What a treat. It's hard to believe that given everything that's been unearthed in the last decade and more with rare footage, etc. that this is only the second episode of The Nighttime Price Is Right starring Bob Barker to have surfaced.
This was such a pleasure to watch. Breslow's directing was still very sharp and fast-paced, with touches of seeing the Turntable spin away at the end of games still present. I like how they still have, "this... can be yours if the price is right" tag at the end of each One Bid plug and added prizes such as the car wax, etc. tagged onto prize packages and offerings,. Probably the most enjoyable part of all, Barker's in fine form and not yet a curmudgeon. He seems happy to be there, or if he's not, he's doing a better job at hiding that.
Over the years I've grown more partial to the half-hour format. It feels like just the right amount of Price in an episode, whereas the Showcase Showdown really doesn't have anything to do with pricing. Where there's really nothing in this episode that seems unusual in any sense, I must admit I have more fondness for Frank Wayne's way of producing the show as opposed to what Jay Wolpert was doing around this time on the daytime version (for I seem to recall it being said at one point Frank was more in charge of the nighttime show as opposed to Jay who was running the daytime show). It's been my opinion for years that 1976-1982 were the best years of the show, and from seeing this episode compared to the later-80s clips that are in abundance now thanks to PlutoTV, it really confirms that.
I hope the day comes when the entire '70s syndie version will be unearthed and seen again.
