Harry Friedman

Friedman became a producer of Wheel of Fortune in 1995.[7] During his tenure with the show, Friedman has attempted to keep the show's gameplay fresh and exciting with many new additions to the rules. The new gameplay elements and rule modifications that were introduced to Wheel during Friedman's tenure, in chronological order based on their times of introduction, include the progressive cash jackpot wedge (in 1996), Toss-Up puzzles (in 2000), the increase of the bonus round's top value from its previous $25,000 to $100,000 (in 2001), the replacement of said round's former "W-H-E-E-L" prize envelope holder with the current "Bonus Wheel" (also in 2001), the Mystery wedges (in 2002), the Prize Puzzle (in 2003), the Wild Card (in 2006), the Australian million dollar wedge (in 2008), the replacement of the long-standing Free Spin token with the Free Play wedge (in 2009), the ½ Car tags (in 2011), and most recently, retiring the jackpot wedge in favor of the new Express wedge (in 2013).

Friedman was responsible for many of Wheel's digital extensions, including the launch of the show's official website, and the development of video games based on the show for Sony's PlayStation consoles and Nintendo's Wii. He also conceived adaptations of the show for the iPhone, the iPad, and other electronic devices.

A major technological advancement initiated by Friedman was the introduction of a new, highly sophisticated set in 2003. This set incorporates an LED and glass light extension, as well as a modernized puzzle board first introduced in 1997 with LCD screens that can be touched by the hostess to make letters appear.

The show's "Wheel Watchers Club", the first-ever, long-term, online viewer loyalty program in television history (now totaling over 5.7 million members[3]), and its extension, the "SPIN I.D." program, were both developed by Friedman. Additionally, he conceptualized the "Wheelmobile," a mobile touring vehicle used by the show to conduct contestant search events across the United States.

A producer of Jeopardy! since 1997, Friedman has broadened the program's scope by expanding the list of categories, adding clues reflecting popular culture, and introducing a variety of special tournaments, including the 1997 International Tournament that was taped in Stockholm, Sweden; this was the only tournament to be taped outside the U.S. He oversaw the doubling of the prize money available in each round of play in November 2001; the dollar amounts or the Jeopardy! Round increased from $100-$500 to $200-$1,000, and Double Jeopardy!'s clue values increased from $200-$1,000 to $400-$2,000. For the show's 4000th episode in 2002, he also produced the Million Dollar Masters Tournament taped at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, which reunited 15 former Jeopardy! champions.

For the show's 20th season in 2003, Friedman lifted not only Jeopardy!'s cap on the returning champions' total winnings, but also the long-standing five-day limit on the number of episodes on which they could appear. His implementation of this rule change allowed champions to continue making an indefinite number of appearances on the program and amassing winnings as long as they remained victorious, leading the way for Ken Jennings, at the time a software engineer from Salt Lake City, Utah, to win on 74 consecutive Jeopardy! programs (losing on his 75th) and amass a record total of $2,520,700, breaking almost every game show record in the history of American television. The quiz show's viewership increased by 30 percent during the streak, and it often out-performed even prime-time programs to become one of the most talked-about shows in the United States. In 2005, in response to Jennings' tremendous success on the show, Friedman also produced the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, in which 145 former champions played for a top prize of $2,000,000; Jennings, seeded as the only automatic finalist, pocketed $500,000 when he came in second to Brad Rutter, who won the top prize, with Jerome Vered placing third and collecting $250,000.

Friedman continues to add new Jeopardy! formats, such as the 2009-2010 Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational, in which 27 players from past Celebrity Jeopardy! matches returned to compete, with Michael McKean winning one million dollars for his charity; and, in 2011, both the inaugural Teachers' Tournament and the IBM Challenge, in which IBM's computer system Watson defeated both Jennings and Rutter.

In the late 1990s, Friedman participated with Scott Sternberg in the conception of two spin-offs of Jeopardy!: a music-intensive version called Rock & Roll Jeopardy! which aired on the VH1 network from 1998 to 2001, and a kids' version called Jep! which aired on the Game Show Network for one season from 1998 to 1999.

In 2001, Friedman played an instrumental role in the formation of Jeopardy!'s "Clue Crew", a team of roving correspondents who travel the world showcasing clues accompanied by video for the show's home viewers. As of 2011, the team has traveled to 200 cities worldwide, through 45 of the 50 U.S. states, and to 33 foreign countries.

Friedman's explanation of the reasoning behind the team's creation was as follows:

TV is a visual medium, and the more visual we can make our clues, the more we think it will enhance the experience for the viewer.[8]

The team from 2019 to 2022 consisted of Sarah Whitcomb Foss and Jimmy McGuire. In the past, they included Kelly Miyahara (from 2005 to 2019), Sofia Lidskog (from 2001 to 2004), Cheryl Farrell (from 2001 to 2008), and Jon Cannon (from 2005 to 2009). Both Foss and McGuire also perform in-show duties when shows are filmed, with Foss the show's in-studio announcer for early sessions and McGuire the host of practice games.[9]

The Clue Crew was disbanded at the end of the show's 38th season after Foss and McGuire became, respectively, a producer and a stage manager for the show.[10]

Friedman plays a very active role in the show's official website, which receives over 400,000 visitors per month.[11]

Friedman was the executive consultant for the 2002-04 version of Pyramid, which by that time was property of Sony Pictures Television.

Friedman produced the 1993–1994 game show Caesars Challenge for Rick Rosner and Stephen J. Cannell's production companies. His other writing and producing credits include network primetime specials such as American Yearbook for CBS, documentaries such as Nova on PBS, and home video. He has also worked over the years with such other television production companies as FOX, Dick Clark Productions, Buena Vista Television, ABC, Orion Television, Laurel Entertainment, Vin Di Bona Productions, A&E Network, Krofft Productions, and Four Star Productions.

Friedman is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.[3]

On August 1, 2019, Sony Pictures Television announced that Friedman would retire as executive producer of both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune following the 2019–20 season, despite the COVID-19 pandemic cutting his last television season short.[12] He was succeeded by Mike Richards.[13] The origins of his retirement plans began when he was hospitalized in April 2018 for 30 days for a series of three abdominal surgeries, which were life-threatening episodes, in which he made a full recovery.[14]

In 2021, NBCUniversal appointed Friedman to be the executive producer for a proposed revival of the game show Tic Tac Dough with Tom Bergeron as host, and in April 2022, was named executive producer for the second season of NBC's Capital One College Bowl revival.