Wheel of Fortune

Summary of TV Show
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that contestants spin throughout the course of the game. The project was first conceived by Griffin after Jeopardy! finished its run. Griffin created two different pilot episodes, hosted by Chuck Woolery and Edd Byrnes.

The program began airing as a television network version on January 6, 1975 on NBC, with Woolery and Susan Stafford hosting and Charlie O'Donnell as the program's announcer. In the early 1980s, Woolery and O'Donnell departed from the show and Pat Sajak and Jack Clark replaced them as the host and announcer, respectively. During this time, Vanna White replaced Stafford due to her humanitarian work. The nighttime syndicated version of Wheel of Fortune premiered on September 19, 1983, and is currently ongoing. After Clark's death in 1988, O'Donnell eventually returned as announcer until his death in 2010, after which Jim Thornton replaced him. Sajak continued to host the daytime version until his departure in 1989 when he left to focus on his late night talk show, The Pat Sajak Show. Upon Sajak's departure from the daytime version, he was replaced by Rolf Benirschke, who was then replaced by Bob Goen when the program switched networks from NBC to CBS later that year. The daytime version moved back to NBC in 1991, but was canceled eight months later.

While retaining most of the elements from the daytime version, the syndicated version of Wheel of Fortune has added many new gameplay elements and is the longest-running syndicated game show in United States television history, with over 5,000 episodes aired. The broadcast syndicated version of the program premiered on September 19, 1983, and is hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White, with Jim Thornton as announcer. In a 2008 article, TV Guide named Wheel of Fortune as the "top-rated syndicated series."

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Season 2

 * Episode 11 (37) Wheel of Fortune: Monkey Edition: The game show gets spoofed with monkey contestants.