The place for all the extra little details that we needed to mention about Wheel of Fortune, including errors, extra shows, and works in progress.

Wheel of Fortune creates hundreds upon thousands of puzzles a season, so much that occasionally they can't get all of them to be correct. Below is a list of all sorts of faulty puzzles and the reason they don't make sense:

SEASON 1

• ca. November 1983 (Rick/Joan/Cecelia): ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WATSON ("Elementary, my dear Watson" is a misquote)
• ca. January 1984 (Thelma/Sam/Lisa): BACHELOR'S-BUTTON (should not be hyphenated)

SEASON 2

• ca. September 1984 (Lynn/John/Pat): SLEDGE HAMMER (should be one word)
• ca. November 1984 (Lance/Virginia/Brenda): GENERAL DOUGLAS MAC ARTHUR (should be "MacArthur", no space)
• ca. February 1985 (Kathy/Marty/Molly): SWEAT SHIRT (should be one word)
• ca. April 1985 (Kathy/Richard/Dawn): FORTUNETELLER (should be two words)

SEASON 5

• 11/13/87: FRONT PAGE NEWS (should be "front-page")

SEASON 6

• 9/16/88: NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH (should be "further")
• 3/10/89: YABBA-DABBA-DOO (should not be hyphenated)
• 3/22/89: CHARLIE AND AMERICAN PRIDE (should be "Charley")
• 3/22/89: GOOD WILL AMBASSADOR (should be "goodwill")
• 3/24/89: WILLIAM TELL-OVERTURE (should not be hyphenated)
• 3/29/89: ATTENTION GETTER (should be hyphenated)
• 4/19/89*: FOREIGN INTRIGUE (categorized as Phrase with no known uses as a phrase, should be Title)

SEASON 7

• 10/5/89: GILBERT & ED SULLIVAN (Gilbert and Sullivan are two separate people)
• 10/20/89: DOG HOUSE (should be one word)
• 1/10/90: PAUL AND LINDA MC CARTNEY (should be "McCartney")
• 3/23/90: DOCTOR FEELGOOD (should be "Dr Feelgood" and Title instead of Fictional Character)
• 6/5/90: FLULIKE SYMPTOMS (should be "flu-like")

SEASON 8

• 5/8/91: M C HAMMER AND SICKLE ("M C Hammer" has an extra space; should be "MC Hammer")

SEASON 9

• 10/28/91: GAMES PEOPLE PLAY IT AGAIN SAM ("Play it again, Sam" is a misquote)

SEASON 10

• 10/27/92: PIE IN THE SKY DIVER (should be "skydiver")
• 11/11/92: FOG HORN (should be one word)
• 11/30/92: SKY DIVER (should be "skydiver")
• 12/10/92: CAVE MAN (should be one word)

SEASON 12

• 9/6/94: YABBA-DABBA-DOO FAMILY (should not be hyphenated)

SEASON 13

• 9/15/95: HOUSTON ROCKETS N.B.A. CHAMPS AGAIN (should not have periods)
• 10/6/95: MORE POWERFUL THAN A LOCOMOTIVE (Next Line Please with "able to leap tall buildings at a single bound"; should have been "in a single bound")
• 11/21/95: CHILLED EGG NOG SPRINKLED WITH NUTMEG (should be "eggnog")
• 12/12/95: TIFFANY STAINED-GLASS WINDOW (should not be hyphenated)
• 1/3/96: ME TARZAN YOU JANE FONDA ("Me Tarzan, you Jane" is a misquote)
• 1/11/96: BEATLES MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR ALBUM (should be "Beatles'" or "The Beatles'")
• 1/12/96: HOME-MADE VEGETABLE SOUP (should be "homemade")
• 1/17/96: A THING OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER (should be "for ever")
• 2/23/96: PICTURE POST CARD (should be "postcard")
• 3/13/96: HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM (should be "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here")
• 5/31/96: TIDAL WAVE GOOD-BYE (should be "goodbye")

SEASON 14

• 10/1/96: SAFE-DEPOSIT BOX OF DIAPERS (should not be hyphenated)
• 12/18/96: JINGLE-BELL ROCK (should not be hyphenated)
• 3/14/97: DIET-AND-EXERCISE GURU RICHARD SIMMONS (should not be hyphenated)

SEASON 15

• 9/9/97: AMUSEMENT-PARK FUN HOUSE (should not be hyphenated)
• 9/15/97: HANK AARON BREAKS BABE RUTH'S HOME-RUN RECORD (should not be hyphenated)
• 9/26/97: THE NEAT NEW SPAGHETTI YOU CAN EAT WITH A SPOON (should be "the neat round", although that would not fit the puzzleboard)
• 10/14/97: YOU CAN COUNT ON ME TARZAN ("me Tarzan" is a misquote)
• 11/23/97: TICKETHOLDER (should be two words)
• 3/5/98: RICH MILK CHOCOLATE & VELVETY NOUGAT (trivia question: "what candy bar is described this way?" answer given was 3 Musketeers; however, no one can find any proof that 3 Musketeers ever used this in advertising)
• 3/6/98: HOSTESS CUP CAKES (should be "cupcakes")

SEASON 16

• 10/2/98: COCOON (puzzler after A CATERPILLAR BECOMES A BUTTERFLY; butterflies emerge from a chrysalis, not a cocoon)
• 2/1/99: BLUE ELVES (puzzler after THE SMURFS; the Smurfs are not elves)
• 4/8/99: BELLYBUTTON (should be two words)
• 4/14/99: DRY ROASTED (should be hyphenated)
• 4/19/99: BIG WIGS (should be one word)
• 5/31/99: THREE LITTLE KITTENS LOST THEIR MITTENS (should be "they lost their mittens")

SEASON 17

• 3/6/00: THRILL-SEEKER (should not be hyphenated)
• 4/13/00: ME TARZAN YOU JANE PAULEY ("me Tarzan" is a misquote)
• 4/14/00: JACK RABBIT (should be one word)

SEASON 18

• 9/13/00: I COULD'VE BEEN A CONTENDER (should be "coulda")
• 10/6/00: EIGHTIES SONNY CROCKETT & NINETIES NASH BRIDGES (should be "eighties'" and "nineties'")
• 10/9/00: HEART-WARMING STORY (should be "heartwarming")
• 11/21/00: WEB PAGE (should be one word)
• 2/14/01: ELVIS ALOHA FROM HAWAII (should be "Elvis'" or "Elvis's")
• 4/17/01: TOSS UP PUZZLE (should be "toss-up")

SEASON 19

• 10/3/01: A BACK-UP PLAN (should not be hyphenated)
• 10/19/01: TICKETBUYERS (should be "ticket buyers")
• 10/30/01: PETER PETER PUMPKIN-EATER (should not be hyphenated)
• 11/12/01: CANNED PEACHES-AND-CREAM COMPLEXION (should not be hyphenated)
• 12/26/01: A PAIR OF SHOETREES (should be "shoe trees")
• 2/1/02: PASS THE BUCK-NAKED (no hyphen is needed after "buck")
• 5/22/02: THE STARTING LINE-UP (no hyphen is needed in "lineup")

SEASON 20

• 9/5/02: A JOY RIDE (should be "joyride")
• 9/24/02: THE OK CORRAL IN TOMBSTONE ARIZONA (should be "O.K. Corral")
• 9/25/02: OUT-TAKES & BLOOPERS (puzzle should not be hyphenated)
• 10/4/02: THE ORANGE BOWL (should be "The Miami Orange Bowl")
• 12/9/02: BODY-SURFING THE INTERNET (should not be hyphenated, though formatting was likely due to B&A categorization)
• 2/13/03: SHRUBS (miscategorized as Things; should be Living Things)
• 5/19/03: AND ALL THAT JAZZ (not a valid Title; actual Titles are All That Jazz and Overture/And All That Jazz)
• 5/29/03: CAUGHT RED-HANDED (puzzle is miscategorized as Event; should be a Phrase)

SEASON 21

• 9/18/03: PEAS PORRIDGE IN THE POT (should be "pease")
• 11/14/03: PIECE OF MIND (should be "peace of mind" or "a piece of your mind")
• 12/2/03: TROUBLE-SHOOTERS (should not be hyphenated)
• 1/28/04: PURPLE LILACS (should be Living Things instead of Things)
• 2/5/04: BABY'S HIGHCHAIR (should be "high chair")
• 2/12/04: FREE-LANCE ARTIST (should not be hyphenated)
• 2/17/04: JUST THE FACTS MA'AM (should be Phrase instead of Classic TV, phrase was never actually said on Dragnet)
• 3/11/04: CROSSING TIME ZONES (miscategorized as Events; should be Event)
• 4/27/04: SOAP-ON-A-ROPE (should not be hyphenated)

SEASON 22

• 12/20/04: JINGLE-BELL ROCK (should not be hyphenated)
• 3/1/05: I'M LOOKING OVER A FOUR-LEAF CLOVER (should not be hyphenated)

SEASON 26

• 4/7/09: CAESAR'S PALACE (should not have an apostrophe)

SEASON 27

• 4/26/10: WAIT A WHILE (should be "awhile")

SEASON 28

• 3/24/11: SIMPLY THE BEST (was categorized as Song Title; the Tina Turner song is just called "The Best")

SEASON 31

• 11/28/13: BABYPROOFING (should be hyphenated)
• 1/27/14: WIND-CHILL FACTOR (should not be hyphenated)

SEASON 32

• 10/31/14: SALTED PUMPKINSEEDS (should be "pumpkin seeds")

SEASON 33

• 10/19/15: COLLECTING PINECONES (should be "pine cones")

SEASON 34

• 3/7/17: HAWAII'S GARDEN ISLAND (should be "Garden Isle")

SEASON 35

• 12/4/17: GIZMO THE GREMLIN (Gizmo is a Mogwai, not a Gremlin)
• 2/27/18: EXPLORING THE GARDEN ISLAND (should be "Garden Isle")

SEASON 36

• 4/2/19: WORLD FAMOUS CHEF (should be hyphenated)
• 4/18/19: RARE-COIN COLLECTOR (should not be hyphenated)

SEASON 37

• 11/28/19: NATURAL RESERVOIR (a reservoir is man-made by definition and cannot be "natural"; the only uses of "natural reservoir" are in disease studies)
• 8/31/20: ZIPPING DOWN A WATERSLIDE (should be "water slide")

SEASON 38

• 10/21/20: BALLOON-ANIMAL ARTIST (should not be hyphenated)

SEASON 40

• 3/20/23: LAVA FLOWING FROM A VOLCANO (puzzle is miscategorized as Event instead of Thing)

Wheel of Fortune has a number of shows that have been produced but never meant for air, at least nationally.

• In Season 1, as part of a promotion for the start of the syndicated version, Wheel held a week's worth of shows from the Ohio State Fair in Columbus, OH. However these shows are not part of the official count, as they were only aired on certain affiliates in Ohio.
• In Season 29, as part of a lottery promotion, a week's worth of a shows called "Lottery Experience Games" were taped with contestants flown in to play the game. These shows were never meant for air, only for the contestants to cherish for themselves.
• In Season 34, a "Second Chance Lottery Promotion" is held where 84 contestants divide into 12 groups of 7 to play a team game of Wheel; these four shows were also never meant for air either.

Since these shows are not official episodes, they are not included in the compendium. However, the shows that we do have information from will have their puzzles listed below.

Show #2 from the Ohio State Fair - Pre-Season 1

• R1: Person - CALVIN COOLIDGE

#MDI-1 - Taped 4/26/12 - Post-Season 29

• T1: Phrase - THE GANG'S ALL HERE
• T2: Rhyme Time - MILLIONS AND BILLIONS
• R1: What Are You Doing? - REACHING FOR THE STARS
• R2: Same Letter - TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS
• R3: Food & Drink - A GLASS OF FRESH PINEAPPLE JUICE (Prize Puzzle)
• T3: Fictional Character - THE INCREDIBLE HULK
• R4: Living Thing - LABRADOR RETRIEVER
• BR: Things - SHOULDER PADS

Linked Game Second Chance Promotion - Taped 3/3/17 - Season 34

• Show #1
• T1: Rhyme Time - ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY
• T2: Fun & Games - PLAYING CARDS
• R1: Title - THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD
• R2: Song Lyrics - YOU MUST BE MY LUCKY STAR
• R3: Place - PRODUCE SECTION OF THE GROCERY STORE
• T3: Person - GOODY TWO-SHOES
• R4: Thing - TENDER LOVING CARE
• BR: Things - CHEEKBONES
• Show #2
• T1: On the Map - ANCHORAGE ALASKA
• T2: Things - HEART AND SOUL
• R1: Rhyme Time - A BLAST FROM THE PAST
• R2: Phrase - THAT'S THE WAY THE BALL BOUNCES
• R3: Event - FINDING A FOUR-LEAF CLOVER
• T3: Food & Drink - BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING
• R4: Around the House - WHITE PICKET FENCE
• TB: TV Title - THE WEATHER CHANNEL
• BR: Thing - LOCKER KEY
• Show #3
• T1: Phrase - AND THE CROWD GOES WILD
• T2: Around the House - EXERCISE BIKE
• R1: Song Title - HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
• R2: Food & Drink - PEANUTS RAISINS AND CHOCOLATE CHIPS
• R3: Event - THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME
• T3: Thing - SNOOZE BUTTON
• R4: Place - LAND OF OPPORTUNITY
• BR: Phrase - WAIT FOR IT
• Show #4
• T1: Event - TREASURE HUNT
• T2: Things - HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
• R1: Phrase - IT'S LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE
• R2: Characters - SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN
• R3: What Are You Doing? - WATCHING OUR FAVORITE SHOW
• T3: Around the House - RECYCLING BIN
• R4: Place - THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
• BR: Thing - BOOK CLUB

While the majority of Wheel of Fortune is aired in the order of its production codes, there have been a number of times that has not been the case. The compendium keeps everything in production code order as best it can, so we have provided this section to help navigate all the little oddities that have come up during the show's history.

2001 - SEPTEMBER 11TH

Pretty much everywhere in the United States, for very obvious reasons, did not air Wheel of Fortune as planned on September 11, 2001.

Due to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, every station was deep into news coverage in the aftermath. Most networks continued to air coverage over the next week, pushing back several TV programs and sports schedules.

So how do we have these shows?

One of our biggest sources for past seasons of Wheel, Adam S, watched the show from NY 55, an independent station (one not affiliated with a network like ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC), and despite the fact the station is located close to one of the affected areas, they aired most of the week as normal. The only day that did not go as planned was September 11 itself, where the station instead simulcasted CNN during that time. That show did eventually air in at least one market that Saturday, September 15 (his copy is from a news archive from WJLA-7, ABC affiliate for Washington, D.C.).

2016 - PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

During Season 34, Wheel of Fortune did something they had never done before - a planned national preemption. Although not one they originally planned out.

Various weekday events on local stations have pushed around Wheel's schedule before in individual markets, with shows having to air either overnight or even in place of the weekend rerun. But the 2016 presidential election coverage, which was due to preempt Wheel in every market, forced them to make a last minute change, though unlike 9/11, one they could at least plan for: the episodes of #6477-#6480 were all pushed back one day. #6477 ended up airing on Wednesday and so forth, leading up to #6480, which in some ways became the first episode ever to have its initial airdate on a Saturday.

For the record, a lot of places didn't end up airing #6480, due to national pre-emptions from college football. Also, Canadian stations, which were not airing an election at that time, aired the shows on their proper days.

For much of the syndicated version of Wheel of Fortune's history, the episode count was very straightforward: each season had 39 full weeks of shows; at five shows a week, that adds up to 195 shows per season. Therefore, to keep track of the count of episodes by season, all you had to do was multiply the season number by 195 and you would have your answer.

There may be one minor exception that we have yet to confirm - we don't know if the final week of Season 13, which was a special week of shows taped in Atlanta featuring former Olympic Athletes in promotion of the 1996 Summer Games, had four shows or five, as the games started on the Friday of that week (although it has been confirmed that Wheel's sister show Jeopardy!, which was also promoting the games, had a full week of shows). So it may be entirely possible that show #2535 does not exist, and Season 13 only has 194 shows. Other than that potential blip, however, the pattern of 195 shows per season stays true with the episode count and the numbering.

Until we get to Season 37.

Season 37 (2019-2020) starts out normally, and had it played out as usual, the season would have ended with 7,215 episodes. But it didn't, and there are two major reasons as to why (and thanks to longtime contributor MarioGS for originally detailing this out):

The first major incident involved host Pat Sajak, who suddenly had to have emergency surgery, which would have completely cancelled the tapings of three weeks' worth of episodes. However, two of these weeks would have been Wheel's regular Secret Santa Sweepstakes, and those could not be cancelled due to a Disney sponsorship, so those weeks still taped and hostess Vanna White was tapped at the last minute to take on Pat's role (while the puzzleboard would be controlled autonomously with someone in a Minnie Mouse costume "magically" controlling it). Those shows aired December 9-20. The non-Secret Santa week (December 23-27, #7096-#7100) was cancelled, reruns aired during that timeframe, and a new week of shows was added to the end of the season. But this new week was to be numbered #7216-#7220, thus making the episode numbers dedicated for Season 37 more than the usual 195, even though 195 episodes were still scheduled to be produced. Therefore, episodes #7096-#7100 do not exist, and the show picks back up on 12/30/19 with #7101. The episode count is now off by 5.

(Incidentally, Pat still hadn't recoverd from his surgery by the time of the next taping, so Vanna hosted a third week of shows that aired January 6-10, this time with Pat's daughter Maggie taking Vanna's spot. I guess they could have just done that for the cancelled week too, but oh well.)

The season then gets back on track, until we reach March 2020. Unless you've been living under a rock for a long time, I'm sure you realize that March 2020 was the month nearly the entire world shuts down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wheel tried to keep going for another taping week, doing shows without a studio audience and keeping Pat and Vanna distanced from the other contestants, but after two taping sessions the crew decides to shut down production for the remainder of the season. The remaining shows that taped but didn't air are shown throughout the rest of the March and April. Well, almost all of them...

Two of the themed weeks slated to air during the production stopdown, Carnival Week of Fun! (originally scheduled March 30-April 3, labeled #7166-#7170) and UK Getaway (originally scheduled April 13-17, labeled #7176-#7180), had sponsorships for overseas vacations...vacations that could not be taken during the peak of the pandemic. As a result, both weeks were pulled from the schedule, and just like with the cancelled week during Christmas, reruns are aired in their place and their production numbers were skipped over, causing the week in between them that did air to be off the episode count by 10 and the weeks that aired after UK Getaway to be off by 15.

The final show of the regular part of the season (#7190) airs on May 1, and the show goes into summer reruns early. The remaining six weeks of production (#7191-#7220) are never produced (with two exceptions...we'll get to those in a bit) and now the count for any potential future shows would be off by 45.

Then August rolls around, and the show decided that since the pandemic is at a quieter point, that now would be a good time to air the missing two weeks of shows. The first week to air was UK Getaway, which airs the week of August 3-7. But instead of numbering it with their original alotted numbers (#7166-#7170), they decided to renumber it starting with the "unused" production numbers, #7221-7225, keeping the count still off by 45. Carnival Week of Fun! does the same thing when it finally airs from August 31-September 4, now being numbered #7226-#7230.

Now remember how there were six full weeks of shows at the end of the season that never taped? That's not exactly true - one of the weeks was an America's Game week, and for those who don't know what that means, Wheel often tapes six shows a week, only airs five of them for the theme, and save the leftover sixth shows and combine them into one week so they don't have to pay out for extra taping days. Two shows were produced for the America's Game week, but were held for airing until September 7 and September 9. Interestingly, however, they were not renumbered, and keep what would have been their original numbers: #7207 and #7209. This actually puts the count discrepancy back a tiny bit, to 43. This puts the final end to Season 37, which finishes with 167 shows, 28 short of the usual season.

Once Season 38 begins on its usual date of September 14, 2020, the count picks up at #7231, and since the season aired in full, the count rolls on with the 43 show discrepancy. In theory, had they not added production numbers outside of the range of 195 last season, they could have started at #7216, and could have kept the trend of Season # * 195 shows, but alas, this is where we stand. So to recap:

• Season 37 has 28 less shows than the usual season, meaning the real episode count after Season 37 will be season number * 195 shows - 28 missed shows,
• The production numbers are 43 shows ahead of the actual episode count (or 44, if there is indeed no episode #2535),
• The way to keep track of the episode numbering post-Season 37, thanks to rescheduling, is now season number * 195 shows + 15 shows.

So what we've learned from all of this is that Wheel of Fortune's staff can't count. Which is good, because I expect their staff to spell correctly, not count correctly. Except for the scoreboard operator, who of course always stays accurate every time.

As to what that means for the compendium? Since people have used the compendium before to locate copies of their episodes, it seems to only make sense that the compendium stays with Wheel's episode numbering, as best as possible. The schedule page will have some goodies, however - we'll be listing all the cancelled weeks so that you can make sense of the numbering system yourself.

See also: