I use this facetious question as a thread name for the basis of a very worrisome realization I came to in the last four months…”Does anybody care (besides us) that The Price Is Right is on and do most people even know that the show is still on?”
I watched my last episode of The Price Is Right about six months ago (I finally had enough of the “new direction”) and I stopped visiting this site completely about four months ago. I was a fan that knew everything about the show (yes, even the fonts!) and I never, until recent years, missed an episode. TPIR was a big part of my life. However, during these last four months when I was no longer exposed to constant chatter and discussion about all things Price is Right I discovered that there is a big world out there that does not think nor talk about The Price is Right…there is no talk, no chatter, no mention of TPIR.. If I brought up the show in conversation, the response was something like “I used to watch the show as a kid” and then many would ask the question “Is the Price is Right still on?”
Other than the 3 million-plus that currently watch the show daily and the members of this board, the show seems to have become irrelevant and/or non-existent, in my observation, to much of the general public.
I came to the realization something was wrong after the 40th season began 2 weeks ago. For a TV show to last 40 seasons is a big deal…no, it’s bigger than a big deal…it’s AWESOME…it SUPER-STUPENDOUS…it’s HISTORIC!!!. How many shows make it to 40 years---very,very, few!!
However, nothing was made of this momentous moment. It seemed as if no one, including the media, cared. There was no mention of it in TV Guide (and they print everything and anything). There was no mention in, Entertainment Weekly and no mention of it in USA Today. There were no AP newspaper articles. Nobody talked about it (except here on this board). If you do a news search on Google, one only gets a handful of minor references to it. If there was a promo on CBS, or a PR piece on one of those entertainment news shows, I missed it.
The premiere show came and went and I didn’t even know it. I heard about it thru a friend a week later. I would have thought that CBS would have built a primetime special around such an impressive milestone in a program’s life.
I remember when the show used to be the default program in waiting rooms. If it was 10 AM, the show was playing on those ubiquitous overhead TV’s as we waited to get our car washed or our car lubed. Now, waiting rooms have mostly CNN on or those obnoxious ladies of The View.
So…does CBS itself care anymore about its iconic TV show?
Price is Right used to be my favorite show and even though I no longer care for it, I find it sad that it seems to be slowly fading out of the daily consciousness of the American public. It seems to have become more of a memory than a living breathing show. It seems to be a show most people talk about in the past tense.
Which brings me to the next question…Whose fault is this?
Is this CBS’s fault for not promoting the show?
Is it Drew Carey’s fault for not making more TV appearances so he can talk about the show (Bob was great at doing this).
Is it the show itself for having morphed into a different type of show that people don’t care for anymore.
But I hope it isn’t what would be the saddest reason of all…that “The Price Is Right” simply has worn out its welcome…that after 39 years people are finally done with the show.