The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict:Wheel Of Fortune!

In the 90's at my parents house when I was younger, we didn't have cable, we had some makeshift antenna my father created. It was a big metal rod that was buried into the ground, with some space so it could be twisted to tune, was higher than the house and tied to a post close to the house with thick wire. It somehow or another picked up four stations which was good enough for us. Occasionally when we got a wind gust or a snowstorm, we, well I, would have to go outside in the weather and turn the antenna by hand to get the channels back. Fine tuning took some effort as that rod was heavy to twist.

Even with the effort it took, it was worth it to me. We had lots of great television to watch in the 90's. There were top notch comedies like Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends that went on for multiple seasons, dramatic shows like ER, NYPD Blue, and Law&Order that kept you reeled in. Not to mention the greatest thing of all, Saturday Morning cartoons to tune into.

Not all TV was enjoyable to me however. There were things called Game Shows and they were all over TV and I was not a fan.

There were Game Shows on every channel including PBS which I wouldn't have expected there. Game Shows like Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego, Win Ben Steins Money, Jeopardy, Price Is Right, Family Feud and especially Who Wants To Be A Millionaire which was a huge hit.

I just didn't like to sit there and watch somebody win prizes and money or have to see history questions when I had already spent all day at school learning plenty of stuff. I just wanted some mind-numbing TV. That's all that I asked for.

I can't say I hated them all though as I did enjoy some occasional Price Is Right and especially Wheel Of Fortune.

The show where you spun a big colorful wheel of dollar amounts, prizes and bankruptcy. Everyone took turns and guessed a letter in which the hostess would touch or at the time in the 80's and 90's spun around on the board to reveal the letter if you had guessed one right. You kept your turn until you either guessed a letter wrong or landed on bankruptcy which would cost you everything you had earned on that turn. When a good amount of the letters had appeared on the board, you could take a shot on your turn to see if you could guess what the puzzle words are.

I never got too many of them right back then, like I said I was into mind-numbing TV when I got home from school, but it was fun to take the shot to see what I could had won if I got it right.

Despite the many changes to the format, channel, time slot, time amount the show ran for and hosts since it's birth in 1975, there has always been one consistent thing about it since I started watching in from the 90's, the co-hosts, the lovely Vanna White and the always charming Pat Sajak.

Quick tid bit for ya if you didn't know, Pat Sajak recently in 2018 became the longest-running host of any game show surpassing Bob Barker.

I saw a buddy of mine on Twitter recently score a TTM autograph from the duo and knew it was something I needed as well. You see, when I do TTM requests, I only aim for celebrities that I grew up watching. I don't bother with athletes anymore as my success rate is awful with them.

So I asked him how he scored such a cool piece and he told me how I could do it. You just go to their website and make a request on there. That's it. You will receive and email asking for your address, just respond to it and a few days a mail day will arrive.

Pretty cool dual signature. I was worried that it was one of those preprinted autographs which a lot of places send. I got one that way from Price Is Right for Drew Carey who I told is usually a good signer.

Here's a closer look at Vanna's autograph

 

And at Pat's.

So I did some investigating, well, I emailed them back and told them I got the photo, thanks and asked if they signed it or if it was preprinted on there.

My response and COA as I will call it now. Good enough to me.

I am still not a huge fan of game shows today or any of that reality TV garbage like Survivor, Big Brother, etc as it's all fake to me. I think if you were really stuck on an island to survive you wouldn't play games and have a host there. A real survivor would have to live off the island for a month the best way they could to win money with cameras watching them, but that's just me.

I still do occasionally watch Wheel Of Fortune in my downtime. However, a new thing that's changed with the show since I watched it in the 90's is watching it with my wife who can guess the puzzle only three letters in. I keep telling her she needs to go on to the show.

I am glad that Pat and Vanna take time out for their fans to do these signed photos. I can't imagine many hosts do that. Yeah Drew, I am talking to you.

So I would like to "guess a T Pat."

*Vanna turns the letter around*

"I would like to solve the puzzle, Thank You Pat And Vanna For Signing This Picture."

*the music gets loud and I get a trip to the Bahamas.*

At least I hope that's what would happen if I won after this winter. Much different than the Ghostbusters Fire House or cable TV I would have wanted if I won as a kid.