FULL RECAP - TPiR 11/05/2009 (Ceremonial PRICE 7000*)

[sjd93]

Well that's good on Justine then. It initially got me a bit upset when Drew was talking about 100k's of followers.

Anyways...I dunno. I thought Golden Road was a lock, even if it was really hard. A Mazda Miata isn't even close to exciting. ME for 3 trips isn't exciting even if they're all exotic.

To me, it is pretty exciting... if they use a proper classic cue and the correct staging. Unfortunately, they didn't do either of those this time.

Golden Road... well, all 6 games were spoiled on the official website, so I wasn't expecting it, but it does seem like it'd be played on a show like this. I'm gonna take a wild stab and say it'll be played tomorrow.

[goldroadfanatic]

I wonder why they didn't go full-tilt and offer an RX-8, Mazda's most expensive model, which, when loaded, could exceed $30,000 in price.

[Axl]

I was bummed out by this episode. It didn't feel special at all. There was no attempt to even make it feel like that...

We're you watching the same show I was watching?  Just because they didn't do things exactly the way you would have done them doesn't mean they didn't do anything at all.  They clearly were trying to build this up into something.  (Unfortunately, all of the losses kind of deflated the momentum, much as they did in the Halloween show.)  They didn't have to do anything at all.  Talk about no good deed going unpunished. 

[leafsfan17]

Interesting what they did for Lucky Seven today. Also nice to see the classic losing horns again, even though it was likely a one time thing.

[Kev347]

Well, I think we can all agree this was somewhat of a disappointment. I'm going to go out on a limb and argue one thing in favor of this episode though. The previous "thousand" shows had this celebratory vibe, of "we've been around such a long time and we're so amazing that we're gonna give away tons of prices". The feel of this show was different, and to me special. It was like "we are not worthy just yet because we're just starting up here, let's do a tribute to the old-school show". And yes the prizes were busted out, but it was more about paying tribute to the past than about "oh look at us we're so great". I appreciated this tone of the show. I still feel at least one luxury car should have been offered, but I think I get the overall feeling they were going for.

I agree that they are overusing 3-trip Most. Still, while Golden Road should have really been played today, $40,000 of trips to start off the show isn't bad. Lucky 7000 was a cool idea but ruined in practice by the difficult setup. I think a lot was ruined in practice by Greco's difficult setups today. Bonus Game was practically set up to be lost exactly the way it was, with 3 easy SPs and then having the one impossible one being the bonus. Any Number had the 3 immediate overs for the thousands digit (3, 4 and 5) all in the piggy bank and the evil other 2 in the truck, exactly how she lost. Grand Game's final product was a complete tossup today. At least one or two of these games should have been set up easier. After all, if we want the show to have a happy, good times feel, wins help, don't they?

Any Number, Bonus Game, Double Prices in order was awesome, as were the showcase themes - they really found nice ways to upgrade. Gotta love DP behind the tag too. Although, speaking of staging, where was Bonus' reveal today? I have a feeling (and I hope I'm right) that the reason we didn't see the usual Bonus reveal was because of the special circumstance of the previous game, Any Number, being on the turntable. If anyone is reading, Bonus loses a lot of its charm without its special reveal (now that we've gotten used to it), so please bring it back.

I LIKED Double Prices for a watch. Wouldn't want to see it every day, but if it's a Rolex, that's a pretty cool idea. I think they tried really hard (and mostly succeeded) to offer "cool", "new" prizes today.

Overall, I really really appreciated the feel of this show. Unfortunately, the prizes and setups left something to be desired.

Timings:
Most Expensive (3.5) - 3:39
Grand Game (5) - 4:58
Lucky $even (4.5) - 4:11
Any Number (5) - 4:12
Bonus Game (5.5) - 5:19
Double Prices (3) - 2:59
Total (26.5): 25:18

[jessture]

I liked how the camera zoomed out from the logo in the audience as they went to commercial after Any Number.

[ThereseW]

After watching today's show, I've come to the conclusion that the producers are incapable of making any show special...even when they brag and advertise that the show will be special.

If this is what they deliver as a special show...then they should stop advertising it as a special show.

[ClockGameJohn]

I'm a bit perplexed as to the actual eligibility of Justine. 

I've seen her blogs several times and noticed her backstage at The Price is Right before.  (There was a picture she posted that circulated around the internet last year of her posing with the new Big Wheel)

It's certainly interesting.

[The Square]

Okay, so they completely dropped the ball on the season premiere. But I'm a forgiving man, I can allow them a misstep. The 7,000th show should come close to the same level of extravagance that the season premiere should have displayed, right? Maybe they were saving it all for a show that was more promotable.

And within the first two minutes, they've lost me. The first item up for bids is a camera? A camera??? It's your big milestone episode, and you're kicking things off with a camera? I don't care if it's $1,800, it's still just a camera!

And then the first game... is Most Expensive for trips. Much nicer trips than they played for in the season premiere, certainly, but think about it for even one second, show. I know you're in love with giving away trips this year, and the 7,000 miles thing is a decent gimmick, I'll admit, but you're The Price is Right! Nobody wears a t-shirt to TPiR that says "I came here to win a trip to Australia!" You're known for cars! I cannot understand how they can think it's a good idea to begin the show by not offering a car.

$38,000 worth of trips or a $38,000 car. Which would get the better reaction? I mean, is it that difficult to realize?

And there's another loss to begin a special episode, although I picked Africa, so I'm not going to blame the show for that. And since there's no commercial, maybe now things are going to... a bicycle? Are you joking? The second item up for bids on the 7,000th episode is a bicycle?!

The second pricing game is Grand Game. A fine game for a special episode, but I still can't believe there's not going to be a car at all within the first two games. But unlike Plinko from the season premiere, this was actually winnable, so it's good that they decided to end the first segment with a good win.

The third item up for bids, the outdoor dinette, was a better prize than the bicycle, despite it being only $700.

Lucky $even Thousand... okay, that fits with the theme of the show. The contestant probably won't win more than one or two thousand, and he definitely can't win all $7,000, Drew, but it works. But then there's a 9 in the price? What is the reasoning behind presenting such a difficult setup on a highly promotable episode?

I'm not sure how to feel about how Any Number went. Jolene seemed to be picking numbers at random, but I think that $5.43 piggy bank would have snared a lot of players regardless.

Bonus Game... a nice bonus in the chairs, TV, and ugly jukebox, but surprise surprise... the bonus is with the warming tray that nobody was going to win! I'm baffled by the show's newfound desire to make contestants not win.

So we know that Double Prices is coming up, so they're going to have to do something to make it interesting. Now would have been a good time for a luxury trip, if they hadn't blown that on the first game. The classic Giant Price Tag staging is great, but the prize is a watch? I don't care if it is a Rolex... if you have to take a secondary shot of the prize because nobody can see the prize when it's first revealed, it shouldn't be the one and only prize in the pricing game. At least they set it up to be won.

The showcases were presented as a nice nod to the show's past, although the subtext was clearly "Look at the crap that they used to present! We're so much better than that now!" Which is the attitude that the new regime has always projected about the show's past, so at least they're being consistent. And by devoting half of the hour to a "nostalgic" look at the show's first episode, they can distract everybody from the fact that they're not actually doing anything special in the here and now for the 7,000th episode, so they don't have to give any big-ticket prizes away! It's win-win!

So overall, as I said last week, they still don't know how to put together an everyday episode of The Price is Right. Or even a special episode when they can't hang anything on holiday gimmicks. Drew continues to be a forgettable presence, so bully for him, I suppose. It's better than season 37, but I'm not seeing the great turnaround that others have proclaimed.

[ElectricPeterTork]

I'm a bit perplexed as to the actual eligibility of Justine. 

I've seen her blogs several times and noticed her backstage at The Price is Right before.  (There was a picture she posted that circulated around the internet last year of her posing with the new Big Wheel)

It's certainly interesting.

...and on the other side, I didn't know Justine was anything but a regular person until I came to this message board today.

[mrbrown2195]

(See above.)

It is definitely interesting, but I don't think there's anything that would disqualify her. As far as the show, and as far as any of us know, she's not a CBS employee, she's not an employee of an affiliate or a related company, and she's not a relative of any employees.

Maybe she just has a friend that can get her on the lot? I know the last time I was out in California, for example, one of my friend's co-workers offered to get us a pass to explore the CBS backlot. Another time, I was given a day pass to explore WB's studios out in Burbank... (I really wish I would've taken advantage of both of those offers).

I don't know if the CBS offer was legit or not, but the WB one was - does anybody know if CBS lets their employees give out day passes?

Heck, if that's not the case, she's done quite a few interviews. It wouldn't surprise me if she was at CBS for that very reason, saw the wheel, and took a picture.

[blackwood]

It was good that they got to 7,000, but the show was terrible with those evil setup first in the Bonus Game and Lucky Seven.

[Marc]

As far as the show, and as far as any of us know, she's not a CBS employee, she's not an employee of an affiliate or a related company, and she's not a relative of any employees.

By way of this logic, I'm eligible!  Booking my flight now!

[catdogwheel]

Well I'll admit, that it was a decent show. The only problem I've had with the most recent celebratorial shows, and Christmas week shows, Is that they've been more of a let down because there's no hype in some of the games. Roger has it set in our minds that when we have a celebratorial show that we are going to see some big souped up prizes. It wasn't unusual within recent years to see at least 8 cars offered through out the course of a celebratorial show. Now were getting let down because of it.

Most Expensive- I'll give them credit that they at least offered some super expensive trips. But I'm like you guys, it's not as exciting to play with three trips using the plasmas. I find it funny that Price has only one size of plasma while LMaD has two. LMaD' large size plasmas I think would feesibly help make it more exciting. It was too bad he lost. I figured it wasn't Australia because of the "Farther from LA, the more expensive the trip" rule. But I didn't know which was farther, India or Africa.  

Grand Game- something about this game made the show feel like a normal show to me.

Lucky 7- That was a bummer. I think he played decently.

Any Number- She made a terrible mistake with her strategy, whatever it was. It seemed like she was focusing on the second number and think it was a high number. That was kind of a no-no but thankfully it helped her get close to winning the car.

Bonus Game- I don't think I've been so happy to see this game, and it's one of my favorites. I think I was just so happy to see this game because it is such and underplayed game and to see it on this special episode made this playing special for me. I figured once the guy lost the warming tray that it was all over for him. I was right!

Double Prices- It was cool to see this game get played from behind the Price Tag, but playing for a Rolex watch made the huge reveal feel very odd.

Showcases- it was cool to hear some of the older cues. I loved how they used the plasmas. That was a pretty cool design by making them look like old fashioned televisions.

I'd probably give today's show a B-.

[UniquePerspective]

By way of this logic, I'm eligible!  Booking my flight now!

I'm being dead serious here when I say this but...aren't you?