YMMV / The Joker's Wild

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• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Joker... Joker... [something arcane that's not a Joker]."
  • "Jack, I'll go off the board and take [something]."
  • "As we know, The Joker's Wild is a game of definitions."
  • "$420... $420... $420!"
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • If you were a young child during the original run, the devious rendering of the Devil's face (supposedly a caricature of Barry) kept you up at night quite a few times.
  • For the 1990s version, however, the Joker was the main source of Nightmare Fuel. However, it was a lot less scary in the 1989 pilots.◊
• Replacement Scrappy: While Bill Cullen is usually praised as game show host royalty (and rightly so), many fans have criticized his hosting style as too laid-back and a poor fit for Joker. In fairness to Bill, his getting the reins wasn't the original plan^note (Jack Barry had planned to open the 1984-85 season by announcing his retirement and passing the torch to Jim Peck, who alternated weeks with Jack during the 1983-84 season; following Jack's death in May 1984, however, the show's syndicator, Colbert Television Sales, objected to Jim taking over and so Bill was brought on instead, though Peck was still retained as a substitute host) and he wasn't in the best of health at this point (only hindered further with his undergoing major pancreatic surgery in 1985 and becoming diabetic). One anecdote says that on an episode where Jim Peck filled in for him, the producers actually had to stop tape and provide Jim with more questions because they'd gotten so used to Bill's slower style!
• Spiritual Sequel: The 2021 FOX primetime game Cherries Wild hosted by Jason Biggs, with "one of the biggest slot machines in the world" and a grand prize of $250,000 for accumulating five Wild Cherries on the reels. It was the second game show to use the Pepsi soda brand (the first was the WB/ABC Play for a Billion contest).
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Much hatred for the 1990s maingame and bonus round (first word, first definition...); though admittedly the bonus round now offered a lot more, plus there weren't any 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. Further, the question values were $25/$50/$100 (half of what they'd been just five 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). Spinning three Jokers gave that player $250 and the right to answer $100 questions in one of three categories hidden behind each Joker. Not like before.
  • Then there's the 2017 revival, which is based entirely around the host's ego (including, but not limited to: him being the Joker himself, and the categories mostly being puns referencing him or his career).^note Moreover, the questions are all done in the style of his Purple Prose.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The set and graphics of the 2017 version look amazing. Hell, the slot machine actually looks more like a slot machine! (Admittedly the 1990 version looked closer to an actual slot machine too, but this one really looks the part.)

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