Game Show Hosts Then and Now

[Jimmy Owen]

 

 

 

It always surprises me that when articles reminisce about Chuck Woolery\'s career, they often completely forget to mention Scrabble. One would think that a 6+ year hosting stint would be a notable part of his resume.

 

Sony employees have had no problem with deleting another 6+ year stint from his resume (and history).

There\'s a HUGE difference between why Wheel\'s not mentioned with respect to Chuck and why Scrabble\'s not mentioned.  Chuck didn\'t leave Scrabble on bad, or at the very least, questionable terms.  Also, in the grand scheme of things, Scrabble is a really good show which flew under the radar, since it aired against TPiR for most (all?) of its run.  Scrabble is not a show which has been on television for going on 39 years, in one form or another.  Plus, maybe people don\'t recall Chuck hosting Wheel because the last time he did such was almost a third of a century ago.

Considering how much television shows love to trot out their longevity, it has always surprised me how Wheel is totally willing to drop the first 8 years of its history, only reaching back farther to discuss Pat and Vanna\'s first shows. Did Merv and Chuck have ill will towards one another? The only time I\'ve seen history wiped like this is when a guy ends up becoming an axe murderer or takes illegal payments while still being an NCAA athlete.

 

I consider the daytime and syndication runs as separate entities.  The Wheelery series was only on in the daytime.

[Twentington]

inb4 \"Woolery left Wheel\".

[BrandonFG]

inb4 \"Woolery left Wheel\".

Yeah, but no. That phrase refers to old news being broken or common knowledge for most of the group. Sorry, no match. *MG7x buzz*

 

As for Wheel, the idea of not acknowledging their daytime roots has always been a little odd to me as well, considering how they occasionally make sly references to the NBC era. It seems in recent years, they\'ve brought up shopping more, but very, very rarely is Chuck mentioned, if ever.

 

Alex talks about Art Fleming from time to time, and Drew has referred to Cullen on many occasions, but it\'s almost like Wheel has an unspoken rule that you don\'t speak of Woolery.

 

As for Scrabble, my guess is, while it was a popular show, like someone else mentioned, it hasn\'t aired in any capacity in nearly 20 years. And while it ran for twice as long, it\'s not an 80s icon the way Press Your Luck was. It was just a popular show that had a great run.

[Kevin Prather]

Did Merv and Chuck have ill will towards one another? The only time I\'ve seen history wiped like this is when a guy ends up becoming an axe murderer or takes illegal payments while still being an NCAA athlete.

 

Not sure if it was enduring ill will, but Chuck asked for a raise that Merv didn\'t want to give him. Either Chuck left or Merv let him go as a result, I don\'t remember which. The E True Hollywood Story talks about it more, dunno if you can find that online or not.

[TLEberle]

From Curt Alliaume\'s site: Chuck wanted to go from $200k to $500k, Merv was offering $275k, they reached loggerheads and Chuck was thanked for his participation and excused from employment. I\'m not sure how much you can read into that, but there y\'are.

[Loogaroo]

This might sound a bit daft, but I sense this is more about the Wheel brand than the show itself. Sony has iPhone apps and Spin IDs to hawk; if Chuck and Susan aren\'t going to be the ones selling them, then there\'s no reason to waste time on them.

[Jeremy Nelson]

This might sound a bit daft, but I sense this is more about the Wheel brand than the show itself. Sony has iPhone apps and Spin IDs to hawk; if Chuck and Susan aren\'t going to be the ones selling them, then there\'s no reason to waste time on them.

I may have believed this if they had been doing this for only the last couple anniversaries, but they seem to have had a clear vision in mind ever since they dubbed the 92-93 season as their tenth anniversary. They never even mention it in the post show in passing like \"Hey, this is our 27th season in nighttime, but we\'ve actually been on for 35 years.\"


Maybe it\'s because they think the passing viewer doesn\'t care. Maybe it\'s because as new Wheel Watchers are made, there\'s really no need to go back that far to discuss the full canon of the show. Maybe Chuck peed in the Free Spin holder on his way out. Who knows- it just doesn\'t seem that hard to say \"Hey! There were two people who hosted this show before we were here!\". A few years back, they even went as far as finding the kids who were on Pat\'s first show. It just seems weird to me.

[WarioBarker]

From Curt Alliaume\'s site: Chuck wanted to go from $200k to $500k, Merv was offering $275k, they reached loggerheads and Chuck was thanked for his participation and excused from employment. I\'m not sure how much you can read into that, but there y\'are.

I remember reading that Merv offered $400,000 and NBC offered the remainder until Merv threatened to move Wheel to CBS. NBC backed off, and Chuck declined.

Chuck says on his last show that it was his decision to leave. I\'m fairly certain the THS says the same thing.
 

As for Wheel, the idea of not acknowledging their daytime roots has always been a little odd to me as well, considering how they occasionally make sly references to the NBC era. It seems in recent years, they\'ve brought up shopping more, but very, very rarely is Chuck mentioned, if ever.
 
Alex talks about Art Fleming from time to time, and Drew has referred to Cullen on many occasions, but it\'s almost like Wheel has an unspoken rule that you don\'t speak of Woolery.

It\'s even weirder when you consider Jeopardy! and Price went off the air for several years prior to the current runs, whereas Wheel has been on continuously since it began.
 

I may have believed this if they had been doing this for only the last couple anniversaries, but they seem to have had a clear vision in mind ever since they dubbed the 92-93 season as their tenth anniversary.

Especially since they celebrated their actual 10th Anniversary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoATDDW1Zls\'>only seven years earlier.