The Price Is Right (1957–74 Australian game show)

The Price Is Right (1957-1974)
Created by Bob Stewart
Presented by Bruce Beeby (1957)
Geoff Manion (1958)
Keith Walshe (1959)
Horrie Dargie (1963)
Garry Meadows (1973–1974)
Narrated by Keith Livingston (1973–1974)
Country of origin Australia
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 6
Production
Location(s) ATN-7 Sydney, New South Wales (1957–1959)
GTV-9 Melbourne, Victoria (1958)
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) Grundy Productions (1963/1973-1974)
Broadcast
Original channel ATN-7 (1957–1959)
GTV-9 (1958)
Seven Network (1963)
The 0-10 Network (1973–1974)
Picture format Black and White
4:3
Audio format Mono
Original run 1957 – 1974
Chronology
Followed by The Price Is Right (1981-2012)
Related shows The Price Is Right

The Price is Right is an Australian television game show that has been produced in several different formats.

Original format

Two regional versions based on the original 1950s US format aired nearly concurrently one aired on ATN-7 in Sydney, hosted by Bruce Beeby and Keith Walshe from 1957–1959; the other was on GTV-9 in Melbourne and hosted by Geoff Manion in 1958. The latter version debuted 10 August 1958,[1] airing for 16 episodes on Sundays at 5:30PM. After it ended, the timeslot was taken up by panel discussion series Face the Nation (based on the US series of the same name), which had previously aired at 5:00PM.

In 1963, Seven Network aired a nationwide version hosted by Horrie Dargie.[2]

Modern format

The Price Is Right then aired in Australia on what is now The 0-10 Network from 1973–1974; this version was hosted by Garry Meadows and announcer Keith Livingston. At this time, Reg Grundy Organisation was licensing many shows from Goodson-Todman Productions in the U.S.; they had a flair for making detailed copies of sets, and The Price Is Right was no exception. Grundy staffer Bill Mason went to the United States to research the show in detail.[3]

The show started in a daytime slot on 5 February 1973 (a mere five months after the original first aired in the States), and was later given a prime time slot on the network. This version established a completely different Showcase round. In it, the day's two top winners first bid on the price of one showcase in the "Showcase Playoff", played in the style of the short-lived U.S. pricing game Double Bullseye. The winning contestant then attempted to place the prizes in order from least to most expensive on a pricing board in the Showcase itself, similar to the later U.S. pricing game Eazy az 1 2 3.

Notes and references

  1. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PFYRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v5UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3929%2C1172348
  2. Warneke, Ross (7 July 2005). "House call aids cut Price blues". The Age. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  3. "Quizzes swamp local content", "TV-Radio Guide", The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 1 February 1973.

See also

External links