‘Wheel Of Fortune’…Pilot Number 1…1973
‘Wheel Of Fortune’…Pilot Number 1…1973
Merv Griffin shot three pilot episodes for ‘Wheel Of Fortune’…this is the first and at the time the show was called ‘Shopper’s Bazaar’ and was hosted by Chuck Woolery. In the next post, we’ll see the second pilot hosted by Ed “Kooky” Burns, but here’s how this all came about.
Griffin conceived ‘Wheel of Fortune’ just as the original version of Jeopardy!, another show he had created, was ending its 11-year run on NBC with Art Fleming as its host.
Griffin decided to create a Hangman-style game but it needed a “hook”. He decided to add a roulette-style wheel because he was always drawn to such wheels when he saw them in casinos and had a friend at Caesars Palace build one for them and as you’ll see, the original wheel was mounted vertically.
When Griffin pitched the idea for the show to Lin Bolen, then head of NBC’s daytime programming division, she approved, but wanted the show to have more glamour to attract the female audience; she suggested that Griffin incorporate a shopping element into the gameplay, and so, in 1973, he created a pilot episode titled ‘Shopper’s Bazaar’, with Chuck Woolery as host and Mike Lawrence as the announcer.
As you probably know, ‘Wheel of Fortune’ ranks as the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States, with over 6,000 episodes aired. This is how it started, but there’s more on how it all came together in today’s next post. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n896dobPzg
Here are the first few minutes of the woefully awful beginnings of Wheel of Fortune. There are prizes, a puzzle board and Chuck Woolery, but otherwise it’s a…
I love how the pilot is shot. It’s more like a “proof of concept” so anyone who views it knows the flavor of the show in the first 3 minutes.
I was lucky to see a taping of WOF with Chuck & Susan, back in the mid 70s. I really enjoyed watching the production crew at work.
Problem is, the “Chuck Woolery” era has never been properly acknowledged. To this day, it’s a safe bet that up to half of WOF’s fans never knew of the NBC daytime version, or that Woolery was the original host.