1. The Wheel Spin the Wheel (2019)
An illustration of an article titled A Brief History of Spinning: 6 Game Show Wheels
Screen shot: The wheel spins
Fox's new summer contest, Spin The Wheel, proposes, in its title, accepting the game's bid basics. As TV shows advance, what's easier than Jane Citizen spinning a cash wheel? "Everyone knows how to turn the wheel," notes Spin The Wheel executive producer Justin Timberlake at the start of each episode. But, "he continued, Timberlake.
The rest of the offer corresponds to that "but". Spin's simplicity is just a bait to lure lucid viewers into Justin Timberlake's maze of game venues. In addition to its wheel, Spin includes a simple pop culture quiz. Love stories of human interests. Decision points, style of deal or disagreement. And so on.
For the rider's family companion, yes, there's one of them too, Spin The Wheel conjures up an open-air privacy booth, with glowing panels envelop the passenger in a 24th-century toilet fashion (if future residents are so lucky.).
2. The Extra Question Wheel, You Bet Your Life (1950-1961)
A You Bet Your Life contestant looks at the spinning wheel, while host Groucho Marx isn't.
Screen shot: You have played your life
It's natural to assume wheels have always been a staple of game show design, but in fact, until the mid-1970s, they were a rarity on American television. When a wheel appeared, it was only used to make an engraving.
For example, contestants at Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life might spin a wheel to increase the value of an extra question, but it was so simple that Groucho's tended to let his sight wander, smoking his cigar like a glorified cigar. The pizza plate rotates on its axis. (Groucho considered every element of the game careless, as the audition was a superficial introduction to his banter with the often eccentric You Bet contestants.)
Although small in size, The You Bet Wheel was featured enough at the time to warrant a major spot in at least one version of the show's impressive opening titles, an indication of just how bizarre it was at the time.
3. The Wheel, Wheel Of Fortune (1973 - present)
A typical mid-1980s aerial shot of an Ed Flesh Ferris wheel
Screen shot: Wheel of Fortune
This would be the turn of Wheel, a casual player, until Wheel Of Fortune elevated it to metaphor. This breakthrough came after a series of false starts. The Wheel germ was implanted when host and TV producer Merv Griffin fell in love with the big, free-standing gambling wheel that often saw it float in the main entrance of Las Vegas casinos, known in commerce as the "Big Wheel". Six, but also called "Wheel of Fortune."
Big Six is not a good game. It is a roulette game for people who are very stupid to deal with roulette. Did not matter. Griffin was only interested in the aesthetic appeal of the Big Six. He already had a game concept in action, Hangman had it on TV, and he knew it was a pretty boring speech on his own. In the Big Six's fluid and adorable move, he saw a visual trick to bring a pun to life. According to his diary on Merv, he sent Merv President Griffin Enterprises to meet with an executive from Caesars Palace and learn about Big Six's design secrets. This bold investigation will turn out to be less significant than Griffin imagined.
4. Big Wheel, Right Price (1975 - Present)
The Big Wheel As seen during the Showcase Showdown Tour of the 2018 episode of The Price Is Right
Screen shot: The price is correct
Wheel Of Fortune wasn't an instant hit, but Flesh's creation was so seductive that it sparked envy on the wheels in the game show industry. Mark Goodson, the most successful and prolific executive producer in the genre, was not immune. Despite using it several times in the past, Goodson oversaw adding wheels to two of his biggest franchises in the late 1970s; one of these wheels was a lasting success and the other was an unhelpful complication of a lot of things. Turns out. The "price is right" wheel was the first.
The wheel takes a while to slow down, and this quality is useful when you have time to fill it, as the Price Is Right team did in the fall of 1975. The Price's Bob Barker version has remained in the half-hour format since it first appeared in 1972, but as the show entered its season Fourth as the network's confirmed representative, CBS has been considering the idea of extending the price to 60 minutes. This would be a boon for Goodson, but it created a new challenge for the Price producers.
The half-hour price ring is structured quite simply: first, there is the opening sequence, then three price games are played, and finally comes the show round (where the two main winners of the day compete for deluxe prize packages). As for the one-hour format, producers have doubled the number of price groups, it's very simple. But they cannot repeat everything. They were unable to broadcast two title sequences, and were unable to play two rounds of the show, as the show is the pinnacle of the price ring.
A little bit of play was needed to make up for the deficiency and allow Price to occupy his new expanded space. Thus Showcase Showdown was born.
On the Showcase Showdown Tour, three contestants spin a wheel for the highest possible score without exceeding $ 1.00. Whoever comes on top moves to the show at the end of the hour. Showcase Showdown ran twice per episode, solving the mystery of Price's times. However, the new wheel caused a headache of its own.
The first iteration of the Showcase Showdown wheel, seen over a week of test episodes that tested the 60-minute format, was a fixed spinning wheel similar to the one that caught Merv Griffin's attention. In an echo of Shopper's Bazaar's chaos, it creates thorny issues of photography and organization.
The rainbow color wheel was so pretty, but it left no room for the three players, who had to climb from the Row Contestants area to the edge of the Bryce Theater. After the rotation, the main participant moved to a separate platform to view his score. All this movement created a slow and choppy rhythm. The show's first showdown lasted roughly six minutes. Very long!
5. Star Wheel, the Matching Game (1990)
An illustration of an article entitled Brief History of Spinning: 6 Wheels Games
Screenshot: The Matching Game (1990
The Star Wheel wasn't the beginning of Richard Dawson's matching game difficulties, nor was it the end of it. (Dawson will eventually be released from match-game obligations after a recording in which he not only refused to smile, but also refused to remove his sunglasses.) The most significant consequence of the Star Wheel disaster is that it shows how little Mark Goodson and his staff understand the success of Match Game.
Lost in the midst of Star Wheel's personal drama is the fact that the wheel has nothing to do with the Match Game in the first place. The Price Is Right A Carnival Setting - A Wheel To Fit. But Match Game is a drunk and quiet party where Hollywood B characters make silly jokes. The flashy game of fortune doesn't match the mood of a cocktail party.
However, he does agree with how Goodson perceived the show. As the 1970s progressed, the celebrity's funny banter was drastically curtailed and the show focused more intensely on its kind game. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Goodson believed that the appeal of the Match Game lay in its gameplay, which resembles the belief that the allure of ice cream lies in a glass bowl.
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Mark Goodson's son, Jonathan, oversaw the (short-lived) revival of the Match Game in 1990. Jonathan's choices made it clear that his father's misunderstanding of the show was innate. Match '90 influenced the format with boring gameplay elements like "Match-Up!" The round in which players and celebrities tried to fill in the blanks at a rapid pace, apparently based on the theory that the match-game crowd demanded less fun and more matchmaking.
This revival also kept a hold of the Star Wheel (a bug not repeated by the current prime time game from ABC). The 1990 Star Wheel is only forgotten for its innovative design. Instead of spinning the wheel, contestants would take a pointer and toss it around a disc decorated with the names of famous committee members. It is a rare example that a gaming display wheel does not spin.
6. The Wheel, The Great Turn (1985-2009)
A close-up of the winning wheel from The Big Spin, showing a ball instead of a clapper
Screen shot: The Big Spin
It would be harder to find a show with more pure dedication to the wheel than The Big Spin, a California lottery show that has aired, in various permutations, for more than two decades after its first showing in 1985. In its original form, the Big Spin was nothing more than a spin. One by one, the contestants (who made their way through the air playing the zero tickets) joined host Jeff Edwards on stage, exchanged little gossip, then spin a wheel loaded with cash prizes that turned into millions.
As a domestic sweepstakes show, it's unlikely that many viewers outside the West Coast are aware of The Big Spin. However, Spin The Wheel designers will certainly remember it fondly, because The Big Spin provided the clear inspiration for the supplement of the same name. Like the Spin The Wheel, The Big Spin focuses on a Big Six-ish standing wheel (a design that's applicable if you want to build your entire show around it) but with one major difference: Instead of a clapper outside the rim of the wheel, The Big Spin employs a roulette ball inside the wheel. , And bounces madly before flipping into a wedge as you slow down.