- I find the big wheel tedious, and don't like the US showcase format at all, to the point where I usually stop watching after the last pricing game is done. Mind you, this is a bit of a saving grace when watching live at 1am or 2am my time
The issue I have with the wheel is similar to the issue I have with the Australian showcase prize reveals - it is a lot of show time taken up by dead air and little gameplay (or in the Aus. showcase instance, no gameplay at all, which makes that even worse).
It is just so boring to watch the wheel go around and around when only the last second or two before it stops are all that really matters. Compare this to another luck-based game like Plinko where the chips drop within seconds and you can follow the chip's path all the way down, so there is more intense anticipation as to where it will land.
- When I first got into US TPIR after the Australian series ended in 2005, I was blown away by how much (and how easily) the US series gave away in the showcases, and this has remained the case particularly as the showcase totals increased while many games seem to have become harder to win. I would much rather see lower showcase values and more forgiving pricing game set ups in general.
The main issues I have with the showcases are the lack of variety both in gameplay and in the prizes, particularly the high amount of trips offered. In recent seasons it feels like once you've seen one showcase segment, you've seen them all, particularly with DSW's harder to come by. Someone winning $25-35k+ worth of prizes should be a big deal, but there always seems to be more excitement in a $10000 Grand Game win or a Let Em Roll or Rat Race win.
- I've got no issue with the shoutouts at the wheel. I recall a few times in Drew's early seasons where contestants would get on stage and launch straight into shoutouts, which would have been hard to edit out yet always interrupted the flow and cut time from the pricing games. It's a lot cleaner just having them all do it at the SCSD.
- Buy Or Sell always confused me as a kid watching TPIR in the 90s, and still confuses me to this day.