Every television show goes through a testing phase before making it to air. The first episodes, called pilots, are designed for producers and network execs to judge if a show is good enough for broadcast or if there are any changes that need to be made. Some shows go through multiple pilots and still never see the light of day. NBC took a big chance in the 70’s and made a big score picking up the now classic game show Wheel of Fortune. Wheel of Fortune scores with a premise as simple as hangman. Spin the wheel, pick a letter, and solve the puzzle. I did a full blogumn on the show’s origins a few years ago. Wheel, like many other shows, went through multiple pilots and hosts before making it to air. For the first time ever, portions of these test episodes have been leaked to the general public. The original premise for Wheel was to be a Shoppers Bazaar. In the first test pilot, shot in 1973 with a very different set was actually named Shoppers Bazaar. This unusual and clumsy pilot featured a very different version of the now classic wheel. Take a look a portion of this test episode that, until now, only NBC executives have seen. Look at the wheel! It’s right out of Las Vegas casino floor or a church bazaar. The show took way too much time in set up and all the prizes on the set got in the way. Plus, the contestants were not in control of the wheel, they were simply told to say, “STOP THE WHEEL!” That premise would have gotten old fast. The puzzle board itself was also a very early working prototype. While it was mechanized, it was very small, and rather unattractive. Chuck Woolery, who did eventually get the job as...