Wheel of Fortune was a game show loosely based around the game of Hangman, and as everyone likes Hangman, the show was sure to be a success.
Initially, the show would begin with the host asking a 50/50 question and if the contestant was correct, they could spin the wheel. If a player was incorrect, or lost his/her turn, the next contestant alongside would be asked another question to win control. This took far up too much time and there wasn't always time for the fourth round, which was rather annoying. This was changed much later on, with the host asking a question and whoever buzzed in first with the right answer got the first go, with no questions in between, and worked much better.
There were some good tactics of play during the main game; the contestant could carry on spinning the wheel and choosing letters until they hit a 'Lose a Turn', 'Bankrupt', guessed a letter incorrectly, or knew the answer, so would you carry on spinning even though you could lose it all, or just answer straight away? And whenever a contestant solved a puzzle correctly, they could choose from one of three prizes, which was a nice feature.
Afterwards, the highest scoring contestant would go on to play for one of the star prizes, and in the final, the contestant would be told what subject the puzzle was, and then had to choose 5 consonants and 1 vowel, with any letter appearing being lit up. The puzzle was either very easy or very hard, depending on the letter choices.
The first host was Nicky Campbell, who was rather smarmy. He might be a really good presenter on current affairs programmes, but he's not the best game show host. Bradley Walsh was quite good and it was a shame he didn't do it for longer. John Leslie was wooden and used the same script each show, and Paul Hendy was more or less the same as John Leslie.
Wheel of Fortune had a good concept, but with an acquired taste of presenters.
Initially, the show would begin with the host asking a 50/50 question and if the contestant was correct, they could spin the wheel. If a player was incorrect, or lost his/her turn, the next contestant alongside would be asked another question to win control. This took far up too much time and there wasn't always time for the fourth round, which was rather annoying. This was changed much later on, with the host asking a question and whoever buzzed in first with the right answer got the first go, with no questions in between, and worked much better.
There were some good tactics of play during the main game; the contestant could carry on spinning the wheel and choosing letters until they hit a 'Lose a Turn', 'Bankrupt', guessed a letter incorrectly, or knew the answer, so would you carry on spinning even though you could lose it all, or just answer straight away? And whenever a contestant solved a puzzle correctly, they could choose from one of three prizes, which was a nice feature.
Afterwards, the highest scoring contestant would go on to play for one of the star prizes, and in the final, the contestant would be told what subject the puzzle was, and then had to choose 5 consonants and 1 vowel, with any letter appearing being lit up. The puzzle was either very easy or very hard, depending on the letter choices.
The first host was Nicky Campbell, who was rather smarmy. He might be a really good presenter on current affairs programmes, but he's not the best game show host. Bradley Walsh was quite good and it was a shame he didn't do it for longer. John Leslie was wooden and used the same script each show, and Paul Hendy was more or less the same as John Leslie.
Wheel of Fortune had a good concept, but with an acquired taste of presenters.