FULL RECAP - TPiR 04/01/2010 (April Fools Price III)

[SteveGavazzi]

Well, this certainly was a mixed bag of a show.  It wasn't the disaster I was afraid it was going to be...although I have a feeling that's because most of the disastrous stuff was edited out (there was clearly a ton of editing today).  The thing is, though...it was good more in spite of the April Fool's stuff than because of it.  A lot of it felt out of place, and I think parts of it that were needed for it to make sense got edited out.

Let's get the worst part of the show out of the way first:  "Pat."  That was just plain stupid.  It made the come on downs sound ridiculous, especially without having any last names; it made Contestants' Row hard to follow; and we now have no real way of distinguishing the contestants from one another, because we don't know any of their names!

I'd also like to know what was going on with Rich.  There was clearly some plotline that was supposed to be taking place with him wandering around during the second half, but it seems like most of it got edited out.  It was also kind of odd that even though in the context of this episode, Rich was supposed to be distinct from the monkey, Drew kept calling the monkey "Rich Fields."

Mimi running One Away was an example of what my dad calls "The 'Looks Good on Paper' Rule;" I'm sure it sounded funny while they were brainstorming ideas, but they didn't synch the sounds with her steering wheel very well, and I think I can now safely say that One Away works better with sounds than visuals, anyway.

On top of those things, I don't think Drew hosted very well today, and I think it was entirely because of the April Fool's stuff.  There was too much going on in the background, and he kept getting distracted and falling back into old habits we haven't been seeing recently.  What little humor came out of their gags wasn't worth the toll it took on his performance.

That said, there were some genuinely funny things today.  I chuckled at Gwendolyn the page and Big Rachel, I was happy to see that somebody finally realized a "special" episode should have easy setups, and I liked the grandfather clock coming into Contestants' Row for the sixth Item up for Bids.  The best part, though, was definitely the Showcase, which was executed perfectly.  They had me hook, line, and sinker with that...it looked in every way like it was going to be a badly-planned disaster and ended up having one of the most awesome reveals in ages.  The only criticism I have is that they should have revealed the second showcase's price first; the way they did it, it was obvious as soon as the Top Winner's price was revealed that the Runner-Up had no chance.

The pricing games were fun, too...Plinko was awesome, Pick-a-Pair actually got played, and Lucky $even was set up for a win for once.  The themed groceries in Pick-a-Pair worked, too, because they fit the episode and Drew didn't make an effort to point them out.

So it was a decent show...it just wasn't that way on account of anything in the Mimi plotline.

This was way better than last year's April Fools' show... it was much more thought out and well-planned.

No...I'm sorry, but regardless of how things played out, I can tell you for a fact that last year's show was planned better.

It sounded to me like the calldowns were edited in.  Maybe they had their real names called in the studio.

I will confirm that the calldowns were edited in (or just edited, really), but that isn't the reason why.

[Joe_Capitano]

Thanks to CBS' press site I've put names to players, at least five of them...(in order of appearance)

Pl!nko! Pat:  Rebecca Jimenez
Pick A Pair Pat: Maija Collins
Range Game Pat: Bryan Jones
Lucky $even Pat: Jillian Brockhohn
Double Prices Pat: Brent Scarpa

The rest will remain a mystery unless someone at the network or the production company decides otherwise.

I agree their names should have been listed at some point in the proceedings.

[Disneyfreak]

I enjoyed the show alot but last year's showcase was better and funnier. 

[ThatDonGuy]

Am I the only person here who still sees the rather significant problem with the showcases?

"Hmmm...my showcase is the same as his, except mine has a Mini Cooper Convertible included; his bid is low (considering it includes a truck and a trip to Rome), so I'll just add what I think is the price of the Cooper to his bid, and add a few thousand extra just in case I'm low."

If they're going to give away the same prizes in both showcases, maybe they should have considered changing the rules and having the players write down their bids.  (No, wait, that's just as bad of an idea, because it deprives the second player of seeing if the first player's bid was over and then bidding $420 (has that ever happened in a showcase?) $1.

Another thought was to make the showcases slightly different (for example, one has an extra night for the Rome trip, while the other has first class flights to/from Cabo), but that would ruin the whole "You can't make both of the showcases the same!" joke.

(And they missed one opportunity: when they called "Pat" for the final IUFB, they should have had a number of people come down, all claiming to be "the" Pat...)

-- Don

[spoon14]

And that's what makes you different from these people. The audience were great sports and played along (especially the woman during the first showdown, shouting out to her friends). You would've turned it into a crappy moment and embarrassed yourself with an awkward moment on national TV.

Fun. It's a good thing.

I heartily agree with the above.

I generally liked the episode. I thought James (the short, stocky guy) was the best male model. Don't bash the regular models, though, Mimi.  You needed the four guys to do the work of three women. I thought the Pat thing was cool, except for one aspect: hearing the sound "Pat" so many times wore thin. If they had kept the Pat gimmick for the call-downs and name tags, but had Drew refer to contestants as pal, dude, friend, sweetie, ma'am, sir, etc. at various times instead of so many repetitions of Pat, it would have been fine.

Nice to see the models actually worked into the show. Happy anniversary, Manuela! (One year as a rotation model)

I'll second that. Yah!    I liked how Manuela obsessively yelled "one dollar" during the One-Bids - really getting into her role. I think Gwen got the short end of the stick as far as how the regular models were used on the show. I don't remember them giving her anything funny to do in the show. However, there's a faux behind the scenes video on the official site. Gwen, in her role as a page, is the most prominent model in the video.

I can't make up my mind which April Fools episode I prefer. I think this one was more ambitious that last year's for both good and ill. There were some cool things this year with the big concepts. On the other hand, some of the very simple gags from last year (like the turntable that wouldn't stop spinning) were really entertaining in their simplicity.

[Spyne]

Absolutely hilarious show today, liked it a lot better than last year's. Mimi as the "executive producer" was great, and the male models were also very funny. Great job to the crew for putting on a great, entertaining, and funny show this year.

[pricefan18]

I will confirm that the calldowns were edited in (or just edited, really), but that isn't the reason why.

Was there just confusion in studio then or what?

[catdogwheel]

Today was an awesome show. Kudos to the staff once again on a great show. I found the male models quite entertaining. It was hilarious watching James model the jewelry and fragrances. All of them were quite good and entertaining. I have to admit there were some things done last year that I figured could possibly happen but didn't. One being the wheel sounds while it was spinning, the other, using the match game cue at the end.

On to the games...

Plinko- no excuse for not getting all five today, but the $21,000 made up for that.

One away- great job begging to Mimi

PaP- okay I'm usually irritated with the GP game themes, but I'll let it go for today.

Lucky 7- boy Rachel was sure earning her money today. Great win though by "pat"

showcases- was anyone else afraid Drew would hurt himself once again when he rode the turntable?

Today's show gets an A++.

[priceguy]

All in all, I thought the show was okay.  Last year was better though.

There's a funny April Fools video over at priceisright.com.  Check it out! I thought it was funnier than the whole show.

[The Square]

Well. If there was ever an argument that they're trying to make this show more like The Drew Carey Show and less like The Price is Right, I guess this is it. It's like they used up all of their April Fools ideas last year and decided to just recycle the Mimi thing again, except for longer. Game shows and plot lines don't mix, which the producers seemed to realize about halfway through the episode. But once they realized that, they didn't have anything else to do.

I agree with those who say that the "Pat" thing shouldn't have been done.  For both April Fools shows, they've done something to strip the contestants of their identity. Next year, I assume that each contestant's face will be concealed by a blue dot at all times.

I'm glad to see they figured out that, unlike previous special episodes they've done this year, Plinko works a lot better if the chips are winnable. That was exactly the setup those prizes should have had. In fact, I was glad to see that they didn't use any misleading or tricky setups for this episode. They shouldn't be regularly using tricky setups in any episode, but especially for a promotable episode like this, it makes sense that everything was set up to be especially easy to win.

I haven't seen enough episodes with the combined first and second games to know if I like it on a regular basis, but when you combine Plinko and One Away, the first show segment goes on for a very long time.

The holiday theme in Pick-a-Pair was cute, but if Mimi is the one in charge, shouldn't the groceries all be make-up and glitter and things like that?

They were so worried about making sure we saw Rachel push out the car in Lucky $even that we completely missed seeing the contestant's reaction to the car. The contestants, I might remind the show's producers, are what make the show interesting.

I know Drew's only been a game show host for two and a half years now, so I guess I shouldn't expect him to have learned the subtler points of hosting. For example, if part of a pricing game involves a contestant asking the sound effects lady if he has three and four numbers right, the microphone should be pointed somewhere in the contestant's general direction. That's not the kind of thing Drew should have been able to pick up by the end of his first week or so.

In all, I'd have to say that they didn't go overboard with the Mimi thing. Once they got to the third pricing game, they pretty much gave up on the plot altogether until the showcase... for most of the show, Mimi didn't do anything other than sit in the background to help latecomers understand why there were male models. At least they knew not to try to milk the concept for more than it was worth. The male models were funny and kept being interesting for the entire hour, so that was good.

But really, that's all this episode boils down to: an extended appearance by Mimi, entertaining antics with the male models, and only a couple other random elements that were more confusing than they were funny. Which means that as an April Fools episode, especially compared to last year, this was fairly weak. In all honesty, it wasn't a bad episode, except for the "Pat" thing, but I guess I was expecting more.

[drucee]

Good show... seemed a little more subdued than last year's, and I would have liked to see more fooling with the sound effects (or at least a few more nods to game-show geeks, like we saw last year). Nice to see a 5/6 show too. I wasn't as bothered by the "Pat" thing as other posters seem to be; as a whole-audience gag, it was substantially less distracting to me (or the audience, I assume) than the Groucho glasses from last year.

I liked the Mimi subplot, especially the monkey suit announcer and the male models. I would have killed for just one "Bite me, pig!" though.

I did notice one thing that put me off: at the end of the show, Drew broke the fourth wall by referring to Mimi as Kathy Kinney and plugging her book. Today's show was doing such a good job of creating a story for the audience at home until this moment.

[crazypackersfan]

This was the first episode of TPIR since Drew Carey took over that I've actually enjoyed. The reason was that Drew was in his element. It was a scripted comedy show which is what he's used to, so he ended up so much better than he normally is. I knew the whole time I was watching it people here would be saying stuff like "This person's not getting their one chance on The Price Is Right to have their name said, this is the worst thing ever!" and "Rich is in a monkey suit, that's totally awful!" People here take the show too seriously. If they want to have a little fun while winning prizes, why not? It's all worth it if it makes Drew suddenly turn into a funny comic instead of a bumbling host. Sure, he wasn't great when doing the hosting stuff, he never will be. But the humor more than made up for it.

Well done, Price staff. This is how to make Drew look good.

[pricefan18]

I did notice one thing that put me off: at the end of the show, Drew broke the fourth wall by referring to Mimi as Kathy Kinney and plugging her book. Today's show was doing such a good job of creating a story for the audience at home until this moment.

Well at that point the show was over, so I don't think it was that big a deal. It would be sort of rude to not acknowledge her. I was a little surprised he didn't acknowledge the male models though in turn.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Here's my review of this episode:

Fools in April, Season 38

The Pat gag: Its like the Groucho Marx glasses. Yes, it was drooled out a bit, but Mimi made it more interesting to why this was done. I do think this was much better put together than the Grouchos though.

Rich the Monkey: It looks funny and I have a feeling this was voiced-over a bit.

Games: Well put together. I like the fact we had 0 turntable games and over 80K in games.

Showcases: Well that was a bit weird. I do like the interaction between Drew and Mimi on this one.

The models: The Jamaican-esque guy. If you could see his face, it wasn't easy.
                    The Mugger-esque. Funny, but not the man you want modeling jewelry.
                    The Oren-esque. Department Oren from Dodgeball Department
                    The old man: That beard fake?
                 I do think this made a funny part, especially what they did to Gwen, Manuela and Rachel, which I give the ideas credit.


In comparison to Fools in April, Season 37:

I did notice they used the same Howard Miller Floor Clock as from Most Expensive's Triple-Floor Clock on April 1, 2009.

I liked the prize destruction a bit more from Season 37, something there should have been more of.

I also liked the strange beeps on the Season 37 one, but obviously not implemented.


Best contestant of the day: Who knows at this point? All we know is that his or her name is Pat.
Show grade: Despite the pre-show bad reviews that were popping up, I do believe this earns a B+ in my book. It was well-scripted and nothing on the fly.

[Grammar-Nazi]

I know it would have been a network crossover, but they've been done before, but I would have loved to have seen an appearance by Julia Sweeney as Pat....