MarioGS
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PhD in Wheeloffortunology
Posts: 14,659 
Airdate: 03/25/2016
Winnings: $76,086
SPIN ID: RS1363545
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Post by MarioGS on Aug 30, 2023 11:57:13 GMT -5
Very unfortunate news for most of us that watch Wheel on an ABC affiliate. As we've seen over the past few years, ABC has begun occasionally airing Monday Night Football nationally, usually simulcasting it from ESPN. This year, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes causing a shake-up in the fall primetime schedule, ABC will be airing even more Monday Night Football games than in past years, including three in a row on September 11, 18, and 25. The bombshell here is that ABC will be preceding most if not all of these games with pregame coverage at 7:30 PM Eastern, Wheel of Fortune's de facto time slot. ABC plans to simulcast the last half hour of ESPN's Monday Night Countdown on days where they air games that start at 8:00. ABC airs Wheel of Fortune at 7:30 PM ET/PT on all of its O&O stations except for KTRK in Houston (Wheel airs on CBS affiliate KHOU there), as well as several of its other affiliates. Because of this plan, the Season 41 premiere, along with the second and third Monday episodes, and a few others, will be pre-empted in a large portion of the country and in some of the largest Nielsen markets, including three of the top four markets due to the new pregame coverage alone. ABC is planning to air national MNF games on at least the following Mondays: September 11 (S41 premiere) September 18 September 25 (This game starts at 7:00 ET, so Wheel will be pre-empted on all ABC affiliates even without pregame) November 20 December 11 December 25 (no NBA this year?) These are the markets where Wheel of Fortune will be impacted by the pregame coverage alone, totaling about 21% of US viewership:  (Disclaimer: The percentages are out of date by about three years, but the rankings are correct.) In addition, the game also pre-empts the show in these West Coast markets, although the affiliates usually move Wheel to sometime after the game. However, there is the risk of the game running long and causing Wheel to not air in its entirety. The Season 39 premiere didn't air in about half of these markets due to that day's MNF going into double overtime. This covers about 12.5% of US viewership.  In all, Monday episodes of Wheel of Fortune will be pre-empted in about one-third of the United States. Nashville has it the worst of all. Across the first three weeks of S41, they will only get 9 out of 15 episodes that their regular time, and only from Wednesday-Friday. Due to an already-existing partnership with the Tennessee Titans, all Tuesday episodes of Wheel during NFL season are pre-empted on WKRN by local program The Mike Vrabel Show. These markets air Wheel at 7:00 PM ET and are not outright pre-empted by the pregame coverage. However, since Jeopardy! is the show impacted in this situation, it is likely that some of these affiliates will move Jeopardy! to 7:00 and replace Wheel, as some programming directors have claimed that their affiliates' contract with CBS Media Ventures requires them to do so in this situation. WPBF will likely do this, as they did so to accommodate a Dolphins preseason game earlier this month that started at 7:30. WPLG generally does not do this; J! did get pre-empted on WPLG at least once last season for a Dolphins pregame special while Wheel was unaffected, and they and WJLA do still have Wheel listed at 7:00 on 9/11. These markets total about 8% of the US.  This will reflect very poorly in Wheel's ratings. As of now, WABC does not have any alternate airings of Wheel listed for September 11 or 18, suggesting that those episodes may be skipped over completely. Even if affiliates do air the show overnight, fans who have to DVR it will likely have to set aside extra space to DVR the show since the MNF games are likely to run over and delay all of the late night shows. ABC used to air MNF nationally every week of NFL season with no pregame, but it did pre-empt Wheel on the West Coast. During this period, all West Coast ABC affiliates aired Wheel on a one-day delay from Tuesday-Saturday with no weekend rerun. However, this is not possible today due to ABC's broadcasts of college football games on Saturdays, which usually last the whole day from 12-11 PM Eastern, resulting in several affiliates not carrying Wheel's weekend reruns until after the season ends, or carrying them in overnight or Sunday afternoon slots, so it would not be ideal (if possibly even allowed) to air a delayed weekday episode on a weekend in this situation. Hopefully Bellamie and/or CBS Media Ventures are made aware of this. The latter is still forcing its affiliates to slot Wheel at 7:00 or 7:30 ET/PT, denying permission to temporarily move it to the afternoon to accommodate a pre-emption, and still will not offer a secondary feed of Wheel, as these were all rules set by KingWorld to avoid confusion or competition with the now-long-gone daytime version. |
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Post by newt on Aug 30, 2023 12:24:09 GMT -5
Not good. I’m not really thrilled about these airings changes. I wish ABC would not do these pre game specials. Without these pre game specials I would be able to tune in for the Season 41 premiere. If the WGA-SAG-AFTRA ended and/or never happened ABC would not have these pre-game specials affecting the East Coast. I think ABC, ESPN and NFL are doing these specials for money. I plan to set my DVR overnight if WABC-TV decides to air the Season 41 premiere late at night or I could till someone posts the episode on YouTube and any other online video website.
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Post by jarodjgames on Aug 30, 2023 14:51:53 GMT -5
December 25 (no NBA this year?) NBA will be ESPN Exclusive that night so that MNF can still go on since it's Monday, making MNF an ABC Exclusive. There is still NBA on ABC in the afternoon that day. |
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Post by newt on Aug 31, 2023 9:53:16 GMT -5
I’m worried ABC pre-emoting Wheel with an NFL pregame coverage could be the new normal. I not thrilled about the Season 41 premiere being preempted with a half hour pregame special since I watch the show on WABC-TV. Every time when WABC-TV preempts Wheel with something else I always have to go online to see if an episode I missed is posted and/or DVR overnight. WABC-TV used air the episode on their Localish channel if the network has something else airing in the 7:30 time slot.
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Post by billygr on Aug 31, 2023 11:27:29 GMT -5
Check all of the stations (including sub channels) in the area.
WTEN (Which you list in the 3rd group, the ones that air Wheel at 7 but normally Jeopardy at 7:30) last year was often moving one (or both) to the local Fox (WXXA) station that they also own (this was causing complaints since one of the satellite companies had dropped that station) when something else was on WTEN (note that the Fox station at that point had local news from 7-7:30 and something syndicated from 7:30-8 that they skipped instead).
More recently, when there was something (not Wheel) airing on WTEN on a Sunday evening, they actually ran the ABC World news at 6:30, then whatever else would have been on ABC from 8-10 or so on their Cozi subchannel (10.2) instead of the usual Cozi programming.
So, you never know just where these shows might pop up!
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Post by antmanb on Sept 2, 2023 2:42:27 GMT -5
i didnt know that KTRK was an O&O station..... and i lived in Houston my whole dang life.
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MarioGS
Made It and Played It VIP
PhD in Wheeloffortunology
Posts: 14,659
Airdate: 03/25/2016
Winnings: $76,086
SPIN ID: RS1363545
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Post by MarioGS on Sept 4, 2023 10:40:02 GMT -5
According to The Futon Critic, no pregame is scheduled for the November 20 broadcast as of now. However, September 18 and both December games will also have a 7:30 pregame, along with January 15, 2024 (same day as the Emmys on FOX). The Christmas one will likely be moot since ABC has an NBA game at 5:00 and likely will go straight into the MNF pregame following it.
There will also be 7:30 pregame shows on two consecutive Saturdays with games under the MNF moniker on December 30 and January 6.
A glimmer of good news: at least one of the contestants on the S41 premiere will not be affected. The red player is a lady from the Boston area (WBZ, a CBS O&O).
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MarioGS
Made It and Played It VIP
PhD in Wheeloffortunology
Posts: 14,659
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Post by MarioGS on Sept 5, 2023 13:20:57 GMT -5
A couple other things to think about here regarding two upcoming episodes that will be very important in WOF history...
1) As it stands now, Pat Sajak's penultimate and/or final episode will be pre-empted on at least the West Coast by the NBA Finals on ABC (Game 1 is scheduled for Thursday, June 6, the rest are TBD), assuming ABC doesn't suddenly add extra pregame at 7:30 ET like they're doing for MNF. When Alex Trebek's final episode of Jeopardy! was originally scheduled to air on Christmas Day, it was quickly realized it would be pre-empted in all areas by NBA and was delayed with two weeks of reruns. I doubt such an effort will be made for Pat's final week since most of the West Coast still gives Wheel decent time slots on NBA days, even though it almost-always results in some markets not airing Wheel in its entirety because of game overrun.
2) If ABC plans to also have national MNF games with 7:30 pregame specials next year, this will pre-empt Ryan Seacrest's first episode as host in many markets.
Obviously it's too late now, but would it have been a good idea for Wheel to push back the whole season by three weeks so that the premiere would air October 2 (the first non-national MNF) and Pat's finale would air June 28 or even later (well after NBA Finals)? Of course, if this did happen with S41, they'd need to rearrange certain weeks and they definitely wouldn't want to start with October's Teacher's Week which lacks Vanna this year. Since Wheel is usually "packaged" by week because of the themes, they can't really do what TPIR would do and just say "We're not feeding a new episode today because of expected pre-emptions; markets that do air us will get a repeat" and have the season premiere on a Tuesday.
It's a pretty big deal to lose a season premiere in top markets because of a major network's planned program. And with Wheel still not offering a second run, there's no guarantee viewers will get a second chance to see the missed episodes. At least in the markets where J! will be the show impacted, they'll see the episode in a few months on Daytime J! Both the S39 and 40 premieres of Wheel had both their original and rerun airings impacted by sports on the West Coast, and they ran long all four of these days, so some markets never saw those premieres in its entirety despite two opportunities.
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Post by newt on Sept 5, 2023 20:46:30 GMT -5
I kinda like the idea of starting the season a month late. If the writer’s strike haven’t happened there would probably be no NFL pregame show. I know the writer’s strike is still ongoing but I wished ABC never scheduled a pregame show since this season is Pat Sajak’s final season. Even though the writer’s strike is still not over ABC should never scheduled a pregame show. If ABC really cares about Wheel so much they should not do any sports pregame show. Before this year ABC seems cares about the show so much since they commissioned a prime time Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and was able to win control to retain the rights to air Wheel (and Jeopardy!) away from Fox which mounted a huge rival offer back in 2018. Now it seems they are going to air a lot more
sports games just for money.
I’m worried even if the writer’s strike ends ABC might continue to air 7:30 NFL pregame specials next September when Ryan Seacrest makes his Wheel debut. I think the reason ABC is scheduling these pregame specials is for money. Fox always air some sort of pregame sports special for money and so does NBC and CBS. I’m worried 7:30 pregame specials might be the new normal. For example if WABC-TV is going to air pregame coverage from now on they should air the preempted episodes on their Localish channel which is their sub channel. WABC-TV used to air preempted on their Localish channel. Now they don’t do that anymore. They air it overnight. But the problem is some of the sports games they air run late and goes into overtime.
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MarioGS
Made It and Played It VIP
PhD in Wheeloffortunology
Posts: 14,659
Airdate: 03/25/2016
Winnings: $76,086
SPIN ID: RS1363545
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Post by MarioGS on Sept 6, 2023 8:22:34 GMT -5
If the writer’s strike haven’t happened there would probably be no NFL pregame show. I know the writer’s strike is still ongoing but I wished ABC never scheduled a pregame show since this season is Pat Sajak’s final season. Even though the writer’s strike is still not over ABC should never scheduled a pregame show. The pregame show likely has nothing to do with the writers' strike since it's not taking the place of what would normally be a scripted primetime show. It is a likely factor in why ABC is airing more games than the previous two years, though -- that and their decision to move all Bachelor series to Thursdays (where CWOF was supposed to go). They probably will. All four networks have been finding more excuses to begin primetime at 7:00 or 7:30 in recent years. Harry Friedman wasn't happy when he found out Thursday Night Football would have a pregame show (a fact that the NFL and CBS intentionally hid from him), and FOX followed in their footsteps (although only about 6% of the US airs Wheel on FOX). And now ABC is following that path as well (hopefully except on 11/20 but I have a feeling they'll add one). We also see NBC unofficially starting Olympics coverage at 7:30 ET with the optional "Olympic Zone" preshow, resulting in no WOF for over two weeks in some markets, plus the 2020 Tokyo Olympics' opening ceremonies started at 7:30. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting each December also has a 7:00 PM preshow that is mandatory for the O&O's and optional for everyone else. Pregame for the NFL Hall of Fame and Kickoff games used to start at 7:30, but they now start at 7:00. Pretty much the only event of NBC's that doesn't have any pregame (yet) is the primetime Thanksgiving NFL game, and that might only be because they know it would overlap with the earlier game that alternates between CBS and FOX. FOX also increased their pregame recently. The World Series used to start pregame at 7:30, but starting last season, it now starts at 7:00. The Field of Dreams game also has a 7:00 pregame, which starts even earlier at 6:30 for the O&O's. MLB games that start at 7:00 generally don't have pregame, though. This plus the notion that Wheel is viewed as a "disposable" show like Judge Judy because they usually don't have continuity (even though some cases on JJ carry over to the next day, and Bellamie's been experimenting with returning contestants) is likely why ABC is doing this. ABC is well aware that Wheel is their de facto 7:30 program. During COVID, all of the O&O's pre-empted Wheel for two weeks with a "Special Edition" of World News Tonight (apparently it was just the Mountain Time Zone feed, which may or may not have been updated if more breaking news came up); this decision was made specifically because Wheel had to pull two travel-themed weeks that wouldn't have looked good to air at that time. New episodes that aired between those two weeks were unaffected. In my opinion (emphasis on opinion), ABC wouldn't be as quick to do this if Jeopardy! was the O&O 7:30 show. Yes, J! is affected in some markets, but not nearly as many (see WLS Chicago where it airs at 3:30 Central), and CBS MV is more lenient on allowing "early" airings of that show. Wheel's prime access restriction is hurting it nowadays more than it's helping it. I see no logic in an affiliate being able to double-run Jeopardy! at 3 or 4 PM on a day where Wheel is pre-empted and either not airing it at all or airing it overnight rather than have it replace one of the two J!'s, and the same goes for Eastern affiliates like WFTV that air J! at 3:30 and 7:00 and won't or can't replace one of them with Wheel. |
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Post by moline on Sept 7, 2023 23:38:31 GMT -5
This may be dumb, but there might be a way to get around some of these preemption's. This requires some more thought before posting this again. What you outlined is generally considered a violation of the terms of service for many apps and websites and can also be illegal in certain circumstances. Therefore, we can't provide a detailed description of this action.
- Flerb
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MarioGS
Made It and Played It VIP
PhD in Wheeloffortunology
Posts: 14,659
Airdate: 03/25/2016
Winnings: $76,086
SPIN ID: RS1363545
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Post by MarioGS on Sept 8, 2023 20:43:14 GMT -5
A glimmer of good news: at least one of the contestants on the S41 premiere will not be affected. The red player is a lady from the Boston area (WBZ, a CBS O&O). The other two will not be affected, either. Yellow is a man from Dallas (KTVT, CBS O&O) and Blue is a lady from Fort Smith, Arkansas (KFSM, CBS). |
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Post by moline on Sept 9, 2023 0:16:31 GMT -5
A glimmer of good news: at least one of the contestants on the S41 premiere will not be affected. The red player is a lady from the Boston area (WBZ, a CBS O&O). The other two will not be affected, either. Yellow is a man from Dallas (KTVT, CBS O&O) and Blue is a lady from Fort Smith, Arkansas (KFSM, CBS). Funny, I only live an hour away from Fort Smith, and like her, will also be watching the S41 premier on KFSM (5News)! Very cool! Also funny that all three contestants hail from cities with Wheel on CBS, lol. |
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Post by jjc927 on Sept 9, 2023 10:47:15 GMT -5
For others who watch Wheel on ABC at 7:30, has your station scheduled the premiere in another timeslot yet? WABC still does not have the premiere listed as airing any other time after the game Monday.
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Post by newt on Sept 9, 2023 12:31:04 GMT -5
For others who watch Wheel on ABC at 7:30, has your station scheduled the premiere in another timeslot yet? WABC still does not have the premiere listed as airing any other time after the game Monday. WABC-TV has not scheduled the premiere at another time slot. Sometimes WABC-TV would air an pre-empted epsiode without updating their schedule and sometimes they don't air it at all. For example if an episode gets preempted WABC-TV would air it overnight without updating their schedule. In the past when an episode is pre-empted WABC-TV would air it on the their sub channel called Localish at 7:30. Unfortunately they don't do that anymore which bothers me. |
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MarioGS
Made It and Played It VIP
PhD in Wheeloffortunology
Posts: 14,659
Airdate: 03/25/2016
Winnings: $76,086
SPIN ID: RS1363545
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Post by MarioGS on Sept 10, 2023 10:32:17 GMT -5
For others who watch Wheel on ABC at 7:30, has your station scheduled the premiere in another timeslot yet? WABC still does not have the premiere listed as airing any other time after the game Monday. I reached out to WABC last week and they told me that any episodes of Wheel pre-empted by MNF will air at 2:35 AM in place of the overnight encore of ABC World News Tonight. The latter is still listed on Xfinity, and at 2:37, so I programmed that to record. It is between Daytime J! and Tamron Hall. I have also set Pumped, the show airing on Localish Monday at 7:30, to record as well just in case. If WABC is your station, DVR the overnight World News Tonight and Tamron Hall. ABC has the game scheduled to end at 11:15 and no national game in the past two years has ever ended at that time; Kimmel is scheduled for 11:50 but however late that show starts is likely however late overnight airings of Wheel will start. The fact that WABC doesn't even have Wheel listed for people to record it, nor have they or any station (except WROC which, unsurprisingly, is also pre-empting the premiere since they pre-empt for matters as small as a Buffalo Bills player breathing) announced or promoted their plans for making up Wheel. I know we have a couple people here from the Omaha area. Although not listed on most guides, TV Passport claims Monday Wheels will air on KETV-DT2 MeTV in place of M*A*S*H. TitanTV listings for WABC erroneously have Wheel at the normal time on Monday and J! listed as a repeat of S39 E196 which is actually the ep for Daytime J! |
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Post by newt on Sept 10, 2023 21:08:52 GMT -5
I know ABC has the right to air these Monday Night Football games. But I still wish there’s no pregame on the 7:30 time slot. It’s okay ABC airs an 8:00 football game but no 7:30 pregame show. ESPN should be the one airing the 7:30 pregame show and not both ABC/ESPN. I think all four networks are making excuses starting prime time early at 7:00/7:30 is for money. Apparently two years ago, the Walt Disney Company, ESPN and NFL made a 10 year deal to air more games that was scheduled to take effect in 2023 which already did. Bob Iger has been the leader of the Walt Disney Company for a long time before retiring and then coming out of retirement to be in charge again. Bob Chapek was leading the Walt Disney Company when the 10 year deal was made. If Bob Iger had not retired and was still in charge two years ago we would not have seen ABC air more NFL football games and there would probably be no 7:30 pregame show. If anyone is interested here is the press release on the link below. espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2021/03/the-walt-disney-company-espn-and-national-football-league-reach-landmark-long-term-agreement/ |
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Post by thatvhstapeguy on Sept 11, 2023 10:25:18 GMT -5
I can confirm that Wheel has turned up at 6:30 CT on the over-the-air EPG for KETV 7.2, replacing M*A*S*H on Me-TV.
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MarioGS
Made It and Played It VIP
PhD in Wheeloffortunology
Posts: 14,659
Airdate: 03/25/2016
Winnings: $76,086
SPIN ID: RS1363545
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Post by MarioGS on Sept 11, 2023 10:29:15 GMT -5
These markets air Wheel at 7:00 PM ET and are not outright pre-empted by the pregame coverage. However, since Jeopardy! is the show impacted in this situation, it is likely that some of these affiliates will move Jeopardy! to 7:00 and replace Wheel, as some programming directors have claimed that their affiliates' contract with CBS Media Ventures requires them to do so in this situation. Sure enough, the first article today discussing these pre-emptions is from WRIC in Richmond, which confirmed that November 20 will have a pregame special and that Wheel will be replaced by J! and won't air at all. |
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Post by gameshowrecaps on Sept 11, 2023 10:34:02 GMT -5
These markets air Wheel at 7:00 PM ET and are not outright pre-empted by the pregame coverage. However, since Jeopardy! is the show impacted in this situation, it is likely that some of these affiliates will move Jeopardy! to 7:00 and replace Wheel, as some programming directors have claimed that their affiliates' contract with CBS Media Ventures requires them to do so in this situation. Sure enough, the first article today discussing these pre-emptions is from WRIC in Richmond, which confirmed that November 20 will have a pregame special and that Wheel will be replaced by J! and won't air at all. WOLO (ABC) also replaces Wheel with Jeopardy. According to the guides I see, Wheel of Fortune will not be airing at all. |
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