Q&A with Wesley Hyatt, author of I’d Like to Buy a Vowel - Spinning 50 Years of Wheel of Fortune
Why do a book about Wheel of Fortune?
There’s never been a serious history of the series in print until now. It’s celebrating fifty years on the air come January 1975, an achievement few series ever achieve. And it’s a show with broad recognition, so it should attract the interest of many readers.
How did you research the series?
I did a combination of things. Obviously, I watched as many shows as possible, although the sheer number of episodes (over 12,000) meant I couldn’t watch them all. Fortunately, there are blogs that recap episodes, which helped immensely in determining which shows to seek out. I also watched two symposiums on the show held at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, along with a few rare episodes from the 1970s held there. The Library of Congress has the holdings of NBC’s press releases from the 1970s and 1980s, so that helped a great deal. Also, I combed through many news articles over the years, including several in trade magazines, and a good number of books related to the show in some way. Finally, I made a spreadsheet and managed to track down and talk to more than 60 people, from former contestants to the original “letter turner,” Susan Stafford, who was wonderful to interview.
What surprised you most about the series from your research?
How often the show came close to cancellation. NBC daytime fell into third place in 1976 and stayed in that spot thereafter, so there were rating fluctuations in the first seven years or so. What saved it was even when it finished behind the competition on the other two networks at the time (CBS and ABC), it still was doing better than most of the rest of the lineup, so it survived. But barely, at points.
What was the toughest part to research?
It was trying to find information about Wheel 2000, the show’s Saturday morning version for children that lasted a year. I only found one person involved with the production who was willing to discuss it, and her answers were pretty short. I have a feeling it’s a disappointment to most of the participants, and they didn’t want to relive the experience.
Any favorite interviewees?
John Lauderdale was a longtime stage manager for Wheel who went back to creating the pilot in 1973. Retired now, he had plenty to say about what happened behind the scenes, some of what may surprise fans of the show. And when Pat Sajak left hosting the daytime version, his short-lived replacement was Rolf Benirschke. The latter has become the butt of a joke to some in the game show community, so I made sure to talk with him in depth and relay a lot of his life story, which is quite amazing to read.
Speaking of Pat Sajak, do you discuss the late night show he did in 1989 which caused him to leave the daytime version?
Yes I do, as well as Vanna’s abortive TV acting career. I get into the stars’ personal and professional endeavors outside the show to an extent to provide context of what Wheel of Fortune offered them and how they handled their success with the show.
What sort of contestants and winners did you interview?
They all had an interesting story to tell in one way or another. I talked with the first million dollar winner on the show. There was a man who got to play on the show a record eight episodes, and I talked with him to learn how that happened. One guy proposed to his fiancée during a taping of the show and years later became a contestant himself. I have stories going all the way back to the show’s first big winner, Judy Bongarzone, in 1976. I think people will get a kick out of hearing how they got on the show and their lives afterward.
So, the book is basically a narrative history then, correct?
Yes, but I also include two indices, one on the show’s achievements including Emmy nominations and awards, the other on what happened to key personnel involved in the show’s history at various times during the last half century.
Did you do the book after Pat announced he was retiring last year?
No. I secured the contract before that news came out. When it did, I said to myself, “Well, now I have the ending for the book!” I didn’t get to interview him, but I did hear from several former players who attended the taping of the 8,000th episode near the end of his tenure, and they all had great memories to share.
Anything else to add about the book?
I talked with almost all the surviving heads of daytime programming who oversaw Wheel of Fortune, so I think you’ll get a good overview of the history of what happened during that part of the broadcasting day during the 1970s through the present day.