History Series / Scrabble

* HeyItsThatGuy: Chuck Woolery hosted ''WheelOfFortune'' for nearly seven years, from 1975-81, with Susan Stafford as his cohort/hostess/[[{{Shipping}} shipmate]]. If you've never heard of them hosting ''Wheel'', don't worry — the show itself constantly [[OldShame denies that the Woolery/Stafford era ever happened]].

* [=~Hey, It's That Guy!~=]: Chuck Woolery hosted ''WheelOfFortune'' for nearly seven years, from 1975-81, with Susan Stafford as his cohort/hostess/[[{{Shipping}} shipmate]]. If you've never heard of them hosting ''Wheel'', don't worry — the show itself constantly [[OldShame denies that the Woolery/Stafford era ever happened]].

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many fans' opinion of the 1993 revival, which had a smaller set and much lower budget, among other things. One of the bad changes was that the bonus squares went into the Bonus Sprint pot (which began at $1,000) instead of directly to the contestants, reducing their desire to hit them immediately, much to Chuck's dismay.

Based on the [[{{Scrabble}} board game of the same name]], this {{NBC}} GameShow hosted by Chuck Woolery, famous for [[strike:''WheelOfFortune'' and]] ''LoveConnection'', featured contestants trying to navigate a crossword puzzle-like board, forming words and winning cash and prizes.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Several.
** December 25, 1984: The show's first Christmas episode had this exchange.
-->'''Chuck Woolery''': "Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?"
-->'''Contestant''': "Not really, considering I'm Jewish."
-->'''Chuck''' (''after several seconds of laughter''): "Then did you get what you wanted for Hanukkah?"
-->'''Contestant''': "No, Chuck. It's not that time of the year yet."
** Circa 1985: For a brief period, the rules were amended so that the contestants had to ''spell'' the words instead of saying them. Later retracted after it took more than seven turns for two contestants to spell "mosquitos" correctly.
** The start of a game presented this grid: _ _ _ O _ _ _ _ with the clue "Guys with short ones often have problems." The audience, obviously inventing their own jokes, started laughing. The laughter got even louder as the contestant drew tiles and the letters "S" and "M" popped up.
** With a lady's choice of two P's, she tells Chuck "I think I'll take a P."
** At the beginning of one episode, Chuck said "We're going to recrap the scores."
** On the 1993 version, a contestant was given the clue "An underworld boss" and rang in with "devil", which was wrong (the right response was "demon"). His parting gift for losing the game? A Dirt Devil vacuum. Even Charlie Tuna couldn't help laughing when he announced that fact.

* ReplacementScrappy: Steve Edwards, who hosted the 1990 pilot.

* WhatAnIdiot: A contestant named Sang set the record for the longest time spent in the Sprint round, about 87 seconds, in part due to overeager buzzing-in and blowing at least two words with only one letter missing.

The original version ran from 1984-90, then returned for a very short-lived revival in 1993 as part of an hourlong block with ''{{Scattergories}}''.

The original version ran from 1984-90, then returned for a very short-lived revival in 1993 as part of an hourlong block with ''Scattergories''.

* HomeParticipationSweepstakes: Many over the course of the two versions, generally resulting in Speedword being played before ether contestant got two words.

-->'''[[TheAnnouncer Charlie Tuna]]''': "An eight-letter word. The clue is: It'll make a sucker out of you."
-->'''StudioAudience''': [[IncrediblyLamePun "POPSICLE!"]]
-->'''Charlie''': "It's the crossword game you've played all your life, but never quite like this!"
-->'''Audience''': "''[[TitleScream SCRABBLE]]''!"

Another difference from the board game was that letters had no value in themselves. The pink and blue {{Bonus Space}}s on the board could be worth bonus cash to a player who correctly solved the word immediately after placing a letter on a colored square. The first player to solve three words... all together now... won the game...

* BonusSpace: Double Score and Triple Score, which awarded $500 and $1,000 respectively during the best-known format of the 1984-90 run.

* TheChewToy: For both versions Head Writer Gary. Whenever an unusually bizarre clue comes up, Chuck will say "This is another one of Gary's, isn't it?" More often than not it IS.

** December 25, 1984: The show's first Christmas episode had this exchange...

* GrandFinale: The last episode in 1990 featured Chuck thanking the staff and crew for the past six years, followed by a $6,000 Sprint victory (by [[spoiler:[[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Kittens]]]]). The contestant who won that money came back as returning champion when the series was revived in 1993.

* [=~Hey, It's That Guy!~=]: Chuck Woolery hosted ''WheelOfFortune'' for nearly seven years, from 1975 to 1981, with Susan Stafford as his cohort/hostess/[[{{Shipping}} shipmate]]. If you've never heard of them hosting ''Wheel'', don't worry — the show itself constantly [[OldShame denies that the Woolery/Stafford era ever happened]].

** Chip [[strike:Puskar]] Esten appeared during the final week in 1990.

* ReplacementScrappy: Steve Edwards, who hosted the 1990 pilot for syndication.

* SomewhereAnOrnithologistIsCrying: One of the contestants during a 1989 Teen Week special had a nametag reading "Birdman". Chuck got him to eventually admit his name was Derrick.

* RougeAnglesOfSatin: The slightly more probable reason as to why the spelling format was ousted, and definitely explains why the CMOF above happened — the word is spelled "Mosquito'''e'''s"!

* SomewhereAnOrnithologistIsCrying: One of the contestants during a 1989 Teen Week special had a nametag calling himself Birdman. Chuck got him to eventually admit his name was Derrick.
* TakeThat: On the 1990 finale, after two words, Chuck wondered whether ''he'' had been cancelled and the show was all right.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many fans' opinion of the 1993 revival, which had a smaller set and much lower budget, among other things. One of the bad changes was that the bonus squares went into a pot instead of directly to the contestants, reducing the players' desire to hit them immediately, much to Chuck's dismay.

* TheChewToy: For both versions Head Writer Gary. Whenever an unusually bizarre clue comes up, Chuck will say "This is another one of Gary's, isn't it? More often than not it is.

** In 1986, a contestant named Sang made it to the scrabble sprint and set a record time of 87 seconds thanks to some bad guesses, forgetting to buzz in after correctly guessing a word. and his twice buzzing in early which required him to guess the word.

* TakeThat: On the 1990 finale, after one word, Chuck wondered whether ''he'' had been cancelled and the show was all right.

** Chip Esten appeared during the final week in 1990.

Based on the [[{{Scrabble}} board game of the same name]], this {{NBC}} GameShow hosted by Chuck Woolery, famous for ''WheelOfFortune'' and ''LoveConnection'', featured contestants trying to navigate a crossword puzzle-like board, forming words and winning cash and prizes.

Unlike the board game, however, the contestants did not form words themselves; instead, the words were pre-generated and, as on ''Wheel of Fortune'', the contestants had to provide the correct letters and guess the word. To do this, players were given a vague, punny clue (see above quote for example), then they would draw from a rack of "tiles", each representing a letter from the word (along with three [[{{Whammy}} "Stoppers"]], which ''didn't'' appear in the word), choose one of two letters to place within the word, and try to guess the word once the letter's position was revealed. A Stopper would end the player's turn.

...and would go on to a "Sprint" round, where they tried to solve four words quicker than their opponent (the returning champion in latter years) by picking one of two letters in the word at a time (no Stoppers in this half of the game). Whoever won the Scrabble Sprint would attempt a Bonus Sprint round, where they had to guess two words in 10 seconds to win $5,000, increasing by $1,000 each time it wasn't won.

The original version ran from 1984 to 1990, then returned for a very short-lived revival in 1993 as part of an hourlong block with ''Scattergories''.

* BonusSpace: Double Score and Triple Score, which awarded, respectively, $500 and $1,000 during the best-known format of the 1984-90 run.
* HomeGame: Yes, the game show version of ''Scrabble'' had a board game — in other words, [[RecursiveAdaptation a board game of a game show of a board game]]. AdaptationDecay, much?

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: The rules were briefly changed so that the contestants had to ''spell'' the words instead of saying them. Later retracted after it took more than seven turns for two contestants to spell "mosquitos" correctly.
** The infamous Christmas episode that had this exchange:
-->'''Chuck Woolery:''' "Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?"
-->'''Contestant:''' "Not really, considering I'm Jewish."

-->'''Contestant:''' "No, Chuck. It's not that time of the year yet."

** At the beginning of one episode Chuck says "We're going to recrap the scores."

* RougeAnglesOfSatin: The slightly more probable reason as to why the spelling format was ousted, and definitely explains why the CMOF above happened. The word is in fact spelled "''mosquito'''e'''s''".

-->'''Chuck Woolery:''' "I kept telling 'em, 'Look, find somebody else to do it, it'll be a huge hit. Look what happened to ''[[WheelOfFortune Wheel]]''!'"

* BigWinSirens: The stock "NBC sirens" were heard for $20,000, $40,000, Bonus Sprint, and Tournament wins.
* BonusRound: The "Scrabble Sprint" (and later, the "Bonus Sprint").
* BonusSpace: Double Score and Triple Score, which awarded, respectively, $500 and $1,000 during the best-known format of the 1984-90 run.
* HomeGame: Yes, the game show version of ''Scrabble'' had a board game — in other words, [[RecursiveAdaptation a board game of a game show of a board game]]. AdaptationDecay, much?
* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: Rod Roddy announced on the 1984 pilot. Jay Stewart announced until 1986, replaced by Charlie Tuna for the rest of the run.
** GameShowHost: Chuck Woolery. Steve Edwards hosted a pilot on August 1, 1990 for syndication, while John O'Hurley and Lisa Kennedy hosted pilots for GSN.
** StudioAudience
* SpeedRound: "Speedword", played at three different times:
## When all three stoppers had been drawn for a word
## After a 2-2 tie
## Whenever time ran short
* {{Whammy}}: Stoppers.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: The rules were briefly changed so that the contestants had to ''spell'' the words instead of saying them. Later retracted after it took more than seven turns for two contestants to spell "mosquitos" correctly.
** The infamous Christmas episode that had this exchange:

** The start of a game presented this grid: _ _ _ O _ _ _ _ with the clue "Guys with short ones often have problems." The audience, obviously inventing their own jokes, started laughing. The laughter got even louder as the contestant drew tiles and the letters "S" and "M" popped up.
** With a lady's choice of two P's, she tells Chuck "I think I'll take a P."
** At the beginning of one episode Chuck says "We're going to recrap the scores."
* ADayInTheLimelight: During a special week where various game show hosts (including Jamie Farr, who was hosting an NBC pilot that didn't sell and never actually hosted a full-time game show) played for home viewers, Chuck played several games with [[DoubleDare1986 Marc Summers]] hosting; in one game, Chuck won $12,000.
* GrandFinale: The last episode in 1990 featured Chuck thanking the staff and crew for the past six years, followed by a $6,000 Sprint victory (by [[spoiler:[[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Kittens]]]]). The contestant who won that money came back as returning champion when the series was revived in 1993.
* HalloweenSpecial: Halloween would be celebrated with the contestants dressed in costumes. This would usually be the basis for the one phrase introductions Charlie Tuna would use at the beginning of a round. For example: "He's a real Bozo, She'll move her tail for you" For a man dressed as a clown and a woman dressed as a cat.
* [=~Hey, It's That Guy!~=]: Chuck Woolery hosted ''WheelOfFortune'' for nearly seven years, from 1975 to 1981, with Susan Stafford as his cohort/hostess/[[{{Shipping}} shipmate]]. If you've never heard of them hosting ''Wheel'', don't worry — the show itself constantly [[OldShame denies that the Woolery/Stafford era ever happened]].
** A 16-year-old HeatherGraham was a contestant on the show, aspiring to be an actress.
** Chip Esten appeared during the final week in 1990.
* HurricaneOfPuns: The clues for the words.
* {{Kwyjibo}}: Nope, sorry, averted.
* PinkGirlBlueBoy: The contestants' nametags.
* ReplacementScrappy: Steve Edwards, who hosted the 1990 pilot for syndication.
* RougeAnglesOfSatin: The slightly more probable reason as to why the spelling format was ousted, and definitely explains why the CMOF above happened. The word is in fact spelled "''mosquito'''e'''s''".
* RuleOfThree: Three Stoppers, as well as three correct words to win.
* TakeThat: On the 1990 finale, after one word, Chuck wondered whether ''he'' had been cancelled and the show was all right.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many fans' opinion of the 1993 revival, which had a smaller set and much lower budget, among other things.
** One of the other things...the bonus squares went into a pot instead of directly to the contestants, reducing the contestants desire to hit them immediatly, much to Chuck's dismay.
* {{Uncancelled}}: The 1993 revival.
* WhatAnIdiot: A contestant named Sang set the record for the longest time spent in the Sprint round, about 87 seconds, in part due to overeager buzzing-in and blowing at least two words with only one letter missing.

* BonusRound: Scrabble Sprint.