BONUS| Wheel of Fortune
Show Notes:
The fantastic and wonderful Maggie Frank-Hsu is BACK and we are getting into Wheel of Fortune. Have you heard? Ryan Seacrest is taking over for Pat Sajak and we had feelings about it.
Maggie was a Jeopardy contestant back in December of 2022 and she gave some insider insight about being on such an iconic show.
Ways to support and learn about the WGA SAG Strike
Franchesca Ramsay - Member of SAG and WGA and content creator who is breaking down the strike
Entertainment Community Fund
Transcript:
Julia: Hey friends, this is pop culture makes me jealous where we analyze pop culture through the lens of race or gender and sometimes both. I'm your host, Julia Washington. And on today's episode, we are talking about Wheel of Fortune and all the drama. And I'm pretty sure my guest and I seem to be the only two in the world who cares.
Julia: And so we're gonna talk about it.
Julia: You know her, you love her, she's been on the show before, Maggie Frank Shu is back, she was here for Breakfast Club, and when I started posting about Wheel of Fortune, we got into a really great convo, and I was like, you gotta come on.
Maggie: Yeah, yeah, I'm excited to talk
Julia: about it. I'm excited too, because I feel like, again, I feel like you and I are the only two who care.
Maggie: Yeah, but there is, there are a lot, that's true, but it might, yeah, it's interesting. When we get into it, we can talk about who cares or why they care. With a lot of these things, you know, pop culture, with anything with pop culture, it's like, who cares? But it's also like, the things that you're like, learning from it in terms of like, race and gender and who gets what, are always really, really fascinating.
Maggie: So, that's why. Yeah. Besides the fact that I like the show and all
Julia: that. Yeah. And I don't know anybody over 35 who doesn't have memories of Wheel of Fortune Jeopardy. Like the Jeopardy Wheel of Fortune block is like a staple for anyone who's over the age of 35. It like, it just is. I remember in California, in my part of California, Northern California, when they tried 630 and Jeopardy at seven, people lost their shit.
Julia: How dare you? Our schedule is this.
Maggie: Yeah. Yeah. It is like, it's like everywhere. I've only lived in, well, I lived in North Carolina. I don't remember. Um, I'm sure I was, I feel like it was also on at 7, 7 30. The only thing in San Diego, um, wheel of fortune comes on first, which I feel like that's, it's, yes. Your mouth is dropping over.
Maggie: Yeah. That's weird. But yeah. So Jeopardy's second.
Julia: Interesting. Huh. Okay, well, let's get into the drama. So here's a recap of what's happened literally in the month of June, essentially, like, prior to this, I feel like it was just like, we're checking along. So Pat Sajak, who's been the host for 40 plus years announced he is going to retire.
Julia: He made this announcement on June 27. Or no, he made this announcement like June 15th ish, somewhere around the middle of the month. So then on June 27, It was announced that Ryan Seacrest would take over for Sajak when he retired at the end of his contract. And when I shared this announcement in my stories, I can safely say that everyone who responded to it responded to it negatively.
Julia: Like, how dare they hire Ryan Seacrest, which I'm also in that camp. Anyway, regardless, the point is, is that it has been reported that Pat Sajak, that Ryan Seacrest will be making. Over 20 million. Some are, um, some, I know some online magazines have it at 24 million. Some say 28 million. So it's like, okay, we can just safely assume this man will be making 20, over 20 million to be the host of Wheel of Fortune.
Julia: I know, right? So to give you a little context, The internet says Pat Sajak's current salary is 14 million. Meanwhile, Vanna White's contract is she makes 3 million and she hasn't had a raise in 18 years.
Maggie: 18 years.
Julia: 18 years. That is a full on human who can vote now.
Maggie: Yeah. Yeah. That was fascinating when I read about that.
Maggie: And I have like so much to say about that. It's like, not only the gap, because like, The thing about when you read about these salaries and Jeopardy too, like, so I was a contestant on Jeopardy last year, which was another reason I wanted to talk about this, because you get a good behind this, like, so the two shows, the sets are side by side, and they film on alternate weeks.
Maggie: So Jeopardy was filming and we sat in the Wheel of Fortune audience as like, that's where we sat in our green room. So like, the set was dark, like, or actually they were building a new set because you know how they change the background every week. Yeah. Um, but we were sitting kind of in the audience seats.
Maggie: That's where we hung out. The other thing to know about these shows, both shows, is like, So Wheel of Fortune requires only 48 days, right? So that's so he'll like Seacrest or even like Pat Sajak making 14 million dollars. He worked for 48 days and like, it's the same with Jeopardy because they shoot one shoot day, they shoot a week, they work, they shoot five episodes.
Maggie: So they shoot three in the morning, they break for lunch, and then they shoot two in the afternoon. So all the whole week's contestants are in the room, are in the green room. So that's actually kind of something interesting to know. Um, I was surprised how few people knew that. Um, I don't know why I guess anyway, I don't want to get too far into it, but yeah, so they work very little.
Maggie: So the fact that like, that's why Ryan Seacrest can have other jobs. Right. And the fact that this is going to be just one of his jobs and he's going to make that much money. That's mind boggling.
Julia: Yes, especially considering what scripted TV is currently in the midst of fighting for. Like, it's bonkers. Um.
Julia: But I was going to add to yours. My mom applied to be a Wheel of Fortune contestant in the late 90s, and because I don't know if they still go on tour because for a while, you know, they'd go and travel to different cities. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I'm pretty sure I'm pretty confident COVID shut that down.
Julia: So I don't know if they've picked that back up. But she didn't get to be a contestant. So they threw us some tickets are like, Oh, we'll be at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Here's four tickets. And that was we sat through three tapings. And it was so much fun. Every time they do the panel of the audience, my sister and I would do something so we could try and like find ourselves when they finally aired.
Julia: But it was we were there. It was Like you, you know how you said in morning, afternoon, it literally was all day. Like, it wasn't just a quick 30 minute recording. We're done. It was came out. And again, this is the 90s. So it was like, okay, now we have to change the things on the wheel. It was, I think the wheels digital now.
Julia: I don't know. The things weren't, things weren't digital in 1997. They
Maggie: pick up those cards. Oh, that's right. Yeah, some of the stuff on there is like a piece of cardboard that's on there. And it's funny, did you notice when you went, because when, I don't know how they set up the set in San Francisco, but sitting there in the green room, the, it's so small.
Maggie: Like the wheels actually kind of look small in real life. And also like the audience is on the side. Yeah. You kind of have the feeling when you're watching it, that the audience is Sort of like down like I don't know how to explain but like down kind of a lot There's like a bunch of space and then the audience also in jeopardy.
Maggie: The audience is on the side So it's actually a very small room that everybody's in Which I found interesting and they kind of make it look better bigger with foreshortening. Yeah. Yeah Anyway, but yeah like Yeah, it's, it's really, it, the funny thing about being on Jeopardy, so I went to a Jeopardy taping in 1994 or 5 when I was 15, um, so I guess it was 1996, um, and it, being a contestant on, in 2022, with having, having had COVID go by and all that.
Maggie: So little has changed about what they do, the way they do things, that schedule, like so much is like 1996 to now, obviously the sets have changed and stuff, but like their protocol, how they do things is so similar to what it was, which really got me thinking. The fact that, like, they would hire, like, Sony would hire somebody and pay, even if it is Ryan Seacrest, pay that much money.
Maggie: They must really, these shows must, this formula is so bankable, and these two particular shows, it's really interesting to me, like, the idea of, like, how much they, like, that was the other thing, like, the crew of Jeopardy! is who you really work with, right? Like, you can, I met Ken Jennings. Yeah, before we went on, but like you work, there's a lot of people behind the scenes and like those people are very like committed to this legacy.
Maggie: I just think that's so it's just like an interesting thing because like everything in TV has. fallen apart and been rebuilt like several times in the time that these shows have been on TV and have changed not at all. They're exactly the same. It's like, except of course, like the hosts now finally leaving or dying.
Maggie: But like, other than that, every single thing has been kept exactly the same. And all this other stuff is on fire. It's so interesting.
Julia: Yeah. I guess one, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And two, like, it's just one of those things that I think is such a comfort for people. When I talk about, when we talk like wheel of fortunes and people are, Oh, I watched that with my grandma.
Julia: When I was at my grandma's house, you knew you were at grandma's house. Cause the jeopardy will fortune block was on for me. It was just a staple in the house. My parents were, um, my parents, my mother, every single night. Between seven and eight, there was no argument about what was going to be on TV because that was what was on TV.
Julia: Literally,
Maggie: like,
Julia: go ahead. I would say it's literally how my son learned the alphabet, learned his letters, was from Wheel of Fortune. So by the time he got to preschool, he was like, I'm done. I already know A through Z. Give me something hard.
Maggie: Well, my grandma, I watched it at my grandma's house and, um, she died when I was six, so this had to be, so she died in 1987, so this was in the mid eighties.
Maggie: She didn't speak English and we watched her put Fortune. I mean, she just liked, she loved game shows. I think that she could follow. She spoke a little bit of English and she could follow. Um, but like, yeah, it was, it was just a huge juggernaut in the eighties, especially, like everybody watched, everybody who was watching TV at that time Yeah.
Maggie: Was watching, you know what I mean? At that time of day. But yeah, when you said like people 35 and older all have these memories, but it's actually like Because people 35 and older have these good memories, they're, like, much younger people also grew up watching the show. Right. When they didn't grow up watching the news or these other kind of daily TV things that went away.
Maggie: Mm hmm. Like, there, the Jeopardy, the week, the day that I was on Jeopardy, there were three or four contestants who were in their 20s, and they all had the same, like, nostalgia for Jeopardy. And, like, real connect, obviously, they're on the show, but, like, I'm not saying, I'm sure it's diminished a lot, but there's still like people who grew up.
Maggie: Like you and me who had kids who then watched it every night too. And so like that, actually, that's another really weird aberration is like, no one watches the nightly news anymore. No one watches other game shows for them. I mean, there's the primetime ones, but like, or like other things that just. No one sits down and except for Game of Thrones, there's always like one thing, no one sits down and all watches a TV show live at the same time.
Maggie: But actually a lot of people still do that with Jeopardy and Will of Fortune. And the other thing I was going to say, sorry for being a motor mouth, but that's okay. I love it. The, um, I was so surprised when my episode aired, it was two days after Christmas last year. And of course I told everyone, I told a lot of people, I don't, I don't think I sent an email, but I talked about it on social media and I told a lot of people in person and, um, it was like a bit like when you do a baby announcement or something, I told a lot of people, but there was still, there were people who like dug up my LinkedIn or, or like had my number and texted me that I had not told.
Maggie: You know from my past who like were like, oh my god I can't I saw you on Jeopardy like like it was surprised me how many people do sit down. Yeah Like my the vice principal at my son's school Like stopped me and was like, oh my god, was that you and I can't believe it was you on Jeopardy You know like or like and like people that I hadn't thought to tell yeah shows you that like people are still watching it Because I thought like old people, a lot of people don't have, you know, a channel changing TV anymore.
Maggie: They just have to act. Well,
Julia: I mean, the benefit of ABC is they own Hulu. So it's like, you can watch it the next day on Hulu. I watched your episode live. I was like, Like we were, we had gotten home cause you know, holidays, busy, whatever. And I was like, Oh my God, it's seven. It's seven. It's like six 59. We have to turn on the TV.
Julia: I have to support
Maggie: Maggie. But anyway, I don't want to make this about how I was on Jeopardy. I'm just saying, yeah, it was interesting to me about that. Is that like, a lot of people are still watching this show, these two shows. You know, all this other stuff has disintegrated. And I think like, that's really, really interesting.
Maggie: And I don't know, I think if I were Sony, it's like, they're all trying to act like they know what they're doing, but they don't know, they don't really know why this is working and they don't know what it is, you
Julia: know? One of the things Maggie and I realized we should have discussed once the recording was over is the diversity in contestants.
Julia: Wheel of Fortune's contestant base is far more diverse than Jeopardy. And Maggie pointed out that there is a level of elitism in the assessments to get on the show. If one has access to resources like AP classes, SAT test prep, high performing schools, Ivy League university educations, et cetera, one has a better chance of passing the Jeopardy assessment.
Julia: I want to thank Maggie again for coming on the show and being our guest today. It's always fun talking with her. She has such a great mind. Pop culture makes me jealous is. Produced and edited by me, your host, and we are an independently produced podcast, which means we are affiliated with no one but me.
Julia: I want to also note the WGA and SAG AFTRA are both currently striking as a result of a failed contract negotiations with the AMPTP. And there are a few ways you can support the current striking members. There are several funds you can donate to One is the entertainment community fund. Another is the green envelope grocery aid.
Julia: There are few content creators that have been really informative about the details of why the strike is happening and what it all means. And I will link those videos in the show notes, follow those creators, support their work. We are still on a summer hiatus. So if you heard the full version, that means you are a Jelly Pops patron, and that means you help keep this show alive.
Julia: So thank you so much for that. I also want to thank all of our Patreon Jelly Pops for their continued support. There are so many ways you could be spending 15 a month and you choose to do so by supporting my work and considering I currently am very underemployed. I cannot thank you enough for this. I'm underemployed because my corporate America job, uh, decided to downsize.
Julia: Even if you're not a Patreon member, I am still so thankful for you. There are so many shows. You could choose to listen to, and yet you continue to keep us in your rotation. And if you're new here, hi, welcome. This is a fun place to be. I think anyway. I was thinking recently about how much I've grown and changed since Pop Culture Makes Me Jealous.
Julia: I believe we started in 2021. And I hope if you've been here from the beginning, you've experienced some growth too. Before we officially close out, I wanted to let you know that the August Jelly Pops Book Club pick is a single man. Our meeting date is still TBD. If you want to learn more about how you can support this show, head on over to patreon.
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Julia: Um, if it is, well, I'm only half sorry. The world is a dumpster fire and searching for full time work has turned into a weird dating type game that's getting to me, so now I stand before you begging for the same level of support you give to, uh, Amazon or other billionaires that exist in the world. Not that I want to be a billionaire.
Julia: I just want to be able to pay my light bill. Anyway, thanks for tuning in y'all. Until next time.
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