free play

The new seasons of both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy started this week, and while most of the games are exactly the same, both shows debuted a couple of new things that might have hardcore game show fans talking.

First, WOF. They're in Las Vegas this week, and the game hasn't changed except for one thing: they've gotten rid of the "Free Spin" card! This doesn't have the same impact as Darrin being replaced on Bewitched or William Petersen leaving CSI, but when you take something away from hardcore game show fans, they can get pretty rowdy. I don't know if that will happen here since "Free Spin" has been replaced by a "Free Play" space on the wheel. If you land on this spot, you get to do anything you want: choose a consonant, ask for a vowel, etc, and if you're wrong it's OK, you don't lose your turn.