Post by classictvman1981x on Jan 3, 2013 20:36:04 GMT -5
If there are any thoughts I remember of the classic Wheel of Fortune--both daytime and syndication--I'd like to know whether you guys have ever seen the following episodes:
12/1/75-1/16/76 = Wheel, after nearly one year on the air, is expanded to a full hour for seven weeks.
September/October 1977 = Susan is absent due to cracked vertebrae which occurred while she was doing rehearsals for ABC's Circus of the Stars. 1975's Miss USA Summer Bartholomew (who had become the third co-host of $ale of the Century 12/31/84) fills in, although a renowned male actor, Arte Johnson, also assumed the post for a day (primarily to promote his own NBC game show, Knockout)
5/24/79-6/8/79 = Susan is absent again due to a dislocated shoulder joint she suffered after a car accident. Summer Bartholomew again assumes the post through 6/1/79, then Cynthia Washington takes over for the next week.
12/25/81 = Chuck Woolery's final episode of Wheel.
12/28/81 = Pat Sajak's first episode of Wheel.
10/22/82 = Susan Stafford's final episode of Wheel. She would, however, return to the daytime Wheel for a time in 1986 while Vanna took time off to mourn the loss of her then-boyfriend, John Gibson, who had died in a plane crash.
10/25/82-12/10/82 = Susan officially quits Wheel. These seven weeks serve as a test-bed for Susan's replacement: In addition to Summer Bartholomew, former Playboy model Vicki McCarty and Vanna White (who once appeared on The Price is Right) also try out the letter-turner stint, but Vanna prevails and ultimately became the new letter-turner starting 12/13/82.
12/13/82 = Vanna White's official Wheel debut.
8/8/83 = Merv Griffin's "Changing Keys" becomes the new Wheel theme song, one month before the syndicated version debuts.
10/5/87-10/30/87 = "The Big Month of Cash" hits the PM Wheel, a trial run where contestants played solely for cash without shopping for items between rounds. The new format scored well and shopping never returned.
1/9/89 and 1/10/89 = Pat Sajak quits the AM Wheel; Rolf Benirschke, a former NFL star and Crohn's Disease patient, took over the next day. Pat left his old job (he would, however, continue hosting the PM Wheel, which he still does today) so he could do a late-night talk show for CBS, which was cancelled after over one year. Rolf's stint on Wheel lasted until NBC cancelled the show for the first time on 6/30/89. Following the show's move to CBS two weeks later, they selected a new host to go with it: Bob Goen. Shopping rounds were also removed.
January 1991 = Tricia Gist, then-girlfriend and now wife of Tony Griffin (son of Merv), took over letter-turning duties on the AM Wheel for two weeks while Vanna enjoyed her honeymoon with her then-new husband, George San Pietro. At the same time, the AM Wheel switched back from CBS to its old network, NBC, for which then-host Bob Goen said he was "pleased as punch."
How many of you had high hopes back in 1982 that Summer Bartholomew (instead of Vanna White) would become the permanent replacement for Susan Stafford, given the fact she had previously taken over for Susan for a time in 1977 and 1979?
Also, were there any PM episodes of Wheel from the 1983-89 period in which Vanna White was absent? If so, who had assumed her PM spot for those times? Lesly Sajak, wife of Pat, may be one such candidate.
I'm also writing this list of episodes for a possible Wheel of Fortune best-of DVD set.
~Ben
12/1/75-1/16/76 = Wheel, after nearly one year on the air, is expanded to a full hour for seven weeks.
September/October 1977 = Susan is absent due to cracked vertebrae which occurred while she was doing rehearsals for ABC's Circus of the Stars. 1975's Miss USA Summer Bartholomew (who had become the third co-host of $ale of the Century 12/31/84) fills in, although a renowned male actor, Arte Johnson, also assumed the post for a day (primarily to promote his own NBC game show, Knockout)
5/24/79-6/8/79 = Susan is absent again due to a dislocated shoulder joint she suffered after a car accident. Summer Bartholomew again assumes the post through 6/1/79, then Cynthia Washington takes over for the next week.
12/25/81 = Chuck Woolery's final episode of Wheel.
12/28/81 = Pat Sajak's first episode of Wheel.
10/22/82 = Susan Stafford's final episode of Wheel. She would, however, return to the daytime Wheel for a time in 1986 while Vanna took time off to mourn the loss of her then-boyfriend, John Gibson, who had died in a plane crash.
10/25/82-12/10/82 = Susan officially quits Wheel. These seven weeks serve as a test-bed for Susan's replacement: In addition to Summer Bartholomew, former Playboy model Vicki McCarty and Vanna White (who once appeared on The Price is Right) also try out the letter-turner stint, but Vanna prevails and ultimately became the new letter-turner starting 12/13/82.
12/13/82 = Vanna White's official Wheel debut.
8/8/83 = Merv Griffin's "Changing Keys" becomes the new Wheel theme song, one month before the syndicated version debuts.
10/5/87-10/30/87 = "The Big Month of Cash" hits the PM Wheel, a trial run where contestants played solely for cash without shopping for items between rounds. The new format scored well and shopping never returned.
1/9/89 and 1/10/89 = Pat Sajak quits the AM Wheel; Rolf Benirschke, a former NFL star and Crohn's Disease patient, took over the next day. Pat left his old job (he would, however, continue hosting the PM Wheel, which he still does today) so he could do a late-night talk show for CBS, which was cancelled after over one year. Rolf's stint on Wheel lasted until NBC cancelled the show for the first time on 6/30/89. Following the show's move to CBS two weeks later, they selected a new host to go with it: Bob Goen. Shopping rounds were also removed.
January 1991 = Tricia Gist, then-girlfriend and now wife of Tony Griffin (son of Merv), took over letter-turning duties on the AM Wheel for two weeks while Vanna enjoyed her honeymoon with her then-new husband, George San Pietro. At the same time, the AM Wheel switched back from CBS to its old network, NBC, for which then-host Bob Goen said he was "pleased as punch."
How many of you had high hopes back in 1982 that Summer Bartholomew (instead of Vanna White) would become the permanent replacement for Susan Stafford, given the fact she had previously taken over for Susan for a time in 1977 and 1979?
Also, were there any PM episodes of Wheel from the 1983-89 period in which Vanna White was absent? If so, who had assumed her PM spot for those times? Lesly Sajak, wife of Pat, may be one such candidate.
I'm also writing this list of episodes for a possible Wheel of Fortune best-of DVD set.
~Ben
