History YMMV / TheJokersWild

* ReplacementScrappy:
** There was much hatred for Pat Finn, who often came off as monotonous and robotic (though he did show emotions when someone broke the Joker's Jackpot, and he improved during his run on ''Series/ShopTilYouDrop'').
** Also, many fans disliked Creator/BillCullen's run on the show; while he's usually praised as one of the best game show hosts of all time (if not '''the''' best), Bill's laid-back hosting style wasn't a good fit for ''Joker'', and old age had slowed him down considerably by this point.

* InNameOnly / ArtifactTitle: Many fans consider the first format of the 1990 version to be this, since the Joker only appeared in the third window and was no longer "wild" (instead tripling the dollar amounts in the first two windows). Though in fairness, the show was still very watchable in its own right (as was pointed out by Website/GameShowGarbage), ''especially'' in comparison to the reboot of ''Series/TicTacDough'' that same season.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Much hatred for the 1990s maingame and bonus round (first word, first definition...); though admittedly now the bonus round wouldn't have people losing (no more Devils). The categories returned on January 7, 1991, but the measure came far too late to save the show...and the money-based format came back for the last three shows ''anyway'' to avoid straddling.

* InNameOnly / ArtifactTitle: Many fans consider the first format of the 1990 version to be this, since the Joker only appeared in the third window and was no longer "wild" (instead tripling the dollar amounts in the first two windows). Though in fairness, it was still very watchable (as was pointed out by Website/GameShowGarbage), ''especially'' in comparison to the reboot of ''Series/TicTacDough'' that same season.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Much hatred for the 1990s maingame and bonus round (first word, first definition...). The categories returned on January 7, 1991, but the measure came far too late to save the show...and the money-based format came back for the last three shows ''anyway'' to avoid straddling.

* InNameOnly / ArtifactTitle: Many fans consider the first format of the 1990 version to be this, since the Joker only appeared in the third window and was no longer "wild" (instead tripling the dollar amounts in the first two windows). Though in fairness, it was still very watchable (as was pointed out by Website/GameShowGarbage''), ''especially'' in comparison to the reboot of ''Series/TicTacDough'' that same season.

** There was much hatred for Pat Finn, who often came off as monotonous and robotic.

* InNameOnly / ArtifactTitle: Many fans consider the first format of the 1990 version to be this, since the Joker only appeared in the third window and was no longer "wild" (instead tripling the dollar amounts in the first two windows).

* InNameOnly/ArtifactTitle: Many fans consider the first format of the 1990 version to be this, since the Joker only appeared in the third window and was no longer "wild" (instead tripling the dollar amounts in the first two windows).

* ReplacementScrappy: There was much hatred for Pat Finn, who often came off as monotonous and robotic. Also, many fans disliked Creator/BillCullen's run on the show; while he's usually praised as one of the best game show hosts of all time (if not '''the''' best), Bill's laid-back hosting style wasn't a good fit for ''Joker'', and old age had slowed him down considerably by this point.

* MemeticMutation: "Joker... ''Joker''... [something arcane that's not a Joker]."

* NightmareFuel: If you were a young child in that era, the devious rendering of the Devil's face (supposedly a caricature of Barry) kept you up at night quite a few times...although for the 1990s version, it was very likely replaced by the ''Joker''.

* WhatAnIdiot: One of the special categories added was "Fast Forward," (debuted May 16, 1975), which allowed contestants to answer as many questions as they wanted, each one worth the amount spun, and stop after any right answer. A miss forfeited all the money won on that turn. In one game, the champion had $250 and needed to tie or beat the challenger who had reached $500. The champion spun a Joker and two regular categories then, without thinking, asked for "(Regular Category) for $200". An amazed Barry told him that he just lost the game, when the contestant should've gone off the board with the Joker and taken the Fast Forward to build up $50 or $100 questions and possibly win the game.

** In another game, the champ was trailing $500 to $50, spun Bid as a $50 single, and asked for six questions. Barry told him he had just lost the game, since he wouldn't be able to reach $500 even if he got them all right (he actually needed nine to tie, ten to win).

* ReplacementScrappy: Much hatred for the monotonous Pat Finn. Also, many fans disliked Creator/BillCullen's run on the show; while he's usually praised as one of the best game show hosts of all time (if not '''the''' best), Bill's laid-back hosting style wasn't a good fit for ''Joker'', and old age had slowed him down considerably by this point.

** The "Bid" category worked very similar to ''Series/BullseyeUS''; you decide in advance how many questions you want (minimum of two), and if you answered them all, you won the amount multiplied by however many questions you answered. (So if you spun it for $50, and wanted four questions, you could win $200.) Miss, and your opponent got the chance to finish the remaining questions for all the money. This category was used in one 1986 game where the champ was going for her fifth win and a car. The champ, leading $250-$400, picked Bid-Numbers for $100. All she needed was the minimum bid of two for the win...but she asked for ''three''. Not only did this create extra work for her, but if she missed, there was enough money at stake for the challenger to win the game. [[spoiler:Sure enough, she got the first two right and missed the third. Her challenger got the third one right, giving him $550 and denying the champ what should have been an easy car win.]]

* WhatAnIdiot: One of the special categories added was "Fast Forward _____" (debuted May 16, 1975), which allowed contestants to keep answering questions as long as they kept getting the right answer, each right answer adding the same amount to their score. In one game, the champion had $250 and needed to tie or beat the challenger who had reached $500. The champion spun a Joker and two regular categories then, without thinking, asked for "(Regular Category) for $200". An amazed Barry told him that he just lost the game, when the contestant should've gone off the board with the Joker and taken the Fast Forward to build up $50 or $100 questions and possibly win the game.
** A category called "Bid-X" worked very similar to ''Series/BullseyeUS''; you can pick however many questions you like, and if you answered them all, you won the amount multiplied by however many questions you answered. (So if you spun it for $50, and wanted four questions, you could win $200.) Miss, and your opponent got the chance to finish the remaining questions for all the money. This category was used in one 1986 game where the champ was going for her fifth win and a car. The champ, leading $250-$400, picked Bid-Numbers for $100. All she needed was the minimum bid of two for the win...but she asked for ''three''. Not only did this create extra work for her, but if she missed, there was enough money at stake for the challenger to win the game. [[spoiler:Sure enough, she got the first two right and missed the third. Her challenger got the third one right, giving him $550 and denying the champ what should have been an easy car win.]]

** "As we know, ''Series/TheJokersWild'' is a game of definitions."

** A category called "Bid-X" worked very similar to ''Series/BullseyeUS''; you can pick however many questions you like, and if you answered them all, you won the amount multiplied by however many questions you answered. (So if you spun it for $50, and wanted four questions, you could win $200.) Miss, and your opponent got the chance to finish the remaining questions for all the money. This category was used in one 1986 game where the champ was going for her fifth win and a car. The champ, leading $250-$400, picked Bid-Numbers for $100. All she needed was the minimum bid of two for the win...but she asked for *three*. Not only did this create extra work for her, but if she missed, there was enough money at stake for the challenger to win the game. [[spoiler:Sure enough, she got the first two right and missed the third. Her challenger got the third one right, giving him $550 and denying the champ what should have been an easy car win.]]

** A category called "What's Your Bid" worked very similar to ''Series/BullseyeUS''; you can pick however many questions you like, and if you answered them all, you won the amount multiplied by however many questions you answered. (So if you spun it for $50, and wanted four questions, you could win $200.) Miss, and your opponent got the chance to finish the remaining questions for all the money. This category was used in one 1986 game where the champ was going for her fifth win and a car. The champ, leading $250-$400, picked What's Your Bid for $100. All she needed was one question to win...but she asked for *three*. Not only did this create extra work for her, but if she missed, there was enough money at stake for the challenger to win the game. [[spoiler:Sure enough, she got the first two right and missed the third. Her challenger got the third one right, giving him $550 and denying the champ what should have been an easy car win.]]

* MomentOfAwesome: Champion Hal Shear was in dire straits in his eighth game, against Adrienne. Down $500-$200 and with no Fast Forward category available, his only hope was to spin three Jokers, which would give him a chance at an instant win. Luckily, he was wearing a rather loud "lucky suit". He gave it a quick rub, pulled the handle, and ''got'' his three Jokers. After Barry nearly fainted from shock, he explained how astronomical the odds would be of someone both ''needing'' and ''getting'' three Jokers. Hal proceeded to get a very simple question right and won his game. A bit of a DownerEnding for Adrienne, though...
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udMeOLWr9DQ&t=3m56 This clip]] shows a rare case in "How Low Will You Go?". While the contestant could have up to seven more clues to answer a question, [[spoiler:she asks for NO more clues and still gets it right]]!
** 1983: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpCdSWjMJTA Barry sadly sends off Joe Dunn]] as an undefeated champ by showing his accomplishments, including $66,200 in cash and prizes. This was also when the CBS limit on game show winnings was raised to $50,000 from the previous $35,000 (while the show itself was syndicated, it ran on some CBS stations and hence was subject to network rules), with a charity of the player's choice receiving what went over that. This was 21 years before Ken Jennings on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', and was a big deal as Dunn had been a regular champ and hadn't yet played in a Tournament.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdF4iKeA5X4&t=14s Byron Wilson]], who came back from a $400-$0 deficit by answering '''ten''' $50 Fast Forward questions in a row.
** Frank Dillon, who won the first two Tournaments, in 1977 and '78 (worth $50,000 and $100,000 in cash and prizes, respectively)...[[DownerEnding and narrowly lost the $250,000 Tournament in 1979 due to an unlucky spin]]. [[HeartwarmingMoments He also donated most of his cash winnings to various charities.]]

** "As we know, ''TheJokersWild'' is a game of definitions."

** 1983: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpCdSWjMJTA Barry sadly sends off Joe Dunn]] as an undefeated champ by showing his accomplishments, including $66,200 in cash and prizes. This was also when the network limit on game show winnings was raised to $50,000 from the previous $35,000 (while the show itself was syndicated, it ran on network stations and hence subject to network rules), with a charity of the player's choice receiving what went over that. This was 21 years before Ken Jennings on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', and was a big deal as Dunn had been a regular champ and hadn't yet played in a Tournament.

** Frank Dillon, who won the first two Tournaments in 1977 and '78 (worth $50,000 and $100,000 in cash and prizes, respectively)...[[DownerEnding and narrowly lost the $250,000 Tournament in 1979 due to an unlucky spin]]. [[HeartwarmingMoments He also donated most of his cash winnings to various charities.]]

* ReplacementScrappy: Much hatred for the monotonous Pat Finn. Also, many fans disliked BillCullen's run on the show; while he's usually praised as one of the best game show hosts of all time (if not '''the''' best), Bill's laid-back hosting style wasn't a good fit for ''Joker'', and old age had slowed him down considerably by this point.

** A category called "What's Your Bid" worked very similar to Bullseye; you can pick however many questions you like, and if you answered them all, you won the amount times however many questions you answered. (So if you spun it for $50, and wanted 4 questions, you could win $200.) Miss, and your opponent got the chance to finish the remaining questions for all the money. This category was used in one 1986 game where the champ was going for her fifth win and a car. The champ, leading $250-$400, picked What's Your Bid for $100. All she needed was one question to win...but she asked for *3*. Not only did this create extra work for her, but if she missed, there was enough money at stake for the challenger to win the game. [[spoiler:Sure enough, she got the first two right and missed the third. Her challenger got the third one right, giving him $550 and denying the champ what should have been an easy car win.]]

* MomentOfAwesome: A champion by the name of Hal was in dire straits in his eighth game against a challenger named Adrienne. Down $500-$200 and with no Fast Forward category in the game, his only hope was to spin three Jokers, which would give him a chance at an instant win. Luckily, he was wearing a rather loud "lucky suit". He gave it a quick rub, pulled the handle, and ''got'' his three Jokers. After Jack Barry nearly faints from shock, he explains how astronomical the odds would be of someone both ''needing'' and ''getting'' three Jokers. Hal proceeds to get a very simple question right and win his game. A bit of a DownerEnding for Adrienne, though...
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udMeOLWr9DQ This clip]] at the 3:56 mark shows a rare case where in the "How Low Will You Go?" category, the contestant could have up to seven more clues to answer a question. [[spoiler:She asks for NO more clues and still gets it right!]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpCdSWjMJTA This clip]] shows Barry sending off Joe Dunn as an ''undefeated'' champ (by showing his accomplishments, including $66,200 in cash and prizes). This was also when the network limit on game show winnings was raised to $50,000 from the previous $35,000, with a charity receiving what went over that. Given this was ''21 years'' before Ken Jennings on ''Jeopardy!'', this was a big deal as he had been a regular champ (Tournament of Champions winners had won more, but paid out over ten years at the time due to the limits on winning; while the show itself was syndicated at the time, it ran on network stations, and hence subject to network rules) without even getting to a Tournament yet. So this made him the "Biggest (Regular Show) Winner" in the history of ''The Joker's Wild''.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdF4iKeA5X4#t=0m14s Byron Wilson]], who came back from a $400-$0 deficit by answering '''ten''' $50 Fast Forward questions in a row.
** Frank Dillon, who won the first two ToCs in 1977 and '78 (worth $50,000 and $100,000 in cash and prizes, respectively) [[DownerEnding and narrowly lost the $250,000 Tournament in 1979 due to an unlucky spin]]. [[HeartwarmingMoments He also donated most of his cash winnings to various charities.]]

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udMeOLWr9DQ This clip]] at the 3:56 mark shows a rare case where in the "How Low Will You Go?" category, the contestant could have up to seven more clues to answer a question. [[spoiler: She asks for NO more clues and still gets it right!]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpCdSWjMJTA This clip]] shows Jack Barry sending off Joe Dunn as an UNDEFEATED champion (by showing his accomplishments, including $66,200 in cash and prizes). It also shows this was that the first time the network limit on game-show winnings was raised to $50,000 from a previous $35,000, with a charity receiving what went over that. Given this was ''twenty one years'' before Ken Jennings on "Jeopardy!", this was a big deal as he had been a REGULAR champion (Tournament of Champions winners had won more, but paid out over ten years at the time due to the limits on winning; while the show itself was syndicated at the time, it ran on network stations, and sadly subject to network rules) without even getting to a Tournament yet. So this made him the "Biggest (Regular Show) Winner" in the history of "The Joker's Wild."
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdF4iKeA5X4#t=0m14s Byron Wilson]], who came back from a $400-$0 deficit by answering '''TEN''' $50 Fast Forward questions in a row.
** Frank Dillon, who won the first two Joker's Wild Tournament of Champions in 1977 and 1978 (worth $50,000 and $100,000 in cash and prizes, respectively) [[DownerEnding and narrowly lost the $250,000 Tournament in 1979 due to an unlucky spin]]. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming He also donated most of his cash winnings to various charities.]]
* NightmareFuel: If you were a young child in that era, the devious rendering of the Devil's face (supposedly a caricature of Barry) kept you up at night quite a few times.
** I'm sure more than a few people were creeped out by the ''Joker'' from the 1990 revival.
* ReplacementScrappy: Much hatred for the monotonous Pat Finn. Also, many fans disliked BillCullen's run on the show; while he is usually praised as one of the best game show hosts of all time (if not '''the''' best), his laid-back hosting style was not a good fit for ''Joker'', and old age had slowed him down considerably by this point.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Much hatred for the 1990s maingame and bonus round (first word, first definition...). The staff restored categories to the maingame on January 7, 1991, but the measure came far too late to save the show...and besides that, the money-based format came back for the last three shows (to avoid straddling, so that the final episode wouldn't end in the middle of a game.)
** Also, the question values were $25/$50/$100 (half of what they'd been less than twenty years earlier). The jokers couldn't be used to go "off the board" as they hadn't let the contestants know what categories each game had on the reels (they had to be used for the full amount for whatever category was chosen). Also, three jokers gave a contestant an instant $250 and the right to answer $100 questions in one of three categories hidden behind each joker. Not like before.
* WhatAnIdiot: One of the special categories added was "Fast Forward _____", which allowed contestants to keep answering questions as long as they kept getting the right answer, each right answer adding the same amount to their score. In one game, the champion had $250 and needed to tie or beat the challenger who had reached $500. The champion spun a Joker and two regular categories then, without thinking, asked for "(Regular Category) for $200". An amazed Jack Barry told him that he just lost the game, when the contestant should've gone off the board with the Joker and taken "Fast Forward _____" to build up $50 questions and possibly win the game.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Much hatred for the 1990s maingame and bonus round (first word, first definition...). The staff restored categories to the maingame on January 7, 1991, but the measure came far too late to save the show...and besides that, the money-based format came back for the last three shows.