Friday, January 20, 2012

Wheel of Fortune, Thy Name is Enabler

It’s Friday. I’m exhausted from a week of duty. It’s Wheel of Fortune time. No matter how old Pat and Vanna get, I always enjoy his goofy bantering with the guests and her ability to make letter-turning appear glamorous. While Jeopardy makes me feel stupid, Wheel of Fortune makes me feel like a savant genius, especially when I beat my partner at solving the puzzles.

However, despite my love for the glitter and glam of Wheel of Fortune, tonight I realized that this game has become a simpler version than when I was a youngster. I remember when, during the final round, guests could only choose four letters and a consonant to solve the last puzzle. Now, contestants get the most common letters (RSTLNE) PLUS three more letters and an extra vowel! If they make it any easier, Pat will be solving the puzzles for them.

What happened to the bonus round being a challenge? When did Wheel of Fortune become molded by the same enabled generation that lives in our residence halls?When the going gets rough, apparently the tough demand the rough get easier. 

3 comments:

  1. I think you are showing your age in this post :) . RSTLNE have always been given since I've been watching since the early 90's. I remember asking my mom why and having her explain it to me.

    Coincidently The change occurred right around the time this generation was born...

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  2. Sadly for you I must agree with the above post. Just turned 25 and I always remember contestants getting RSTLNE and we used to watch it as a family all the time growing up.

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  3. They picked five consonants and vowel at first, but since 99% of people were picking RSTLNE, they finally decided to give those letters to them for free starting in 1988. Of course, the puzzles got harder, and the time limit was reduced from 15 seconds to 10.

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