The Price is Right: The Barker Era on Pluto TV

[pricefan18]

I had forgotten just how bad the original ferris wheel version of Pick-a-Pair was.  Wow it's tough to watch today!!

Sorta amazing it lasted as long as it did under this format. It is way too complicated and time-consuming.

[SeaBreeze341]

Sorta amazing it lasted as long as it did under this format. It is way too complicated and time-consuming.

It lasted long enough for a color-upgrade (or update), to go along with its own theme music!


I actually loved the Ferris Wheel set, despite how painful it was in terms of game flow.  Just one of several things on TPIR that I loved almost as much as I loved the more than necessary set-change!

[William]

I really suspect that there was some kind of breakdown in Range Game that necessitated some prizes being switched around in #4623. Why?:

1) Grocery Game is played for a backgammon table. Bob says "We had one of those on the show just the other day", or words to that effect, which gets laughs from the audience.

2) In previous episodes, Range Game had been having problems, including "getting jammed" mid-game.

3) Earlier in the show, a living room is presented for Range Game, to which Bob cryptically comments "That has everything in it but a pinochle table.", which gets inexplicable laughter from the audience. (Yes, he gets the game wrong.)

4) Bob makes some comments during his explanation of the game that also bring laughs from the audience "That rangefinder will start moving slowly up the scale...we hope..." and later "Well, you already know all this." (to the contestant) All the laughter makes me think the rangefinder didn't work the first time through and they had to replay it.

5) If you think about it, a living room is kind of an odd prize for Range Game because it's typically played in the fee games (like Grocery), and likewise, a backgammon table is not typical for Grocery.

6) The show ends with an "edited for broadcast" disclaimer.

So, my ears perked up back when Bob made the pinochle table remark just because it was a very odd thing to say. His comments for the rest of the game and Grocery got me wondering more. Does anyone else think they swapped those games' prizes?

The only hole in my conspiracy theory here is...why would the rangefinder not moving necessitate a prize change? Unless the price got revealed for some reason, they could just replay for the original prize once they got the rangefinder moving again.

THe episode airs again at 4pm EST, I believe, if you want to check it out and comment.

That sounds like a plausible theory. I might point out though that Range Game was also played for a living room #4614... and that's one where the Range gets jammed.

I saw this post right after that segment aired and thought it was the one you were referring to. I also believed that a living room was an odd prize for Range Game when I first saw it.



While I'm here I must say... what a time to be alive! Who would have ever imagined a 24-hour TPIR channel, with a seemingly steady flow of episodes?! I'm learning just how good of a streaming service Pluto is and have already told two people about it this week.

I know this has been a stressful year for many, myself included, so I hope this new channel is therapeutic many more people. It certainly came at the right time!

[JayC]

I don't remember where I heard this, so don't take my word as gospel, but the story I recall hearing was that when it was time for an aquarium to go back to storage in the prize warehouse, the crew would empty it by dumping it into the drain, fish and all. When Bob found out about that, he said no more aquariums as prizes.

That's terrible. Could they not return the fish to whereever they were supplied from?

[jhc2010]

So all those rumors for years about music licensing and Barker's Beauties keeping old shows from airing were false?

[SteveGavazzi]

Is there a set rotation the channel has settled on? The first day's schedule was posted in this thread and it was not exactly straightforward.

It started acting normal at 6:00 in the morning.  I think the first six hours were something akin to a test run -- they threw a few random-ish early shows on while they worked out any kinks in the system.  I watched a couple of the first broadcasts, and they were running way over an hour per episode.

Is the channel going in order of production number?

That's a good question, and one that I don't think we have a way to answer right now.  If the schedule holds, though, we should be coming up on a Home Viewer Showcase next Thursday; if we don't, that would seem to indicate they're going by tapedate.

If they're not going by tapedate, that likely means they're following either production numbers (the correct order) or broadcast order.  It'll be a good while before we can figure that out, though -- believe it or not, the next shows to be aired out of order don't come until February of '84.

[pricefan18]

If the schedule holds, though, we should be coming up on a Home Viewer Showcase next Thursday; if we don't, that would seem to indicate they're going by tapedate.

The 1st week wouldn't have been taped out of air order right? I'd assume not. If it somehow was, it might explain why they started with Week 2, but I kinda doubt this.

[saturn93]

I remember the train being used a lot during the original run, but I have to agree about the overuse of it.  I remember 1999 quite well since I had time to catch the morning, non WinTV version of Season's 11 & 12.  It seemed as if it wasn't an episode of TPIR unless it made an appearance in every episode, maybe even twice!  Not that I had a problem with it, but when I rewatched it I don't recall seeing the use of it (for the IUFB) that many times!

Just watching now...talk about a #MeToo movement if it was happening now with the woo-woo sound coming and going from the stage.  When did they stop using that sound?

[Ton80]

Watching 5 Price Tags now and seeing the "winning" price as a just a red tag with the price instead the "WIN" tag just looks so strange.

I had forgotten how much more time Bob had to spend with the contestants.  The banter between them is sometimes pure gold.  Some of it would never fly in today's PC world, but that doesn't mean it's not still funny!

[pricefan18]

Watching 5 Price Tags now and seeing the "winning" price as a just a red tag with the price instead the "WIN" tag just looks so strange.

I had forgotten how much more time Bob had to spend with the contestants.  The banter between them is sometimes pure gold.  Some of it would never fly in today's PC world, but that doesn't mean it's not still funny!

I saw that yesterday and wondered if it'd show up with the Win Tag or not, when did that get brought in? Late 80's?

And speaking of PC.....the comments Bob made about a new wife listening to her husband during the Showcases, to both her and then the audience when he got some boos for it on an episode yesterday, kinda shocked me. That was pretty racy/bad even for him I feel like. He'd be raked over the coals for that now.

[JayC]

He also told a contestant she had nice legs in the 2pm episode.

[tpirfan28]

on one of today's shows, a Flokati Rug makes a rare pre Press Your Luck appearance... which makes me wonder what other shows had it as a prize

I'm pretty sure a Jog-N-Tramp was a consolation prize too.

Already seen Every Trip/Room in the House three times this week, too.
(Themes not a bad thing: TPIR News and Cheerleaders are not bad.)

[pricefan18]

He also told a contestant she had nice legs in the 2pm episode.

I saw that too, also referenced Miss Nude Universe in the next segment for another contestant. Mind you this WAS just a year after Dorothy Jo died, not even a year at the time of taping, was he this randy even when she was alive? I sorta doubt that to this degree.

[Briguy]

A rarity that I don't remember being included even when I saw the original TPiR broadcasts. Certainly I didn't see them with the GSN (either original or uploaded to YouTube):

A plug for Global Van Lines, who delivered the prizes to contestants.

Brian

[jlgarfield]

I saw that yesterday and wondered if it'd show up with the Win Tag or not, when did that get brought in? Late 80's?

And speaking of PC.....the comments Bob made about a new wife listening to her husband during the Showcases, to both her and then the audience when he got some boos for it on an episode yesterday, kinda shocked me. That was pretty racy/bad even for him I feel like. He'd be raked over the coals for that now.

Yep, around 1988.