Wheel of Fortune timeline (network)/1976

Go back to 1975, or forward to 1977?

January 1976

• Wheel does not air on January 1 due to the Tournament of Roses parade.
• The January 9 show is held on audio tape by Archival Television Audio, Inc.
• On January 9 (David/Judy/Mary Ann and Terri/Ida/Linda):
  • Charlie introduces the second half of the game with: "And now back to Part 2 of Wheel of Fortune. Once again, your host: Chuck Woolery!"
  • During Round 1 of Game 2, Terri mis-solves BLUE CHIP STOCK as BLUE CHIP STAMP with only the I, O, and U missing. This is initially declared correct by Chuck and the puzzle solve cue plays. However, Susan does not reveal the rest of the puzzle and the mistake is quickly rectified. Ida is then given a chance to solve with only $150, but she does not know it. Linda then buys the I, after which she stumbles over the correct answer, believing it to be wrong. Chuck asks her to clarify and then declares her answer correct.
  • The Round 2 puzzle of Game 2, COMMANDER IN CHIEF, is categorized as Title rather than Person. The categorization may suggest that the show has not yet begun using Person for non-proper name puzzles at this point.
  • The bonus prize is a Latin trip around the world (Venezuela, Majorca, and Spain).
• By January 9, the "pointers" are changed to white, teardrop-shaped "flippers".

• On January 19, Wheel returns to a half-hour, now at 11:00 AM; High Rollers moves to 10:30, while The Magnificent Marble Machine (which had been on a two-week hiatus) returns to the schedule at Noon in an all-celebrity format. Most elements added for the hour-long format are retired, some temporarily.

• On January 19, the show holds "NBC's All Star Dream Machine Championship", a week-long tournament of champions with the nine biggest winners up to that point (five from the hour-long format, the others from before then): Judy Bongarzone (earlier this month, including January 9), Rick Mandl ($22,475 "last month"), Sue Bergen, Rochelle Greenblatt, Richard Hooper ($19,061 in April), Patti Butler ($18,300 in November), Barbara Becker, Ann Gothoffer, and Eleanor Marter. During this week:
  • Three players compete on Monday-Wednesday (the names drawn by Chuck from a drum before the show), with the winners then playing a two-day "grand championship" (a prototype of the Friday Finals, and the first known use of such a format).
  • The Wheel layouts use $500, $1,000, and $1,500 as the top values. Presumably at this time, half of the Round 3 template is discarded in favor of half of the Round 2 template. As such, $700 and $1,000 are removed from Round 3.
• Also on January 19 (Rick/Patty/Richard), held by the Paley Center for Media:
  • The opening begins with the logo on an overhead shot of the Wheel as a drumroll plays.

    

  • Charlie's opening is "Wheel of Fortune proudly presents..." followed by the names of all nine players, each of whom is shown in close-up before a zoom-out to all nine players in front of the blank puzzle board (the camera simply cuts from the above overhead shot to a close-up of Judy). He then says "These nine players have thus far won a total of $187,160! And it's not over yet!", with the amount shown onscreen as he says it.

    

  • After the above, "Big Wheels" begins to play as Charlie says "Take a look at this 24-foot travel trailer, this brand-new Buick Century, and one of our players will win this grand prize: a 1976 Mercedes Benz 450 SL worth over $21,000 on NBC's All Star Dream Machine Championship! And now, here's your host: Chuck Woolery!" A graphic reading "NBC's All Star Dream Machine Championship", using a white Helvetica font, appears over the Mercedes and zooms in; Chuck's "entrance" is simply a fade to him already standing at his part of the railing.
  • Strangely, no mention is made of the show going back to its 30-minute length and format.
  • Susan enters from Chuck's right with a normal-sized microphone, after which she mentions that over $189,000 worth of prizes is available this week.
  • Charlie announces each player's name and hometown as they enter from Chuck's left. Chuck says when they played and how much they won over how many days. Charlie introduces them as "Contestant #1/2/3" despite doing so to the blue, yellow, and red players in that order.
  • Chuck does not do the opening spin, instead explaining how the tournament works.
  • There is a commercial break during Round 1, likely because of the longer-than-usual intro.
  • Rounds 1 and 2 are Title; the latter, BLUE BIRD OF HAPPINESS, is misspelled ("Bluebird" should be one word).
  • Richard figures out the answer to Round 3 puzzle DICK CLARK before taking a spin, as he calls every consonant in the puzzle, starting with C, and solves without buying a vowel at any point.
  • The sponsor list begins with "THE FOLLOWING HAVE PAID AND/OR FURNISHED PRIZES TO NBC FOR PROMOTING THEIR PRODUCTS:", centered, above the spinning Wheel. (This may have been the original version, but this is uncertain.)
  • The eligibility disclaimer reads "Contestants were furnished with complete rules, must meet eligibility requirements and win only announced prizes." (This may have been the original version, but this is uncertain.)
• By January 19:
  • The tall, thin money graphic style seen on at least the 1974 pilots is replaced by a thicker font, similar to if not the same as Tungsten, which remains for the rest of the daytime run. For at least this week, the graphic is lime green.
  • The contestant score displays become white again.
  • The Wheel is altered a bit (which very likely happened when the Wheel was changed for the hour format):

    

    

    • All of the wedges have white borders.
    • The Free Spin space becomes gold.
    • The pale-orange $200 in Rounds 2+ is decreased back to $175.
    • The orange $500 in Round 2 becomes red, swapping places with the Bankrupt three spaces clockwise, and the tan $200 in Rounds 2+ increases to a yellow $400.
  • Each puzzle is now revealed by a head-on shot of the blank spaces. On at least the 1974 pilots and 1975 premiere, an angled shot was used which also showed the Wheel and host.
  • The same head-on shot of the blank spaces is now used for the entirety of each round when the puzzle board is seen on-camera. On at least the 1975 premiere, the shot would zoom in so that the unused trilons would be cropped out when letters were revealed.

    

  • The category is now shown to the television audience in large all-caps (in the Helvetica Bold font) below the puzzle, albeit sporadically due to being on art cards.
  • The contestants no longer choose the order of the showcases to shop from, rather the first platform is now used after Round 1, the second after Round 2, and the third after Round 3; in the event of subsequent rounds, the process begins again at the first platform (or the first with prizes remaining).
  • The pricetags used in shopping rounds are changed to dark green characters on a white background with an elegant design surrounding the price, a style which remains for the rest of the shopping era.
  • Full credit rolls begin with the show's logo and end with Merv Griffin's creator credit. Also, they are now set in Helvetica, with headers using entirely lower-case letters and names entirely in upper-case.
  • The Merv Griffin Productions logo adds "©COPYRIGHT 1975" below it, with the copyright symbol larger than the rest of the text. For at least the 1973-74 pilots, only the logo was present.
• As of January 19:
  • Susan's wardrobe provider is still Giorgio Beverly Hills and Chuck still does not have his own wardrobe credit.
  • Full credit rolls are still done over the spinning Wheel, as was the case on the 1974 pilots.

    

    Chuck and Judy Bongarzone.

• On January 23, Judy wins the tournament, leaving with a new grand total of $64,461.
• The January 23 show is held on audio tape by Archival Television Audio, Inc.

February 1976

• Sometime this year, an episode airs in which contestant Ron Burns purchases a trip to Bermuda which becomes his honeymoon destination. His daughter, Cheron, appears as a contestant on December 8, 2009 and relates the aforementioned.

April 1976

• On April 13, John Rhinehart announces his departure from the show. Just over a month later, on May 14, he is promoted to being the network's West Coast Daytime Program Development Director.
• On April 29, Nancy is promoted to producer, replacing Rhinehart. The full credit roll is altered to start with her name once the tapings catch up.
• The April 30 show is held on audio tape by Archival Television Audio, Inc.

May 1976

• The May 20 show (#356, Elliot/Kathi/Lee) is held by the Paley Center for Media. A brief clip of the opening appears during the 1984 NBC special Those Wonderful TV Game Shows.
• On May 20:
  • The money graphic is white, as was the case on the 1974 pilots.
  • The category cards are white, matching Susan's outfit.
  • There is a commercial break during Round 1.
• By May 20:

  

  

  • The intro is slightly altered: the money graphic is shown over the set, but the logo is displayed over the spinning Wheel followed by the chroma-key zoom while Charlie introduces Chuck. (This may have been the case since the premiere, but this is uncertain.) Charlie's spiel is still the same as it was on July 15, 1975.
  • Susan now enters from Chuck's left when he introduces her. At this point, she is still introducing the contestants' names and hometowns, and is still using a normal-sized microphone.
  • The Wheel colors are changed slightly:
    • The white borders are removed.
    • Lose a Turn becomes the same shade of yellow as the yellow cash spaces. Previously, it had been a slightly brighter shade of yellow.
    • Tan is no longer used as a color on the Wheel; as such, the $450, $250, and the yellow $200 near $275 in Round 1, as well as the tan $600 and $100 in Rounds 2+, all become gold. The tan $200 near $175 in Round 1 becomes pale orange.
    • $1,500 becomes pale orange; it had previously been gold.
  • The "house minimum" is $200 (it had apparently been $100 in the earliest shows).
  • Full credit rolls are now done over a shot of Chuck, Susan, and the day's winner.

June 1976

• On June 2, 3, or 4, contestant Linda sets a single-round winnings record of $8,325 and a single-day half-hour winnings record of either this amount or slightly more.

• By June 7 (#368; Gerry/Linda/Lee):
  • The intro is replaced by a new one that shows a wide shot of the set and closeups of several prizes. Charlie's intro is changed to "Just look at this studio, filled with beautiful and imaginative gifts, which can be purchased today on Wheel of Fortune! Total retail value of all these prizes: more than [amount]! Now, let's meet the host of Wheel of Fortune: Chuck Woolery!" The money graphic becomes green, albeit a darker shade than on the All-Star Dream Machine shows, and the chroma-key shots of the Wheel are removed.
  • Susan returns to using an ECM-51 microphone, but no longer introduces the players.
• As of June 7:
  • The original curtain is still in use.
  • Susan still enters from Chuck's left when he introduces her.
  • There is still no sound effect for hitting Bankrupt.
  • Champions may still return for up to five days.
  • The original category cards are still in use.
  • The puzzle board's light border still turns on for correct letter calls.
  • The "ON ACCOUNT" displays are still only used solely for money put on account.
  • The Merv Griffin Productions logo still has the same copyright byline it did in January.
• On June 7:

  

  "KILL THE VAMPIRE"?

  • The category cards are brown, matching Susan's outfit.
  • During Round 1, the buzzer sounds on a correct letter, followed by a ding immediately after.
  • In Round 1, Gerry mis-solves KILL THE UMPIRE as KILL THE VAMPIRE with the I's and U missing. Linda then gives the correct answer for $925, after which Chuck says "You've made a lot of money off other people's mistakes."
  • During Round 2, Lee loses a then-very high $2,750 to Bankrupt.
  • After Lee solves the Round 3 puzzle (NORMAN ROCKWELL) for $800, Chuck has her spin one more time before announcing the winner. She hits $1,500.
  • Following this spin, Chuck asks an offstage staff member (possibly Nancy) about returning champion Linda's scores. Mention is made of her single-round record the previous week, and that she currently is second in half-hour total winnings with $23,200. (It is not known what the record was considered to be; while it may have been the aforementioned $64,461 won by Bongarzone, the 1987 Sams/Shook Wheel of Fortune book says that it was not considered to be the record in 1987, which suggests it may not have been considered the record in 1976.)
  • Later in the credits, the curtain raises up to allow Chuck, Susan, and Linda to go to the boat she purchased.
• June 7 is the earliest Wheel episode, one of only three daytime episodes, and the only episode hosted by Chuck to be aired by GSN; the network reran it in 2007 as part of a special marathon following Merv's death. Per the network's standard at the time, any mid-show plugs were cut out and the credit crunch began right after Chuck and Susan signed off (resulting in the show abruptly ending during the sponsor list, despite having a full credit roll).

October 1976

• The October 7 show is held on audio tape by Archival Television Audio, Inc.

November 1976

• Wheel does not air on November 25 due to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.