I assume that the show is edited to fit the time allotted, but since it is a game, how do they do that? If an unsuccessful guess were left out, the audience would notice that a player’s turn was skipped. The only thing I can see is if all three contestants made unsuccessful guesses, the entire round could be left out of the final production. That would also explain why the “used” letter board is never shown to the audience.
Old game shows used to be serial in nature. The show would end at the allotted time and the host would invite the audience to tune in tomorrow to see how the game turned out. They could be right in the middle of a round or even leading into the big “payoff” round. Then, the next day would start with the “payoff” round and then go back to normal game-play with new contestants. Now, most game shows are self-contained episodes consisting of ever increasing stakes that ensure each contestant has a mathematical chance of winning, no matter how far they have fallen behind the leader. Then, the winner goes to some sort of bonus round. End of show.
How does Wheel of Fortune get the game to line up perfectly every time given that different puzzles will take different amounts of time to solve?
The Wheel of Fortune Wiki describes the “speed-up round” used when time is short. A bell sounds, one of the players makes a final spin (determining the amount for the round) and each player guesses a letter.
I worked with a guy who won on Let’s Make a Deal back when Monty Hall was still the host, and he said he was surprised at how much time was spent in idle chit-chat between the host and contestants/audience members. I would surmise that in post-production, they used that time as filler, and I would expect it’d be much the same on WoF.
I’m in the UK and we haven’t had wheel of fortune for years and I am not sure if the format is the same anyway but this is my guess based on oter quiz shows.
Nearly always there is some chatter introducing the players and then after a question or between rounds some more for example commenting the question/answer or going further into the contestants backgrounds.
I have always imagined after the show this is what is edited to get the progam to fill the alotted time.
I remember one episode of Richard Osmen’s house of games (admittedy this is a celebrity game show so nothing is really at stake) where the host said in effect “you answered those so quickly we don’t usually do this but lets do that round again”, presumably the whole program was ahead of schedule so the producer ask the host to fill in time.
I also suspect that the production team trims unnecessary seconds here and there from the taping to streamline the games to fit the allotted time – for example, you probably don’t usually see the entire spin of the Wheel, just the contestant pulling it to spin, and then the last few “clicks” until it stops; the intermediate seconds of the wheel just spinning get edited out.
Similarly, bits of banter between the host and the contestants in between plays, etc., are likely taped, but then only kept in the final cut if time allows.
Also, and related to this, I know that I’ve seen little notices during the credits of some game shows, along the lines of (paraphrasing) “Portions of the play of the game which did not affect the final outcome were edited from this broadcast.” I haven’t watched Wheel in years, so I can’t say if that appears in their credits or not.
I love it when they have the casts of the show from other countries at the end. Some countries have so much going on, they have so much fun, it makes WoF:OG just seem so…staid.
The producer will also be telling the host to stretch it out or speed things up to keep the show on time. They know the time marks they are supposed to be hitting. The host can do things like tweak the amount of banter to help keep the time on target.
There’s always a little bit of banter between Vanna and Ryan at the end of the show. I’d guess that this portion can be lengthened or shortened as necessary in order for the show to come in on time.
I have been a coach of a quiz show that was broadcast on TV (high school teams).
While some segments of the game were timed, i.e. they ended the round after 90 seconds or 120 seconds, others were as long as it took to get through all the questions on the board.
As others have said they edited out some of the patter if necessary. And shots of the audience applauding. They recorded several minutes of choreographed applause. Only a few seconds of which made it to broadcast.
It was a show that ran for 22 minutes from the end of the intro to the beginning of the credits. The actual quiz questions and answers were less than ten minutes. The rest was all introductions of contestants, coaches, alternates, patter, cheerleaders, applause, intros and outros, reading the score between rounds, commenting on the score, etc.
I was also a contestant on a university quiz show for seven episodes over two seasons, including winning the city title. This was in Pakistan. The show was broadcast live on the government run station. No commercials, just two breaks for a 10-15 second station identification (“This is Radio Pakistan, live from the Karachi studio” in Urdu and English) Everything went out live with only a seven second delay for censorship. There was a big clock on the side of the stage opposite the compere and a red light. We were live for 58 out of 60 minutes.
It’s also worth remembering that as soon as game shows were pre-recorded instead of aired live, this “next day” is only in broadcast terms. In production terms, they most likely went straight on to shooting the next episode immediately thereafter. So for the contestants, the competition would be continuous. These “daily” game shows are filmed in blocks, back-to-back-to-back, so they can bank up a backlog of episodes and give the crew and the host vacation breaks from time to time.
The point is to recognize, as always, that the finished episode we see on screen is an extremely artificial false reality constructed out of whatever was actually happening on the production set. The glowing rectangle in your living room is constantly lying to you. The lies can be entertaining, but one must never take them as anything close to truth.
I’ve been on a couple of game shows: “Bumper Stumpers” and “Definition.” This, above by @Cervaise, is the way things work.
In the case of “Bumper Stumpers,” we were basically contracted to be at the studio all day. I’d say that five shows were taped that day. We were told to bring changes of clothing, so if we went to the “next day,” it looked as if it really was the next day. For me, that was easy: a different sportcoat and a different tie. Same shirt, but by mixing sportcoats and ties, nobody noticed, and I could look different every “day.”
As I said, we were there all day. If we were not playing the game, we contestants were the studio audience. If we liked, we could bring friends to watch, and fill out the audience a little more. As I recall, I brought my then-girlfriend.
It sounds hokey and rinky-dink, and it was. “Bumper Stumpers” was produced inexpensively for a new American cable channel, while “Definition” was produced for the CTV network. But in the best tradition of Canadian game shows, you could win tens of dollars in the bonus round on “Definition.” Shows like “Wheel” and “Jeopardy” have real audiences, but they’re the high-paying, cream-of-the-crop, game shows. And from looking at “Jeopardy” contestants, it’s obvious that they’ve been told to bring changes of clothing also.
In each of my cases, however, the “lovely parting gift” was a very handsome and expensive wristwatch. No matter how rinky-dink these shows were, there was no Rice-a-Roni or Turtle Wax for the loser. I still have my watches.
I was in the audience for a short-lived game show called “Qubit”. I remember being surprised when there was a technical issue (one of many!), so they had to refilm a segment with the same contestant buzzing in first and giving the same correct answer.
I’m pretty sure one of the prizes for Definition was a sewing machine by Brother. That always sounded a little more utilitarian than glamourous.
Ah, that would have been a Brother typewriter. The sewing machine was by somebody else. Either way, I considered myself lucky when I found out that I’d receive a nice Bulova watch. I had no use for a sewing machine or a typewriter.