During my last year at "Price," one of the things that I was very excited about was the fact that I had access to some of the paperwork that Fremantle kept in storage. And while a lot of the show's history is no longer available in print form, I did come across some fascinating finds.
I found some boxes that absolutely floored me, but I'll save those for another time. Today, I'd like to focus on the box that I pulled without knowing exactly what it would be. All that it said was that it spanned from August 1972 to July 1974. But I didn't know what I would find inside.
I was hoping for pricing game lineups, and while I didn't get that, the box did contain a few interesting bits of information. Within that box, there was an assortment of budget-related paperwork for all of the episodes taped during the first two years of the show. Most of it wasn't interesting (at this point, nobody cares how much was spent on set decoration each week back in 1973), but amidst all of the numbers, there were schedules of which episodes taped on which days. And that's kind of neat to know.
So in the next posts, I will present calendars for the first 24 months of the show, showing the exact taping order of episodes during that time period. I hope that somebody finds it enlightening.
Here are some other interesting facts I learned from the information in that box:
- The set was first put into place in Studio 33 on Monday, August 14, 1972.
- On Tuesday, August 15, they taped a pilot! That's literally all that I know. I've never seen any records of a tape existing, so I don't think Goodson-Todman held onto the footage. And since the first episode taped a mere four days later, I'm guessing that CBS had already planned to go ahead with the series. Still, it does make sense that they taped a pilot of some kind, and didn't just barge ahead with the series using nothing more than the pitch film as their guide.
- On days when they taped two episodes, they used the same audience for both tapings. On days when they taped three episodes, they would rehearse and then tape the first episode, dismiss the audience, take a lunch, then rehearse the last two episodes and then tape those two episodes with the same audience. On days when they taped four episodes, the first two episodes used the same audience and the last two episodes would use a different audience.
- As you'll see in the calendars, there are two Dennis James episodes labeled 003N. The first 003N was scrapped (I think, but cannot confirm, that it never aired) and they taped the replacement 003N (which obviously did not air in numerical order) at the end of the season.
- Here's a note that was included within one of the earliest folders: "Bob Barker was told not to wear blue on Clock Game shows."
- Early in the planning stages, episode 0082D was scheduled to include the debut of Give or Keep. But I guess the game wasn't ready yet, as they changed it to Bonus Game and didn't get around to playing Give or Keep until a month and a half later.
- For at least a couple of days during the IBEW strike, the show used non-union employees to operate the cameras (in addition to other in-studio jobs). I couldn't find all of the taping schedules for that time period, but at least on November 9 and 10, everybody had to come in for a four-hour rehearsal (by this point, a normal two-show rehearsal was one hour and 45 minutes). I've seen some of those episodes, and even with the extra rehearsal, boy, does their lack of experience show through. I'm not sure exactly when the regular technicians returned, but from the looks of things, the show had non-union camera operators for at least three tape days. Those of you who have been watching for the past decade or so will remember that one of those episodes -- 0115D -- aired as a repeat in conjunction with a Pillsbury Bake-Off back in 2000.
- You'll notice that episode 0331D taped out of order. I don't know for sure, but perhaps that was the episode in which they announced the winner of the Home Viewer Showcase?
- The "EVERY ROOM" showcase graphic was ordered for one of the episodes taping on September 9, 1973, so perhaps that was when that showcase theme debuted? "MAIN STREET" was ordered for one of the episodes taping on March 31, 1974 and "ELEVATOR" was ordered for one of the episodes taping on April 21, 1974.
- More often than not, if two episodes tape out of order, it's likely because one of them contains Lucky Seven. They taped the Lucky Seven episode first so there wouldn't be a car backstage, getting in the way, for an entire episode.
- October 21 and 22 of 1973 are in italics because I'm not sure of the taping order.
- On any tape date in which a pricing game was played for the first time, the schedule started an hour early, presumably so they would have extra time to rehearse the new game. The schedule for June 16, 1974 started an hour early. Given that fact (and the fact that they taped that day's episodes in an unusual order), it is my belief that 0964D is the episode in which Card Game debuted.
