Ever since 1975 when the show was first aired, and the wheel was given
its very first spin, Wheel of Fortune has
become one of the longest-running TV shows in broadcast history. It also turned Pat Sajak into the longest-serving quiz show host having
played a part from its very first days.
For a simple word game to be so long-running and successful, it has to be
more than just a more sophisticated form of “hangman” – and that is where
the wheel comes into its own.
Adding that extra element of chance and the tension as the wheel spins
has the audience on the edge of their seats. Unsurprisingly, it has now
become so inextricably woven into the fabric of US culture that it pops up
into a number of movies too.
For example, there’s a very memorable scene in the Oscar-winning 1988
movie Rain Man starring Dustin Hoffman and a very young Tom Cruise.
Cruise’s character is cynically trying to take advantage of his
neuro-diverse brother’s ability at blackjack to win money to get himself
out of debt. In the scene they check into a hotel and Raymond, Hoffman’s
character, turns on the TV only to find that WoF is on the screen.
The hero is transfixed by the show, and this also has a symbolic link to
the way in which the brothers are planning to use chance to win money.
A more comedic approach is taken by the 1989 movie UHF directed by Jay
Levey and written by him and “Weird” Al Jankovic too. It tells the story
of a failing TV station, UHF Channel 62, that Jankovic’s character is
entrusted to run by his uncle who has won it in a poker game.
A hopeless slacker and dreamer, one of his program ideas to save the
station is “Wheel of Fish”. As the title suggests, the contestant gets
to spin the wheel around which there are a number of different types of
fish. Depending on which one the wheel stops at, they win that fish.
Unsurprisingly, this isn’t the show that’s going to save the endangered
station!
Beyond the world of movies, the game has captured the imagination of the
makers of TV shows too. So it won’t take very long before you come
across an episode
of The Simpsons where the game plays a part. Similarly, Family Guy has featured the game quite a few times, maybe
most famously in the fourth season's episode “I take thee, Quagmire”.
Today, there are also opportunities for almost everyone to have a Wheel
of Fortune experience with the added bonus of playing for real money
themselves. This is thanks to a live online casino game called Crazy
Time where a spin of the wheel dictates a prize.
Want to have a Crazy Time? You can find the popular online game
here, along with plenty of online casinos where you can try it with a
welcome offer of bonus.
With the real Wheel of Fortune still going strong, not just in the US
but around the world too, we’re likely to see it in plenty more movies
and TV shows in the future. And we say let’s keep it spinning!