FULL RECAP - TPiR 10/29/2009

[Kev347]

Bizarre show today. Would have been really bad if not for the $25k win but thankfully Peter, an enjoyable contestant cleaning house in general today sorta saved the show. Still, I agree with others: Push Over should NEVER be played for a room of furniture. Perhaps a GP game did break down today. Also, why did we have Push Over, Freeze Frame and Balance Game all in the same episode? Isn't there a world of conflicts there? Why did we have TWO one-prize games for trips (Freeze and Balance)? Isn't that a little repetitive? And most importantly, why did we have a 26 minute lineup today? There is no excuse for that, ever. Today would have been a great time to bring in Blank Check as Steve suggested - we certainly had time for it. Still, Push Over being played on the next episode (thanks for pointing that out, Steve) might explain why this one got switched around - it would explain a lot of things.

I guess Pathfinder is now perfectly OK to be set up not ending  on the edge of the board anymore. Seriously, that's about the trickiest board setup I've ever seen. 2/3/4/5 for the Mustang, very good looking fake 50 at the end but it's actually 3 and then zig zags in to the 9 rather than out to the fake 0? We don't need to be that nasty, Greco. Pathy is hard enough on its own. At least the SPs were reasonable today.

The 2nd showcase was VERY well done today. That was an excellent theme, with really cool prizes that matched it to boot! Glad that was won.

Bring on the Halloween extravaganza tomorrow!

Timings:
Freeze Frame (4) - 2:31
Pathfinder (5.5) - 5:51
Most Expensive (3.5) - 3:08
Push Over (4)- 3:05
Any Number (5) - 4:08
Balance Game (4) - 3:19
Total time (26): 22:02
(22:02 of gametime is the shortest we've had this season by a country mile. I know the SCSDs were long today, but come on, that's just too short. If it felt like all quickies except for Path, that's because it was. Here's hoping or a better lineup tomorrow.)

[PIR85]

Something bothers me about Meoshe winning $1,000 after not getting her first two spins all the way around.  There's absolutely no reason rule-wise not to give her the money, but it really doesn't feel like she earned it.

This is like having an overbid or two in contestants' row during the onebid, and then a contestant gets it exactly right and gets the $500 bonus - that doesn't make sense to me.

[rodroddyfan]

I was in chat too, but I had to reboot because of some window coming up on my screen and missed the reaction from the 25k win.  That was only highlight of the show too.

[thewhammy_2000]

One Bid 1: The birdieball game: an inflatable hybrid of Hole in One... or Two and Super Ball!!

Freeze Frame: Shoot! I totally thought 5695 would be right.

Pathfinder: I hoped we wouldn't have a wipeout here; we didn't. However, the 5 and the 0 on the back right quad were some sure traps.

Most Expensive: I was actually distracted by the very tolerable 'GT Marks' instead of those unattractive zigs.

Showcase Showdown 1: Wow! A $26,000 winner on the Wheel! I have this strange feeling Peter might be the top winner throughout the whole show.

Push Over: I actually had no idea on a price. My eyes did raise a little when 4515 was set. That's a natural instinct.

Any Number: I had this feeling the price of the Camry was 21340, then 23140. At least I was right about the 4.

Balance Game: Man, that's an expensive price. (I was set on 7354 as well.)

Showcases: I would LOVE to hear a string quartet romantically play a rendition of the Price theme if I was in a quaint restaurant. I must admit that both Showcases were decent again today.

[JayC]

Speaking of strange things, airing episodes drastically out of order can have unintended side effects.  For instance, they can cause Christmas showcases to air two days before Halloween.

The premiere of the movie is in early November though.

[mrbrown2195]

How the hell are you supposed to bid on a private chef and a string quartet?  These people are finally starting to have some clue of how to work most of the pricing games, but they're clearly still fumbling around in the dark on the Showcase.

Well, just purusing Gigsalad.com, I figured out a Mariachi band is $200-$500/hour, on average. Sonication didn't have a listed price, however.

Interestingly, Drew posted recently on priceisright.com about these types of prizes, and how they're priced:

I LOVE the classic cars. But we can only use them in pricing games where you don't have to price the car to win it (like Let 'Em Roll) because their value varies so greatly. Food for a year is based on a national survey for families of 4 or 2 (we usually say it in the copy, or I say it on air), and the chefs come from websites where the prices are available to all. That said, the chef and food ARE tricky prizes to price because we haven't offered them for years and years and everybody hasn't memorized them yet.

I'm willing to bet with the string quarter that, since they didn't specify in the copy which group would be performing, that they took an average of all of the string quartets in the L.A. area that were posted on gigsalad.com.

[SteveGavazzi]

I guess Pathfinder is now perfectly OK to be set up not ending  on the edge of the board anymore.

Pathfinder did end on the edge of the board.

I'm all for calling the staff out when they do things that are stupid...but this wasn't done wrong.

[MrPlinko]

Wow, way too many trips in way too many different places today -- one in the first game, one in the sixth game, one in the first showcase, and one in the second showcase.  That's beyond ridiculous.

While I did not see today's show.  I echo what has been said overall.  It appears they are substituting trips instead of cars or boats, and the staff is going WAY OVERKILL on them.

While we have had much better organization of the Showcases than in the past.  Thankfully the slapstick is gone.  But I agree that the staff is throwing in strange gimmicks as prizes that are hard to bid on, or throwing in prizes that sometimes are not included in the price.  I could see them doing this from time to time, but it has been a repeat occurrence and is bothersome.

Joe

[leafsfan17]

Well, that was an exciting $25,000 win on the bonus spin in the first showcase showdown today. Let's hope we get more exciting wins like that on the wheel in the future.

[TPIRSteven]

Freeze Frame:  Good win!  I hope Peter is a golfer...
Pathfinder:  Tough loss, although Dorothy kind of brought it on herself by overpricing the EVIL Mustang V6 Coupe.
Most Expensive:  I figured it was the computer.  Too bad.  
Showcase Showdown 1:  A $25,000 winner! YES!  
Push Over:  That furniture was screaming, "Cheap!"  Too bad Meoshe didn't realize that.
Any Number:  Again, my hunch was right -- it was the four.  I knew picking the 5 or the 0 was a mistake.
Balance Game:  What?  No GP game?  $7K was way too cheap for Japan.
Showcases:  The string quartet wasn't bad.  The "Christmas Carol" showcase would have been quite good in December, but it just didn't feel right in October.  Peter pulls off another nice win and makes off with quite a haul!

Steven's Show Score:
Pricing Game Lineup:  8/25 -- Let's face it: Other than Pathfinder, this lineup stunk badly.
Wins:  7/25 -- Peter pretty much saved the show from being a total disaster.
Showcases:  14/20 -- Pretty good, other than having a Christmas theme in October.
Hosting:  18/20 -- No complaints here.  
Other:  10/10 -- Peter was a memorable contestant, and he won big!

Total:  57/100 (Mediocre) -- Peter's big win saved this one from going right down the tubes.

[Hag]

I don't know...this is just my opinion, but I find things like the string quartet kind of odd for TPIR.

But well done Peter for your $25,000 wheel spin.

[catdogwheel]

What was up with Price and Wheel today? On Price, Peter smooths out winning through out the whole show and racks up $72,075 in cash and prizes. Then on wheel a contestant wins $54,000+ in the front game and then wins $35,000 in the bonus round giving him an all cash total of $89,000+!

[Off_trak]

First off... did Peter pat Drew on the ass once he got on stage? I'm thinking he did, cuz Drew kinda looked back and then sorta waved his hand... I thought that was funny.

Secondly... one puny spin can be forgiven, two most certainly should be booed.. but ending up winning a $1000 on the third ticked me off in a way. It almost seems unfair.

As for all the trips appearing on the show, I'm guessing they're getting better deal packages on trips than they do on cars these days. Gotta go shop where your budget stretches the furthest...

Oh... and what is that smallish box shape being hidden by the yellow curtain in the back of the audience, on the left hand side?

[SteveGavazzi]

As for all the trips appearing on the show, I'm guessing they're getting better deal packages on trips than they do on cars these days. Gotta go shop where your budget stretches the furthest...

They're probably not "deals" at all -- most of them don't have any sponsors mentioned.  If anything, I'd guess they're costing the show more money.

[woohookitty]

I really think they need to disqualify people if they have 2 puny spins. I mean. Come on. 1 puny spin is ok. I understand not realizing how heavy the wheel is. But twice? If its an older person, I can sort of see 2 puny spins. But still...