Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune - General Discussion

[ohjoy]

ABC has greenlit Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, premiering January 7, 2021 as part of its Thursday night game show block.

Per Variety —

Quote

Also making the move to primetime will be “Wheel of Fortune’s” long-running stars, Pat Sajak and Vanna White. Celebrity contestants will spin the wheel and solve the show’s word puzzles, just like in the syndicated version. But they’ll be playing for a chance to win up to $1 million for a charity of their choice.

 

[Kromm]

I know Wheel has it's fans, but to me this equates to reaching the bottom of the barrel with reaching for nighttime game show adaptions to provide COVID-era content.

[Maverick]

 As snarky as Pat gets with the regular guests, it's gonna be a shit show with mockable celebrities who snark back.  I'm here for this. 

 

 

[SoMuchTV]

On 12/1/2020 at 8:22 PM, Kromm said:

I know Wheel has it's fans, but to me this equates to reaching the bottom of the barrel with reaching for nighttime game show adaptions to provide COVID-era content.

You make that sound like a bad thing. 

[saber5055]

I'm looking forward to it. Anything to distract from RL works for me. I think there will be some good laughs, at least coming from me.

[Kromm]

Someone explain the point of Vanna these days?  They make it clear in the opening game that she doesn't actually have to go near a letter tile for it to display. It just lights up with the letter and she waves her arms at it from across the room. 

In the later rounds, they seem to have her PRETEND to turn them. What actually happens, if you watch closely, is she walks to the letter and just touches it. But we know from the earlier round she doesn't really HAVE to. 

[SnideAsides]

That was the main problem tonight. In addition to Vanna being increasingly irrelevant, as she has been for years, the ridiculous number of tossup puzzles and the added cash bonuses for solving mean that literally the only reason to spin the wheel of fortune, on Wheel of Fortune, is for the Million Dollar wedges, and the risk-reward of that isn't worth it.

It's become Just Hangman, with the wheel only there to make the title make sense.

[alexa]

2 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

That was the main problem tonight. In addition to Vanna being increasingly irrelevant, as she has been for years, the ridiculous number of tossup puzzles and the added cash bonuses for solving mean that literally the only reason to spin the wheel of fortune, on Wheel of Fortune, is for the Million Dollar wedges, and the risk-reward of that isn't worth it.

It's become Just Hangman, with the wheel only there to make the title make sense.

Agreed.  I also think if it is going to be an hour they should have two groups of celebs on.  It is too long for the same three.  Tony Hawk saved the show for me as he could actually solve some puzzles, and seemed like the most real contestant.  I thought I would like this more, but it got annoying kind of fast.  

[SweetSable]

I didn't make it through the entire show.  Leslie Jones is annoying as fuck.  

[alexa]

18 minutes ago, SweetSable said:

I didn't make it through the entire show.  Leslie Jones is annoying as fuck.  

Totally agree!  This is why I wish they would switch out celebs at the halfway point.  Way too long for the same 3 people, and why I really liked Tony Hawk..so much calmer and to the point.

[Kromm]

22 minutes ago, SweetSable said:

I didn't make it through the entire show.  Leslie Jones is annoying as fuck.  

I barely made it through, but it had more with my long term conviction that this is "America's Game" mostly because it's lame and dumb. Seeing Vanna wave her arms as half of her current job only reinforced that feeling. 

[SweetSable]

2 minutes ago, Kromm said:

I barely made it through, but it had more with my long term conviction that this is "America's Game" mostly because it's lame and dumb. Seeing Vanna wave her arms as half of her current job only reinforced that feeling. 

I think she's just there for Pat to have a sidekick now - she certainly isn't needed for anything else.  I still do like trying to solve the puzzles though, but Leslie Jones was just SO DAMN LOUD that I couldn't deal with her for an entire hour-long episode.  

[Swenson]

It's wheel of fortune.  The game is the same....it just depends on who is playing.  I watched for about five minutes....long enough for Leslie Jones to drive me to Hell's Kitchen.

[saber5055]

I have to hand it to Pat Sajak,  he really earned his paycheck holding this celebrity version together. I'm sure now he appreciates his "normal" Wheel players. Tony Hawk won the night for me, he was smart and articulate, and I wish he had won both games. I also liked that he said the puzzle result in a normal speaking-voice sentence instead of one...word...at...a......time.

I don't even notice Vanna so whatever she does to bug other viewers means nothing to me. She's not really there in my world, but I do like her banter with Pat. Gives him someone to talk to at the end of the show. So I'm good with her being there, whether she does anything or not.

[SnideAsides]

I liked Tony too. It kinda felt like he'd somehow never seen the show before and looked it up on Youtube, only to somehow accidentally end up watching videos of the Australian version instead. I wouldn't object to seeing more of him.

[saber5055]

41 minutes ago, SnideAsides said:

It kinda felt like he'd somehow never seen the show before and looked it up on Youtube, only to somehow accidentally end up watching videos of the Australian version instead.

So funny! Yeah, I can't imagine Tony Hawk sitting down every evening to watch Wheel. Although that visual is pretty funny. I can totally see him doing YouTube research though, once he got asked to be on the show.

[KWalkerInc]

I think I remember reading a long time ago (in the '80s or '90s) that Vanna had suffered at least one miscarriage, so when she was pregnant again, they made it so she didn't have to touch the letters to put her under less stress.  They kept her on because of her popularity even though she wasn't really "turning" letters anymore.

[Quickbeam]

Leslie just really dialed in to 11 the whole time. It was exhausting. Tony Hawk was the only calm....

[Maverick]

 Pat is going to snap Network style before this is over, isn't he?

 I didn't think it was possible, but Leslie was more here than on Supermarket Sweep.  I like her but she's too exhausting being on all the time.  Less is more. 

 I know it's fun to laugh at how dumb celebrities are, but surely they're having them play things up.   

 When they first switch the letter board, I remember some interview showing that there was a frame around each letter that she pushed to reveal the letter.  

[Kromm]

9 hours ago, Maverick said:

 Pat is going to snap Network style before this is over, isn't he?

 I didn't think it was possible, but Leslie was more here than on Supermarket Sweep.  I like her but she's too exhausting being on all the time.  Less is more. 

 I know it's fun to laugh at how dumb celebrities are, but surely they're having them play things up.   

 When they first switch the letter board, I remember some interview showing that there was a frame around each letter that she pushed to reveal the letter.  

Right. But she doesn't HAVE to. Those toss-up rounds prove it.  She moving to go press the letters merely to help justify her presence. 

[candall]

Oh, who cares whether Vanna's job is essential?  It's "The Wheel, with Pat & Vanna."  She's iconic, and it wouldn't exactly be a better show if they canned Vanna.

 

When they make "celebrity" versions of established shows, it's always interesting to learn which celebrities are dumb bunnies.  I'm somewhat shocked that Chief Bailey couldn't master the contestant intricacies of Wheel of Fortune.  Leslie Jones was really losing patience with Chandra Wilson blurting out part of the puzzle, repeatedly handing Tony Hawkes part of the answer.  snick

Edited January 11, 2021 by candall

[saber5055]

20 hours ago, candall said:

Oh, who cares whether Vanna's job is essential?  It's "The Wheel, with Pat & Vanna."  She's iconic, and it wouldn't exactly be a better show if they canned Vanna.

Exactly. I like Vanna and don't care if she does anything at all. She's great chatting with Pat. She can stay just to do that before credits. However, sometimes I feel those letter squares are touch sensitive, and turn on when she touches them. Unless there's just one really quick stage hand behind there flipping a switch. Either way, I'm fine with it. And with Vanna.

[saber5055]

21 hours ago, candall said:

When they make "celebrity" versions of established shows, it's always interesting to learn which celebrities are dumb bunnies. 

I know. Some of them are lucky to be able to find their way home at night. But I guess that's what stars have assistants (and drivers) for. Celebrity editions of shows like this makes it clear one doesn't have to be smart to be rich and famous.

[Maverick]

 It's not required that the letters be touched.  They pop up automatically during the toss up rounds.  Also, when Vanna filled in for Pat, they had Minnie Mouse fill in for Vanna and she didn't reveal any letters. 

[Kromm]

19 hours ago, Maverick said:

 It's not required that the letters be touched.  They pop up automatically during the toss up rounds.  Also, when Vanna filled in for Pat, they had Minnie Mouse fill in for Vanna and she didn't reveal any letters. 

Yeah, that's kinda my point. If people loved Vanna so much, why isn't SHE talking to the contestants and standing behind the podium?  There's this performative bullcrap, in my opinion, like it's somehow supporting a woman having her stand around and essentially do nothing. It might be a hair different if they had on-set prizes and she was doing the spokesmodel bit there, but instead she's literally there to PRETEND to turn letters, arm wave at the puzzle once per toss up round, and say a sentence or two to Pat per episode. 

[saber5055]

On 1/12/2021 at 2:05 PM, Kromm said:

If people loved Vanna so much, why isn't SHE talking to the contestants and standing behind the podium? 

Oh, man, she hosted the nightly Wheel when Pat was off and hokey smokes, she was dreck, painful to watch. It really made me appreciate Pat and his skills. So yeah, you have a point. I guess Vanna's just window dressing. I should be offended by her non-role but for some reason just can't get worked up about it. LOL! I don't know what's wrong with me!

I hope tomorrow night's celebrities are better than last week's. That was an exhausting show.

Edited January 14, 2021 by saber5055

[chitowngirl]

On a shallow note-I love Teri Hatcher’s top

i loved how supportive. Chrissy Metz was

Edited January 15, 2021 by chitowngirl

[Quickbeam]

Teri looks smoking! And cheers to Drew for playing for the hometown food bank.

I couldn’t believe Drew missed production company! 

Edited January 15, 2021 by Quickbeam
Add to...

[alexa]

This was a much better group.  

[stonehaven]

I really enjoyed tonight's episode. I loved all the celebs...and was with Teri as I had not a clue about the lyrics to that one song but knew Hey Ya! in an instant...and seeing Drew dance in the background was awesome!

[saber5055]

I burst into laughter when Teri held up the million-dollar tag and Pat said "It's real and it's spectacular." Then later he had to explain the line, which ruined it for me. Either you're a Seinfeld fan or you're not. He should have kept it a private joke. That line is as iconic as "I'm out!"

This episode was really fun, but I too was surprised Drew didn't know Production Company. Seems like he missed some other easy one too, or at least I thought it was easy. I thought Teri might be irritating with her OTT antics, but I still liked her by the end of the hour. I thought all the players were good and worked well together. It was nice that Crissy got extra money for her charity. Good on Wheel TPTBs for supporting charities and letting viewers have fun watching.

I want to thank @Kromm for making me pay WAY too much attention to Vanna, on this show and the nightly regular version. So thanks a lot, Kromm. NOT! Heh.

[LexieLily]

I thought Jeanine did say A Storybook Bromance, but Pat didn't give her credit.

[Quickbeam]

I thought the Holey Moley squad was a lot of fun. They clearly like one another. I was surprised that Joe wasn’t playing for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.....he and his family have been super involved with CF fund raising as long as I can remember.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Quickbeam
Typo

[teebax]

1 hour ago, Quickbeam said:

I thought the Holey Moley squad was a lot of fun. They clearly like one another. I was surprised that Joe wasn’t playing for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.....he and his family has been super involved with CF fund raising as long as I can remember.

They clearly like each other, but Jeannie was a bit much for me. She got on my nerves. I'm still really enjoying the show, though. I hadn't watched WOF since I was a kid, but this version has me watching again.

[mertensia]

1 hour ago, teebax said:

They clearly like each other, but Jeannie was a bit much for me. She got on my nerves. I'm still really enjoying the show, though. I hadn't watched WOF since I was a kid, but this version has me watching again.

Her "Hey! You get heaters while I'm out there busting my ass in the cold!" was hilarious.

[Guest]

This was the first Celebrity edition I watched, because I happened to notice in the listings that the Holey Moley crew was on. 'Twas a good time. I was somewhat amused at Rob and Joe both kind of being the straight men to Jeannie XD. She was certainly, uh, present, but it didn't really bother me. I thought it was cute how she would bend down to look at her score. But then when she kept leaning over in disbelief whenever Joe would narrowly miss the million dollar wedge, I started to worry that her hair was going to get caught in the wheel 😱

[Kromm]

I'd forgotten how Extra Jeannie Mai is. 

[Maverick]

On 1/21/2021 at 10:01 PM, Quickbeam said:

I thought the Holey Moley squad was a lot of fun. They clearly like one another. I was surprised that Joe wasn’t playing for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.....he and his family have been super involved with CF fund raising as long as I can remember.

 It seems that the show has required the celebrities to pick a food-based charity as a requirement to participate.  They've all been that type of charity so far and I remember Pat giving one celebrity a chance to plug a charity they're heavily involved with (and presumably would have been playing for if they could). 

 Jeanine was a lot, but Joe helped balance her out.  I felt like the celebrity edition puzzles have been a little easier than normal, especially in the bonus round, but tonight's seemed hard.  Tip Jar is really hard unless you happen to luck into one of the only other two consonants.  And what was up with some of the schizo puzzles?  Beastie Boys and Golden Girls?  Speedos and Cowboy Boots?   Was the clue writer watching Logo while doing the puzzles for this episode?  

[saber5055]

I caught the Holey Moley rerun last night and really enjoyed it, the best one so far. While I like Leslie Jones, I'm glad hers was first and out of the way so I could enjoy this one more. I like Holey Moley, so seeing these three play together was extra fun. I didn't know Rob was a Lt. Col. in the Marines though. That's worth a HOLEY MOLEY of its own.

Joe was so low key, I was glad he won in the end. And I thought it was so funny how Jeanine kept leaning over to see her upside-down score. In all, a great episode that I enjoyed very much.

[Quickbeam]

Cameo appearance...who wasn’t yelling that at the tv?

[saber5055]

15 hours ago, Quickbeam said:

Cameo appearance...who wasn’t yelling that at the tv?

I know. That was a tough loss, but a good example of It's Easy If You Know It. I doubt I would do as well playing on the show as I do playing in front of my teevee where I am outrageously smart.

[Grizzly]

16 hours ago, Quickbeam said:

Cameo appearance...who wasn’t yelling that at the tv?

I said she was going to kick herself afterwards. Still "camel appearance" was pretty funny. Glad everyone won a good chunk of money.

[SnideAsides]

I love how everyone so far has been like "NOT NOW, SAJAK, I'M TALKING TO VANNA."

[Maverick]

YNB is usually good at game shows so I was surprised at some of the ones that stymied her, particularly the last one.  Most of the final puzzles have been set up to be pretty easy.  That one would never make it on the regular shows.  No BS, Z's or other uncommon letters.  An A or and I but most people would select I based on the category which practically gives you the second word.  

 In the regular show, if someone solves the puzzle correctly after the buzzer don't they toss it?  I thought I saw something not too long ago where no one got the money for the puzzle. 

 I liked this group of players.  Not over the top on not mostly clueless about the game save for Maria's "can anyone call out a letter?"). 

[Jaded]

On 1/29/2021 at 10:31 PM, SnideAsides said:

I love how everyone so far has been like "NOT NOW, SAJAK, I'M TALKING TO VANNA."

[saber5055]

I'm a big Paul Reubens fan so was happy to see him on this episode. I used to tape Pee Wee's Playhouse every Saturday morning, and of course saw his movies. He had me LOL more than once, and loudly, first with his "going down the steps," then with his trolling Joel, who was a jerk the other night on To Tell The Truth. I did laugh when Joel was awarded the BANKRUPT wheel placard though.

I'm generally good with guessing the puzzles before the players, so was somewhat frustrated at the final puzzle solves that I kept yelling at the teevee. But I guess that's part of the game, viewers smarter than players. Again, glad everyone's charities got some cash. I hope it's used for good and not put into the pockets of the charity CEOs like so many are doing. /snark/

[DietCokeJunkie]

I was laughing so hard at the unfortunate first toss-up puzzle that Paul Reubens solved: U can’t touch this. Did anyone else think of his arrest in the movie theater many years ago? I wonder if Joel Hale cracked a joke about that and set off the animosity between them? 

[suebee1212]

I accidentally turned this on and had to keep watching! Why you ask? I lived in Sarasota, FL for years and this is where Paul Reubens lives(d) so the whole movie house episode happened near me. One day not too long after it happened, I was going into Ace Hardware and who was coming out? Pee Wee himself...he was quite polite and held the door for me so that was one of my close in counters with a famous person. Actually had quite a few since there are lots of famous people in town. Had the luck to wait on and chat with Dickie Smothers several times!

[saber5055]

12 hours ago, DietCokeJunkie said:

I wonder if Joel Hale cracked a joke about that and set off the animosity between them? 

That's something I didn't think of, but could possibly be what happened, Joel tends to be a smartass. I did think Reubens got the better of him though, which I was glad about. I do remember the movie-house thing, which brought his demise and the end of Pee Wee for many years. I was glad to see him making a comeback after decades of being shunned. @suebee1212, I would have fangurled if I saw Mr. Reubens on the street, and made a dork out of myself. "I know you are, but what am I."

[Grizzly]

Isn't this just chump change for Robert?