Will The Price be Right?: The Possible Future of the Show.

[imhomerjay]

Let’s be clear—advertisers want the eyeballs regardless of the content. They’re not “weary” of reruns per se—it doesn’t matter one way or another. In a hypothetical situation where reruns outrate new content among the desired audience, reruns win. Bottom line always comes out on top.

[SeaBreeze341]

It's similar to the advice I've heard for sports.  If you have to go to extreme measures to do something, you're better off cancelling it all together. 


Agree with imhomerjay as it relates to reruns.  Advertisers don't care whether price is new or old if people tune in.  While it's not the best comparison, Seinfeld, PYL, and Pyramid did well in reruns (which lasted longer than their first-run airings)

[COINBOYNYC]

Completely out-there alternative: quarantine 300+ people in a hotel for 14 days with a guaranteed chance to ‘come on down,’ and you’ve got yourself at a good 30-35 shows right there.

I know you were just kidding...

Totally kidding, btw.

...yeah, I just said that.   

Anyway, I'll bet there are plenty of people who'd be willing to audition for an opportunity to be one of those 300+ people.  As far as the 14-day quarantine, it's no different than the people willing to be "marooned" for 39 days on Survivor - there may not be a million dollar grand prize, but I'm sure the conditions under quarantine wouldn't be as arduous.

[JayC]

Anyway, I'll bet there are plenty of people who'd be willing to audition for an opportunity to be one of those 300+ people.  As far as the 14-day quarantine, it's no different than the people willing to be "marooned" for 39 days on Survivor - there may not be a million dollar grand prize, but I'm sure the conditions under quarantine wouldn't be as arduous.

Fair point, I think there would certainly be people willing to do it if they did some kind of Big Brother and Price hybrid with the top nine getting called down to be contestants.

[gamesurf]

Of course, that would self-select out every type of contestant except for the types of people who make it on Survivor and Big Brother.

And the real "prize" for those types of people isn't necessarily the million bucks--it's also the chance to be on TV for potentially weeks and weeks. On Price a good contestant might be shown on the air for about 10 minutes, at most.

[sayingsorry]

I think the only way TPIR can ever work going forward is-

- Casting 9 people for each show they film with temperature checks before they are let into the studio
- Have each contestant separated by plexiglass in bidders row
- Each game will have to have a separate place for Drew and the contestant to stand at least 6 feet apart.
- Any game that has the contestant touching it to be sanitized and placed out of use for that taping day at a minimum to dry
- Showcase podiums separated 6 feet apart

It will certainly be a weird feeling with no audience but I think TPIR can really pull it off well

[actual_retail_tice]

Hmmm, time to dust off that podium from episode 1.

[Mr. Weatherman]

Survivor was just taken off the schedule for this fall — probably one of the easiest contestant participation shows to film during the pandemic (quarantine everyone involved for 14 days, test, and boom. Show can go on.).  Price isn’t coming back until it can be done normally again.  That day will absolutely come, but at this rate, it will likely be at some point next year.  My bet is either the entirety of Season 49 will be scrapped, or it will begin in late spring and segue directly into Season 50 with no summer repeats — S50 itself either being shortened or extended well into the summer of 2022 to allow for production breaks to accommodate summer episodes in 2021 without fatiguing the staff.  In the meantime, we have plenty of repeats to fall back on (hopefully digging deep inside the vault!), and CBS/Fremantle likely won’t hurt very much financially.

Given the extended production break, regardless of when taping resumes, I imagine we’ll see quite a few changes to the set and some pricing games.

[brosa0]

This has me wondering - how many pricing games would be impossible to play without the contestants touching any part of the game?  Plinko springs to mind immediately, as well as other similar luck-involved games like Dice Game, 3 Strikes, Let Em Roll.  Hot Seat could perhaps be played without the sitting in the seat, calling higher or lower for each item, but then it may as well be rested as it loses its core concept.

[tpir04]

Well, aside from timed games technically any game can be played without the contestant touching anything, just have one of the models do it.

[SeaBreeze341]

I would be down for a remote version of the show.  Given what the World Series Of Poker is doing this year, it is possible to go off-script for the sake of having the season (and avoiding a break in the consecutive streak of one of the best gameshows of all time).  While I can't completely picture a remote PIR (as something indefinite), I couldn't picture the WSOP going remote after 50 years either.

That being said, I probably won't bet on a season this year, definitely not before 2021

[Prizes]

And we’re more than likely done for quite sometime in terms of at least in studio, physically.

From Bob Bakish, ViacomCBS CEO:

Unfortunately, we have seen recent spikes in infection rates in many areas across the U.S.  This obviously makes our facilities-related planning difficult. It’s clear this will not happen.  In fact, at this point, we are assuming the majority of employees will not be returning to U.S. offices this year.

[BillyGr]

And we’re more than likely done for quite sometime in terms of at least in studio, physically.

From Bob Bakish, ViacomCBS CEO:

Also in that article is the following sentence:

"As mentioned, getting back to production is critical, and we’ve made important progress in navigating the complexities of doing so."

Reading it, it looks like this refers to people who work in an office setting for the company (the kind of stuff, like paperwork, that can be done from home easily), rather than those who work on actual productions (which, it also mentioned “generally has to be done in person and is the lifeblood of our business.”).

Survivor was just taken off the schedule for this fall — probably one of the easiest contestant participation shows to film during the pandemic (quarantine everyone involved for 14 days, test, and boom. Show can go on.).

That was sort of surprising, as they were ready (or just about) to leave when this first started and that they didn't just go ahead then (when there was minimal problems and what you suggested would have solved even those) and they would have had it all set to go.

[gamesurf]

And we’re more than likely done for quite sometime in terms of at least in studio, physically.

From Bob Bakish, ViacomCBS CEO:

Unfortunately, we have seen recent spikes in infection rates in many areas across the U.S.  This obviously makes our facilities-related planning difficult. It’s clear this will not happen.  In fact, at this point, we are assuming the majority of employees will not be returning to U.S. offices this year.

Yeah, the way the author of the article truncated that quote is very misleading. The actual quote is:

Team,

As we all know, there continues to be significant complexity, disruption, medical issues and uncertainty around COVID, and, unfortunately, we have seen recent spikes in infection rates in many areas across the U.S.  This obviously makes our facilities-related planning difficult, despite the fact that we are in constant contact with a whole range of constituents, including governments, medical advisors and more.

At the same time, we know everyone is juggling a lot of uncertainty — including around schooling in the fall, caring for family members, the prospect of commuting, and more — so we feel it’s important to provide you with the best information we have at this point about our return to offices and productions.  As we do so, know that we continue to hold the health and safety of our employees as a critical priority of ViacomCBS.

First, on our offices:

• While we were hopeful we’d be able to bring a small number of employees back to U.S. office locations beginning in August, due to recent spikes it’s clear this will not happen.  In fact, at this point, we are assuming the majority of employees will not be returning to U.S. offices this year.

...


As a result, we can continue to focus our time and resources on supporting our business-critical employees who need to work from facilities, as well as enabling our return to production – which generally has to be done in person and is the lifeblood of our business.

Our international colleagues will continue to operate in line with the various local market conditions, and they will be receiving separate communications on their specific situations.

As mentioned, getting back to production is critical, and we’ve made important progress in navigating the complexities of doing so.

•We’re collaborating with our industry partners at the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and government organizations on industry-wide recommendations, as well as determining our internal process for planning and evaluating all ViacomCBS productions.
•Our Productions task force has also been working to ensure we have personal protective equipment and cleaning and disinfection services, validating safe travel and hotel resources, securing testing and health screening services, hiring and vetting COVID compliance consultants and vendors to support our Production Safety and Environmental, Health & Safety teams.
•In addition to the few productions that have returned domestically and internationally, all of our businesses have been working hard to develop highly detailed and thoughtful plans for each of their unique shows, events, features and series to get them back into production under these new safety protocols.

They are not freezing all studio productions. Quite the opposite. They're focusing resources on making studio productions safe.

(Obviously this doesn't mean all systems go either. LA county is still not going to have audiences anytime soon.)

[SeaBreeze341]

They are not freezing all studio productions. Quite the opposite. They're focusing resources on making studio productions safe.

(Obviously this doesn't mean all systems go either. LA county is still not going to have audiences anytime soon.)

Yeah, it's going to be a while.  Even a move to a better part of the country (if not area) isn't possible or feasible.


Based on that article, the better safe than sorry approach is the best approach.  A lot of places were more than eager to return to normal, but patience is key.  As a result, the restrictions have returned.  I hate to see production return to get a season in only to have to halt it.  I love TPIR, but I’m not losing sleep over no season.

On a related note, I’ve got a question to whomever may know the answer:  What determines whether a series continues as such vs a revival of a television series?  For example, Family Feud has completed 21 seasons in a row albeit with 4 different hosts.  Not 10 in a row with Steve Harvey or 35 seasons (34 in syndication) with 6 hosts over the past 44 years.  TPIR has completed 48 seasons in a row with Barker hosting the first 35 & Carey the past 13.


If the show were to be delayed throughout the entire 2020-2021 season, wouldn’t they have to start over and consider it a revival, or resume in 2021-2022 as Season 49?  Just something that came to mind recently.