Word: wheeling
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Vanna White's daily chores on Wheel of Fortune could most charitably be described as minimal. At the beginning of each show, the blond ex-model poses with the "fabulous prizes" on display and greets Host Pat Sajak with a cheery hello. Then she takes up her station at the puzzle board, briskly turning over lettered tiles and scooting out of the way like the ball boy at a tennis match. Yet White has become TV's most improbable cult heroine. "I've gotten tons of fan mail," she marvels. "Love letters, marriage proposals, children being named after me, which...
...world where letter turners become superstars, it is perhaps not surprising that Wheel of Fortune, an almost comically unassuming game show, is the highest-rated syndicated series in television history. Or that the venerable game-show genre has suddenly hit the jackpot once again. Following the No. 1-rated Wheel of Fortune, two more games, Jeopardy! and The New Newlywed Game, currently rank in the top five on A.C. Nielsen's list of the most-watched syndicated shows (those sold directly to local stations by independent syndicators rather than distributed through the networks). In addition to the ten games aired...
...merchandise giveaways (Price Is Right), sophisticated parlor games spiced with celebrities ($100,000 Pyramid), R-rated competitions between couples coaxed into revealing embarrassing personal secrets (The New Newlywed Game). But most of the new hits are an odd throwback to an era of simple games and conventional contestants. Wheel of Fortune, in which players spin a giant wheel to reveal letters in a hidden phrase, is a variation on the old word game Hangman. At least three current imitators feature similar fill-in-the- blank word games. A number of other shows depend on question-answer quizzes, exemplified...
While there, he might also mull the phenomenal success of Wheel of Fortune. A fixture on NBC's morning schedule since 1975, Wheel was on the verge of cancellation in 1982, when a small distribution company named King World decided to create a night-time syndicated version. The show (now seen twice each weekday in most cities, in both network and syndicated editions) soon became a major hit, and this season generated $70 million in gross revenues. "If Wheel continues to hang in there," says King World Chairman Roger King, "it will do better business than Star Wars...
What accounts for its amazing popularity? Partly it is the elementary but engaging word game (many puzzles are devised personally by Creator Merv Griffin, who also wrote the show's theme music), partly the hypnotic allure of the wheel itself. It may also be a function of Host Sajak, whose low-key, faintly ironic style is a welcome break from most game-show gush. "As a game- show host, there's always the temptation to do a parody of one, to do a rapid- fire delivery and smile a little more," says Sajak, 39, who was a weatherman for KNBC...