Chapter MMMCXIII: In which he posts a video of Wheel of Fortune
Chapter MMMCXIII: In which he posts a video of Wheel of Fortune
Once upon a time, when visiting my grandfather, I drove the man nearly off the edge by beating him consistently at Wheel of Fortune, guessing the puzzle long before he had a clue. He was in his 70's at the time, and I was maybe 10.
I like word games. I rock at Wheel of Fortune. I think I once upon time stunned The Evil Hippy by guessing a phrase correctly based on the placement of 4 t's and one N, just with a casual glance at the screen as we walked past Wheel as it was on.
I talked with a friend earlier this week about how dumb the contestants on Wheel of Fortune are. I opined that the dumb contestants are as much a part of the continued success of the show as anything. I think there are probably a few people like me who seem to use exasperation as a kindling, anger as a fuel. You might use the word "rage-a-holic," and such a phrase might just get you dealt with...so watch it.
Anyway...there are a good number of us who watch the dumb on the Wheel of Fortune, and take a small bit of satisfaction away from the viewing by know that if it came down to a life-or-death Hangman contest among any one of the three, we'd walk away with our necks intact.
I think I'd whip Pat Sajak, too. Whereas I've gotten an inkling that Alex Trebek would perform admirably on Jeopardy, if only through years of trivial osmosis, I think Pat Sajak's merely a mindless, easily controlled automaton. Any time a player guesses a letter for a puzzle, and it does not immediately light up, there's still a pause as Pat's looking for more confirmation that the letter is not in the puzzle.
Wheel of Fortune host is a good gig, and I think Pat would be eaten by wolves if he were not doing it.
I've got a thing for game shows. I dunno. It's a distraction. Trivia shows are my favorite, but most game shows I end up digging. Wordplay shows like Wheel are pretty good. Even shows like Price is Right, which has a large degree of chance thrown in to its mix, can draw me in.
I've tried out for a handful. Mostly quiz shows...Jeopardy a handful of times, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Even did a hot summer day standing in line trying to get on The Weakest Link. Now, I've never made it on...I think I always do well enough with the trivia portions of the testing. I've just left any interview portions of the tryouts feeling like that's what's knocked me out of contestant's row on a soundstage in Los Angeles....
The tryout for Wheel of Fortune is different. They did one at Murphy Center, out in Murfreesboro one day. Apparently, it involves going in, and getting a number. Kind of like how you'd Count off for teams in gym class, or a training session in an office. Then, after everybody that's going to show up for the try out shows up, they call one (or more) of the numbers at random, and everybody else can go home. Then, every body in groups 2 and 7 will be given a tryout, and it is based largely on personality.
Which is why stuff like this happens on the show.
I probably shouldn't say that. We all have watched the show, and tried to solve a puzzle that our minds are reading as "Wonky Hulkster" and is actually "Punky Brewster."
Still, I've seen the word "pristinely" a few times...I'd probably pronounce that one okay....
Ive gotten to thinking about it, though. I think a lot of Wheel of Fortune's continued success revolves around having contestants who don't solve that puzzle too quickly. I think that if you have a throng of contestants who a.) conservatively weigh the risk of spinning the wheel and hitting a Bankrupt vs. running like Dom Deluise to a Burt Reynolds buffet toward that $10,000 dollar space on the wheel and b.) can put a puzzle together quickly, before the audience at home, you run off a good amount of your viewership...if only because those people are "boring."
I think what I like about Wheel of Fortune is what a lot of people like about Wheel of Fortune. I think they like feeling smarter that those goofs standing next to Pat at the wheel.
And here's the thing.
You guys have driven in a commute right?
You guys have shopped at the Wal-Mart.
You guys have stood behind somebody at a Fast Food restaurant, right? And had them order a sandwich for another restaurant?
Are most people all that smart?
Most people like to think they're smart, is my point. But as a guy who lost the remote control the other day, only to find that he'd been holding it in his right hand for the duration of the search, I can admit that most people including your old pal Tommy are not nearly as smart as they'd like to believe. You need a good level of dumb on the show, I think. If only to maintain viewership by propping up the collective self-esteem of our beleaguered nation.
(As an aside, I cannot tell you how absolutely exultant I felt to spell "beleaguered" right on the first try....)
Also, I'll admit that it's probably a plus to have bright shining personalities on the show as much as possible. A prancing, smiling personality, I am not. I have two emotions: angry and hungry, and one generally leads to the other. A glowering cuss like me probably would have most of America rooting against him--and while I could go off on a rant about how a Heel on America's favorite game show might do some good, kind of the Anti-Ken Jennings, I'll let that fish go and just say "I get it."
The last thing I need to say is that I'd say it's different on your couch, and up there on a soundstage with bright lights in your face. I get that, too. It's easy to laugh at the person who's under the pressure, who's got the bright lights and the audience staring, prepared to laugh when you guess "8" as a letter, with the empty, vacant eyes of Pat Sajak looking at you, feeling sufficiently superior to you himself.
Yeah. Easy to laugh at the folks under pressure.
And fun, I'd say, since the show's been on as long as I can remember....
Once upon a time, when visiting my grandfather, I drove the man nearly off the edge by beating him consistently at Wheel of Fortune, guessing the puzzle long before he had a clue. He was in his 70's at the time, and I was maybe 10.
I like word games. I rock at Wheel of Fortune. I think I once upon time stunned The Evil Hippy by guessing a phrase correctly based on the placement of 4 t's and one N, just with a casual glance at the screen as we walked past Wheel as it was on.
I talked with a friend earlier this week about how dumb the contestants on Wheel of Fortune are. I opined that the dumb contestants are as much a part of the continued success of the show as anything. I think there are probably a few people like me who seem to use exasperation as a kindling, anger as a fuel. You might use the word "rage-a-holic," and such a phrase might just get you dealt with...so watch it.
Anyway...there are a good number of us who watch the dumb on the Wheel of Fortune, and take a small bit of satisfaction away from the viewing by know that if it came down to a life-or-death Hangman contest among any one of the three, we'd walk away with our necks intact.
I think I'd whip Pat Sajak, too. Whereas I've gotten an inkling that Alex Trebek would perform admirably on Jeopardy, if only through years of trivial osmosis, I think Pat Sajak's merely a mindless, easily controlled automaton. Any time a player guesses a letter for a puzzle, and it does not immediately light up, there's still a pause as Pat's looking for more confirmation that the letter is not in the puzzle.
Wheel of Fortune host is a good gig, and I think Pat would be eaten by wolves if he were not doing it.
I've got a thing for game shows. I dunno. It's a distraction. Trivia shows are my favorite, but most game shows I end up digging. Wordplay shows like Wheel are pretty good. Even shows like Price is Right, which has a large degree of chance thrown in to its mix, can draw me in.
I've tried out for a handful. Mostly quiz shows...Jeopardy a handful of times, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Even did a hot summer day standing in line trying to get on The Weakest Link. Now, I've never made it on...I think I always do well enough with the trivia portions of the testing. I've just left any interview portions of the tryouts feeling like that's what's knocked me out of contestant's row on a soundstage in Los Angeles....
The tryout for Wheel of Fortune is different. They did one at Murphy Center, out in Murfreesboro one day. Apparently, it involves going in, and getting a number. Kind of like how you'd Count off for teams in gym class, or a training session in an office. Then, after everybody that's going to show up for the try out shows up, they call one (or more) of the numbers at random, and everybody else can go home. Then, every body in groups 2 and 7 will be given a tryout, and it is based largely on personality.
Which is why stuff like this happens on the show.
I probably shouldn't say that. We all have watched the show, and tried to solve a puzzle that our minds are reading as "Wonky Hulkster" and is actually "Punky Brewster."
Still, I've seen the word "pristinely" a few times...I'd probably pronounce that one okay....
Ive gotten to thinking about it, though. I think a lot of Wheel of Fortune's continued success revolves around having contestants who don't solve that puzzle too quickly. I think that if you have a throng of contestants who a.) conservatively weigh the risk of spinning the wheel and hitting a Bankrupt vs. running like Dom Deluise to a Burt Reynolds buffet toward that $10,000 dollar space on the wheel and b.) can put a puzzle together quickly, before the audience at home, you run off a good amount of your viewership...if only because those people are "boring."
I think what I like about Wheel of Fortune is what a lot of people like about Wheel of Fortune. I think they like feeling smarter that those goofs standing next to Pat at the wheel.
And here's the thing.
You guys have driven in a commute right?
You guys have shopped at the Wal-Mart.
You guys have stood behind somebody at a Fast Food restaurant, right? And had them order a sandwich for another restaurant?
Are most people all that smart?
Most people like to think they're smart, is my point. But as a guy who lost the remote control the other day, only to find that he'd been holding it in his right hand for the duration of the search, I can admit that most people including your old pal Tommy are not nearly as smart as they'd like to believe. You need a good level of dumb on the show, I think. If only to maintain viewership by propping up the collective self-esteem of our beleaguered nation.
(As an aside, I cannot tell you how absolutely exultant I felt to spell "beleaguered" right on the first try....)
Also, I'll admit that it's probably a plus to have bright shining personalities on the show as much as possible. A prancing, smiling personality, I am not. I have two emotions: angry and hungry, and one generally leads to the other. A glowering cuss like me probably would have most of America rooting against him--and while I could go off on a rant about how a Heel on America's favorite game show might do some good, kind of the Anti-Ken Jennings, I'll let that fish go and just say "I get it."
The last thing I need to say is that I'd say it's different on your couch, and up there on a soundstage with bright lights in your face. I get that, too. It's easy to laugh at the person who's under the pressure, who's got the bright lights and the audience staring, prepared to laugh when you guess "8" as a letter, with the empty, vacant eyes of Pat Sajak looking at you, feeling sufficiently superior to you himself.
Yeah. Easy to laugh at the folks under pressure.
And fun, I'd say, since the show's been on as long as I can remember....
posted by Tommy at
10:31
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