Polish `Wheel Of Fortune': TV Game Has A Somber Spin

WARSAW - The new Polish version of the "Wheel of Fortune" is a big hit with a serious problem: Try as they might, producers can't get the contestants to smile.

In Poland, where the average wage is about $200 a month, money is no laughing matter.

"People are fighting for money in the show - money and cars. They're not smiling," said Wojciech Pijanowski, the show's host. "This creates the show's atmosphere. It's not fun. It's a battle."

Director Pawel Hanczakowski says, "They don't smile because they don't know how to smile. They're coming out of the Middle Ages."

Hanczakowski, who used to live in Los Angeles,theorized that decades of communist repression have made his fellow Poles so downtrodden that they can't relax and enjoy themselves.

In any case, "Wheel of Fortune" started two months ago and already ranks just behind "Dynasty," the most popular show here.

There are some differences from the U.S. version, of course. The letter "z" is more valuable and vowels are less crucial in a language where the word "thing," for instance, is "rzecz."

Poland is the first former East ern Bloc nation to have its own "Wheel of Fortune," which now shows in 15 languages in 26 countries, said Fred Cohen, president of King World International, which distributes the show.

On Tuesday night's episode, three uptight-looking gentlemen in suits and ties stood soberly on the set. Sparse applause greeted them; they did not smile.

"Great emotions are ahead of us," host Pijanowski announced hopefully. He pointed out the day's top prize: A brand-new red Suzuki.

"You're nervous. Why is that?" he asked the first contestant, a Warsaw theology student.

"Because of the TV."

"Let's establish that we're going to have fun today," the host said. There was no reply.

The second contestant was a technician; the third said he lives in Krakow "in a very little apartment with a very big dog."

The game was on. With lackluster enthusiasm, the contestants spun the wheel and tried to guess letters, words and phrases.

The third contestant began winning, ending up with a TV set, vacuum cleaner and a coffee maker, among other things. At one point, he flashed a quick smile, revealing that he was missing a few front teeth. The other two men, poker-faced, stood rigidly.

"Could you try to push the wheel stronger?" Pijanowski asked a contestant. The man tried. "That was much better," the host said approvingly.

"No," the contestant replied forlornly. "It was actually quite weak."

The show's subdued nature hasn't gone unnoticed. Writing under the headline "Gray Fortune," TV critic Tomasz Raczek had this to say in the popular magazine "Wprost":

"I can hear from my living room the sad ticking noise of the wheel going around. The noise is broken only by complete silence and from time to time a sad statement."

Participants, he wrote, are "tense, shy, hiding layers of complexes. Let's look at their clothes - suits just taken out of mothballs, not worn for years. . . . It's not their fault that they're poor, overworked."