Wheel of Fortune Tonight (Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026): Another Encore, Air Times by City, and the Toss-Up Sprint Six Days Out
Six weeknights are left in the longest gap Wheel of Fortune takes all year. Tonight is one of them, so what your station runs is a repeat — a good one, probably, but a repeat.
The reason to pay attention anyway is what lands on the other side of it. Season 44 starts Monday, and the first three minutes of the show will not look like the version you have watched for four decades.
Is Wheel of Fortune new tonight?
No. Stations are in the last encore week before the season break ends, and no first-run episode airs until September 14.
Sony hasn't published which taped week is being replayed, so we won't invent a theme for it. If your local grid lists a title, that's the better source than anything online.
What changes on Monday?
The opening. BuzzerBlog reported, and follow-up coverage has repeated, that Season 44 replaces the two opening toss-ups with a 30-second Toss-Up Sprint.
Three contestants race the clock, each solved puzzle pays $1,000, and here's the sharp edge: one guess per puzzle. Miss and you don't get another swing at that board.
Do the arithmetic and the change is not cosmetic. The old pair of toss-ups was worth $1,000 and $2,000 — $3,000 on the table, split between two puzzles. A sprint that runs four or five puzzles deep can pay more than that to one fast player, or hand out nothing at all.
What time is Wheel of Fortune on tonight?
There is no one answer. Wheel is syndicated, so the slot belongs to your local station, and it usually sits in the half hour next to Jeopardy!.
| Market | Typical slot |
|---|---|
| New York | 7:30 p.m. |
| Los Angeles | 7:30 p.m. |
| Chicago | 3:00 p.m. |
| Philadelphia | 7:30 p.m. |
| Boston | 7:00 p.m. |
| Atlanta | 7:00 p.m. |
Treat that as a starting point, not gospel. Our air-time guide shows how to pull your own station's grid, and pre-emptions are more common in a repeat week than a first-run one.
Can you still enter the Bonus Puzzle sweepstakes?
Only when there's a first-run episode with a SPIN ID on screen, which rules out tonight. Encores don't open an entry window.
Entries reopen with the premiere, and the deadline is tight enough to matter — we broke down the whole thing in the SPIN ID and Bonus Puzzle guide, including where the ID appears and how long you have.
👉 Set a reminder for Monday. Night one of a season is when the sweepstakes pool is smallest.
Who's hosting Season 44?
Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White, both back, with the show already renewed through Season 45. That stability is the point: the format is moving, the desk is not.
What else is on tonight?
Jeopardy! has the bigger night by a wide margin — the Masters final runs 8 to 9 p.m. ET on ABC, and our preview has the standings the three finalists carry in. Monday's Wheel preview covered the holiday scheduling mess, and the weekly file tracks the season break.
FAQ
Is Wheel of Fortune new tonight? No — an encore. New episodes return Monday, September 14.
What time is Wheel of Fortune on? Usually 7 or 7:30 p.m. in most Eastern markets, 3 p.m. in Chicago. Check your local listing.
What is the Toss-Up Sprint? A 30-second opening round in Season 44: as many toss-ups as the players can solve, $1,000 each, one guess per puzzle.
Where can I stream it? Recent episodes go to Hulu and Peacock the day after they air.
Sources · TV Insider — Season 44 premiere and hosts · CinemaBlend — Toss-Up Sprint report (via BuzzerBlog) · WheelOfFortune.com — official site
Nightly bonus puzzles and winners are filed in results, and everything on the show sits in the Wheel of Fortune section.