Alex has taken to watching Wheel of Fortune. We’ve been watching it together the last couple of nights at his request and I’m happy to oblige any opportunity to prove that I’m still smarter than he is.

It has been quite some time since I watched Wheel of Fortune. They’ve made quite a few changes to the show. They now have fancy puzzle types, and speed puzzles, and the contestants stand in front of a screen which displays random nature videos. One minute there is a flowing stream in the background, then a mountain trail, then a swimming pool. Kind of odd. But it illustrates the technological advances that have been made as the shows set has changed during its 26 year run.

That’s right. 26 years. I was pretty much Alex’s age when the show started. And for all the changes of the past 26 years, Pat Sajak and Vanna White remain. Hard to believe Vanna White is now in her fifties. For almost three decades she’s been clapping her hands and “turning letters” like flash cards. I put “turning letters” in quotes because that’s not exactly the case anymore. In the early days, she did indeed have to turn the letters around to reveal them. But these days, there is no turning. She need only to delicately touch the corner of a letter block for the letter to magically appear. Except in the case of the speed puzzles. There she need only to touch the corner of the entire puzzle board and the individual letters magically appear at random on their own.

It is painfully obvious that there is nearly no point to Vanna’s job. We all know that the letters are digitally displayed and that some pimple faced geek is in the back pushing buttons on his keyboard to make the letters appear. But that’s not how tv works. And Vanna is an icon. Besides, after 26 years, she deserves a break.

Below is a video of the early days of Wheel of Fortune. Remember when the contestants had to spend their money at the end of each round? Hilarious. And I like how they made the contestants turn away from the puzzle for the commercial break. Enjoy.

Wheel of Fortune from 1982