Popculture: "Something happens" in first 2 weeks of S38

As pointed out in another thread, this is the third time Vanna wore that blue dress. She first wore it last season on the April 21 episode.

More likely that they are really that desperate for ratings.

Agreed wholeheartedly. But, that would take the spotlight off the show next door, and lord knows we can't have that, can we?

Give the guy a chance, for God's sake. It's only his second week. Yeah, I agree this was way too hyped up... and there are many times Wheel gets overshadowed by J!, but some of y'all have this idea that no matter what, something bad is going to happen with Wheel so you don't even give them the opportunity to do better. Mike isn't going to change things overnight, plus COVID has made things harder and more unusual than ever. Some have blamed Sony for the rash of $100k/$1M losses in the last couple of years, but to be frank, after I looked back at them, it wasn't the puzzle writer's fault - it was the fault of the contestants missing very simple puzzles (FLIPPING THROUGH THE PAGES ring a bell?). The loss on Wednesday's show was not a fault of the puzzle's being too hard. That was a very good puzzle that screamed the "CMDO" letter combo. But, even with his CMPA pick, it was a shoo-in; he just totally blanked out. You can't blame Wheel and/or Sony for contestants freezing up on good, somewhat easy puzzles.

We are a different breed of fans than most Wheel Watchers, so we hold the show to a much higher standard than the average Joe. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but sometimes it's way over the top. If you look at their Facebook page and group, the average fan doesn't get as "bent out of shape" as some of us "super fans" do. They don't nitpick and notice the little nuances and "annoyances" that we do. There's a reason the show is still on after almost 40 years. As I stated in another thread, yeah the show is a bit stale and could use some freshening up, but I'm willing to give Mike the chance to do that, and I know it's going to take some time. Baby steps. All in all, the Wheel is still a good show. Even though we have our gripes, it looks like the vast majority of us tune in every night, even if it's just to criticize every aspect of the show. They must be doing something right after all, wouldn't you agree?

The hourglass had nothing to do with the "hint". It was merely the subject of the closing, where Pat recalled seeing Vanna in her dressing room timing the hourglass on her phone, which he thinks is not necessary because it's an hour-glass.

I'm surprised at how many people thought the hourglass meant Wheel would be doing an hour-long episode. As I said in a previous post, that would never happen in syndication given Wheel's strict time slot rules (not to mention the outrage on social media if Jeopardy! were replaced with extra Wheel for a day, given how many casual J! fans wish for the opposite in the long term), and a primetime special would have been announced by the network itself several weeks in advance.