They still make The Price is Right?

[x]

I totally forgot that today was the first day of the revamped "Price is Right" with new host Drew Carey. (Hey CBS, that's what happens when you premiere in mid October.) Fortunately this is the Internet Age and I found a copy online without too much trouble.

I'm quite underwhelmed.

I was going to say that I understood that this was the first show and he needed time to get settled in. Then I checked and the first aired show was actually a week and a half into taping. (That doesn't even count the rehearsal shows.)

This is a bad sign.

He clearly doesn't have the hang of the show yet. That's somewhat understandable, even with having a handful of shows under his belt by the time that taping happened. Still, he completely lost control of the show halfway through the first act (the first pricing game) and never really got it totally back.

I'll give him credit though. He did get off one good zinger. When he introduced "Barker's Bargain Bar", he mentioned that it was named after the founder of TPiR "Ezekiel Barker". *rimshot*

Tomorrow's show will be from the 2nd or 3rd day of taping. I've got a bad feeling it might be even more painful to watch.

[grimbasement]

I've only seen a couple of clips but the people chosen to "come on down" seem to be a little over the top. Two of the clips I saw was one gal that did a cartwheel and then passed out. Then there was the "lady" that kept grabbing herself and saying she had to pee... I wouldn't be shocked if those two were network plants/actors. Just like the old days of game shows. Also it seems to me that the new Plinko board is fixed... c'mon three chips in a row going into the $10,000 slot???

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9219151401277701787&q=tpir+drews+first+day&total=6&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

[rsay777]

I'm also seeing something I don't think I saw during BB's MCing. The contestants are actually hugging "Barkers Beauty's. I'll give Drew a chance. I like watching TPIR when I'm home sick. Everytime I watch I want chicken soup and my mommy to take my temperature. Bob L.

[dolt]

I am skeptical.

The Price is Wrong

[x]

They deliberately chose shows that would be "exciting" for the first few to try and hook people in. See www.cbs.com/daytime/price/tickets/revised_airdates.shtml The episodes right now are all over the place. Since they seem to be updating nightly, I'll post this for posterity.

Show # Air Date Tape Date
4072K 10/17/07 09/11/07
4055K 10/18/07 10/03/07
4094K 10/19/07 09/24/07
4093K 10/22/07 08/29/07
4053K 10/23/07 09/26/07
4064K 10/24/07 08/16/07
4092K 10/25/07 10/04/07
4095K 10/26/07 09/13/07

The Tuesday show was about the same as Monday's, which means he didn't get any better in 2 weeks of tapings. I think I'll check back with him around the first of the year and see if he's gotten the hang of it yet.

P.S. If I'm Sony (owners of GSN) I'm going to try like heck to get old reruns on the air.

[Amanuensis]

Speaking of GSN, by random chance I happened to watch an episode of Wheel of Fortune on GSN the other day. It was the VERY FIRST episode of Wheel with Vanna White. Pat Sajak hoped that she would "stick around for a while." This was so far back that the show still had the "studio filled with valuable prizes" that contestants had to purchase with their winnings.

It seemed to me that the puzzles in that episode were a LOT tougher than the ones they do now because the puzzles had less letters and the solutions were not so obvious. And of course, Vanna had to actually turn the letters then. Of course, even then I would have said that Vanna had the easiest job in the world. Now -- can touching a screen to "reveal" a letter actually be considered a job?

[Amanuensis]

Speaking of Sony game shows, I happened to watch Jeopardy last night and saw something I never saw before. Going into Final Jeopardy, one contestant had exactly half as much money as the leader. In Final Jeopardy, he bet it all, was correct, and thus had the same amount as the leader. The leader also got the question correctly, but bet no money, and thus they were tied for the lead.

I had always wondered what would happen if that occurred. It turns out that they were declared co-champions, and they will both be back on tonight's show. I might tune in again just to see which contestant gets the far left podium. Will they flip a coin to decide?

I think the leader was smart in betting no money. Since I am sure contestants are told in advance what would happen in the event of a tie, then there was no reason for her to bet any money. If she bet money and won, then she would get to come back the next day -- the same outcome as betting no money. If she bet money and got it wrong, and if (as was the case) the other contestant bet it all and got it right, then she would loose.

[x]

I'm not sure about having seen that exact scenario on J!, but I used to see ties infrequently when I watched religiously (late 80's - early 90's). One that used to come up occasionally would be where the leader had more than double the second place player and pulled a Reverse Clavin. The leader would bet enough so that if he/she got the Final J! question wrong and the #2 person got it right and bet everything, it would be a tie.

GSN actually shows Wheel episodes that are that old? Seems like whenever I run into one it's always from within the last few seasons. Never did figure out why.