The season so far....

My biggest thought is just that we're very lucky to even have new episodes right now. They're doing the best they can given the pandemic and all of the protocols necessary. Having to focus on that rather than making changes and putting his own touches like he did with The Price is Right might just have been the best thing for Mike-- he has a season to digest the show and decide what can be done to give it some new life and make it less stale feeling. It will be really interesting to see what happens after this season.

I hope road shows happen after the pandemic too. They need to come to South Carolina because that's Vanna's homestate and it's my homestate too. They were there in Season 24.

The road shows are a good idea. I agree with what JJC said and hope Mike has some creativity for next season. Wheel desperately needs new blood in it. I'd love to see bonus categories back along with the other things I mentioned. Let's hope for the best.

My biggest gripe of course has been the near total absence of the $5K wedge being hit. It has only been hit once during the Final Spin in 33 tries and just twice in regular play, which doesn't happen to often nowadays due to all those TUs and sponsor plugs. By the law of averages by random chance, Pat should hit the $5K once every four weeks (24 spaces-2 Bankrupts, 1 Lose A Turn, and 1 Free Play= 20 landable spaces), and as of Monday, we're behind pace from even that. Just leave the Wheel as it is at the end of R3 and let Pat spin from there instead of starting from a position where it lands six spaces off on average. Yes, we still have SUs that could possibly determine the champion, but the game just feels like it hasn't had a proper flow of balance in quite some time. Still, given how useless the studio audience was since the late '00s, I feel that Wheel certainly could go on without it. I'd wish though that they had a fair disclaimer for trips like TPIR had in the closing credits regarding qualifications, since it makes the show look like that its just "throwing" them out just to advertise them. Speaking of which, I really enjoyed that First Responders episode of TPIR the other night, and showed that another show where an audience is much more part of the atmosphere than Wheel proves that even that show could go on (after all, the audience wasn't important in those B&W Cullen years of yore). Finally, if they advertise virtual online auditions nationwide, then there's no reason why that with proper procedures, contestants from outside California/Las Vegas area could compete provided that they pass a health examination. But overall, with a relative dearth of entertainment options, Wheel is doing the best it can and may actually enjoy a slight ratings boost. Once things go back to normal though is when Mike will need to step up his game to make the show relevant again. At least seeing some "The '90s" puzzles lately is a slightly improvement compared to those "The '80s" ones. 

To those wanting road shows again, keep in mind that they're also expensive. The pandemic has nothing to do with the lack of them.

Adding to what I said, I hope this new Millionaire doesn't affect the budget for Wheel more than it is already affected. Seeing the Mike is an executive Producer makes  me nervous on this front.  We can't have the show be cheaper than it already is.