattered. Kookie would've let you buy a "4" for all he cared.
[/quote]

Well played. I chuckled.

[rwalker]

I saw some flap on the WOF boards, that anything pre 1985(save for the episode we know are there, like Pat's first show, Chuck's last show, first nighttime, etc.) is probably gone. Anything after 1985 is still there. There was also Pat's last daytime show during the marathon also. Basically, not all of them are gone. I bet it's a case of "Peter Marshall Hollywood Squares" all over again. They thought all of those were gone, and found about 200.

[PYLdude]

[quote name=\'rwalker\' post=\'213073\' date=\'Apr 13 2009, 09:05 PM\']
I saw some flap on the WOF boards, that anything pre 1985(save for the episode we know are there, like Pat's first show, Chuck's last show, first nighttime, etc.) is probably gone. Anything after 1985 is still there. There was also Pat's last daytime show during the marathon also. Basically, not all of them are gone. I bet it's a case of "Peter Marshall Hollywood Squares" all over again. They thought all of those were gone, and found about 200.
[/quote]

But that's a lot less than all of them, which you're willing to believe is there just being hidden.

Pre-1985, I figure, is kinda pushing it, though. Unless NBC was still wiping shows after 1981, because we know Go's intact and the G-T shows that were there are as well (except for Mindreaders and even though G-T was good with that), I highly doubt '85 would be the earliest you could find episodes from. (I would figure maybe two years earlier than that, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of, but I would figure if the practice as a whole had ended by the early '80s that episodes from some point before '85 are still around, but not too far of a point.)

[Ian Wallis]

I saw some flap on the WOF boards, that anything pre 1985(save for the episode we know are there, like Pat's first show, Chuck's last show, first nighttime, etc.) is probably gone.

Keep in mind that GSN has run the first several seasons of nighttime shows in the past, so we can safely assume all nighttime shows from '83-on are still around.