First Gulf War Starts (and Ends)...Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit...J.R. Dies (?) on Last Episode of Dallas
January 11, 1991 & January 14, 1991...Wheel Jumps Back to NBC
Ever since Pat left the daytime show in early 1989, the morning version had begun to dip in the ratings, in part due to a gradual decline daytime viewers overall. CBS moved Feud to 10:30 and tried Barbara DeAngelis in Feud's old 10am slot. NBC decided to give Wheel another shot, moving it to 10am, and over the weekend the show quietly changed networks.
There was very little change in appearance of the show after the move back to NBC. It was still filmed at Television City (not surprisingly, the reference to Television City was removed from the intro). Speaking of the intro, it was changed slightly to have Charlie announce both Bob and Vanna during the opening. Bob mentioned he was "pleased as punch" to be back home at NBC.
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| If it's a promo for Live at Five, you know you're back on NBC. | This swanky Chevy Cavalier was the top bonus prize on the first ep. back at NBC. |
Jim, the champion from the last CBS broadcast was politely brought back to play the next Monday. However, there was no mention of the show's network transfer on the last CBS broadcast.
By this point in the daytime version, vowels were a cut-rate $100 a pop, and the dreaded $50 and $75 spaces had been replaced with slightly more tolerable $100 and $125 spaces.
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| The intro with the contestants running on stage never did look right. | Hundreds of dollars in cash! |
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| It's not normal for that many score totals to end in "75". | You could select this bonus round trip to Calgary. Or not. |
January, 1990...Tricia Gist Takes Over...Briefly
When Vanna White got married, she took two days off from the show for her honeymoon. Tricia Gist took over for the days while she was out.
Other guest hostesses have included Susan Stafford (who filled in for Vanna for a week in 1986), Pat's wife Leslie (April Fools 1997), and, inexplicably, Arte Johnson, who took over for Susan for an episode in the late '70s.
September 9, 1991...9th Season Premiere
Without this particular episode on tape, I'm not exactly sure what transpired on this season premiere. I believe it was pretty much status quo for the time period...continued taping at CBS Television City, returning champions, and tons of cash.
September 20, 1991...Good-bye Daytime Wheel
The daytime version of Wheel was finally cancelled for good in 1991 after nearly 17 years on the air. Ratings never rebounded from the departure of Pat, and NBC gave up programming game shows in the 10am hour from this point forward. The show may actually have gone into reruns (a rarity for network daytime game shows) a few months prior to this period.
NBC did flirt with game shows for a few more years. Classic Concentration performed respectfully enough that NBC aired reruns of it until the end of 1993. Family Secrets, Caesar's Challenge, Scattergories, and a revival of Scrabble would all come and go before NBC gave up the game show biz for good (in daytime at least) in 1994.
November, 1991...Wheel! Of! Fortuna!
For November sweeps, Wheel went down to MGM Studios in Orlando for two weeks of shows dubbed "Wheel Around the World". By this point, the show was a huge international success, airing in more than 20 countries. 10 of those countries sent their host, hostess, or both to Orlando to celebrate. At the end of each episode, a different country's host or hostess would come on stage, introduce a clip of their version of the show, and talk about some of the differences and similarities between their version and ours.
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| Vanna meets her Italian equivalent. | Funny, she looks a lot more...prim...here. |
While it may have seemed like just a cozy sweeps stunt to us, the invitations were a big deal to the countries that were invited. Each country got to participate in the Disney Main Street Parade (along with Pat, Vanna, and Merv of course). The German network that airs Wheel (Gluecksrad, as they like to call it) was so enamored with the trip that they filmed a 30-minute documentary about their experience and aired it in prime time.
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| I don't think you get to keep the oversize bow and confetti in Holland, but who knows? | I think this spelling is also acceptable in Northern Minnesota. |
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| The infamous German "super puzzle"--5 puzzles in one, all three contestants play, 90 seconds to solve it. Gott in Himmel! | Only in Belgium is a "K" a good pick in the bonus round. |
