The Price is Right: The Barker Era on Pluto TV

[Brian44]

It seems to me that Take Two was the only PG in which Bob received any sort of signal as to the correct answer. Am I missing any others?

[SeaBreeze341]

Other than the Phone Home Game & maybe Shell Game, Take Two is the only one that comes to mind.  Post 1983, maybe you could add in Master Key in terms of which key to start with, but Take Two is the most obvious one in terms of any signals from the producers toward the right price.

For The PHG and Shell Game, I was referring to winning and losing (or winning $10,000).

IMO, it probably was best if Bob didn't know especially if you had a contestant that could get a read off of him, which I'd say that wasn't going to happen regardless

[Casey]

I believe Bob knew where the ball was because he could feel it when he was moving the shells around at the beginning of the game.  He made a few comments to that effect on the Pluto episodes we've seen - once stating that the producers has lost track of where the ball was but he knew where it was, and once where he asked the audience if they'd seen where the ball was because he had done that before shuffling them around.

[SeaBreeze341]

I believe Bob knew where the ball was because he could feel it when he was moving the shells around at the beginning of the game.  He made a few comments to that effect on the Pluto episodes we've seen - once stating that the producers has lost track of where the ball was but he knew where it was, and once where he asked the audience if they'd seen where the ball was because he had done that before shuffling them around.

I do remember those.  Especially when the ball was revealed a little bit; the contestant, I believe did not see it.  Folks at home, the audience, and Bob noticed that.  She ended up putting that chip in the winning spot 4th if not 3rd.

Of course there was a time the folks at home, the audience, and Bob knew which shell didn't have the ball, but that likely won't air on Pluto until 2100.

I do like the suspense, even when it's for the $500 bonus.  There was at least one episode in later years where Bob didn't do that (he just went down the line, and the contestant won with two shells left to be revealed).

Maybe they learned from Christmas shows with that? Ie: Instead of airing it well before the day as they did with those initially, they realized it's better to hold it off till closer to/on it? Could see that.

Sadly I disagree.  They aired the Valentine's Day episode early before it ended up airing again on February 14.  I think they could've aired it once or twice given how they're operating before pulling it.  With 200 episodes by Friday, February 26, the spot it would air would occur a couple of times before 4/1.

Thanks to Steve & Chelsea RE: Episode Count for Soap Opera Week.  I could've sworn they did something the entire week despite having only 4 at the time.  I might not catch the episodes again on Pluto, but the stream is not working properly.  That might be cause for concern during the 4AM to 2PM period (Eastern)

A couple of notes to the timeline that should be added:

Took out most of Pannoni's post, but I think in addition to that, looks like the $900 cards in Card Game were added by 05/02/1983 4911D.  Might have been sooner, but I don't know if it was sooner since they weren't drawn

[ooboh]

A semi-related question for the thread: when did the show start display lower-third graphics for a cash game win (Grand Game, Punch-a-Bunch, Showcase Showdown, etc.)? Were they around the same time, or were they implemented in different eras?

[tpirfan28]

Very creative editing at two points on 4981D to cover up the PHG plugs.  John’s bumper is split in two and Bob just plugs the game.

Broken Dice Game on the same show plays out interestingly.  Doesn’t really effect the outcome of the game (forced 6 first digit, two 6 rolls on 2/3) even though it should have given the contestant an advantage over the normal rules.

[actual_retail_tice]

A very unusual and awkward blooper occurs in 4982's playing of Any Number: When the contestant picks 8, the 6 appears in the medium prize (rocking chairs). Everyone is briefly at a loss over what to do. First Bob says, "The 6 is free...wait, she doesn't want the six!" Instead, he simply suggests she not choose six, commenting "We know she's not gonna win those rockers!" Bob asks them to turn off the six, but that never happens. His elegant solution is to pull out his handkerchief and tuck it into the board as best as he can, draping it over the still-lit 6.

Eventually she wins the piggy bank, but after the break, Bob announces that since the contestant might have won the rockers if she hadn't been deliberately avoiding the 6, the producers have awarded them to her. The audience urges him to give her the car, which he declines to do, but he generously lets her keep the $8 piggy bank.

[thatvhstapeguy]

Video still skipping around. It seems to be the worst during the IFUBs. Commercial timing is also slightly off.

[Chelsea]

Assuming Pluto indeed stops with 4993D (we'll know later today), that leaves them 98 episodes away from the last episode GSN aired in 2000 (#5194D, 2/9/1984)

Assuming no skips and another 100 episodes in Cycle 3 in a couple months, that would get a minimum of two definitely never aired on GSN shows. Any skips increase this number obviously, and there are least a couple of shows from S12 that GSN likely did skip prior to that date as well based on the available tapes and unconfirmed lineups.

At that point, aside from a single Christmas '84 episode, GSN never aired anything from the daytime run between 2/1984 to 9/1986 -- giving Pluto a solid two and a half years of reruns that haven't been seen since original broadcast. Cycle 4 would also offer an interesting dilemma - what to do with 5212D, a half hour episode.

[actual_retail_tice]

Season 12 premiere on Pluto now!

[NickintheATL]

At that point, aside from a single Christmas '84 episode, GSN never aired anything from the daytime run between 2/1984 to 9/1986 -- giving Pluto a solid two and a half years of reruns that haven't been seen since original broadcast. Cycle 4 would also offer an interesting dilemma - what to do with 5212D, a half hour episode.

That's not exactly true. I have a few episodes that they shows from this range - most of them were from WinTV.

[Chelsea]

That's not exactly true. I have a few episodes that they shows from this range - most of them were from WinTV.

I stand absolutely corrected. Thumbed through a few collections and what I said holds true for episodes outside of Win TV (Although at least a couple other shows appear to have turned up during that weird phase in '96 when the show first started popping up in random slots), so GSN *did* go there, but not routinely. (compared to 1996-98 when they were running a different season daily and 1998-00 when they just burned through 9/82 to 2/84 in order)

[pricefan18]

I stand absolutely corrected. Thumbed through a few collections and what I said holds true for episodes outside of Win TV (Although at least a couple other shows appear to have turned up during that weird phase in '96 when the show first started popping up in random slots), so GSN *did* go there, but not routinely. (compared to 1996-98 when they were running a different season daily and 1998-00 when they just burned through 9/82 to 2/84 in order)

They ran them in different slots besides the 8am and 4pm Win TV slots? I wasn't aware of that.

[pricefan18]

Very creative editing at two points on 4981D to cover up the PHG plugs.  John’s bumper is split in two and Bob just plugs the game.

Broken Dice Game on the same show plays out interestingly.  Doesn’t really effect the outcome of the game (forced 6 first digit, two 6 rolls on 2/3) even though it should have given the contestant an advantage over the normal rules.

What was the Broken Dice Game about? How were the rules different?

[actual_retail_tice]

Nothing much different, except that immediately after the contestant guessed 'higher' or 'lower', the correct number was revealed.