Both versions of Scrabble hosted by Chuck Woolery on NBC were second to none and by both I mean the 1984-1990 and 1993 versions. I wish GSN and Buzzr would promote this show. Fortunately, USA network was able to promote this show from 1991-1995. This game show is one to remember for years to come.
"I kept telling them, 'Find someone else to do it, it'll be a hit! Look what happened to 'Wheel'!" Funny that "Wheel" became a huge hit after Chuck left.
WHEEL OF FORTUNE was actually a huge cash cow, clobbing the first half of THE PRICE IS RIGHT and had a 44 share in the daytime ratings on NBC just before Chuck left in 1981. Chuck was fired over a salary dispute. He made $65,000 a year hosting WOF in 1981 demanding a raise. Merv offered him $400,000/year to stay, but when NBC kicked in an extra $100,000/year, Merv fired him and replaced him with Pat Sajak.
+randy foster i'd say also brinf $ale Of The Century back as well, but it would probably hard as heck finding a host for that as good as Jim Perry was.
Scrabble The Television Version Everybody Favorite Word Game. We will be miss here forever. And no one else we care for too. And so for all of us here at F-N-F-&G's will see you next week good night.
John W Landry To me the death of daytime game shows began with the cancellation The $25,000 Pyramid. Shortly after, Sale of the Century, Super Password and Card Sharks were gone.
Lupton2000 Those 3 actually got the ax one year before Scrabble did,not to mention the $25,000 Pyramid becoming extinct 2 years prior so that CBS could make room for Family Feud.It almost made no sense for them to bring it back for 3 months between April-June of 1988.
+CartoonsAndGameShows Marsha Warfield played that bailiff, Roz, on "Night Court." She later played Dr. Maxine Douglas on "Empty Nest" during its final two seasons.
Very sad that this show ended in 1990. The 1993 remake seemed so hollow, so empty and ever so temporary somehow. Price is Right, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud all have endured because they all have play along ability. Scrabble also had that factor which makes me wonder why it hasn't come back in almost a quarter century now. I think I read it has something to do with Hasbro having the rights to the name or some darn thing. This show was very clever and the graphics and set were sensational! Chuck was a phenomenal host both on Wheel and Scrabble as well as Lingo and Greed. Major daytime network game shows are very much missed by me. I am grateful that we still have CBS with Let's Make a Deal and The Price is Right. Sadly major network daytime is so bland now with 19 hours of "Today" and 27 blessed talk shows now.
But back in the 70s and 80s, ABC, NBC and CBS were the best place to catch daytime game shows, and today, the daytime game shows still live on forever via GSN and BUZZR, and we hope BUZZR adds this show (and the 1972-2007 Barker episodes of The Price is Right) to its schedule one day!
14:38 - The canned cheer so overused that I picked up on it when I was 8 years old. I swear Wheel of Fortune used it on a daily basis back around 1990.
+John Fenner although regained in terms of what network it was on,as once production moved to CBS it stayed there till the mid 90's when they moved to their current home at Sony Pictures Studios
All of these contestants were really good! It’s too bad they axed it, only to try to revive it two years later. Should have let the good times keep rolling.
Michael Holman The affiliates don't make any money carrying network programming. The owned and operated NBC stations were required to carry SCRABBLE while their network affiliates had the option of carrying the show as filler programming.
For this season (and the 1993 revival), they begun acknowledging Hasbro's Milton Bradley division as the new trademark owner for the Scrabble brand, as Hasbro took over Coleco (the company who owned the Selchow & Righter brand since 1986) during 1989.
Not all of them. A production crew, led by producer Gary Johnson and director Chris Darley, was responsible for Scrabble whilst a production crew, led by producers George Vosburgh and Burt Wheeler and director James Marcione, were responsible for $ale of the Century.
I never rule that out. Maybe if GSN doesn't want to lease anymore Sale episodes, they can replace it with Scrabble and show the tail end of it (USA never ran the last six months of the show). After all, Chuck seemed to have been tied with GSN (they still rerun his Lingo).
megamanj2004X The late 80s was a mass exodus of network daytime programming. Just a year earlier was when NBC scrapped SALE OF THE CENTURY and SUPER PASSWORD. WHEEL OF FORTUNE was unloaded 14 weeks later and WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW ended 9 weeks later. After SCRABBLE ended, CLASSIC CONCENTRATION was the only game show NBC had before LET'S MAKE A DEAL returned in the early summer of '90.
Sucks for George who would've been returning champion... if I were him I'd have begged the production staff of the '93 reboot to consider letting me on as a continuation of where they left off ;)
