The Wheel (US) - General Discussion

[NotChristine]

Quote

The Wheel is an exciting trivia competition show based on the hilarious British series of the same name. Comedian Michael McIntyre, Host of the U.K. Wheel, will be taking his role stateside, helping Contestants use a massive spinning wheel to select whacky trivia topics and test their knowledge. A slew of celebrity guests will be featured on the show, as well.

Premieres December 19 on NBC and will air every weeknight until December 30. All episodes will also be available for streaming on Peacock the day after they air.

Full celebrity lineup here

Edited December 13, 2022 by NotChristine

[Welshman in Ca]

While I and I'm sure many others appreciate the heads up of this & all new shows nobody seems to ever mention what channel anything is on.

The UK show I would love to see come to the US is QI.

[NotChristine]

5 hours ago, Welshman in Ca said:

While I and I'm sure many others appreciate the heads up of this & all new shows nobody seems to ever mention what channel anything is on.

The UK show I would love to see come to the US is QI.

This will be on NBC ( evident by the link).

Edited December 13, 2022 by NotChristine

[Rickster]

I swear Mike Myers is hosting this show.

The gameplay on this show is not very well explained.

[Gemma Violet]

I watched the first couple of episodes, so here are my thoughts:

It's not a bad show, but there's really very little game play.  With 20-22 minutes of commercials per hour, you should get 38-40 minutes of show.  But there's a lot of chit-chat with the contestants and celebrities, incredibly slow wheel-turning, and waiting several seconds for each response to be deemed correct or incorrect, so we're probably getting no more than 20 minutes of game play.

The host guy is pretty amusing and quick on the draw with funny quips.  I like him.  He hosts the show in England, where it's a big hit.  Here, the first night only drew a little over one million viewers.  So not a hit here, at least not so far.  Maybe the audience will grow, since upcoming shows will air at an earlier time.

One thing I don't like is the fact that not all celebrities or contestants necessarily get to play.  There are six celebs and three contestants on each show.  On the first night, Amber Ruffin didn't get to even say a word for the whole game.  It all depends on where the wheel lands as to whether someone will have a chance to be involved.

The show is playing each night this week and next week.  

Edited December 21, 2022 by Gemma Violet

[Gemma Violet]

14 hours ago, Gemma Violet said:

With 10-22 minutes of commercials per hour

Typo.  I meant to put 20-22 minutes.  (I tried to edit, but it didn't give me the option.)

eta: Never mind.  I know how to edit now by visiting the Site Update Open Thread. 😊

Edited December 21, 2022 by Gemma Violet

[Rickster]

Having now watched most of the second episode, I think there is not enough trivia content (and most of it is sort of easy) if you’re a Jeopardy type of fan, and if you’re watching for the celebs, they need to have more content than waving around their arms and laughing.

[SoMuchTV]

17 hours ago, Gemma Violet said:

I watched the first couple of episodes, so here are my thoughts:

It's not a bad show, but there's really very little game play.  With 20-22 minutes of commercials per hour, you should get 38-40 minutes of show.  But there's a lot of chit-chat with the contestants and celebrities, incredibly slow wheel-turning, and waiting several seconds for each response to be deemed correct or incorrect, so we're probably getting no more than 20 minutes of game play.

The host guy is pretty amusing and quick on the draw with funny quips.  I like him.  He hosts the show in England, where it's a big hit.  Here, the first night only drew a little over one million viewers.  So not a hit here, at least not so far.  Maybe the audience will grow, since upcoming shows will air at an earlier time.

One thing I don't like is the fact that not all celebrities or contestants necessarily get to play.  There are six celebs and three contestants on each show.  On the first night, Amber Ruffin didn't get to even say a word for the whole game.  It all depends on where the wheel lands as to whether someone will have a chance to be involved.

The show is playing each night this week and next week.  

You put it better than I could.  This sounded like something I might like, and I checked out the first episode. I ended up ff’ing through most of it, thinking “this seems like 10 minutes of trivia buried in a 60-minute show”. Thanks for the more specific numbers!  I’m a Jeopardy! person, a love/hate The Chase watcher, but I don’t think this is for me. I think something has to be either full-on smart or full-on dumb to engage me. 

[Gemma Violet]

23 hours ago, Gemma Violet said:

On the first night, Amber Ruffin didn't get to even say a word for the whole game.

I'm quoting myself to say that Amber Ruffin was also on tonight's show (the third episode), and she answered questions.  Maybe the show brings back celebrities who didn't get a chance to participate in their previous episode.

[Twilight Man]

Tonight's episode   -----   The Carnie Cometh!!!!!!

(Some of you may remember my posts over on "Masked Singer")

If there is any type of celebrity reality or game show,  SHE will be there!!!!

[ShowsILoveToHate]

Since there’s really not much on right now, I watched a few episodes.  I liked it enough. The host cracked me up, he reminded me of the zany Japanese game show hosts that they show on The Amazing Race. Lol. 
 

I know he has to keep the mood up, and he does a good job of that.  And like someone else mentioned, he’s quick-witted with the comments. Lol

I agree that there isn’t enough game play per episode. It’s interesting to see which celebrities are participating. A few of these are game show regulars, such as the already-mentioned Carnie Wilson.  Shawn Johnson has been on a few different ones, but I really enjoy seeing her, so I don’t mind. She was so nervous about getting the men’s gymnastics question right! Lol 

 

Anyway, I’ll keep watching and see how it goes. 
 

PS. Oh and it was so good to see Tom Bergeron!!! 

[Diana Berry]

I’m enjoying it.  I thought the first episode was rough but now I’m used to the format.  The celebs and contestants seem to be having a good time. I like the gamble at the end with the last question.  Even like zany host.

[Gemma Violet]

Just a reminder that the show will be two hours earlier this week.  I'm in the central time zone and last week it was at 9 pm.  This week, it's at 7 pm.

[DancinCat]

I'm a fan of the UK version, and especially Michael McIntyre, so I'm enjoying this. It's important to note that the trivia questions are not the focus of the show, so if you're in the market for that, you will be disappointed. I think the back-and-forth between the celebrities and contestants, the enormous flashy set, the randomness, and of course Michael, are what make the show work. Michael McIntyre created the show as a way to keep everyone involved separated for Covid. He's a very clever man!

It's unfortunate that some things had to be changed to make the show work on ad-riddled NBC. The ad-free BBC version has 7 celebrities instead of 6, and the wheel seems to spin faster. The BBC must have a blanket music license, because they seem freer to play popular songs for some of the spins, which breaks up the monotony. The UK version punishes the "expert" celebrity if they get an answer in their category wrong by shutting them down in red for the next spin. The contestant still has to choose a second celebrity to shut down, which makes that spin more tense. The UK version also has time for a Moneyspinner round, where the wheel spins once around, and the celebrities have to quickly give an answer when they come into the light. Each correct answer adds £1,000 to the pot, and if all get it right, £10,000 is added. The questions are again super simple, like months with 31 days or name one of the 7 dwarves, but it's fun because inevitably someone chokes under the pressure. It's a nice break in the proceedings, and it gives all the celebrities something to do, as long as no one messes up. They also give the ranking of all the celebrities at the end, not just the 3, which is fun.

Avoid watching this on Xfinity On Demand, because it doesn't appear to be shown at 60 frames a second, but rather reduced to only 30. Fewer frames per second makes the spinning wheel seem jerky, and my mom said the overhead shot of the wheel makes her feel a little sick. I wish they'd play it at the full quality so it would appear smoother. So watch it live or on DVR, but not On Demand!

I hope this show catches on, or finds a home somewhere ad-free like Netflix. Michael McIntyre deserves a bigger stage. He's joyful, not afraid of acting silly or making fun of himself, and as others have mentioned, he's very quick with witty responses.

[Gemma Violet]

3 hours ago, DancinCat said:

I hope this show catches on, or finds a home somewhere ad-free like Netflix. Michael McIntyre deserves a bigger stage. He's joyful, not afraid of acting silly or making fun of himself, and as others have mentioned, he's very quick with witty responses.

I agree!

[Diana Berry]

On 12/30/2022 at 1:45 PM, DancinCat said:

I'm a fan of the UK version, and especially Michael McIntyre, so I'm enjoying this. It's important to note that the trivia questions are not the focus of the show, so if you're in the market for that, you will be disappointed. I think the back-and-forth between the celebrities and contestants, the enormous flashy set, the randomness, and of course Michael, are what make the show work. Michael McIntyre created the show as a way to keep everyone involved separated for Covid. He's a very clever man!

It's unfortunate that some things had to be changed to make the show work on ad-riddled NBC. The ad-free BBC version has 7 celebrities instead of 6, and the wheel seems to spin faster. The BBC must have a blanket music license, because they seem freer to play popular songs for some of the spins, which breaks up the monotony. The UK version punishes the "expert" celebrity if they get an answer in their category wrong by shutting them down in red for the next spin. The contestant still has to choose a second celebrity to shut down, which makes that spin more tense. The UK version also has time for a Moneyspinner round, where the wheel spins once around, and the celebrities have to quickly give an answer when they come into the light. Each correct answer adds £1,000 to the pot, and if all get it right, £10,000 is added. The questions are again super simple, like months with 31 days or name one of the 7 dwarves, but it's fun because inevitably someone chokes under the pressure. It's a nice break in the proceedings, and it gives all the celebrities something to do, as long as no one messes up. They also give the ranking of all the celebrities at the end, not just the 3, which is fun.

Avoid watching this on Xfinity On Demand, because it doesn't appear to be shown at 60 frames a second, but rather reduced to only 30. Fewer frames per second makes the spinning wheel seem jerky, and my mom said the overhead shot of the wheel makes her feel a little sick. I wish they'd play it at the full quality so it would appear smoother. So watch it live or on DVR, but not On Demand!

I hope this show catches on, or finds a home somewhere ad-free like Netflix. Michael McIntyre deserves a bigger stage. He's joyful, not afraid of acting silly or making fun of himself, and as others have mentioned, he's very quick with witty responses.

I still enjoyed its run.  Even liked the song ‘ the wheel the wheel’.  The zany host is great and he has good ad libs.  The celebs and the contestants had a good time which was refreshing. 
 

I checked out the ratings the show was 14th out of the networks shows  on the low side.  It had about 2 million viewers. In some cases ,it didn’t seem that far behind the competition. The ratings don’t consider Dvr which I watched every night on dvr

hope they give it another season. 

[Gemma Violet]

I'm on another discussion board and someone posted these ratings for the two weeks of The Wheel.  I don't know where she got the figures.  It showed improvement and did better at its earlier time slot in the second week.  So there's potential there.  Who knows, maybe it'll be renewed.

The Wheel

Monday – 12/19/22 - 0.24 million (18 to 49 demographic); 1.375 million (total viewers)

Tuesday – 12/20/22 – 0.33 1.732

Wednesday - 12/21/22 - 0.28 1.647

Thursday – 12/22/22 – 0.26 1.722

Friday – 12/23/22 – 0.19 1.340

 

Monday – 12/26/22 – 0.31 2.223

Tuesday – 12/27/22 - 0.30 .30 2.187

Wednesday – 12/28/22 - .26 1.910

Thursday – 12/29/22 – 0.30 2.230

Friday – 12/30/22 – 0.30 2.060