HARRY FRIEDMAN

As the executive producer of television’s top two syndicated programs, Harry Friedman has led Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! to unparalleled success with innovative ideas that have entertained audiences for years.

Friedman has been the executive producer of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! since 1999. He first joined Wheel of Fortune as a producer in 1995, adding producer duties for Jeopardy! in 1997.

Recognized as a leader in the television industry, Friedman is a seven time Emmy award winner and was honored by the National Association of Television Program Executives with the prestigious Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award in January 2007. Friedman was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in October 2007.

As Wheel of Fortune enters its 26th season this September and Jeopardy! begins its 25th anniversary season, the shows continue to thrive thanks to Friedman’s creative energy and innovative style.

During his tenure, Friedman has constantly invigorated both shows with new game elements, theme weeks and the latest technology to keep the shows fresh and engaging. In September 2006, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! made television history when they became the first syndicated shows to broadcast in High Definition.

Under Friedman’s direction, the hit series Jeopardy! has continued to broaden its scope with an expanded list of challenging categories and clues reflecting popular culture, innovative theme weeks, celebrity participation and novel on-location episodes, such as The Jeopardy! College Championship and the prestigious Tournament of Champions.

In 2003, Friedman lifted Jeopardy!’s five-day limit rule for contestants, allowing returning champions to continue amassing winnings as long as they remain victorious.  This rule change led the way for memorable and historic winning streaks, most notably Utah software engineer Ken Jennings’ 74-consecutive-day run, during which he won a record $2.5 million. Series viewership increased an impressive 30% during the streak, at times outperforming primetime programs and making it one of the most talked-about shows in the country.

Friedman’s ideas have reached far beyond the famous Stage 10 at Sony Studios where Jeopardy! is taped.  He was instrumental in the creation of the Clue Crew, four roving correspondents who travel the world delivering visual clues for the millions of viewers back home. Similar to Wheel of Fortune’s Wheelmobile, Friedman created the Jeopardy! Brain Bus, which travels to 25 cities a year to conduct contestant search events. Additionally, Friedman plays a very active role in www.jeopardy.com, an interactive community with over 400,000 monthly visitors.

Since Friedman joined Jeopardy! in 1997, the hit series has won multiple Emmy Awards in the following categories: Outstanding Game Show, Outstanding Special Class Writing, Outstanding Game Show Host and Outstanding Directing in a Game/Audience Participation Show.  In April 2006, Friedman accepted the series’ 11th Emmy for Outstanding Show, its 28th Emmy overall, officially making Jeopardy! the most honored syndicated game show in television history.

With a knack for knowing what viewers want, Friedman has initiated numerous innovations at Wheel of Fortune to add excitement to the show and offer contestants more chances to win cash and prizes.  These elements include Toss Up puzzles, unique Gift Tags on the Wheel from various prize providers, a Jackpot Round, the Mystery Round, the $100,000 Bonus Round and the Wild Card.  The 26th season will also see the introduction of a new game element, The Million Dollar Bonus Round.  A $1 million wedge will be in play through the first three rounds.  If a contestant lands on the wedge, solves the puzzle and makes it to the Bonus Round without hitting bankrupt, they will have the chance to spin the bonus wheel and could be playing for a top cash prize of $1 million.

In addition, Friedman is responsible for many of the show’s technological advancements such as modernizing the famous puzzleboard so that the letters change with a touch of Vanna White’s hand, launching www.wheeloffortune.com and introducing a new, highly sophisticated set, which incorporates state-of-the-art lighting and music.  Other features he initiated include the online and mobile phone versions of the show and contestant diaries on www.wheeloffortune.com. 

To engage Wheel Watchers online and at home, Friedman has added programs specially designed for frequent viewers.  He developed the flourishing Wheel Watchers Club, the first-ever, long-term, online viewer loyalty program in television history, and its extension, the SPIN I.D. program.  Membership in the Wheel Watchers Club now totals over 5 million loyal viewers. Each season, Friedman offers devoted fans more opportunities to be involved with the show by taping at various locations around the country.  Additionally, Friedman conceptualized the Wheelmobile, a shrink-wrapped Winnebago, which travels to 25 cities a year to conduct contestant search events.

Friedman’s credentials easily qualify him for the tasks at hand.  Between 1971 and 1982, he wrote and produced more than 3,000 episodes of the hit series, “Hollywood Squares.”  During his tenure there, he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writingfor a Game Show, as well as numerous other Emmy nominations.

A native of Omaha, Neb., Friedman literally grew up in the television
business – but not in the expected sense.  His father, owner of a furniture and appliance store, was one of the first retail television dealers in his hometown.  Friedman developed an early fascination with the programming and personalities he saw, including a young, local celebrity named Johnny Carson.  Long before the concept of student internships was created, Friedman began hanging around Omaha’s first television stations, learning by watching and doing whatever management permitted.

While attending the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Friedman also worked as a reporter and feature writer for the Lincoln Star newspaper.  Later, he moved to Kansas City, holding a variety of jobs in real estate, public relations and advertising.  “What I wasn’t doing was working in television,” he recalls, “and I knew there was only one place that was going to happen — California.”

In 1971, Friedman arrived in Los Angeles and, without contacts, gave himself six months to find a job in the business.  With less than 24 hours remaining on his self-imposed deadline, he talked his way into a part-time, question-writer spot on “Hollywood Squares.”  That association marked the beginning of his long, valued relationship with Heatter-Quigley Productions.  Over the next 11 years, Friedman wrote and produced thousands of episodes of the popular series and also was actively involved in the development of several other game shows, including “Gambit” and “High Rollers.”

In 1975, Friedman and several other Heatter-Quigley staffers were invited to NBC to watch the first tapings of a new game show created by Merv Griffin: Wheel of Fortune. In 1998, he helped launch Rock & Roll Jeopardy!, which aired on the VH1 network and currently runs on The Game Show Network.  Since then, he has served as its Executive Producer.  Friedman’s other writing and producing credits range from network primetime specials, such as “American Yearbook” for CBS, to documentaries and home video.  He also has worked with such companies as FOX, Dick Clark Productions, Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Buena Vista Television/ABC, Orion Television, The Playboy Channel, Laurel Entertainment, Vin Di Bona Productions, A&E Network, Krofft Productions, Rosner Television and Four Star Productions.

A member of the Writers Guild of America-West and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Friedman lives in Los Angeles with his wife.  They have two daughters and a granddaughter.