Wheel of Fortune (Australia) - November 19 1996

General episode - Tuesday, November 19 1996
Featuring Michael, Leigh and Scott
Also features Kerrie Friend filling in for Adriana Xenides - it is assumed that this was the first week of Adriana’s absence.
Thank you also to Jason Scott for the episode.
0:00 Intro / Round 1 / First ad break
9:19 Round 2 / Second ad break
17:25 Round 3 / Third ad break
27:32 Major Prize Round

[@R1979CampCrystalLake]

Oh i feel like ive spun top dollar look at all these episodes 🧐😂 thank you i love this show

[@Iggywiggywoo]

Wish it was 1996 again!

[@7120Magnum]

21:12 Not necessarily - turns out there was a bonus 4th puzzle could be used where there was time to spare.

[@MrShieldsy100]

Hey Josh, thanks for this. I'd just about given up seeing my grandmothers episode of Wheel until this came around. Would the guy who you got this off, have any more episodes of the Tony Barber era, and if so, do you think you could possibly ask him to pass the episodes onto you. I can give you as much information as I know about my grandmothers episode if you want.

[@jfwfreo]

One of the letters (an L) is comming off in the first round puzzle, never seen that before.

[@millenniumman75]

That's an interesting cue for the puzzle solve.

[@7120Magnum]

millenniumman75 Been there since very early on in the Wheel's run.

[@HarlemHyena]

26:52 Crazy Warehouse Guy's grandfather?

[@Tubewings]

You think the reason they offered Hyundais around this time was because Tony Barber was the spokesman for them?

[@7120Magnum]

Coincidence if anything - Hyundai was the sponsor at the beginning of 1996, but while Burgo was still host they were offering a sedan.

[@Tubewings]

Joshua92ification Ah, gotcha.

[@AchtungBaby77]

5:09 What on Earth is happening to that letter 'L'? 😅

[@bigbadbyrnes]

investing in ostriches LOL

[@7120Magnum]

Mustn’t have been very successful, apparently it was deregistered in 2000.

[@thomasthevideoguy9921]

15:24

[@Iggywiggywoo]

How come Tony Barber was only on the show for 6 months?

[@7120Magnum]

Because of the negative reaction from the viewing public over John Burgess’ sacking. Viewers at the time unfortunately did not take well to Tony or the changes to the show that took place when the show moved from Adelaide to Sydney in July 1996. By the time this episode was aired, Seven had offered the gig back to John Burgess who (on retainer with Channel Nine at the time) ultimately turned the offer down. The ones in charge at Seven weren’t prepared to let it go on as Seven News had begun losing the ratings for the 6pm news in Brisbane and Adelaide (they always won prior to this) and ultimately a handful got their way when Rob Elliott became the new host in 1997. The controversy surrounding Tony’s elevation to the gig was allowed to happen by a bunch of hurt egos in Seven’s middle management because they were upset about higher-up overriding their own decisions for the show - the revamp of Wheel in July 1996 was devised following the cancellation after 3 episodes in April of a show called “Talking Telephone Numbers” hosted by Rob Elliott. The original plan for the revamp was that Rob Elliott was to become the new host of Wheel when the show moved to Sydney. Gary Rice the managing director made a captain’s call and ultimately offered the gig to Tony. A week after this episode went to air, Tony announced his “resignation” as host - a sham cooked up by the same hurt egos in Seven’s middle management but agreed to by Tony due to the offer of further work at Seven. He did say there was talk of coming up with a morning show to compete against Bert Newton’s “Good Morning Australia” presented by Tony with Paula Duncan, but never got off the ground - Seven told him Paula Duncan wanted too much money. Tony was sidelined and the relationship with Seven was ended in mid-1998. Tony said in an interview in later years that Seven got psychologists onboard to study the audience reaction to the change, and their findings were that the viewing public saw Burgo and Adriana in the same way they saw a married couple and that they likened Adriana staying on Wheel to “doing the dirty on Burgo and running off with Tony”. No doubt in my mind that that contributed to her breakdown (hence her absence in this episode).

[@jamesharding322]

I don't know if you're still on here Josh, but have you seen the episode from June 1996 (while Burgo was still hosting) that Steve Rutherford uploaded? kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5nPZIR6etOSetk&ab_channel=steverutherford See if you can spot the changes that we THOUGHT weren't made until after the show moved to Sydney. Honestly, this was nothing like what i expected to see in Burgo's last 6 months!

[@7120Magnum]

Thanks for letting me know James. Yes I did see the episode and it was quite interesting to watch. There’s a lot of stuff I saw there which I’d forgotten about, which is funny because Burgo without the moustache was how I remembered him best. Did you also happen to notice the blue $600 space replaced one of Bankrupts in round 3 as well? Out of everything brought back from the Burgo era by this point, I’m glad they stuck with the new Bankrupt rule - easier to follow and faithful to the old game in the sense that the one with the highest score at the end of game wins the day. The rule of needing to have the most “secured” dollars at the end of the game was harder to follow, understandable during those specials but not for the normal game. By that logic, if that rule applied in this episode then Leigh would have been champion this night having solved with a score of 1440, keeping in mind Michael solved round 2 with 945 even though he made it to end with a score of 1985. Or here’s one for you - November 28 with Brett, Peta-Marie and Henry. If those rules were in place that night Henry (who put no letters on the board in round 3, only solving when his turn came around) would have been champion because his score of 920 was the highest that night upon solving. Brett won with a score of 3180 but only had 240 when he solved. Peta-Marie finished with a score of 1610 but only had 210 when she solved. Having now seen the end of the Burgess era, anyone complaining that this era resembled the American version is sorely mistaken. That rule just screams American Wheel from the get go. The only thing wrong here by this episode was having gone back to 3 puzzles in the main game instead of sticking with 4.

[@henrywinkler6058]

Where is adriana obscenity?

[@7120Magnum]

Henry Winkler LOL. This was the first week of Adriana Xenides’ extended absence from the Wheel.

[@JamesJimmaHarding]

Adriana returned on July 4 1997 after an 8 month mental health break. Several hostesses filled in for Adri in the last few weeks of 1996, but Kerrie Friend acted as a "long term" replacement for her during the first 6 months of 1997. Adriana eventually retired from the show for good in May 1999, to surprisingly little fanfare. I've seen a couple of episodes from Adriana's last few weeks in 1999, and you could tell she no longer had the same "stage presence" she had during her heyday alongside Burgo

[@Iggywiggywoo]

😂 Obscenity LOL!

[@ericsamuelson5656]

Kerrie Friend is damn hot