Jul 03, 2015 Wheel of Fortune August 06, 2020 - WOF 8072020 Wheel of Fortune 08072020 News Today 2W-ZTxlKWgPg360p. Join us as we relive Wheel of Fortune's glory days, with such amazing spaces like Buy A Vowel, and $75. Relive the best puzzles ever made, with all that WAX. Sub-boards: Nighttime Wheel: 1983-89, Nighttime Wheel: 1990-99, Nighttime Wheel: 2000-08, Daytime Wheel, Around the World, Spinoffs/Miscellaneous. May 23, 2020 Wheel of Fortune- May 27, 1985 (partial).
| Wheel of Fortune (1983) | |
| Premiere | September 19, 1983 |
| Airs | check local listings |
| Creator | Merv Griffin |
| Host | Pat Sajak and Vanna White |
| Provider | Syndication |
| Style | 30-minute game show |
| Company | Merv Griffin Enterprises(1983-1994), Columbia TriStar Television(1994-2002), Sony Pictures Television(2002- ) |
| Distributor | King World(1983-2007)CBS Television Distribution(2007-2020) CBS Media Ventures(2021- ) |
| Seasons | 36 |
| Episodes | 7,000 (as of May 10, 2019) |
| Status | Currently airing season 36 Renewed through season 40 (2022-2023) |
| Origin | USA |
| Official Site | Wheel of Fortune |
Wheel of Fortune is the second and current incarnation of the popular game showWheel of Fortune. This version airs in syndication and is hosted by Pat Sajak, who was also one of the hosts on the original daytime version.
The nighttime Wheel was the first game show in syndication to be stripped as a five-night-a-week series during prime time access* (7 PM and 7:30 PM Eastern). It quickly became the top rated syndicated program on TV and it has held that position since. Sometime later, repeats from previous seasons were offered on Saturday evenings.
Game play was identical to the daytime show (which ended in 1991). Over the last ten years, a new wrinkle was added: the contestant to spin first was decided from who is the first to solve a toss-up puzzle. Also, the prize to be played for in the bonus round was determined by spinning a small wheel with small folded placards hiding the prize. A $1 million wedge was added to the big wheel. Whoever lands on it and is top winner at the end (provided no 'Bankrupts' are hit before then) vies for the $1 million in the bonus round. The contestant must land on the $1 million on the small wheel in order to play for it.
Other wrinkles had been the Jackpot round, in which a pot starts at $5000 and increases with the money values the Wheel stops on with the player solving the puzzle winning the jackpot provided he/she land on the Jackpot wedge. The most current is the Express, which upon being landed lets the contestant continue to select consonants for $1000 a pop until the puzzle is solved, with any missed letter causing him/her to bankrupt.
Longtime announcer Charlie O'Donnell died November 1, 2010. Wheel had guest announcers like Jeopardy! announcer Johnny Gilbert and Jim Thornton. Jim Thornton was named Wheel's permanent announcer on June 13, 2011.
- The original host of Wheel of Fortune was Chuck Woolery, who hosted the series from its 1975 premiere until December 25, 1981, save for one week in August 1980 when Alex Trebek hosted in his place. Woolery's departure came over a salary dispute with show creator Merv Griffin, and his contract was not renewed.
- Mary Goebel wins a round of Wheel of Fortune and is very excited!!!!!
NOTE: *Other syndicated game shows were five-day-a-week strips but were not intended for prime time access unless a station scheduled it for that time frame on their own accord.
Seasons
| Season | Premiere | Finale | # | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syndication | ||||||
| Season One | September 19, 1983 | June 15, 1984 | 195 | |||
| Season Two | September 10, 1984 | June 7, 1985 | 195 | |||
| Season Three | September 9, 1985 | June 6, 1986 | 195 | |||
| Season Four | September 8, 1986 | June 19, 1987 | 195 | |||
| Season Five | September 14, 1987 | June 10, 1988 | 195 | |||
| Season Six | September 5, 1988 | June 16, 1989 | 195 | |||
| Season Seven | September 4, 1989 | June 1, 1990 | 195 | |||
| Season Eight | September 3, 1990 | June 14, 1991 | 195 | |||
| Season Nine | September 2, 1991 | June 12, 1992 | 195 | |||
| Season Ten | September 7, 1992 | June 18, 1993 | 195 | |||
| Season Eleven | September 6, 1993 | June 17, 1994 | 195 | |||
| Season Twelve | September 5, 1994 | June 23, 1995 | 195 | |||
| Season Thirteen | September 4, 1995 | July 19, 1996 | 195 | |||
| Season Fourteen | September 2, 1996 | June 13, 1997 | 195 | |||
| Season Fifteen | September 1, 1997 | June 12, 1998 | 195 | |||
| Season Sixteen | September 7, 1998 | June 4, 1999 | 195 | |||
| Season Seventeen | September 6, 1999 | June 2, 2000 | 195 | |||
| Season Eighteen | September 4, 2000 | June 1, 2001 | 195 | |||
| Season Nineteen | September 3, 2001 | May 31, 2002 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty | September 2, 2002 | May 30, 2003 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-One | September 8, 2003 | June 4, 2004 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-Two | September 6, 2004 | June 3, 2005 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-Three | September 12, 2005 | June 9, 2006 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-Four | September 11, 2006 | June 8, 2007 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-Five | September 10, 2007 | June 6, 2008 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-Six | September 8, 2008 | July 17, 2009 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-Seven | September 14, 2009 | June 11, 2010 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-Eight | September 13, 2010 | June 10, 2011 | 195 | |||
| Season Twenty-Nine | September 19, 2011 | June 15, 2012 | 195 | |||
| Season Thirty | September 17, 2012 | June 14, 2013 | 195 | |||
| Season Thirty-One | September 16, 2013 | June 13, 2014 | 195 | |||
| Season Thirty-Two | September 15, 2014 | June 12, 2015 | 195 | |||
| Season Thirty-Three | September 14, 2015 | June 10, 2016 | 195 | |||
| Season Thirty-Four | September 12, 2016 | — | 195 | |||
| Season Thirty-Five | September 11, 2017 | — | — | |||
| Season Thirty-Six | September 10, 2018 | — | — | |||
| Season Thirty-Seven | 2019 | — | — | |||
| Season Thirty-Eight | 2020 | — | — | |||
| Season Thirty-Nine | 2021 | — | — | |||
| Season Forty | 2022 | — | — | |||
In Depth
- At a Glance: Additional information about the series
DVD Releases
There are no DVD releases for this show.
External Sites
Wheel of Fortune! This, along with Jeopardy, are definitely the two most favorite game shows in American television history. Who are some of the big winners that have gone on to read a hefty prize? Read on more to find out about the top 10 prizes given away in Wheel of Fortune history.
Michelle Loewenstein ($1,026,080)
Michelle Loewenstein was the first-ever winner of a prize greater than $1 million in the history of Wheel of Fortune. Even better, she won the coveted million dollar prize just after she returned home from her honeymoon, fresh off a marriage. With that money, most if it was invested away into a savings, although she did treat herself to a new car and spoiled herself. The final puzzle that she solved was “Leaky Faucet.” Michelle won the prize when this episode of Wheel of Fortune was filmed on August 8, 2008, or 08/08/08. She attributes this to being married on July 7, 2007, or 07/07/07.
Autumn Erhard ($1,030,340)
Autumn Erhard, known as winner of the largest prize in Wheel of Fortune history (but not the first one to win $1 million, which Michelle had that honor), managed to win a staggering $1,030,340 off her filming round. This was achieved in 2013, 5 years after the first million dollar winner. This is all on top of the other $30,000 she won in prizes earlier on the show. Autumn graduated from the University of California, based out of San Diego, in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 2005. Since the filming of the episode in 2013, she has worked as a sales representative at Animal Health International, Inc. The puzzle she solved was “Tough Workout.”
Sarah Manchester ($1,017,490)
Just one year after Autumn Erhard placed the $1 million prize, Sarah Manchester, a match teacher based out of Silver Spring, Maryland, won yet another $1 million prize on Wheel of Fortune. She went on to win the prize during Wheel of Fortune’s “Teacher’s Week,” which consisted of the first 5 episodes of the show’s 32nd season. Sarah would go on to solve the puzzle “loud laughter,” which was plainly described as ‘thing.’ Since then, Sarah has continued her teaching in her home state of Maryland, although now she is far more recognisable on the streets than your average math teacher.
The Five $100,000 winners ($100,000)
In April of 2016, to kick off the show’s upcoming season, contestants would be entered to win $100,000 by solving the game’s final puzzle. Typically, on Wheel of Fortune, you would spin the final wheel and reveal your prize, but every prize was $100,000. The contestants were not told this, and in a twist of fate, all 5 contestants that week won $100,000. They all have individual names and placed with prizes ranging from $117,500 upwards of $140,350, but all of them walked away with a cool amount of change in their pocket.
Matt DeSanto ($91,892)
Matt Desanto perhaps pulled off the impossible in December of 2014; on the very last puzzle to win the grand prize, Matt had only one letter given to him. He continued on to set a record with a one-letter hint, solving the puzzle “The Lone Ranger.” For his efforts, Matt won the final prize at $80,000, which brought him out to nearly $92,000 in winnings. Since then, Matt Desanto has returned to his hometown of Malvern, Pennsylvania and continues operating his pizza business, which has boomed in business thanks to his newfound status as a hometown hero.
Andy Kravis ($50,550)
Andy Kravis is known for having appeared on multiple game shows, including Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and Million Second Quiz. On Wheel of Fortune, Andy managed to solve his final puzzle as “Bear in the woods” and walked away with a $25,000 grand prize and an additional prize in the form of a trip to the bahamas, worth an estimated $7,000. Andy also won $2.6 million in the Million Second Quiz in September of 2013, and is continually active on the Jeopardy message boards with the user name “alkrav112.”
