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

[Cliff.Hanger]

For the record, that's not very long at this point -- there are currently only 11 shows in the can.

The final new episode for this season airs on 6/2. Repeats were supposed to start on 7/3, but they weren't able to tape the last ~25 shows. The editors have been working from home on the shows that were taped before the quarantine shut down production. After 6/2, they will air the normal summer repeats, until they run out.

[BillyGr]

The show can’t go on the road in a practical manner with all 70+ pricing games, set, et al. requiring extensive efforts to be transported — and then finding a facility to both act as a studio and house everything required for the production.  However, the show doesn’t necessarily have to have every pricing game to function, and certain set pieces like the big doors and turntable can be recreated (think the 30th Anniversary Special) without having to go all-out with flashing lights and LED screens to help maintain cost efficiency.  We also have the live stage show’s Big Wheel that is made for transportation, and I’m sure there are other things I can point to if I sat down and really thought it through.

What else do they normally do on those live shows?  Do they have enough "stuff" there to do a show (games and such)?  That might be one option - a few episodes (even if they had the same games repeating) done with the travel show set that would be easy enough to fit in many places around the country.

Short of California doing a ‘180’ and allowing larger crowds to gather this summer, the only option that would allow for new first run episodes to begin airing as soon as September is to take the show on the road.  It certainly won’t look the same.  Not all pricing games can be included, and you might even have to go as far as shortening the show to a half hour temporarily if it makes more sense (maybe pair it with a half hour edition of LMAD and fill that show’s time slot with something else?).  And then, of course, Fremantle has to agree to it, your host and production staff have to be on board, etc.  And even more-so than that, the state the show is being filmed at has to be fairly relaxed with restrictions and maintaining low virus case numbers.  The given studio may still have to have some sort of social distancing restrictions in place (wild idea: what if the show is taped at an outdoor venue?), and the crowd size would likely have to be less than that of a typical show.  But it would be creative, and in fact more people might actually tune in just because it’s different. 

Depends on when taping would be allowed, but they have done at least one or two shows in the past with taping and airing very close (like a day or two), so being they normally don't start new shows until partway thru September, even a post Labor Day tapings could be done to still start on time.
Though the outdoor idea sounds interesting too (like Wheel has done at Disney over the years).

The alternative, of course, is to air repeats.  Here’s one significant problem with that: all of your Season 48 episodes worth airing a second time will be exhausted this summer unless the decision is made to go ahead with mixing in older episodes, which I don’t really see happening.  If they go the route of repeats in the fall, just how far back are we going?  Will George re-dub some of his lines to remove mentions of automobile model years?  There is also the consideration that some vehicles the show has offered have been either updated or discontinued (RIP Chevy Cruze), and some viewers may pick up on that — same with smartphones from a few years ago (“It’s the brand new, state-of-the-art iPhone 6s!”).  Those certain nuances will date each episode, potentially negating efforts to ‘trick’ the audience into thinking what they are watching is ‘new’.

Seems that if they did choose to air older repeats, it would be better off to just promote it as something like "The Best of" or Historical, and not try to trick people.
For the newer ones, it would probably make sense to start from the beginning of the season and go through that way, since those who may still be at home that normally don't watch would be seeing stuff they probably didn't the first time (after, of course, anything that got partially pre-empted during the season).

[SteveGavazzi]

The final new episode for this season airs on 6/2.

Do we actually know when 9011K is airing?  June 2 is a logical guess, but the schedules haven't actually been updated in several weeks.

[pricefan18]

Seems that if they did choose to air older repeats, it would be better off to just promote it as something like "The Best of" or Historical, and not try to trick people.

You know what could be interesting....what if they did something akin to the Bake-Off years and did that, with the year in the corner of the screen, and perhaps doing a different era every day like Game Show Network once did with their Win TV shows? You could actually go through all 5 decades if you wanted this way...70's one day, then the 80's, then 90's, etc finishing up with the current era at end of the week. Whether Barker would sign off on the older shows may be the one big issue I suppose, but.....it's an idea for sure to fill time a while and would allow many shows to be seen again that haven't been reran in over 20 years at least, with any post mid 1990's not reairing at all outside of summer reruns.

[imhomerjay]

Honestly I think that would do more harm than good. Stick to what the show is now. Digging back into the past decades is only going to appeal to a narrow audience--Buzzr, old GSN...those aren't mass appeal. Rotating through decades old shows is a different thing than the decades week where it was paying homage.

Jeopardy managed to pull it off for two episodes because it tied into the GOAT tournament. There's more than enough Price over the past couple of seasons (largely visually the same to average viewers). 

[thepriceis_J]

While I agree that there's a difference in paying homage and running old shows, as I mentioned in a different thread, The Price is Right is a cultural touchstone that would certainly garner more interest in old episodes than Match Game or Sale of the Century reruns. You'll find a lot of people who'll mention the fond memories they have watching Price with the grandparents/parents as a kid, something you're not going to hear about To Tell the Truth or Match Game, something ABC has dumped a lot of money into placing in primetime. Heck, all the shows ABC has revived were all memorable in their own ways, but lack in comparison to The Price is Right's 48 consecutive year top rated run (which is why I'm glad CBS finally started greenlighting more primetime specials). With an advertisement/push, I think it could certainly be worth their while, but I can see why they wouldn't.

Honestly, I'm sure Jeopardy could pull it off for more than two episodes. They just did two episodes because Ken won the GOAT and it filled in the gap to make rerunning GOAT an even two week event. If they reran Ken's entire run or former super tourneys like MDM, UToC, or BotD (surprised most hasn't been put on Netflix) they'd probably do just as fine of a job publicizing it as they did with GOAT. They don't need to do that, my hunch is that they'll be able to return at some point in the fall so they don't need as many reruns, but they certainly could.

Again though, I agree that it'd be better to just go with reruns from the past few years. Honestly, they could dig back in the almost 10 seasons worth of shows filmed since Drew's weight loss (which I think marked a turning point in his hosting, though I think the two are mostly unrelated).

[PricingPatrick]

My crazy idea is that re-air thin and fat Drew episodes and maybe Bob’s on Saturday nights. Saturdays are usually for sports and since those aren’t being played, air Price, expands to six days a week and is cheap to put on. Plus, you could do what Jeopardy did and have Drew, George, Models, and/or Contestants provide commentary as an online supplement.

[pricefan18]

While I agree that there's a difference in paying homage and running old shows, as I mentioned in a different thread, The Price is Right is a cultural touchstone that would certainly garner more interest in old episodes than Match Game or Sale of the Century reruns. You'll find a lot of people who'll mention the fond memories they have watching Price with the grandparents/parents as a kid, something you're not going to hear about To Tell the Truth or Match Game, something ABC has dumped a lot of money into placing in primetime.

Match Game might be one actually I'd argue that some might, given the prime Primetime slot it has had in reruns at times over the years on the GSN/Game Show Network before it started churning out more modern fare. Only Family Feud really woulda had more traction I believe on the network, as far as a cornerstone show for it going back to its' very beginning days in 1994. I mean, it still runs on it to this very day. Kinda says something with how the overall direction of the network has changed over time. It's essentially the last of its' kind there at this particular moment.

Maybe there's a certain bias to that belief having said that, but like my best friend from high school used to watch it with his mom a lot when he was younger, and my dad and I used to occasionally as well when I'd be with him on weekends, when it was running in the early Sunday Morning slot. And given the general popularity the show had for the generation before us as the aforementioned Family Feud also did (him and I are both 32), I could see others perhaps having similar experiences and possibly turning it onto their own children in turn, even moreso now with the current revival.

The others I'd agree with more, being a bit more niche and in the case of a show like To Tell the Truth, not as likely to garner the attention of the younger crowd I'd suspect given the format of the show, but that one would be the outlier I think.

[PimpinJC]

If the studio is smart, then they should also be planning on what to do if the 2nd wave of coronavirus hits and when.  If it’s not until later in the fall, great, maybe they can get a few episodes taped before round 2 hits.  If it’s within the next month, then any hopes of having a Season 49 are gone until a vaccine and treatment are readily available.

But let’s take best case scenario and the wave doesn’t hit until late fall and the show is able to restart production over the summer.  Consumer confidence is extremely low, and getting 300+ people to sit in an enclosed space for a few hours sounds like a disaster, especially since social distancing / protection is still required even with going back to in-person gatherings.  At a very minimum, temperature checks and face masks would be required.  Maybe you also tape at a quarter to half capacity.  Maybe you tape 2-3 shows with the same audience to reduce new people interactions.

Even beyond that, things which are going back to in person have minimal contact with shared surfaces (for example, churches are allowing masses but with no hymnals or missals).  And Price suffers greatly from having lots of contact with shared objects.  Even if you tell (enforce?) contestants don’t touch Contestant Row podiums and don’t play games involving the contestant touching objects (no more Plinko ), you come to the Big Wheel and then you have a problem.  Short of stopping after every contestant spins to sanitize, you can’t continue the show.

In all likelihood, it’s looking as if we’re going to be in rerun mode for at least the first half of Season 49 and maybe all of it.  The show survived when Drew took over, and we had reruns through the start of the season, and no body blinked an eye.  Folks will understand: we’re all in the same mess here.

[COINBOYNYC]

The show can’t go on the road in a practical manner with all 70+ pricing games, set, et al. requiring extensive efforts to be transported

If the show moves to, say, Florida for a significant amount of time, is there any reason why they can't recreate the pricing games in Florida?

[gamesurf]

If the show moves to, say, Florida for a significant amount of time, is there any reason why they can't recreate the pricing games in Florida?

It’d probably be at a cost of hundreds of thousands, if not millions. But aside from that, not really.

Maybe you also tape at a quarter to half capacity.  Maybe you tape 2-3 shows with the same audience to reduce new people interactions.

If you’re in an audience taping at 1/3 capacity (100 audience members) and 2-3 shows with an audience (27 contestants)...your odds of getting picked just went up from the normal 1 in 30 to about 1 in 4.

You’d get an interesting crop of contestants—Stan would have to dive deep.

Even beyond that, things which are going back to in person have minimal contact with shared surfaces (for example, churches are allowing masses but with no hymnals or missals).  And Price suffers greatly from having lots of contact with shared objects.  Even if you tell (enforce?) contestants don’t touch Contestant Row podiums and don’t play games involving the contestant touching objects (no more Plinko ), you come to the Big Wheel and then you have a problem.  Short of stopping after every contestant spins to sanitize, you can’t continue the show.

Disposable gloves for all contestants?

(I agree a year of reruns is the more likely option.)

[Mr. Weatherman]

If the show moves to, say, Florida for a significant amount of time, is there any reason why they can't recreate the pricing games in Florida?

*Some* pricing games can be transported, which is what I was getting at in my original comment.  In theory, most turntable games and stage games with relatively small footprints (Golden Road, Double Prices, Side by Side, Most Expensive, etc.) can probably be loaded onto a truck or plane with ease.  Some of the larger games with live stage show cousins can simply play with those versions instead (Plinko).  And then some games can simply utilize a video board of sorts and not feel too terribly different (Lucky $even, 3 Strikes, etc.).  All told, they can probably get at least half if not more of the rotation over to Florida if they really wanted to — all without having to recreate any pricing game props.  Would it be worth the expense of transporting everything?  That much remains to be seen.  I’m not holding my breath that the show will actually go on the road — I’m simply saying it’s one of a handful of options CBS and Fremantle have before them to get new shows on the air.

[JhayPrice]

It would cost them a lot on the case that they'd move to FL. Big games such as Plinko, 3 Strikes,  Gridlock!, Hot Seat, etc. can be hard to replicate. Plus, I do prefer continuous reruns.

[Mr. Weatherman]

It would cost them a lot on the case that they'd move to FL. Big games such as Plinko, 3 Strikes,  Gridlock!, Hot Seat, etc. can be hard to replicate. Plus, I do prefer continuous reruns.

You did read my above comment, right?

[JhayPrice]

PTR, I just mean that a third of the games would require some budget, just saying that I really do agree with your comment. Sorry if I made it look that I duplicated your comment. 😁