You Produce "Wheel"

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 02:41 PM\'][quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 01:30 PM\']
That's not a fair comparison, and you know it.  Try comparing Wheel's current production values to the ones from, say, the early '90s.  The show looked and felt much smoother back then.

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How did it feel smoother? Seriously, what was different?

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I think Ben in the post between ours summed it up pretty nicely.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'hmtriplecrown\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 10:32 AM\'][quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 12:30 PM\']
What's notable about the last two?
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TMQ had to make a Bed, Bath and Beyond run shortly after she said them.
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TWO TOWELS!

[itiparanoid13]

The main issue I have is the difference between values on the wheel.  Like in round one; you're either getting $900 or $2,500.  That's too much of a jump.  It would be nice if they would either level it out a little or put a $1,000 or $1,500 space on the wheel, instead of just for the Mystery space consolations.  The show just seems like it's more worried about the appearance now than the gameplay, though, which is the main issue with me.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 12:29 PM\']The show just seems like it's more worried about the appearance now than the gameplay, though, which is the main issue with me.
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And they can do that, because there are enough mindless sheep out there who are just thrilled beyond belief to be watching Wheel that it doesn't really matter that the show plain sucks. Consider some of our more Wheel-obessessed forum members. That's their target audience.

[davemackey]

There has to be a greater price for buying vowels. Perhaps half your bankroll? Because people are now buying them three or four at a time, just to buy them.

[dmota104]

Since WoF is so plug-heavy, even by Pat's admission in an interview, here's how I would re-align the show if I were the producer...

\ One toss-up to start the game.  Winner of that toss-up gets to spin the wheel first.

\ When a player wins a round, the next player in line starts the next round (read: if the player at the yellow arrow wins a round, the next round starts with the player at the blue position spinning -- regardless of when the yellow player won his/her round).

\ Keep all this up until the "time's running out bells" chime.  Now, here's where I throw three decades of tradition out the window.  When the bells toll, instead of Pat's final spin, the players' banks for that round freeze and the rest of the puzzle is played in "toss-up" mode.  The remaining blanks in the puzzle gradually are filled in and the first player to buzz in and correctly solve it wins all the money and/or prizes in his/her bank for the round.  Seemingly way too often, Pat's final spin and the ensuing speed-up round make the difference between who wins, who loses and also makes all the previous rounds pointless.

\ Finally, there's never a reason to give Vanna early retirement.  Since the puzzle board was computerized, Vanna's had more of a spokesmodel role.  If I were producer, I'd increase such a role slightly.  When Charlie's finished plugging the sponsor of the jackpot round, he could toss to a video-taped clip of Vanna describing the prize added to the wheel for the jackpot round.

I'm probably putting band-aids on problems.  Frankly, I'd prefer to have a straddling format to where the player who wins the most money after three completed rounds, even if it takes parts of two episodes to finish out one game, qualifies for the bonus round and defends his/her championship in the next game.

[Ian Wallis]

Bring back the "Jeopardy" '78 prize music!!  

There has to be a greater price for buying vowels. Perhaps half your bankroll? Because people are now buying them three or four at a time, just to buy them.

I like that...vowels haven't increased in price in the show's history, yet the values on the wheel have.  

Also, bring back returning champions to a maximum of three days.

[jbrocato]

[quote name=\'wschmrdr\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 11:24 AM\']Most of my gripes have to do with the wheel itself. I don't like how the wheel became static with the exception of the big money space. I liked the variety that went with the wheels, and not the all round-2 daytime-style wheel. Since they'd do the wheel changes during the commercial breaks and there's probably already a small stopdown to load things on the wheel, I don't see too many production problems there.

I know the show has always wanted to try to give away more cash on the show. How bout we start by not making the wheel so lob-sided? I mean, 5000 then straight down to 900 seems a bit dumb. Granted it's always happened in the syndie version, but I still don't like it. The daytime version always had a very good balance with the wheels in its amounts. At least pre-1996 they kept the 1000 with round 3 and 1500 with round 4 to keep something of a little balance. Heck, bring the 2000 and 1250 out of retirement and stick them on the later wheels!

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I would mix in a few intermediate dollar values in the $1000-$2000 range, but to make more variety, bring back some cheapies, perhaps even a $50 or $100 space in Round 1.  There should be a few spaces that are worth less than the cost of a vowel.

John Brocato

[Strikerz04]

[quote name=\'jbrocato\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 03:55 PM\']I would mix in a few intermediate dollar values in the $1000-$2000 range, but to make more variety, bring back some cheapies, perhaps even a $50 or $100 space in Round 1.  There should be a few spaces that are worth less than the cost of a vowel.

John Brocato
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What you're asking is going back to the CBS days...bah!

I personally hate the toss-ups since the fact that the time used for them can certainly be good for a longer 4th round, and possibly a 5th. Only one is neccessary, right at the start of the round, and thats it. Nothing further.

The jump from $1000 to $2500 may have been steep when they first retired it. I've grown to get used to it, although I haven't had a problem. Round 1 should have an intermediate value ($1000, $1200, $1400--my idea, or $1500), and perhaps increase it progressively. The minimum amount of the wheel ($300) is fine by these standards, but the wheel seems a little lopsided, but, its alright to mix them around by now.

Keep the mystery round, the extra wheel prizes, and the bonus round, those are okay. The additional graphics (for the most part) are unneccessary.

The $1000 final spin (not to mention the graphic) stinks. I rather just have the bells ring, then a close-up of pat, and then the spin, that's all there is to it.

If we want shopping back, we might as well bring back the daytime version, and we can tinker with that :p

-Dave

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 11:32 AM\']Replace Vanna? Come on. I do not find much to quibble about today. Just compare 'Wheel's' production values with 'Family Feud.'
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I recall a time, it seems to me it was about 1999 or 2000 when rumors surfaced the Wheel was going to add raunchy puzzles, such as "On the Rag" or "A Trip To Hooters".  Those never came to fruition.

To address the original subject, I would axe the toss-up rounds completely, and, as others have said, add more balance to the Wheels.

[Jeremy Nelson]

As would many people, I would love shopping days to come back. But, in the meantime,

I would love to see a $1,500 space back on the wheel. As most already said, it's pretty weird to have one four figure space, and the rest to be substantially lower. (On a side note, it was a big letdown to have a $1,500 space on the wheel in the intro, but none during the course of the show.)

Make vowels cost $1,000. It is a pretty steep inflation, but with wheel inflation, it adds strategy to the mix. Besides, I hate to see players who make $10,000 or more on one spin spend a mere $1,000 buying 4 vowels. I want to see if that same player will spend $4,000 doing the same thing.

Let Pat spin prizes for the final spin. When he finally hits a dollar amount, any  prize(s) he spins are also given to the player who solves the final spin puzzle. This would also cause the "add a thousand" rule to be repealed.

Add a jackpot space to the bonus wheel. It would start out at $100,000, but whenever a cash prize is not won, 10% of that prize is added to the jackpot (e.g. if a player loses a bonus puzzle with a $35K envelope, $3500 is added to the jackpot for the next night

***RETURNING CHAMPS*** The shows aren't shown in a random order like pre-Karn Feud. Even a Friday Final from a few years ago would work, even on special player weeks.

Let me know what ya think.

[ChuckNet]

I would bring back one of the better themes the show has had over the years. The only other thing I do not like is adding the $1000 to the amount of the final spin. There used to be added suspense when Pat would land on a four digit amount rather than a three digit amount.

There still is...the reason for adding $1K to the final spin was so the game's outcome would not be a foregone conclusion if Pat landed on a puny space like $300, thus leaving no way for significantly trailing players to catch up. Personally, I thought it was a good change

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[ChuckNet]

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 07:20 PM\'][quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 11:32 AM\']Replace Vanna? Come on. I do not find much to quibble about today. Just compare 'Wheel's' production values with 'Family Feud.'
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I recall a time, it seems to me it was about 1999 or 2000 when rumors surfaced the Wheel was going to add raunchy puzzles, such as "On the Rag" or "A Trip To Hooters".  Those never came to fruition.

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That came from an "article" in everyone's fave satirical newspaper, The Onion...they also ran a piece in 01 about the writer's struggle to get home in time to catch TJW on GSN.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Jun 5 2005, 10:40 AM\']What part isn't done live-to-tape?

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I think it's been mentioned that if Sajak hits Bankrupt (and possibly other non-cash items such as Lose A Turn or a prize or if he hits more than one) the tape is edited accordingly so the only spin we see on the Final Spin is the first spin where he lands on money.

I always found it part of the fun if Sajak would land on a couple of Bankrupts in a row back in the old Burbank days, with Mother McKenzie chortling away (and the ticked-off look he'd give to the camera   ).

Doug

[TLEberle]

Can someone explain how a 15 second toss-up takes away from the fourth round?  'cause I don't get it.  And would a return to the "CBS" values be so bad?  $15,000 for solving a puzzle is excessive.

If I had my way, Wheel would be replaced by either Lingo or Countdown.  But that's not gonna happen, so these would be nice changes.

Toss-up before each round to determine control, no cash value.  If you're going to have them at all, do it before each round.

"This week of Wheel of Fortune is sponsored by thus-and-so."  Poof!  No more intrusive ads before the Jackpot round and what not.  There's at least a minute or two saved for game play.

Back to classic categories, bonus questions worth $1,000, if you have to have 'em at all.  No more On the Menu, Around the House or Living Thing.  Person, Place, Thing or Phrase.  With a few others as necessary.

Either cut the chat segment in the final act, or do an honest-to-Pete recap with it, like "Feud" or "Pyramid."  That's more time that could be used for the game.

Create an identity for the show: replace rotating set pieces with permanent ones, colors behind the players, no more whizzy graphics and things.  Keep it simple, it's worked for Jeopardy.