Wheel of Fortune - How Many Episodes Per Season?

[Mario]

I want some help as to Wheel of Fortune. What I would like to know, along with some other Wheel fanatics here, is when exactly did each season of this beloved game show begin? More importantly, my question to be asked is: how many episodes did NBC tape of the show each season, along with the 1983-89 syndication episodes?

For lack of better knowledge, the NBC run seemed to be near-continuous while for the syndicated version, they usually air reruns between June and September (usually 195 syndicated episodes are aired per season).

Theoretically, for the daytime run, we have:
Season 1: January 6, 1975-September 5, 1975
Season 2: September 8, 1975-September 3, 1976 (between December 1, 1975-January 16, 1976, the show is expanded to 1 hour)
Season 3: September 6, 1976-September 2, 1977
Season 4: September 5, 1977-September 1, 1978
Season 5: September 4, 1978-August 31, 1979
Season 6: September 3, 1979-October 31, 1980 (an actors' strike occurred during the spring of 1980)
Season 7: November 3, 1980-September 4, 1981
Season 8: September 7, 1981-September 3, 1982 (Chuck Woolery's last episode aired Christmas Day, 1981; and Pat Sajak replaces him on the next episode which aired December 28, 1981; also, the new puzzle board debuts, which lasted through February 1997)
Season 9: September 6, 1982-August 5, 1983 (Susan Stafford's last regular episode aired October 22, 1982; new hostesses are tried out for the next seven weeks before Vanna White assumed Stafford's position starting December 13, 1982)
Season 10: August 8, 1983-August 31, 1984 (new theme "Changing Keys" is used)
Season 11: September 3, 1984-August 30, 1985
Season 12: September 2, 1985-August 29, 1986
Season 13: September 1, 1986-September 4, 1987
Season 14: September 7, 1987-September 2, 1988
Season 15: September 5, 1988-June 30, 1989 (Pat Sajak's last daytime episode aired January 9, 1989, to be replaced by Rolf Benirschke the next day)
Season 16: July 17, 1989-August 31, 1990 (show moved to CBS, with new host Bob Goen and removal of shopping rounds)
Season 17: September 3, 1990-September 20, 1991 (show returns to NBC starting January 14, 1991)

The syndication version:
Season 1: September 19, 1983-June 15, 1984
Season 2: September 10, 1984-June 7, 1985
Season 3: September 9, 1985-June 6, 1986
Season 4: September 8, 1986-June 19, 1987
Season 5: September 14, 1987-June 10, 1988 ("Big Month of Cash" started October 5, 1987, which removed the shopping rounds)
Season 6: September 5, 1988-June 16, 1989
Season 7: September 4, 1989-June 1, 1990 (used new theme and set from the CBS daytime version)
Season 8: September 3, 1990-June 14, 1991
Season 9: September 2, 1991-June 12, 1992
Season 10: September 7, 1992-June 18, 1993 (new version of theme)
Season 11: September 6, 1993-June 17, 1994
Season 12: September 5, 1994-June 23, 1995 (another new version of theme; last season taped at CBS Studios)
Season 13: September 4, 1995-July 19, 1996 (first season taped at Sony Pictures Studios)
Season 14: September 2, 1996-June 13, 1997 (new touch-controlled puzzle board February 24, 1997)
Season 15: September 1, 1997-June 12, 1998 (yet another new version of theme music)
Season 16: September 7, 1998-June 4, 1999
Season 17: September 6, 1999-June 2, 2000 (Toss-Up Puzzles debut)
Season 18: September 4, 2000-June 1, 2001 ("Happy Wheels" theme)

I could be wrong on each individual season's starting (premiere) and ending (finale) air dates, which is why I would like help as to that.

Thank you,



Ben

[SuperMatch93]

Not sure who could help you here, but I would recommend asking over at the Buy a Vowel boards, which is specifically devoted to Wheel of Fortune. Some of the people there may be more likely to know than us.

http://buyavowel.boards.net/

[Dbacksfan12]

There was supposed to be a season 18 for daytime Wheel, going from September 23, 1991-September 10, 1992, but a contestant had an allergic reaction to the latex balloons used for a cruise prize and died.  As part of the settlement, daytime Wheel was cancelled.

[TLEberle]

What I would like to know, along with some other Wheel fanatics here,

Like, such as?

[aaron sica]

What I would like to know, along with some other Wheel fanatics here,

Here's some more advice - don't speak for others.

[chris319]

Enough with the snarks, please.

[WarioBarker]

What I would like to know, along with some other Wheel fanatics here,

Here's some more advice - don't speak for others.

He certainly doesn't speak for me, mainly because I actually know the answers.

I want some help as to Wheel of Fortune. What I would like to know, along with some other Wheel fanatics here, is when exactly did each season of this beloved game show begin? More importantly, my question to be asked is: how many episodes did NBC tape of the show each season, along with the 1983-89 syndication episodes?

For lack of better knowledge, the NBC run seemed to be near-continuous while for the syndicated version, they usually air reruns between June and September (usually 195 syndicated episodes are aired per season).

While I could spend quite a bit of time pointing out every single mistake you've made in this post (such as making the post), I'll just direct you to here and here. And while I'm at it, I'll throw in Wheel 2000.

[EDIT 4/19/17: Fixed broken formatting.]

[BrandonFG]

The 2001 season premiere was Labor Day (September 3, 2001), and stayed that way until sometime in the mid-to-late-2000s (ditto for Jeopardy!). From there the season started in mid-September (also ditto for Jeopardy!).

[chris319]

for the syndicated version, they usually air reruns between June and September (usually 195 syndicated episodes are aired per season)

The de facto standard syndicated TV season is 39 weeks, with 13 weeks of reruns.

[That Don Guy]

Did network game shows (and soap operas, for that matter) even have "seasons" back then?  Most shows just went by how many years they had been on the air.  (In the days before daytime repeats, both TPIR and Feud usually mentioned "the start of our ___th year" on the anniversary date, or the following Monday if it happened to fall on a weekend.)

[chris319]

Not seasons but 13-week "cycles", unless a show was on week-to-week renewal or some other special circumstance.

[Chelsea Thrasher]

A few things that may or may not be of help to you. Cobbled together from about a decade's worth of notes. All are regarding the syndicated run, and if any information is incorrect, then I shall stand corrected.

*Wheel has done a flat 195 shows per season for the syndicated run from the very beginning. Then-standard 39-week order.

*First season is generally accepted to have started on 9/19/83, though I seem to remember hearing that some markets began early with the show (?). Not sure how legitimate this is, as I've never been bothered to really look into it. Quite a few markets didn't pick up the show until midway through the first season, that much is for sure.

*From season 2 through season 5, the season premiere was the Monday after Labor Day. From season 6 through season 20, and again in season 22, the season premiere was on Labor Day itself. Seasons 21 and 23-28 once again began on the second Monday of September. Starting with 29, this got moved back to the 3rd Monday.

*It's common to have at least a couple of weeks of reruns during the season. The season finales are not always a straight 39 weeks after the season premiere. Two definite corrections on season finale dates you listed, per old ATGS archives, S14 ended on 6/13/97 while S15 ended on 6/12/98.

[Mario]

I'm wondering if you picked up the correct premiere and finale dates from this link?
http://tviv.org/Wheel_of_Fortune_(1983)

[Don Howard]

*First season is generally accepted to have started on 9/19/83, though I seem to remember hearing that some markets began early with the show (?). Not sure how legitimate this is

WEWS-TV in Cleveland (the first TV station in Ohio) officially preemed the WOF on September 5, 1983. This followed a week of special presentation shows which beamed from August 29-September 2, 1983, running exclusively on four Ohio TV stations.and were recorded earlier that summer at the Ohio State Fair.

I tried to make this correction on Wikipedia a few times, but somebody kept changing it back so I gave up.

[Jimmy Owen]

Channel 12 in Flint actually preemed WOF in August of 1983 with Burbank episodes.