Wheel Of Fortune In Different Countries

The Wheel Of Fortune has had a number of versions in different countries:

UNITED STATES

The original pilot for ''Wheel'' was called ''Shopper's Bazaar''; it was hosted by Chuck Woolery in 1973 and featured a radically different format than most are familar with. The set was very different, as well; the wheel was upstage center, and Chuck was positioned at a Dating Game -esque lectern just to the right of it. The contestants were seated in chairs directly opposite the puzzle board, and there was no hostess; the puzzle board consisted of pull cards, like the old Jeopardy! board. Also, unlike today, the "used letter board" was visible on-camera.

The wheel was not spun by the contestants, but rather was in continuous motion. The contestants would signal for Chuck to "stop the wheel", and Chuck would press a button that would interrupt the current that was keeping the wheel in motion. The wheel would slow to a stop, and whatever was under the one singular pointer (a la the Star Wheel on Match Game ) was what the player would play for.

There were three spaces not featured in any subsequent form: a "$0" space, a "Free Vowel" space, and the "Your Own Clue" space, which allowed the player to pick up the clue phone on the table in front of them and hear (along with the studio audience, but not her opponents) whether the puzzle was a person, place, or thing (since the category wasn't given at the start of the round).

The shopping format was slightly different. Players selected the four prizes they wanted to play for before the show, and in which order. If a player earned enough for prize #1 and solved the puzzle, that prize was won and the remaining money would be applied to prize #2, etc. All money carried over to each subsequent puzzle (even by the contestants who didn't solve the previous puzzle), but the only way to apply that money toward the prizes a player selected would be for her to solve a puzzle; thus, the winner was the player who'd bought the most expensive prizes over the course of the show, not who'd accumulated the most money.

Edd Byrnes hosted at least two pilot episodes in 1974 , by which point the show had been retitled ''Wheel of Fortune'' and Susan Stafford came aboard as hostess. These pilots brought the show much closer to what would eventually make it to air, both format-wise and cosmetically, although it did use a different theme song: "Give It One" by Maynard Ferguson. NBC bought the show, although after a lackluster hosting performance, Byrnes was replaced by Woolery before they went to series.

''Wheel'' officially debuted on January 6 , 1975 , on NBC ; it was put on the air as compensation for cancelling '' Jeopardy! '' (which Griffin produced; ironically enough, Wheel is now paired in syndication with the current version of Jeopardy!) with one year remaining on its contract. At year's end, it was expanded to a full hour, but after just 6 weeks, it reverted back to 30 minutes in January of 1976 , the show's first anniversary. It lasted for 14 years until it's disbanding in 1989 . Shortly after it moved to CBS for which it stayed for almost two seasons until 1991 . The daytime show moved back to NBC on January 14 , 1991 , and was disbanded for good on September 20 of that year.

A nighttime version of ''Wheel'', which is Syndicated to stations around the country, debuted on September 19 , 1983 . This version still airs today, and after two decades the show continues to have the highest Nielsen Ratings of any syndicated program. Pat Sajak and Vanna White have hosted the nighttime version since its debut.

Hosts & Hostesses

Chuck Woolery was the show's original host, and Susan Stafford was the original hostess. Woolery left ''Wheel'' on December 25 , 1981 , after a salary dispute with Merv Griffin. Three days later, Pat Sajak replaced him. Susan Stafford left a year later to pursue volunteer work. She was replaced by Vanna White . Sajak left the daytime show on January 9 , 1989 , to do a nighttime Talk Show for CBS that would fail after one year. Former Football player Rolf Benirschke hosted the daytime show until NBC dropped it on June 30 , 1989 ; Bob Goen became its host when it moved to CBS on July 17 of that year.

Announcers

Announcer Charlie O'Donnell has been "the voice of the Wheel" since episode one in 1975, except between 1980 and 1988 when Jack Clark announced due to O'Donnell's obligations to other shows. Charlie did come back on occassion to fill in for Clark, who was also announcing on other game shows. After Clark died in 1988, Los Angeles-area disc jockey MG "Machine Gun" Kelly briefly filled in until O'Donnell, who was still under contract with Chuck Barris Productions, was able to take over permanently.

Theme songs

The theme song used from 1975 to July 1983 is called "Big Wheels" by Alan Thicke . The new original theme song from 1983-1989 is called "Changing Keys" by Merv Griffin . All others are alterations of this theme from 1989 , 1992 , 1994 , 1997 , and a somewhat new variation composed by the late Steve Kaplan from 2000 -present.

From Shopping to Playing for Cash

When the show first aired, the money the contestants won had to be used to shop amongst prizes on the TV show, but now the game is played for cash. Eliminating shopping sped up the game, and allowed more time to plug the big prizes, such as Cars . Shopping was eliminated beginning with the syndicated ''Wheel'''s 1987–88 season premiere, though it would remain on the daytime version until 1989, when the show moved from NBC to CBS.

The Puzzleboard

The original puzzleboard was three rows consisting of 13 Trilon s on each row. On December 21, 1981, a new four-row puzzleboard with 52 spaces (consisting of 13 trilons on the top, bottom, and middle rows; although the light border on the new board got in the way of the trilons on the top and bottom corners of the board, leaving only 11 trilons on those rows) was introduced, allowing for bigger puzzles and more cash to be given away. This puzzleboard would remain the same, except for light border changes and the "half-trilons" on the sides of the board being removed on road shows, and in 1994 and 1995. On February 24 , 1997 , the original board for displaying the letters was replaced with a digital electronic puzzle board, touching the letter spaces instead of turning them. Also, when the puzzle is solved, instead of the hostess turning the hidden letters to reveal the entire puzzle, the missing letters electronically fill in themselves. A fill-in-the-blank puzzle is displayed on a grid of video displays in front of the players. The puzzleboard itself has 52 spaces, divided into four rows (with 12 spaces on the top and bottom rows and 14 spaces in the middle rows, making it one column wider than the old trilon board; occasionally puzzles will use up almost all of the board).

The Wheel

The wheel used on the show has generally remained the same throughout its run. The original circular light border was used from 1975 until the new four-row puzzleboard was introduced in 1981, when a new and flashier border was introduced. This would remain the same until 1997, when a brand-new design appeared, mixing the classic light design and green marble. This would remain until the new neon set was introduced in 2003. While the wheel's color motifs has changed slightly throughout the years, it has always used the same black font for money values. White shadowing of these spaces was introduced in 1998. In the late 1990s, prize spaces changed from a neon green with wheel font to artistic pieces with unique fonts and prize art made onto a typical wheel space. Prior to the move to Sony Pictures Studios in 1995, the wheel would spin automatically at the start and end of each show.

The Scoreboards

In 2002, the tote boards that showed the totals for each player were changed from eggcrate lights to monitors; the eggcrate lights had been in use since 1975. Incidentally, the eggcrate display had room for the "$" sign and four digits in 1975-1976 (although the "$" sign could be removed in the rare event someone had more than $10,000). Sometime around 1976, the display was changed to allow for five-digit figures (along with the "$" sign); six-digit figures have never been achieved in maingame play, although the eggcrate display was again changed in the late 80s or early 90s so a six-digit figure could be displayed with the dollar sign.

The Current Neon Set

In 2003, as part of the 21st season, the entire studio was revamped. The gold, glitzy decoration that surrounded the wheel was changed to a neon blue decoration. The puzzleboard's border was changed to match that of the wheel.

Wheel's 3000th

In November 1998 , ''Wheel'' celebrated its 3,000th episode in syndication with a retrospective of the series. One of the Clips included rare footage of a circa- 1978 ''Wheel'' opening, which featured the "Big Wheels" theme, the prize sets and Charlie O'Donnell's opening-spiel (including a shot of a Ford Fairmont station wagon, one of the prizes offered on that day's episode).

Merv Griffin

The series was produced in the U.S. by Merv Griffin's company, Califon Productions , until 2002. When Griffin went into retirement that year (but kept a small financial stake), Sony Pictures Television, which had bought Griffin's company several years earlier, took over fully. ''Wheel'' is syndicated by King World , although Griffin, through Califon Productions, still holds the show's copyright -- which has been lucrative through its use in casino and lottery games.

Theme Weeks

''Wheel'' is notable for having 'theme weeks' in which all of the set decorations revolve around a common theme. Other weeks invite sports stars to play for charity along with some of their fans.

On one of these theme weeks, College Week in 1996 , Pat had laryngitis for almost that whole week, which became so bad that on the Thursday episode (aired on November 21 ), Pat and Vanna had to switch roles for the bonus round. They switched back the next day. (Source: The Wheel of Fortune Timeline)

Road shows

Frequently, ''Wheel'' went "on location" to cities across the United States. The first of these shows was taped in the fall of 1988 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York . Through the years, other stops have included Las Vegas , Honolulu, Hawaii , Philadelphia , Nashville , Atlanta, Georgia , Seattle , San Diego , San Francisco , Chicago (Pat Sajak's hometown) , Washington D.C , Miami , Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida Kansas City, Missouri , Phoenix, Arizona , Universal Studios , and more.

The November 7, 2000 airing was interesting especially since the taping was in Washington, DC with it being a very close election between George Bush and Al Gore. Contestant Raymond Lee made it entertaining with his answer to a particular puzzle. The show was again aired on the following Saturday. Due to all the election coverage it was not aired in many places on Election Tuesday.

Perhaps the most poignant of these "road" shows was New Orleans, Louisiana . Two weeks of shows were taped at the New Orleans Convention Center in August 2005 , just days before Hurricane Katrina struck the region and caused incredible devestation to the city and Gulf Coast region. A third week of shows was cancelled, and Wheel's production team barely made it out of New Orleans before the storm struck. In pre-taped promos that appeared before each "New Orleans" episode, Sajak and White urged viewers to contribute to hurricane relief charities via the American Red Cross (via the show's Web site), and noted that the show would provide up to $100,000 in matching funds; they also commented the shows were a celebration of what the city once was and would someday become again. Wheel has always had a special opening theme for away-from-home shows. The very first away-from-home theme song was made specially for those shows; it is unknown at what point the same away-from-home theme was used over and over again.

UNITED KINGDOM

The British version ran from 1988 to 2001, produced by Scottish Television for the ITV network. It was hosted by Nicky Campbell , Bradley Walsh , John Leslie and Paul Hendy with Angela Ekeate , Carol Smillie , Jenny Powell and Terri Seymour in turn being co-hosts. Steve Hamilton was the announcer.

AUSTRALIA

''Main article: Wheel Of Fortune (Australia) ''

GERMANY

There have been three ''Glücksrad'' versions in Germany: 1988-1998 on Sat.1 hosted by Frederic Meisner and Peter Bond, 1998-2002 on Kabel 1 hosted by Frederic Meisner (-2001) and Thomas Ohrner (2002),
2004 on 9 Live hosted again by Frederic Meisner.

NEW ZEALAND

There was a version in New Zealand with Phillip Leishman as host and Lana Coc-Kroft as co-host. This version ran from 1991 to around 1996.

PHILIPPINES

Actor Rustom Padilla hosted the Philippine edition of the show on ABC-5 during its short run from 2001-2002.

SINGAPORE

MediaCorp TV Channel 5 produced the Singapore's version of Wheel of Fortune in 2002. Eunice Olsen , who is Miss Singapore Universe 2000, was a co-host. DJ Bernard Lim was the main host.

OTHER COUNTRIES

Some other countries that air "Wheel of Fortune", and the titles used, include Belgium (''Rad van Fortuin''), Malaysia (''Roda Impian''), Brazil (either ''Roletrando Novelas'' or ''Roda a Roda''), Vietnam (''Chiếc nón kỳ diệu''), Ecuador , Spain (both use ''La Ruleta de la Fortuna''), Italy (''La Ruota Della Fortuna''), Canada (''La Roue Chanceuse'' in French, ''Wheel of Fortune'' in English), Israel (''Galgal Hamazal''), Turkey (''Çarkıfelek''), Poland (''Koło Fortuny''), Finland (''Onnenpyörä''), Denmark (''Lykkehjulet''), France (''La Roue de la Fortune''), and Argentina (''La Rueda de la Fortuna'', inside a show called ''Tiempo Límite XL''). Besides the Australian version, France's ''La Roue de la Fortune'' is the most famous non-American version.

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Wheel Of Fortune In Different Countries