NBC

NBC (short for National Broadcasting Company) is a network created in 1926 by RCA whose symbolic Peacock, originally used to signify that a program was airing "in living color", has had many forms. The network originally consisted of two "arms", NBC Red and NBC Blue, the latter of which was sold off in October 1943 due to the FCC; in June 1945, the Blue Network changed its name to ABC.

While NBC has had several high points (most notably its "Must-See TV" period from about 1984-2004), it has also had several low points, most notably the reign of Fred Silverman (1978-81) and the late-night debacle (2009-10). While retaining several critically-loved shows despite failing in the ratings, the network as a whole has had ratings trouble for several years.

Wheel of Fortune
In November 1974, after Lin Bolen had effectively killed Jeopardy! by moving it to 1:30 PM (during what was basically a game show version of the "Rural Purge", getting rid of games hosted by middle-aged men on technologically-obsolete sets; by this point, it had already killed Concentration and Three on a Match), she had gotten her bosses to commission Wheel of Fortune despite test audiences not being too fond of it. The Jeopardy! contract was scheduled to expire in January 1976, but terminated a year early and that year given to Wheel.

Wheel continued on NBC despite two cancellation attempts in 1980 by Silverman and despite changing announcers, hosts, and hostesses. By the time Rolf Benirschke took over on January 10, 1989, the ratings had begun to slip; while he came across as friendly, it appears that viewers did not want to watch an emcee who was a complete unknown to the genre and tended to stumble through rules, continuing to tune out despite Rolf growing increasingly comfortable in the role. NBC announced the show's cancellation on May 22 with episodes to air through June 30, only for CBS to announce its renewal on May 23.

Two years later, Wheel returned to the Peacock on January 14, 1991, replacing the short-lived revival of Let's Make a Deal. By this point, however, the genre was on a downside that eventually resulted in The Price Is Right being the only daytime network game for 15 years; nothing Wheel did (including at least three play-by-phone contests) appears to have worked, as the Bob Goen era took its last bow on September 20.