Woolery's Departure from Wheel

[Card Shark]

It is known that Chuck left in late 1981 over a contract dispute. According to Come On Down!!! The T.V. Game Show Book, by Jefferson Graham, Woolery wanted a raise from $300K to $500K and Merv only offered $375K. Other sources online have stated that he was making $65K a year and wanted the $500K. I have tried to find the E! True Hollywood Story on Wheel, but have been unable. If memory serves correctly, on this subject, Chuck stated that Wheel was beating daytime Feud in the ratings.

So, for those in the "know", what was the actual amount of money Chuck earned per year? $65K would seem low to me, while $300K does not. Was Wheel actually beating Feud? I thought it was the number one game show in the ratings. Thanks in advance for any clarification.

[NickintheATL]

Well from 8/4/1980 until the end of his run - Wheel was not on against Feud, rather the first half of Price on CBS and the first half of Love Boat repeats on ABC.

I would hazard a guess that Wheel was a comfortable #2. It would be interesting to see the numbers but I don't think Woolery could have ever justified that kind of salary increase for hosting a show that was then against the hottest show on daytime television.

[calliaume]

I just checked EoTVGS -- for roughly five years from 1978 to 1983, The Price Is Right, Family Feud, and Wheel of Fortune were 1-2-3.

However, there were only six game shows on daytime overall when Chuck was axed--the three mentioned above, plus Blockbusters, Battlestars, and Password Plus, and those three were obviously pretty weak. And considering Family Feud aired at 12 noon, finishing ahead of Wheel didn't look good either.

[JakeT]

So, for those in the "know", what was the actual amount of money Chuck earned per year? $65K would seem low to me, while $300K does not. Was Wheel actually beating Feud? I thought it was the number one game show in the ratings. Thanks in advance for any clarification.

I can't believe there is any way possible that Woolery was only earning $65K a year...that would have put him beneath union scale, wouldn't it?

JakeT

[Bryce L.]

So, for those in the "know", what was the actual amount of money Chuck earned per year? $65K would seem low to me, while $300K does not. Was Wheel actually beating Feud? I thought it was the number one game show in the ratings. Thanks in advance for any clarification.

I can't believe there is any way possible that Woolery was only earning $65K a year...that would have put him beneath union scale, wouldn't it?

JakeT

In the E! THS, Woolery said he "asked for parity with Dick Dawson". He was supposedly getting $5K a week (multiplied by 52 weeks gives $260K a year), and wanted to double that. Merv would've signed off on $7,500/week. Chuck said no, and the rest is history.

[splinkynip]

NBC supposedly offered to make up the difference between what Merv was offering and what Chuck wanted, but Merv then threatened NBC by saying he’ll take the show to CBS.

[BrandonFG]

At some point in the 2000s, Chuck claimed it was never about the money, because that wouldn't be right as a Christian.

There's also a Donahue interview from the late-80s where he confirmed it was indeed about the money.

[JakeT]

At some point in the 2000s, Chuck claimed it was never about the money, because that wouldn't be right as a Christian.

There's also a Donahue interview from the late-80s where he confirmed it was indeed about the money.

Ahhhhhhh, Chuck Woolery...a man of great integrity...

Not...

JakeT

[NickintheATL]

I just checked EoTVGS -- for roughly five years from 1978 to 1983, The Price Is Right, Family Feud, and Wheel of Fortune were 1-2-3.

I guess I should have specified #2 in that time slot. But this info isn't surprising in and of itself.

However, there were only six game shows on daytime overall when Chuck was axed--the three mentioned above, plus Blockbusters, Battlestars, and Password Plus, and those three were obviously pretty weak. And considering Family Feud aired at 12 noon, finishing ahead of Wheel didn't look good either.

Now that is a much more interesting comparison. Not trying to threadjack here but I would love to know how many markets were doing a Noon news at this point and either didn't air Feud or time-shifted/tape delayed it. It has to be at least a few.

[TLEberle]

At some point in the 2000s, Chuck claimed it was never about the money, because that wouldn't be right as a Christian.

There's also a Donahue interview from the late-80s where he confirmed it was indeed about the money.

Well then, that's sort of hilarious. He also could have done a big heap of good with the difference between $present remuneration and $raisethatIwant. I presume that there's an equivalent to Seattle's Union Gospel Mission, Treehouse Foundation and the like in just about every large metropolis.

/plug plug plug
//"And here's the host of Scrabble, Pat Sajak" is not the same.

[Card Shark]

Thank you all very much for clearing this up. While $65k may have been a lot in 1981, it still seemed way too little for a network game show host. Thanks.

[tyshaun1]

I would hazard a guess that Wheel was a comfortable #2. It would be interesting to see the numbers but I don't think Woolery could have ever justified that kind of salary increase for hosting a show that was then against the hottest show on daytime television.

General Hospital AKA Luke and Laura says hi.

Up until mid-1983, Wheel struggled against The Love Boat as well. After the syndie debut, Wheel usually edged out the first half of TPIR until Pat left.

[calliaume]

Reviving this thread with something I discovered yesterday. Chuck was sniffing out different jobs earlier in the year--this is the second of three ads from Broadcasting magazine for a proposed daytime magazine syndie strip, Hittin' Home.

www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/81-OCR/1981-04-06-BC-OCR-Page-0043.pdf#search=%22woolery%22

The first of them ran in January and advertised Chuck as the host amongst a bunch of regulars: Art Linkletter, Walter Cronkite's daughter Cathy, M*A*S*H medical consultant Walter Dishell, the San Diego Chicken (under a different name), and a few others. This one and the one that ran the following week focused exclusively on Chuck.

I'm not sure how things would have worked if this had sold--whether Woolery would have left Wheel anyway to avoid having two possibly competing programs in daytime, or if he could have done the both of them. Just thought it was an interesting tidbit.

[Jimmy Owen]

I think he would have done both.  As you may remember The Chuck Woolery Show ran simultaneously with Love Connection.  I think Scrabble had ended by then

[BrandonFG]

I think he would have done both.  As you may remember The Chuck Woolery Show ran simultaneously with Love Connection.  I think Scrabble had ended by then

It had. Chuck’s talk show was fall 1991. Scrabble ended in March of ‘90.