Wheel of Fortune was taping shows this weekend in Kansas City. Because I have the best boyfriend ever (or because of his infatuation with Subway), he hooked us up with free tickets to a taping of two of the shows at Bartle Hall on Friday night. Tom, Baikie, Tim, and I went. It was Mommie and Me week, so they had contestants and their mothers on. The stage was set up fantastically -- 3-D versions of the Plaza (complete with the lights), downtown, fountains. Very cool.
Here are some things I learned about the game show:
- When the audience shouts "Wheel...of...Fortune!" at the beginning of the show, it's taped audio. The real audience didn't shout it.
- The wheel, the TV monitors that show the puzzle, and Pat Sajak are all much smaller in real life than they appear on TV.
- There's a man that sits in front of the wheel. After a contestant guesses the letter, the man uses his fingers to tell Pat Sajak how many letters there are on the board.
- During the last puzzle, when Pat spins the wheel to find out how much each letter is worth, he stops the wheel to determine the amount. They don't show that on TV.
- They film the show with the commercial breaks incorporated into it.
- During the commercial breaks, Vanna steps behind the puzzleboard. I think she does tequila shots.
- They take footage of the contestants clapping and cheering before the show starts, just to make sure that they will have enough footage.
- If technical problems come up, they refilm the scene. For example, even after the show was over and the one mother/daughter team won like $65,000, they brought out all the contestants to reshoot a section of the puzzle. Good luck pretending that you didn't just win $65,000 or that you just didn't lose a chance at winning $65,000. The audience had to sit there for 20 minutes while they tried to reshoot the show. Pat sat in the audience with Vanna on his lap.
- Some contestants are dumb. In the first show, the first puzzle, all three contestants guessed the letter N, pretty much one after the other. Pat Sajak was like "Nope, still no N." In the second show, one of the puzzles was filled in like "The ----e Doesn't F--- F-r From the Tree". This one mother/daughter team guessed the letter K. Needless to say, they didn't win.
The shows we went to will air on May 5th and May 6th. Don't forget to set your VCRs. Maybe you'll see Tom and me mooning the camera.
2 comments:
Many things you said during this blog session where true.
Notably:
"I have the best boyfriend ever"
-True
"his infatuation with Subway"
-Quite True
However, we do need to clarify one point.
"During the last puzzle, when Pat spins the wheel to find out how much each letter is worth, he stops the wheel to determine the amount. They don't show that on TV."
-False
Before the final 'Toss-up' puzzle, the show goes to commercial break. Durning that break, the Wheel roadies, put the wheel into Pat's 'sweet spot', so he can hit the 5,000 marker on the board. If anyone knows how to spin that damn wheel, it better be Pat.
So, he doesn't pick the final spin, but I'd guess he can hit the 5,000 at will when its in his sweet spot.
And Vanna had a sweet black dress on durning the May 6th show. Watch for it!
I stand corrected. Thanks, T. :-)
I also forgot to mention that Tom is a Wheel of Fortune genius:
1. He solved all but one puzzle way before any of the contestants did or anyone sitting around us did.
2. He knew the entire history of WoF except who the original host was (Chuck Wolrey).
3. Called the color of Vanna's dress (black) before she came out.
For those of you who were wondering, Vanna White is 47. Does anyone else remember her in the 1988 movie "Goddess of Love", in which she played Venus? Vanna is not an actress.
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