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Post by StrangerCoug on Jan 29, 2013 18:08:49 GMT -5
There is a LOT of information here, and I haven't dug through all of them yet, so you are free to ask me questions about the mid-1990s period. All 15 newsletters made it but I'm going to go a little bit at a time, starting with 1993 (and then-known information for 1994). CALENDARUnless otherwise marked, tapings are at home base at the time. February 8-26, 1993: Red Letter Contest February 13 and 14, 1993: Tapings February 26 and 27, 1993: Contestant search in Grand Rapids, MI March 1-3 and 12-14, 1993: Tapings March 24 and 25, 1993: Contestant search in Boston April 9-11, 1993: Tapings at The Wang Center in Boston May 6-8, 1993: Tapings May 23-30, 1993: Wheel's Caribbean Cruise on the M/S Seaward, a then-new entry to the Norwegian Cruise Line. There is a mention of tapings, but I don't see any mention when exactly they are. It is certainly within that range, though, given an entry later in November. May 26, 1993: Emmy Awards, of which the Spring 1993 issue says Wheel is nominated for four. As it had not yet happened at the time of publication of the source, I don't know if it won any; someone would have to look that up. June 1-25, 1993: Contestant search in Metropolis, IL, specifically mentioned to be at Players Riverboat Casino at Merv Griffin's Landing June 14-17, 1993: Taping at Walt Disney World in Orlando August 11-13 and 16-17, 1993: Tapings August 31-September 1, 1993: Contestant search in Chicago September 6, 1993: Season premiere, but you knew that  First week is Teen Week. September 27, 1993: The entry says "Join us on location with shows from Walt Disney World Florida". There is no mention on the calendar whether it's an air date or a tape date. September 30, 1993: Tapings November 1-5, 1993: Cruise Week, where the winners of the Red Letter Sweepstakes are shown on board the Seaward. November 5-7, 1993: Tapings November 8-12, 1993: Wheel celebrates its 2000th episode this week; the phrasing is "a Bang-Up Birthday Celebration" November 15-19, 1993: My Favorite Teacher Week. It says that "we introduced this last year and it was so popular we've added it to our regular theme weeks." November 24-26, 1993: The Wheel of Fortune offices close for Thanksgiving. December 4-5, 1993: Contestant search in Miami. December 8-9, 1993: Believed to be tapings; the entry says "Shoot Christmas locations at Walt Disney World Florida." December 17-19 and 21-22, 1993: Tapings January 14-16, 1994: Tapings at Knight Center in Miami February 7-18, 1994: Movie Star Gold Letter Sweepstakes Some interesting notes: - The written tests have a five-minute time limit.
- Tapings didn't appear to be on set days of the week in the first half of 1993. The days of the week stop appearing in the calendar in the summer 1993 issue, so whether a trend occurs between then and mid-1996 I'd have to look up.
- The Winter 1993 issue has a picture of the original prize tags from 1975. It's in black and white, but they are large black numbers (not a lot of breathing room on the top and bottom) on a very light-colored background.
- From the puzzle board to the wheel was 70 feet in the Woolery days. It had increased to the length of a basketball court by the time of publication.
- A typical day in Merv's life early in 1993 went like this: At 6:00 a.m., Merv gets up, has a Jenny Craig breakfast (whatever that is), and take a three-mile walk, during which he does his real creative thinking.) By 10:00 a.m., he's in his office drinking coffee, reading mail, and returning calls (~50 a day according to OC); he might have a short meeting around this time. His lunch break was 12:30 p.m.; he might eat at his desk or go to one of his own restaurants. At 2:00 p.m., it was back to work (with a yogurt break at 3:00 p.m.), and at 5:30 p.m., his work day was done. Once he got home, he would change clothes, watch Wheel and Jeopardy!, and go to dinner or a charity event.
- Not as much is given of Charlie O'Donnell, but here's how a typical 1993 taping went: At 1:00 p.m., he would arrive at CBS and go to commissary for lunch. At 1:15 p.m., he would go to Studio 33 for rehearsal. The live audience was seated by 1:45 p.m., and taping would start at 2:20 p.m. He had to give the prize descriptions exactly, and the timing was very precise.
- Jay Greenspan was the Wheel of Fortune receptionist in the summer of 1993, answering thousands of questions each week. One of them is how long Pat's been on the show; his answer of 12 years counts the daytime run. He admits that he doesn't know the answer to every single question and among the things he denied knowing in the issue are how many children Chuck Woolery had, Vanna's phone number, or what Fred Savage is like.
- Vanna White claims to have known that she wanted to be in show business when she was 10. At that time, her uncle, Christopher George, was the star of Rat Patrol, and she thought it was cool having a relative on TV. North Myrtle Beach, as small as it was, didn't really have the modeling or acting careers she wanted, so she went to fashion college in Atlanta. An ironic piece of advice she gives aspiring modelers in the source article says, "[D]on't let the photographer talk you into shooting you in a situation you might feel uncomfortable with."
- The $25,000 sign has 1,141 light bulbs.
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Post by MarioGS on Jan 29, 2013 18:30:11 GMT -5
Lots of cool stuff. Thanks for buying it!  Are there any mentions at all about Double Play? |
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Post by StrangerCoug on Jan 29, 2013 18:39:13 GMT -5
Are there any mentions at all about Double Play? Unfortunately, no. |
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Post by MarioGS on Jan 29, 2013 18:46:56 GMT -5
Not even in the first issue for S13 mentioning as a new Wheel feature? Man, that thing was pretty much unloved even when it existed.  |
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Post by StrangerCoug on Jan 29, 2013 18:52:24 GMT -5
Oh, my bad: I wasn't looking hard enough for it. It's on the back of the first fall 1995 issue.
To answer the question about what happens when a player uses Double Play and lands on a prize, they can choose to take Double Play back or apply it to the next spin. If a player uses Double Play and hits Bankrupt, it's lost just like everything else.
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Post by MarioGS on Jan 29, 2013 19:03:40 GMT -5
Wow, I don't think anyone had ever theorized that rule about prizes. Finally we have confirmation on that.
Does it say anything about whether it was lost TO Bankrupt if they player was holding it when they hit it? I've seen at least one account say no.
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Post by StrangerCoug on Jan 29, 2013 19:41:01 GMT -5
Wow, I don't think anyone had ever theorized that rule about prizes. Finally we have confirmation on that. Does it say anything about whether it was lost TO Bankrupt if they player was holding it when they hit it? I've seen at least one account say no. There is no explicit mention of that, but the phrasing ("They can ... use that marker to double the dollar value of any future spin throughout the remainder of the show") seems to support that account. Also, here's the 1994 calendar. I will not repeat information from the 1993 calendar. February 16-17 and 19-20, 1994: Tapings February 21-24, 1994: Contestant search in Little Rock, AR February 21-March 4, 1994: Miami shows air February 24-28, 1994: Contestant search in Atlanta March 5-8, 1994: Tapings at Walt Disney World March 15, 1994: Movie Star Gold Letter Sweepstakes announced March 20-27, 1994: Contestant search in Hawaii; "Multi-Island" implies more than one location in the state May 2-6, 1994: Music stars play for charity May 16-20, 1994: College Week May 18-20, 1994: Contestant search in New York (probably NYC, as the newsletter asks to watch WABC 7 for details) May 25, 1994: Emmy time again—no mention how many nominations, but both Wheel and J! have at least one. June 1, 1994: The due date for Vanna's baby. (The issue after the source one says the baby, Nicholas John Santo Pietro, he was born on June 10. He was 8 lbs. and 20½".) July 4, 1994: Wheel office is closed. July 6, 1994: Merv's birthday. July 29-30, 1994: Tapings. August 4-6, 1994: MSGLS "Winner's Weekend Celebration" at Universal Studios Hollywood. August 10-11, 1994: Tapings. August 24-25 and 27-28, 1994: Tapings. September 5, 1994: Season premiere (Teen Week once again). It mentions a new opening, new music, a new set, and new puzzle categories. September 14, 1994: Nicholas makes his first national TV appearance when Vanna shows him on the show.
September 19-20 and 22-23, 1994: Tapings.
October 11-12, 1994: Contestant search in Dallas
October 14-16, 1994: Wheel of Fortune (I think—it's in the first-person plural, so it's not clear, but it says to call for Off Camera VIP seats) is at the VTR Texas State Fair.
October 29-30, 1994: Tapings.
October 31-November 4, 1994: Texas State Fair Week.
November 1-2, 1994: Tapings.
November 7-18, 1994: Red, White, and Blue Sweepstakes.
November 18-19, 1994: Contestant search in Minneapolis.
November 21-25, 1994: Dallas Week.
November 24-27, 1994: WOF office closed.
December 17-18 and 20-21, 1994: Tapings.
December 19-23, 1994: Home for the Holidays Week.
January 14, 1995: Pat's baby was expected on this date at the time of publication of the Fall 1994 newsletter.
The days of the week reappear in the Fall 1994 calendar.
Off Camera had a Vanna Look-a-Like contest for the chance to win a three-night trip to Los Angeles, $500 in spending money, two VIP tickets to Wheel and a cameo appearance at the end of the show. Contestants had to be an adult female legal U.S. resident that were either subscribed to OC as of July 1, 1994 or entered by someone who was. Entries consisted of the contestant's name, address, and phone number; those of the subscriber if different; a "head shot"; and a "full body shot" and were mailed to "Wheel of Fortune's Vanna Look-a-Like Contest", P.O. Box 57107, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. If the winner was not an Off Camera subscriber, the one who entered her had to go with her. I don't know the winner yet. |
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Post by WarioSajak on Jan 29, 2013 22:45:10 GMT -5
Holy crap I don't know where to start... May 26, 1993: Emmy Awards, of which the Spring 1993 issue says Wheel is nominated for four. As it had not yet happened at the time of publication of the source, I don't know if it won any; someone would have to look that up. Like many things, the History Wiki's got it covered (and has for quite some time). The only Emmy it won that year was Outstanding Game Show Host. May 25, 1994: Emmy time again—no mention how many nominations, but both Wheel and J! have at least one. had just one -- Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show, which it lost to Jeopardy!The Winter 1993 issue has a picture of the original prize tags from 1975. It's in black and white, but they are large black numbers (not a lot of breathing room on the top and bottom) on a very light-colored background. Having seen some clips of the premiere, the background's either white or cream. I'd love to see any Woolery-era pictures you find, by the way. The $25,000 sign has 1,141 light bulbs. Randy Berke stated in an early Season 7 show (after Pat asked) that it was 1,206. You'd think the disappearance of 65 bulbs in 3+ years would be noticeable. From the puzzle board to the wheel was 70 feet in the Woolery days. It had increased to the length of a basketball court by the time of publication. Three things spring to mind: 1) No wonder I liked the Woolery-era set before. I kept on saying it had a "living room" feel, and this cements it. 2) Which Woolery set are they talking about? 1975 (with the doors), 1975-81 (with the curtain), or December 1981 (with the turntable)? Because everything I've seen of the 1974 and '75-door sets indicated there was less than 70 feet of space between the puzzle board and Wheel. 3) ...How long is that distance now? |
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Post by jmdarrall on Jan 29, 2013 22:53:13 GMT -5
How long is the distance now? Hmmm...I know for a fact that Stage 11 at Sony is 200 feet long by about 100 feet wide. Behind the Wheel is a corridor about 5 feet wide, followed by the Green Room, which has to be about 20 feet wide (compensating for the area behind the big screen, too). The board is clear on the other side of the stage, and behind the board are more corridors and rooms. I'd say that the distance between where the players stand and the puzzle board now is a good 80-100 feet, at least.
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Post by StrangerCoug on Jan 29, 2013 23:18:00 GMT -5
2) Which Woolery set are they talking about? 1975 (with the doors), 1975-81 (with the curtain), or December 1981 (with the turntable)? Because everything I've seen of the 1974 and '75-door sets indicated there was less than 70 feet of space between the puzzle board and Wheel. Probably the curtain set. It says, "In the beginning there was the letter board and the wheel. In between lay seventy feet of small, often exquisite prizes. A three-sided carousel made the movement smoother and allowed for elaborate displays. Finally, the displays outgrew the carousel. Today [in the winter of 1993], the stage between Vanna and Pat, practically the length of a basketball court, is usually filled with just three prizes." Edited to add: On with the 1995 calendar (and what they had planned of 1996 in 1995). January 9-13, 1995: Wheel into 1995 January 13, 1995: Winner of Vanna Look-a-Like Contest (Rosanne Basile, by the way) makes her cameo January 16-17, 1995: Contestant search in Orlando January 16-20, 1995: My Best Friend week January 18-19 and 21-22, 1995: Tapings at Walt Disney World in Orlando February 6-10, 1995: My Favorite Teacher Week February 16-17, 1995: Tapings February 20-24, 1995: Some of the Greats Week February 26-27, 1995: Tapings March 1, 1995: Tapings March 10-12, 1995: Tapings April 10-14, 1995: Teen Week April 28-29, 1995: Tapings aboard USS Eisenhower, docked in Norfolk, VA April 30, 1995: Prize packages and show montages in and around Norfolk are taped. May 1, 1995: Tapings for Armed Forces Week aboard USS EisenhowerMay 1-5: 1995: Celebrity Week May 7-15, 1995: Alaska Cruise aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's M/S Windward. I don't know its relevance to Wheel right now, but there could be tapings for Cruise Week in June in this timeframe. May 15-19, 1995: Armed Forces Week May 22-26, 1995: Norfolk Week May 24-26, 1995: Tapings. Ten of the fifteen are for Cruise Week and Teen Week. May 29, 1995: WOF office closed June 1995: "Possible" contestant search in Bakersfield, CA. No clue whether it actually happened. June 12-16, 1995: Cruise Week June 19-23, 1995: Teen Week September 4-8, 1995: Season premiere week, which is guess what? Teen Week. September 20-22, 1995: Tapings in Seattle. Five of the ten are for College Week. October 19-20, 1995: Tapings. Five of the ten are for Country Music Week. October 26-27, 1995: Tapings. All ten are for regular episodes. November 6-10, 1995: Seattle Week November 12-14, 1995: Contestant search in San Diego November 13-17, 1995: College Week November 19-20, 1995: Contestant search in Nashville November 20-25, 1995: Celebrity Week (apparently originally scheduled to be Country Music Week—not clear to me what happened right now) November 27-December 1, 1995: "Vanna's Experiment with New Hairstyles". The punctuation is mine, not the calendar's, so I don't think the week actually has an official name. It may actually be only one day; we'd have to watch the episodes in question. December 1-2, 1995: Tapings. All ten are for regular episodes. December 4, 1995: Vanna's decision on her hairstyle airs. December 9-10, 1995: Contestant search in Sacramento December 14-16, 1995: Tapings. Five of the fifteen are for Sweethearts Week. December 25-29, 1995: Family Week January 1-5: 1996: Olympic Kickoff/Wheel into 1996 January 8-12, 1996: Best Friends Week January 12-14, 1996: Tapings on Hawaii's Big Island. Ten shows. - Strangely, there are no Summer 1995 issues and two Fall 1995 issues. The Double Play information is from the first, Volume 3 Issue 3.
- The Teen Week in April 1995 appears in an article describing it, not the calendar. I put it in my version to keep everything together.
- Harry Friedman was in the audience for some very early 1975 episodes of Wheel.
- They had to repaint part of the Wheel on the Space Needle due to a rain shower.
Edited again to add: The 1996 calendar looks like this: February 1-2, 1996: Tapings. All ten are for regular episodes. February 5-9, 1996: Sweethearts Week February 10-11, 1996: Contestant search in Houston February 12-16, 1996: Big Island Week February 15-16, 1996: Contestant search in Denver February 29-March 1, 1996: Tapings. All ten are for regular episodes. March 26-27, 1996: Contestant search in Atlanta March 29-31, 1996: Tapings at Fox Theater in Atlanta. The five on the 29th are for Olympic Champions Week; the five on the 30th and the five on the 31st are both for Olympic Games Week. April 17-19, 1996: Tapings. All fifteen are for Olympic Sweepstakes April 22-26, 1996: Olympic Games Kickoff Week April 29-May 3, 1996: Olympic Games Week May 2-3, 1996: Tapings. The five on May 2 are for Olympic Games Salute Week, the others are for regular episodes. May 6-24, 1996: Olympic Games Sweepstakes May 8-9, 1996: Contestant search in Indianapolis May 27-31, 1996: Olympic Games Salute Week July 15-18, 1996: Olympic Champions Week. (Haven't the slightest why it says there's no Friday episode.) July 22-26, 1996: Baskin-Robbins "Watch to Win" week July 23-August 4, 1996: The winners of the Olympic Games Sweepstakes attend the Olympic Games (winners from first week on first week, winners from second week on second week, and winners from third week on third week). August 8-9, 1996: Tapings. From here until the calendar runs out, these are all for ten regular episodes. August 15-16, 1996: Tapings. August 22-23, 1996: Tapings. September 5-6, 1996: Tapings. September 19-20, 1996: Tapings. October 24-25, 1996: Tapings. - I can only imagine what the Wheel of Fortune Choco-Letter Crunch from Baskin Robbins tasted like (it was the Flavor of the Month for July 1996). It's sad wanting something you know you're not going to get
- Another sad thing: Unless we have smart boardies, we will never know the answer to the puzzler on the back of the Summer 1996 issue (THING: _ I L _ _ T T - _ _ U R). Apparently, more newsletters were planned but never came about, and the letter notifying subscribers that Off Camera has been cancelled is not until December 1997.
- Tiebreakers still work the same way at the time of the 1996 Olympic Games as they did in 1993.
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Post by William on Feb 6, 2013 22:19:20 GMT -5
Jeff, can you post that picture of the original price tags, please? I've been wanting to see a clearer pic of them.
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Post by therealcu2010 on Feb 6, 2013 22:51:44 GMT -5
...what was this doing in RW? No wonder I couldn't find it.  MOVED to Buying Your Time. |
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Post by WarioSajak on Feb 7, 2013 6:07:16 GMT -5
May 1-5, 1995: Tapings for Armed Forces Week aboard USS Eisenhower Strange. May 1 was Celebrity Award Winners Week, which isn't mentioned at all. June 12-16, 1995: Cruise Week June 19-23, 1995: Teen Week  ...Official confirmation that Season 12 had 42 weeks instead of the traditional 41 thanks to, for some reason, a third week of repeats? Didn't see that coming. Ever. Big-time question: was there any mention of Nancy Jones' departure and/or Harry Friedman's hiring? That would seem like something you'd want to point out (or perhaps not, given why Nancy was dismissed and how Friedman came to know about the now-open position). November 27-December 1, 1995: "Vanna's Experiment with New Hairstyles". The punctuation is mine, not the calendar's, so I don't think the week actually has an official name. It may actually be only one day; we'd have to watch the episodes in question. During all of that week, the end segment consisted of the two talking about Vanna's hair; at least two showed computer-generated images of her with different potential hairstyles. Pat then lopped off a portion of her hair on Friday and audibly distributed strands among the audience during the credits. That aside, did it mention Johnny Gilbert filling in for that week and the next? December 25-29, 1995: Family Week I want to say that's wrong, since the last week of the year was usually reserved for repeats. I'm pretty sure that was the week of December 18. Tiebreakers still work the same way at the time of the 1996 Olympic Games as they did in 1993. Not surprising; the procedure only changed when the Toss-Ups debuted. Harry Friedman was in the audience for some very early 1975 episodes ... I'm not sure whether to smile, cry, facepalm, headdesk, or throw more tomatoes. |
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Post by tenpoundhammer on Feb 7, 2013 10:26:03 GMT -5
May 1-5, 1995: Tapings for Armed Forces Week aboard USS Eisenhower Strange. May 1 was Celebrity Award Winners Week, which isn't mentioned at all. I know I found a news article once that confirmed CAWW as 5/1/95, but I can't find it now. Daniel? |
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Post by StrangerCoug on Feb 7, 2013 14:12:01 GMT -5
Tapings are distinct from airings, though in your defense, I put all five dates for CAWW week (mentioned as just "Celebrity Week") as the tape dates for AFW and left off the former. It should be May 1 only for the latter. (The mistake's on my end—OC should have it right.) ( Edited to add: I've corrected the information.) There is an article about Harry Friedman being a new hire; that's where I got the information that Harry Friedman was in the audience in 1975. I don't see anything explicit about Nancy Jones leaving. My focus is on other things right now (which is why, despite theoretically having all the time in the world, I only see myself updating my game once or twice a day), but I'll try to get you a picture of the tags today. Edited to add:During all of that week, the end segment consisted of the two talking about Vanna's hair; at least two showed computer-generated images of her with different potential hairstyles. Pat then lopped off a portion of her hair on Friday and audibly distributed strands among the audience during the credits. That aside, did it mention Johnny Gilbert filling in for that week and the next? No. |
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Post by jmdarrall on Feb 7, 2013 14:21:53 GMT -5
I think you may have left off a blank in the "unknown puzzle." It looks to be KILOWATT-HOUR.
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Post by StrangerCoug on Feb 7, 2013 14:25:07 GMT -5
I think you may have left off a blank in the "unknown puzzle." It looks to be KILOWATT-HOUR. You know, I did, and that very-well may be it. |
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First week is Teen Week.
