Should WoF/J! follow TPiR's lead?

[SamJ93]

Shortly after Drew took over as host, Price changed their policy to allow contestants to be called down again if their appearance was over 10 years ago.  Since then, a handful of former contestants have made their way onstage and sometimes make for entertaining viewing...at worst, it doesn\'t seem to have taken anything away from the show or significantly diminished first-time contestants\' chances.

 

With Wheel and J! soon approaching 30 years on the air in their current iterations, and having many more episodes of previous versions in the vault...is it time for both shows to adopt a similar policy? 

 

I know J! does periodic invitational tournaments for former big winners, but personally I think it would make for some interesting TV if ANY contestant from either Fleming version or even the first few seasons of the current series were allowed to come back on regular episodes, just to compare and contrast the show as it exists now vs. then.  Wheel, OTOH, wouldn\'t really gain too much from it (and the fact that the show goes out of its way now to pretend that the daytime show never existed and Pat was always the host doesn\'t help).  Your thoughts?

[chad1m]

Family Feud and Price Is Right both have those 10 year policies now. I would honestly even be fine if Price made a policy with a lesser length for people who never made it out of Contestant\'s Row to come back. I\'ve sat here for a few minutes thinking about how to do it with Jeopardy! or Wheel, but I can\'t think of a fair rule that isn\'t \"let everyone who ever played back on\" and opening the floodgates. I might make Jeopardy!\'s rule that only losing competitors can apply to come back, but then one-time champions could go \"well, I only won once, why can\'t I play?\" Maybe I\'m just over-complicating it.

 

I think that\'s the simplest way to go is that their pools are already full as it is that they really don\'t need to let more people in.

[WilliamPorygon]

I think that\'s the simplest way to go is that their pools are already full as it is that they really don\'t need to let more people in.

 

I mostly agree with this.  TPiR has 9 contestants per show, so they need about triple the amount per season that Wheel and J! do.  Also, the format of TPiR doesn\'t give every contestant an equal chance; contestants called later on have fewer opportunities to win their way up on stage than those called at the beginning of the show do.  On Wheel, all the contestants have an equal opportunity.  With Jeopardy you could kind of make the argument that some contestants have a worse chance because they have to defeat a long-running champion as opposed to a one-and-done, but I\'m not sure that\'s enough of an issue to warrant allowing former contestants back after a while given that there\'s still plenty of newcomers who pass the auditions and would love to have their chance.

[TLEberle]

I thought Jeopardy already allowed contestants from the NBC versions to take the test and try again. Is that not the case?

[trainman]

I thought Jeopardy already allowed contestants from the NBC versions to take the test and try again. Is that not the case?

That is the case -- there have been several contestants who were on the Fleming version(s). A quick search of J-Archive shows one as far back as Alex\'s 4th season; for some reason, they had a cluster during about 4 weeks of Season 23 (May and June 2007), and there have been others scattered about over the years.

[Jamey Greek]

Shortly after Drew took over as host, Price changed their policy to allow contestants to be called down again if their appearance was over 10 years ago.  Since then, a handful of former contestants have made their way onstage and sometimes make for entertaining viewing...at worst, it doesn\'t seem to have taken anything away from the show or significantly diminished first-time contestants\' chances.

 

With Wheel and J! soon approaching 30 years on the air in their current iterations, and having many more episodes of previous versions in the vault...is it time for both shows to adopt a similar policy? 

 

I know J! does periodic invitational tournaments for former big winners, but personally I think it would make for some interesting TV if ANY contestant from either Fleming version or even the first few seasons of the current series were allowed to come back on regular episodes, just to compare and contrast the show as it exists now vs. then.  Wheel, OTOH, wouldn\'t really gain too much from it (and the fact that the show goes out of its way now to pretend that the daytime show never existed and Pat was always the host doesn\'t help).  Your thoughts?

They should, it\'s time for WOF to wake up and smell the roses.  I would love to see Scott Hostetler back as a contestant.

[Jamey Greek]

Also, they tried that on J! with Super J! if you remember correctly.

[TLEberle]

Also, they tried that on J! with Super J! if you remember correctly.

Right, that was an invitational tournament, wherein the show invites (see what I did there?) the big winners back to play again.

I\'m sure Scott is a peach of a guy, he\'s had plenty of chances. Let somebody else play something.

[BrandonFG]

They should, it\'s time for WOF to wake up and smell the roses.

This makes it sound like the show is committing an unconscionable error by not allowing former contestants, when really it\'s just not a big deal. Thousands of people try to get on Wheel every year, and only a handful make it. No need to narrow the pool down even further.

[cmjb13]

It is my understanding that the only reason price changed the rule after drew took over because they were having problems getting enough people to fill the audience.

[BrandonFG]

I remember that being discussed on the prior forum...it seems that during Drew\'s first season, you could roll up to Television City around 6 or 7 am and get close to the front of the line.

 

Has that since changed? Do the midnight lines look anywhere close to what they did in Barker\'s final years?

[chad1m]

It\'s pretty easy to tell nowadays how well shows are doing, since On Camera Audiences will let you see if a particular taping is waitlisted or if tickets are immediately available. Things seem to be okay, at least for this month.

[pacdude]

I know the J! eligibility rules say you can\'t have previously been on any version of the show hosted by Alex Trebek. So, I guess the NBC run, R&R and Jep! contestants are eligible.


Which is why I keep trying.

[Joe Mello]

I know the J! eligibility rules say you can\'t have previously been on any version of the show hosted by Alex Trebek. So, I guess the NBC run, R&R and Jep! contestants are eligible.


Which is why I keep trying.

For whatever reason, I was under the impression that going on Wheel made you ineligible for J! and vice versa.  Granted, this is going on a recollection from nearly 9 years ago.

[MikeK]

I know the J! eligibility rules say you can\'t have previously been on any version of the show hosted by Alex Trebek. So, I guess the NBC run, R&R and Jep! contestants are eligible.


Which is why I keep trying.

For whatever reason, I was under the impression that going on Wheel made you ineligible for J! and vice versa.  Granted, this is going on a recollection from nearly 9 years ago.

Counterexample:  Jason Block, WoF in 1992, J! in 2001.

 

A FB friend who was on WoF about 6 years ago has tried out for J! every time they offer the online test.  I would guess he\'s eligible and is not taking the test for shiggles.