Millions of people are fans of TV game shows and have been for decades going back to the old black and white versions of Beat the Clock, What’s My Line, I’ve Got a Secret and so many others. Let’s start of 2024 with some fun facts about the three longest running game shows in television history, The Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

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The original host of “The Price is Right” was indeed Bob Barker. The popular host was with the show from its debut in 1972 until he retired in 2007. That was when, after a long search, comedian Drew Carey took over. Prior to “Price” Barker was the host of  “Truth or Consequences” which came over from radio and was on TV from 1956 – 1974.

The original host of “The Wheel of Fortune” was not Pat Sajak with Vanna White. Wheel began in 1975 with Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford as the hosts. In 1981 Pat Sajak took over and in 1982 Vanna White joined the show replacing Stafford and those two have hosted ever since.

As for “Jeopardy!” the original hosting honor goes to Art Fleming. He hosted the show when it began in 1964 and continued until 1979. When the show went into syndication in 1984 Alex Trebeck, who was also doing “Classic Concentration” took over as the host and did the show through 2020 when he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. After a rotation of guest host all time Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings took over with Mayim Bialek also hosting Jeopardy specials.

Thus far, entering 2023, those three shows combined have been on the air for a grand total of 149 years. There are no signs of that it is coming to an end anytime soon. All three shows have contracts that keep them on the air through 2024-2025 and they will probably continue beyond that. Talk about popularity, wow!

Shortly after its debut “The Price is Right” also had a 30 minute prime time evening version. That was hosted by Dennis James and lasted until 1980. In the 2022-23 season they did a prime time hour as well and plan to in 2024.The original creator of “The Price is Right” was Bob Stewart when he was with Goodson-Todman Productions.. He was also the creator of two other long running, very popular game shows, “To Tell theTruth” and “Password”.

In all the years “The Price is Right” has been on a wealth of cars have been given away as prizes, from sedans, to convertibles to sports cars of every make and model. The very first car won on the show was in September 1972 and it was a 1972 Chevrolet Vega valued at the “huge” price of $2,600.

Of all the various games that have been played on “Price, the one that has been deemed the most popular is “Plinko”. However, it was not in the game rotation when it began in 1972. Plinko was added in 1983 and been part of the show ever since.

On “Wheel of Fortune”, from its debut in 1975 until February 1997 the letters on the board were turned by hand. The show got modernized by adding 52 high resolution Sony touch screen monitors in 1997. Since then they have continued to enhance the letter board with various new technologies.

In 2013 a contestant on the show won the biggest prize ever on “Wheel”. Autumn Ernhard won herself $1,030,340 by winning the game with $30,340 then she guessed the phrase “tough workout” with only four letters on the board and won $1 million. Ironically, the show was celebrating 30 years, and it was May 30, so maybe it was fate. I would imagine 30 has become this lady’s favorite number.

On April Fool’s Day in 1997, Jeopardy!’s Alex Trebek hosted a special episode of Wheel of Fortune. Pat Sajak and Vanna White were the contestants, competing for charities. Trebek’s cohost was Leslie Brown, who was Pat Sajak’s wife.

Both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! were created and owned by Merv Griffin. Griffin began as a singer during the big band era with the Freddy Martin Orchestra. He later became a TV talk show host and was also responsible for writing the theme music for both shows.

Jeopardy! has won more Emmys, over 35 of them plus the Peabody award and other awards, than any game show in TV history. It also has the smallest staff of any game show with just 14 people involved

The longest winning streak of games won on Jeopardy! belongs to Ken Jennings who won 74 straight games in 2004 before losing. During his run on the show he won over $2.5 million.

Jeopardy! tapes a week’s worth of shows (5) in one day. Contestants are asked to bring several changes of clothes, so the impression of a day passing is given. Host Alex Trebeck changed into 5 suits a day, and now Jennings does the same.

And finally, here is a fact that will definitely surprise you…………………

Host Alex Trebeck was 80 when he passed away, but he was not the oldest on any game show. That honor goes to the announcer for Jeopardy! Johnny Gilbert. He has been the shows announcer since 1984. Mr. Gilbert is a very young 96 years of age. His background in show business includes radio, big band singer, films, television, voice overs and much more.

Some info for this feature came from paleymatters.org, chances.com, goodhousekeeping.com, triviaplaying.com and each show’s web site