Wheel of Fortune

[Philip Wilson]

Anyone else really like this? Much better with the general public but fun to play along!

[Philip A]

Same problem as with nearly all the revamped shows from last century. The shows are made twice as long (60 minutes instead of 30) which makes for a fundamentally difficult viewing experience.

They could have paired this at 4:30 pm with Jeopardy! at 4 pm for a neat hour of US-based game shows, even if it means smaller prize money.

A mistake in a lack of co-host, and the wheel looks 70s.

Far too much clapping.

Credit where due though, all players keep their money (a rarity in daytime shows) and the main puzzles use clues rather than just categories. But this isn’t a patch on the revival of Gladiators, which I think is spot on.

[Philip Wilson]

Fair points, although with the various rounds - starters, normal rounds, common word, linked words etc, it doesn't 'feel' like it's on for an hour - which I have to say, some game shows do, to their detriment! I like that it is fast-moving and we get straight on with it.

I guess with automation it is no longer necessary to have a co-host for this show. Their main job used to be to turn round the unpicked letters at the end of each round.
Always remember Bradley running over to help when the contestant solved a puzzle early. Sadly that can't happen now, but the show doesn't appear to suffer for it.
I suppose a co-host could still describe the spot prizes, but one host manages that well. Wheel of Fortune did, of course, have their 'prize guys' too, who are now redundant.

I always used to dislike the clapping while the wheel was spinning, but saw a very early one on 'Challenge' once without this and it felt very strange.

I agree the use of clues is better than categories, and the computer-generated round at the beginning is better than the random general knowledge question used to be. The clues are suitably obscure to make this tricky enough.

The other main change of giving the commonest letters L N R S T and E in the prize rounds and then allowing the contestant to choose four more seems to make solving the puzzle too easy, but tonight's show proved that this isn't always going to be the case - although 'Taxi Driver' wasn't difficult!

Overall I don't think any harm has been done in bringing back this show.

[Philip Wilson]

Tonight's final game was probably the first tricky one so far, specially the first word!