Las Vegas Weekly

July 17, 2009 · 8 AM

Wheel of Fortune spins into The Venetian this weekend

By Robin Leach

Vanna White.

Photo: Jacob Andrejczak

Wheel of Fortune hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White arrived at the Palazzo in Las Vegas last night and are ready for a marathon filming weekend of their long-running, top-rated, syndicated game show. The show begins its 27th season this fall, and the first two weeks of shows are being filmed here at the Sands Convention Center in The Venetian this weekend.

Over the 96-hour shoot schedule, Pat, Vanna and the production team also will film two other weeklong series to be broadcast during next February’s sweeps rating period and includes a “sweethearts edition” to run for Valentine’s Day.

Vanna was here at the end of April filming the promotional spots for the four weeks of shows. They begin filming the game shows this afternoon and will shoot five programs a day for the next four days. I’m chatting with wheel-spinner Pat and letter-turner Vanna this afternoon, and we’ll have the behind-the-scenes report on Monday right here at Vegas DeLuxe.

Photo: Courtesy

Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak.

Harry Friedman, executive producer of Wheel of Fortune and its sister show Jeopardy, told me that they both remain the top shows in first-run syndication, and it’s the third time in Wheel’s 27-year history that they have filmed in Las Vegas. Their last visit was in 2005.

The full wheel-mobile traveling soundstage studio has been driven over from L.A. for this weekend of filming. Harry told me: “For Wheel, Vegas is a natural fit. What’s not to like? It’s a perfect marriage, and Vegas has grown up so much, there’s something here for everyone. We hope that lots of tourists will jump onboard and plan to visit while we are taping!”

Vanna, who I’ve known since we hosted a wild televised World Wrestling Federation showdown in Atlantic City, told me: “I love my job. I get to be full-time mom to two kids, so my life is normal except for the four days a month we work taping the shows for nine months of the year. It’s got to be one of the longest jobs in television, and it has brought me happiness and a good life.

“The show is 30 minutes of nightly fun for all the family to take part, and I think that’s the basic reason we’ve remained at the top for almost three decades now! I started Day 1 with the syndicated daytime version in November 1982. We started the nighttime daily version in September 1983, and that has been on the air ever since.”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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