User:Twigboy/Sandbox/The Price Is Right
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Please take notice of certain →Annotated revisions. This is based on older versions of the existing page.
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This article is about the U.S. version. For other versions, see The Price Is Right (UK), The Price Is Right (Australia), or The Price is Right around the world.
| The (New) Price Is Right | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Game Show |
| Running time | approx. 44 minutes (today 39:30 minutes), 60 minutes with commercials (per episode) |
| Creator(s) | Bob Stewart |
| Starring | Bob Barker (1972–present) Bill Cullen (1956–1965) Dennis James, Tom Kennedy, and Doug Davidson (syndicated version) |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original channel | NBC (1956-1963) ABC (1963-1965) CBS (1972—) |
| Original run | November 23, 1956 – September 3, 1965; September 4, 1972–present |
| No. of episodes | 6,000th CBS show aired on March 1, 2004; rescheduled from March 9 |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Price Is Right is a popular American game show based on contestants guessing the retail prices of featured prizes and other promotional products. The modern United States version, which premiered on September 4, 1972 and is hosted by Bob Barker, still airs today on CBS. The original 1956 version of the show was hosted by Bill Cullen.
TV Guide named The Price Is Right the "greatest game show of all time". Its longevity is such that it is one of two game-show franchises to be seen nationally in either first-run network or syndication airings in every decade from the 1950s onward; the other is To Tell the Truth. Price is known in pop culture for phrases such as "Come on down!" and "This showcase (or prize) can be yours if the price is right!"
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[edit] Overview
The 1972 daytime incarnation of The Price Is Right (hosted by Bob Barker) has the distinction of being the longest-running game show in North American television history. It has surpassed the previous record of 17 years and seven months set by What's My Line?. Still airing today, it continues to extend its record, and has aired more than 6,000 episodes. Notably, it is also the only daytime game show that has aired regularly on United States network television since January 1994.
Many believe The Price Is Right has lasted so long because of Barker's refusal to make significant changes to the show's look or format. (For example, when his microphone died, CBS didn't have an old style microphone to replace it, so a new microphone was simply put in an old-style casing.) The show's main theme was written by Sheila Cole. Much of the prize music, written by noted composer Edd Kalehoff, has been around since 1972, with additional pieces from 1976, 1983, and music transplanted from the 1994 syndicated version in the rotation as well.
Johnny Olson was the Barker version's original announcer. Olson was the first to call contestants to "Come on down!" which became the show's catch phrase. Olson died in 1985, and shortly afterward, Rod Roddy was chosen to succeed him. Roddy continued to do the show when able until shortly before his death on October 27, 2003. Rich Fields was named the CBS version's third permanent announcer on April 4, 2004.
See the announcers for information on the announcers of The Price Is Right.
The show unexpectedly garnered younger college-age viewers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Barker theorizes that they acquired these fans from his appearance in the Adam Sandler frat house favorite Happy Gilmore. He also suspects that these viewers remember the show from when they were children and their parents watched the show.
It should be noted that Bob Barker has hosted every episode of the CBS daytime version except three – Dennis James subbed for him briefly in December 1974 because of an illness. Today, in the event Barker is unavailable, rather than using sub-hosts, the scheduled taping is postponed.
The catchphrase "Come on down" did not become popular until the mid-1970s. In fact, for the first few episodes taped, Johnny Olson announced the names of the first four contestants and told them to "stand up," and then said, "Come on down and play The New Price Is Right!" Olson also originated the revival's two famous opening lines: (30-minute version) A fortune in fabulous prizes may go to these people today if they know when The Price Is Right! (60-minute version) Here it Comes! Television's most exciting hour of fantastic prizes! The fabulous, sixty-minute 'Price Is Right'! In 1998, after Studio 33 was renamed in the host's honor, the line From the Bob Barker Studio at CBS in Hollywood! was added after "Here it comes."
Bob Barker also serves as the show's executive producer; Roger Dobkowitz produces, while Kathy "Fingers" Greco is associate producer. Frank Wayne, a Goodson-Todman staffer since the 1950s, was the revival's original executive producer; previous producers include Jay Wolpert, Barbara Hunter, and Frank Wayne's son, Phil Wayne Rossi.
[edit] Production information
Studio 33 / Announcers / Staff information / Production Companies / Episode length / Barker's Beauties
[edit] The Price Is Right series
[edit] Before Barker: the Bill Cullen version
- →Save a lot of the detail for a separate article.
The Price Is Right was created and produced by Bob Stewart for Mark Goodson–Bill Todman Productions. Stewart already had created one hit series for Goodson-Todman, To Tell the Truth, and he would later create the enormously successful Password. After 1964, Stewart left Password and Goodson-Todman to strike out on his own. (Frank Wayne, who later produced the Barker version of Price, took over Stewart's Password spot.)
The original daytime version of The Price Is Right ran from November 26, 1956 to September 6, 1963 on NBC and from September 9, 1963 to September 3, 1965 on ABC. A weekly nighttime version ran concurrently from September 23, 1957 to September 6, 1963 on NBC and from September 18, 1963 to September 11, 1964 on ABC.
The show originated from New York City in a Broadway theater converted for television. Although no color kinescopes or videotapes are known to exist from either NBC or ABC, The Price Is Right became the first regularly airing game show series to be aired in color in 1957.
Bill Cullen hosted both the daytime and nighttime versions of the show. For two seasons (1959-1960 and 1960-1961), the show was eighth in the Nielsen ratings, making it by far the most watched game show on television at the time. Cullen's easygoing personality was a key part of the show's success. The announcers of the show were Don Pardo and Jack Clark on NBC and Johnny Gilbert on ABC. The first theme song used was called the "Sixth Finger Tune" by Charles Strouse. The theme song was later changed in the early sixties and was composed by Bob Cobert.
On the original version of The Price Is Right, four contestants chosen from the studio audience bid on items or ensembles of items in an auction-style format. They could bid higher as long as they wanted or they could freeze their bids. When time ran out, the players who didn't freeze had one more bid. Whoever's bid was nearest the actual retail price of the merchandise without going over won the merchandise. Depending on the item, a minimum bid increment restriction was implemented. Some rounds were one-bid rounds which were like today's Contestants' Row. The contestant who accumulated the most value in cash and prizes was the returning champion on the next show.
The multi-prize packages, or "showcases," remain in today's CBS version – as does the announcer phrase, "this showcase can be yours if the price is right."
Sometimes when winning a prize, a bell would ring indicating that the contestant had won a bonus surprise. (On the nighttime show, which had a larger prize budget than the daytime show, some of these prizes were a 1926 Rolls-Royce with chauffeur, a Ferris wheel, shares of corporate stock, and an island in the St. Lawrence Seaway.) In later years, bonus games (not necessarily pricing games) were also added.
→Move this paragraph to Bob Stewart.After the success of Price, To Tell the Truth, and Password, producer Stewart left Goodson-Todman in 1965. Stewart's follow-up to The Price Is Right, his first independent production, was Eye Guess, a delightful sight-and-memory game with Bill Cullen as host (it was loosely based on a Price Is Right bonus game). Later, Stewart hit the jackpot with the popular The $10,000 Pyramid and its successors.
[edit] 1972 version and related versions
The most recognized version of the show premiered September 4, 1972 on CBS and has been hosted by Bob Barker through its entire broadcast run. The show was first called The New Price is Right (and shortly afterward simply renamed The Price Is Right), and still airs today as the last network daytime game show that is still running.
From 1972 to 1975, The Price Is Right was a half-hour long. It featured three pricing games rather than six. There was no Showcase Showdown; the top 2 winners of the day participated in the Showcase. This was changed in 1975 to the hour-long version that continues today. (Nine weeks before the permanent change, CBS tried out an hour-long TPIR for one week, during which a different, sideways-spinning Big Wheel was used in the Showcase Showdowns.)
As of December 5, 2005, contestants have won all six pricing games on a single episode 72 times. On the other hand, as of March 28, 2006, there have been 72 times where all six pricing games on a single episode were lost. (It should be noted, though, that a "winless show" is harder to define than a "perfect show," and that the stats given for the former are less likely to be accurate.) Of particular note for contestant futility was the February 23, 2006 episode, where not only were all six pricing games lost, but there was a double overbid in the Showcase, as well. Winnings-wise, it was one of the least successful episodes in the show's history, with only eight prizes being given away the entire hour, including the six Items up for Bids and a tortilla maker and a carousel horse in Master Key; it was also the first episode in more than a decade to give away less then $10,000, only giving away $8,739 in prizes.
Other short-lived versions of the show have aired as well. A weekly syndicated version of the show aired from 1972 through 1980. This show was hosted by Dennis James from 1972 to 1977, then Bob Barker from 1977 to 1980. James also subbed for Barker on three daytime shows around Christmas of 1974.
[edit] 1985 nighttime syndicated show
→Rearrange to put Kennedy/Davidson versions under proper headings. Davidson version varied greatly, so a new article might be helpful. Kennedy version needs just a few sentences.
Two daily syndicated versions were attempted: in 1985 with host Tom Kennedy (The Nighttime Price Is Right), and in 1994 with host Doug Davidson (The New Price Is Right). Both were quickly cancelled—Kennedy's after a year, Davidson's after five months.
The Kennedy version was played exactly the same way as the first three seasons and the original syndicated run, with the two highest winners advancing to the Showcase.
Some of the Davidson version's concepts became part of European versions starting with Bruce Forsyth's British version in 1995.
The Kennedy version experimented with a $500 perfect bid bonus, which the daytime show adopted in 1998, and the Davidson version's doors were used in the daytime version starting in September 1996, albeit repainted with the patterns from the daytime doors.
[edit] Prime time specials
[edit] 1986
A series of six nighttime specials aired on Thursday nights during the summer of 1986. Up against the powerhouse NBC sitcom The Cosby Show, the show fared relatively poorly. In these episodes, host Barker wore a tuxedo, and colored spotlights surrounded the Big Doors.
[edit] Anniversary specials
In 1996, CBS aired an hour-long 25th Anniversary Special, using the half-hour gameplay format and featuring a number of retrospective clips. Ratings were markedly better, but it would be another five years before TPiR returned to primetime. A 30th anniversary special was recorded at Harrah's Rio in Las Vegas and was plagued with problems. The situation with potential audience members before the Vegas show started with confusion, then quickly degraded almost to chaos; as such, another road trip is unlikely. →move "stage show" to TPIR in other media However, Harrah's and the producers have since agreed to do live licensed shows (dubbed The Price Is Right - LIVE) at their venues, with several performers (including Roger Lodge and Todd Newton) hosting and Randy West or Daniel Rosen announcing. It is highly speculated among some fans that the stage show may be being used to groom Price's next host.
[edit] Armed Forces specials
Despite the production problems, more primetime shows were planned, albeit back at CBS Television City. Six nighttime specials saluting various branches of the United States armed forces and for police officers & firefighters aired during the summer of 2002, as a tribute to the heroes of the terrorist attacks of 2001. During the Military Specials, a $1 on the bonus spin in the Showcase Showdown would have been worth $100,000 instead of the usual $10,000; this prize went unclaimed.
[edit] The "Million Dollar Spectaculars"
Since 2003, fifteen nighttime "Million Dollar Spectaculars" have been aired, with the last one airing on February 14, 2006 (Valentine's Day); it was intended for May 6, 2005, but was pre-empted.
On the Million Dollar Spectaculars, the bonus spin payoff was again increased, to $1,000,000. Beginning on the fourth Million Dollar Spectacular, the winner of the Showcase earns a million-dollar spin if there was no bonus spin during either of the episode's Showcase Showdowns; during these post-Showcase spins, hitting a green section does not earn any money.
The rule in place for the fourth through 12th specials in case of a Showcase double-overbid was that a random audience member would be called onstage for a million-dollar spin; such a spinner would retain their eligibility to be called as a regular contestant on a future episode. Sometime during the fifth set of Million Dollar Spectaculars (exactly when isn't clear), the double overbid rule was changed to award the spin to the contestant who made the smaller overbid.
No one has claimed the million dollar prize through the first fifteen MDS shows; seven contestants (as of this writing) have had the wheel stop on .05, one wedge away from the $1 million jackpot; two of these seven contestants have had the wheel stop on the peg that seperates the .05 wedge from the jackpot. The lack of big wins is notable given the relative frequency of $10,000 wins on the daytime show.[citation needed]
Only one primetime bonus spin, on one of the '86 specials, has actually stopped on the dollar.
[edit] "Gameshow Marathon"
TPIR was the first of seven classic game show formats set to be played on the CBS Gameshow Marathon. Ricki Lake served as host, while celebrities played as contestants. The show did not take place on the current set, but on a specially-designed smaller set in a different studio at CBS Television City; however, Marathon used props from the current TPIR (including the Big Wheel), along with appearances by TPIR models and announcer Rich Fields.
Gameshow Marathon debuted May 31, 2006 on CBS.
