The Price is Right
The Price Is Right is the longest running game show in America. The original version of the series, hosted by Bill Cullen, ran on NBC from 1956 to 1963, then on ABC until it ended in 1965. The current, best-known version of the show debuted in 1972 on CBS (under the name The New Price Is Right for its first season) and was hosted by Bob Barker until 2007, when Drew Carey took over as the current host. Originally a half-hour show at its debut, it expanded to its current one-hour format in 1975.
Syndicated versions of the show have also been aired parallel with the CBS version. The first syndicated version, referred to on-air as The Nighttime Price Is Right (but still branded as The Price Is Right on-screen) to distinguish it from the CBS version, ran in weekly syndication from 1972 to 1980 and was originally hosted by Dennis James until 1977, when Barker took over hosting duties, while the second version ran in daily syndication for one season in 1985-86 and was hosted by Tom Kennedy; both versions featured the same games as on CBS. A third version, called The New Price Is Right and hosted by Doug Davidson (from CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless), debuted in September 1994 but ended production in January 1995 due to low ratings; while similar to the CBS version, the Davidson version had some significant differences in game play from the parent show.
Gameplay
Audience members are selected to take part in bidding prices for a prize in a segment of the show called the One Bid, of which six are played during the show; the contestant who wins a One Bid by getting the highest bid, closest to the prize's actual retail price, without going over then comes up on stage to participate in pricing games, with the prizes in those games (including kitchen appliances, living room or bedroom sets, shoes and accessories, electronics such as widescreen TV sets, vacations and new cars) displayed by models; in some prize presentations, in addition to the main prize, a supply of a specific grocery item (such as coffee, eggs or snack items) may also be offered. Some of the games played on the show are for large cash prizes, ranging from up to $10,000 on some games like the Grand Game and Half-Off to as much as $100,000 on Pay the Rent. Each episode ends with two contestants bidding on prize packages called Showcases. Under the half-hour format during the first three CBS seasons and in the syndicated versions, three pricing games were played, with the two top winners moving directly to the Showcase; with the expansion of the CBS version to one hour in 1975, the number of pricing games on that version was expanded to six and a new game, the Showcase Showdown, was introduced for playing following the third and sixth pricing games.
In the Showcase Showdown, each contestant, spinning in order of the value of their winnings from lowest to highest, spins a wheel (containing 20 segments in increments of five cents, from 5¢ to $1) to try to get $1, in a maximum of two spins, without going over to win $1,000 and a bonus spin for a chance at $10,000 (for landing on either the 5¢ or 15¢ spaces, colored in green) or $25,000 (for landing on the $1 space). A contestant who goes over $1 in two spins, has his/her score beaten by a subsequent contestant or does not beat the current leader's score is eliminated; if the first two contestants to spin go over $1, the third contestant moves on to the Showcase by default and gets one spin to try to get the $1 space. In the event of two or more contestants being tied with the leading score, a spin-off is played with each contestant spinning once to try to get as high a score as possible and break the tie to move on to the Showcase.
In the Showcase round, a showcase prize package, containing between two and four prizes, is presented to the final two contestants and the top winner has the option of bidding on that showcase or passing it to the runner-up, who then bids, followed by a second showcase being presented for the top winner to bid on. The contestant who gets closest to the actual price of his/her showcase without going over wins that showcase, while the contestant who overbids automatically loses regardless of the opponent's result; if both contestants go over, no one wins. If a contestant gets within $250 of his/her showcase's actual price without going over, that contestant wins both showcases.
It is well known for its ending where the show host encourages pet owners to have their pets spayed or neutered; Barker was a well-known animal rights activist.
Controversies
- In a 2020 charity fundraising episode of The Price Is Right, homosexual drag queen RuPaul, who took part in the episode as a celebrity participant, raised nearly $100,000 to donate to Planned Parenthood,[1] which is not a "charity" but a notorious abortion provider founded by racist leftist eugenicist Margaret Sanger, who specifically founded the organization to eradicate America's black population via abortion of its unborn children. RuPaul's appearance on the show, and who he played for, drew criticism online, with some pointing out RuPaul's apparent ignorance of the history of Planned Parenthood.
- In another 2020 episode, gender-confused homosexual attention seeker Dylan Mulvaney, prior to starting to pretend to be a "woman" and his later recruitment to become the commercial spokesman for Bud Light beer in a highly controversial ad campaign which ended up tanking sales of Bud Light and other products made by Anheuser-Busch due to boycotts, appeared as a contestant on the show and, after winning his pricing game, proceeded to make a spectacle of himself on-camera for well over a minute in an over-the-top celebration of his win before the show finally went to commercial.[2] Viewers of the show were fortunately spared from any further such histrionic displays by Mulvaney when he was eliminated in the Showcase Showdown.
