Crew members at Sony Pictures Studios certainly decked the halls for Wheel of Fortune’s Christmas episodes, but did the game show’s set decor look tasteful or tacky this Christmas season? Festive or frenetic? Glittering or garish? Viewers seem divided.
One such viewer ranted about the yuletide decor this week in a Reddit post entitled “Gaudy set.”
They wrote: “I have been watching Wheel of Fortune for years. It’s enjoyable, for the most part. Adjusting to new host [Ryan Seacrest] was a challenge at first. I must say, the gaudy sets during the Christmas season have been hard to look at. Surely they can find someone with good taste to decorate without going overboard.”
As seen in the show’s YouTube uploads, the adornments include oversized toy soldiers and candy canes on some days and giant ornaments on others. And some fans appreciate the decor.
“I’m the opposite,” a Reddit user responded in a comment. “I liked the big ornaments. I wish there were more decorations for the themes as in the old seasons. The only Christmas decorations that fell flat [were] the shelves of Disney toys.”
(Other Reddit users objected to the Disney-fication of the show, too. “I’m more miffed at the ridiculous Mickey/Minnie interactions (fully realizing that they own the joint outright),” one wrote. “Same. Way too much Disney. Automatic mute,” said another.)
Another user said they think the props “look great” and fill out the set more. “Most weeks the set looks a little too empty in spaces,” they observed.
Someone else, meanwhile, expressed a preference for real-life decor over virtual set dressing. “I don’t love it when it’s so over the top that it ‘looks like the holiday threw up,’ but I much prefer real decorations over those weird LED floors [and] walls,” that user wrote. “They might be interesting if the people programming them made them look a bit more realistic, but everything seems so fake [and] distracting. It would probably help a lot if they dialed that down a few notches!”
Interestingly, the set was back to its usual look on the Christmas Day broadcast — no tin soldiers, candy canes, or ornaments in sight!
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