In December 2022, Vanna White celebrated the 40th anniversary of her Wheel of Fortune debut, and this year, the syndicated version of the game show will mark its 40th anniversary. But daytime versions of the program had been running for years when the current, nightly Wheel edition made its debut on September 19, 1983. Fans of Fortune read on for a timeline.
On January 6, 1975, NBC debuted Wheel of Fortune as a daytime game program with Chuck Woolery as the host and Susan Stafford as the letter-turner.
Woolery, who later hosted the game series Love Connection and Scrabble, recalled how game-show creator Merv Griffin approached him to host a pilot for Shopper’s Bazaar, a proto-wheel that also had a roulette wheel and riddles akin to Hangman.
NBC rejected the “horrible” pilot, according to Woolery, but after Griffin changed the premise and renamed the show Wheel of Fortune, the network added it to the daytime lineup. We were number one in the ratings before you realized it, the TV personality continued.
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However, Woolery’s tenure on Wheel came to an end due to a contract disagreement with Griffin; he demanded the $500,000 per year that Peter Marshall was receiving for Hollywood Squares. In 1981, Griffin replaced Woolery with Pat Sajak, who was then a KNBC-TV weatherman.
Since the producers are at home watching TV like everyone else, Sajak stated to NPR in 2013 that “working in local TV in Los Angeles is kind of like auditioning every night.” And fortunately, Merv Griffin was one of those men.
According to the host’s Hollywood Walk of Fame description, Griffin canceled Wheel of Fortune tapings until Sajak was granted the job, despite the fact that Fred Silverman, the president and CEO of NBC at the time, didn’t think Sajak was qualified.
When Stafford quit the game show in 1982, there was still another change. Earlier this year, she claimed to The Messenger that she left Wheel of Fortune because she wanted to “do more than just turn letters” and “engage [her] mind.”
The South Carolina-born model White was subsequently given the responsibility of turning the letters. White admitted to being “probably the most nervous of all the girls they interviewed” to TIME in 2014. and that a friend of hers was the other finalist.
Sajak, on the other hand, hosted the daytime version of Wheel till 1989, when he quit the NBC program to anchor a brief-lived late-night talk show on CBS with the aptly named The Pat Sajak Show.
Rolf Benirschke, a former kicker for the San Diego Chargers, won the Wheel hosting gig at that time after defeating 400 other candidates, including the more than 30 finalists that taped auditions with White, like the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. According to a Merv Griffin Enterprises producer’s assistant who spoke to the Times, “the producers really liked the open & sincere quality that he showed while playing the game.” He appeared to be really enthused about the show, and Vanna liked him. He also looked well with Vanna.
Sadly, Wheel of Fortune’s ratings fell by 25% with Benirschke as host, and NBC quickly canceled the program. The former NFL player told TODAY.com earlier this year that, looking back on the experience, he had no regrets. “I was going to live life, learn, be curious, and try new things,” he declared. “I was open to picking up some new skills. I’m glad I did it, too. It helped me grasp Hollywood and that lifestyle a little better.
eventually in 1989, however, CBS gave the game show a makeover with former sportscaster Bob Goen as the emcee. Bob Goen would eventually co-host Entertainment Tonight. The Daytime Wheel aired on CBS until 1991 when it returned to NBC and was canceled again later that year.
Goen noted to game-show blogger Greg Palmer in 2011 that “we were the poor step-sister on the nighttime syndicated version starring Pat and Vanna since we were on during the day and under a network TV budget.” “They were generating millions and giving away BMWs, but we had $50 spaces on the wheel and were giving away Geo Metros. It was a minor embarrassment and, in my opinion, the final straw for my interpretation of the program.
The syndicated Wheel of Fortune was the only rendition of the game show on American Airways for a number of years before Wheel 2000 appeared. It was a children’s version of the original daytime show that ran from 1997 to 1998 on CBS and GSN. Tanika Ray, who would later co-host Extra, voiced a CGI sidekick, while actor David Sidoni served as the host.
Currently, the syndicated Wheel of Fortune is in its 41st season with Pat Sajak serving as host for the final time, and the ABC primetime offshoot Celebrity Wheel of Fortune is entering its fourth season. And since Ryan Seacrest has been chosen to join White at the Wheel of Fortune riddle board for the upcoming season, this format isn’t likely to become “bankrupt” any time soon.