As a kid watching the show, and really, all the way up until I joined the site a few years back, I never noticed the Showcase podiums used from the mid 80's through the end of Season 29 had an inward slant to them. The way they were presented on television, they always appeared vertical to me until I eventually came across side-view photos (such as the one in my avatar) that revealed the inward slant to them.
Does anyone happen to know if there was a specific reason as to why this was done other than to just be part of their design? Perhaps due to the convex nature of televisions at the time (this is probably a dumb guess, but I can think of no other reason)?
Would I be correct in assuming the reason for their all-vertical redesign had to do, at least somewhat, with flat screen televisions becoming prevalent in the early 2000's?