TPiR Recap - 9/15/2021

[Mr. Weatherman]

How does the million dollar insurance work exactly?  Is it a gamble on the insurer’s part that Fremantle/CBS will end up paying them ‘x’ amount of $$ over a period of time after being provided with a set list of games, prizes and setups along with statistics to prove that the chance of the game(s) being won are quite minimal, making the gamble worth it for the insurer?  Are all of the games insured, or just certain ones?  I have a hard time believing Grand could be insured with such a simple setup, but I’m also completely ignorant to how the process works.  If it wasn’t insured, the budget is certainly happy today.

I’m not knocking the house as a prize.  It’s different.  It fits the times we live in.  We’ll probably never see it offered again.  But make that the Golden Road prize and beef up the Showcases a little more.  It’s not like the third (fourth) digit is anymore difficult to guess on a random Audi than it is a random tiny house.  I’ll agree with those thinking the show didn’t plan for the house to be accepted by the contestant should it have been won.  However, that same purpose could have been served in GR, and it wouldn’t have made a difference other than having a lesser likelihood of being won.  Put that Audi in one of the Showcases or split the difference and beef up the value of both SCs.  Idk.  I’ve seen some weird decisions made this week (weird ≠ ‘bad’), but I really don’t know what to make of today.

Going back to Grand, the contestant was older and mentioned he was a nurse practitioner.  Maybe he and his wife have a good savings and are set for retirement, so the $100K wasn’t a huge gamble in the grand scheme of things.  I can’t think of any other reason to go for it other than being completely caught up in the moment.

Edit: (To quote the late, great Steve Jobs "...and one more thing") All prizes are priced at MSRP.  That's completely fair and how the show has always been played.  But unless I'm missing something, the particular hair gel shown today is one of the more prominently displayed ones at Walmart.  I know this because I've used it several times in the past and have a container sitting in my bathroom as we speak (it's not the best stuff but it's cheap lol).  The current walmart.com price is $4.99.  I believe I've purchased it for as low as $3.99 before, but it's been a while, so I'm sure inflation has hit it.  That said, the MSRP may very well be $7.99, and there are indeed some retailers who price it around that amount -- and Walmart is most certainly selling it at a discount because of pure volume sales, as they do most of their items.  Not only that, but the show has an obligation to go with the ARP and not the Walmart price.  But I personally would have lost this playing of Grand Game had I gone for it, because I'm well aware of the Walmart price of the gel and would have based my decision thinking the ARP wouldn't be much higher -- certainly not 60% more expensive.  I have to think the show wasn't aware that it can be purchased for under $5.50 at such a prominent retailer, otherwise I truly don't believe they offer it in this particular playing.  A regular Grand Game playing?  Sure.  But one where such discrepancies could mean the difference in a contestant winning or losing a life-changing amount of money?  More care probably should have been taken there to ensure all of the grocery items were priced consistently across retailers, especially Walmart.  That's purely my opinion.

[Hag]

I guess if they wanted to surprise us on TPIR, they accomplished that with the house. I just found it odd that the Golden Road prize value was blown out of the water by the Secret X prize.

[Wayoshi]

Grand Game with cheap detergent was not easy at all. You all and knowing your cheap detergent brands today.

[JayC]

Very fitting to play Golden Road and Any Number this week with the golden anniversary and Any Number being the first game played. They've now played all 3 of the games on the first show this week.

Ugh, why did she pick 0?! A bad way to start the show.

Tough choice between the styling gel and detergent for the last product to pick in Grand Game. It was exciting to get to the point of playing for the million, just too bad it wasn't won.

That tiny house prize... yeah that was something. Quite strange to have the Golden Road car not be the most expensive prize offered besides the million.

[Richie]

Those who said Grand Game was easy.   It was NOT.   It was hard.   Apparently I agreed with Michael when he picked the styling gel over the detergent.   The pet food was the obvious trap.  w

Gosh Purex is CHEAP.   That's one hard lesson I learned today.

[tpirguyMN]

However, if I were going for the million, wouldn't I want to save one of the easiest products for last, so in case I wipe out early, I still walk away with $10,000?

This strategy is probably fitting for fans like us, but is it common knowledge to the average contestant that in "normal" Grand Game you get the $100, $10, or $1 if you lose early on?  I think Drew has mentioned it only a handful of times that a contestant won the $100, etc., but maybe today's contestant did not know he would get money the first three guesses if he was wrong.

[SeaBreeze341]

Was a little surprised Drew didn't mention "hey, here's the first game we played 50 years ago" when playing Any Number.

Same, but I wasn't shocked since he's not perfect those details.  FWIW, it could've been edited out, but I doubt it.  I imagine he'll make mention to it at least once or twice throughout the season.

As mentioned, good for the contestant for going for the Million despite what was being risked.  As a fan, I'm saying don't do it, given how tricky it would've been to win it all.  One in three shot is not too bad odds.

I was too surprised by Secret X being played for a prize that toppled Golden Road, and then pleasantly surprised that the X wasn't in the bottom spot.  At least it wasn't in the same half, but as mentioned up thread, the prizes could've been reversed.  On the other hand, maybe not, but instead of play GG for $1 Million, just add it to the third prize for Golden Road.

At the end of the day, I think TPTB have done a very good job thus far in this first week.  Nothing over the top, but I think they've done reasonable well, IMO

[Grammar-Nazi]

The best part of today for me was Mary yelling at her husband to get her purse after she won the showcase.

[TPIRfan#9821]

Edit: (To quote the late, great Steve Jobs "...and one more thing") All prizes are priced at MSRP.  That's completely fair and how the show has always been played.  But unless I'm missing something, the particular hair gel shown today is one of the more prominently displayed ones at Walmart.... I have to think the show wasn't aware that it can be purchased for under $5.50 at such a prominent retailer, otherwise I truly don't believe they offer it in this particular playing.  A regular Grand Game playing?  Sure.  But one where such discrepancies could mean the difference in a contestant winning or losing a life-changing amount of money?  More care probably should have been taken there to ensure all of the grocery items were priced consistently across retailers, especially Walmart.  That's purely my opinion.

Counterargument: S&P shouldn't let any funny business happen, period. If the prices were valid for a smaller prize, even if it's inarguably sold for less practically, if they could source the manufacturer's suggested retail price, it's valid.

Let's say I were a Price is Right superfan during quarantine, and I saw both the dog food and the gel used in pricing games last season. Would it be fair to reuse those items in the new season? I'd say so. Would it be fair for the price to suddenly go down if the manufacturer didn't actually change the price, just because a couple megachains that can afford to buy the item in bulk and sell the item below retail price? I'd argue no. That would disadvantage anyone who memorized the prices from the last time the prize was used, and not be truthful for those wanting to buy one solitary unit.

Guess what hair gel and dog food showed up last season? If you genuinely thought something was wrong with the gel, someone should have complained. No one did back then. Therefore, it should be valid for every playing, including this hyperinflated game.

[Mr. Weatherman]

My argument isn’t that it’s not valid to use — by virtue of the rules and S&P guidelines, that gel is absolutely fair game, and the contestant wouldn’t have the grounds to pursue legal action (or at least they wouldn’t get very far), no matter how screwed over they may feel.  Not every contestant is a super-fan, but it is reasonable to assume a contestant might recognize a product as having seen it in a store and/or purchased it, and when faced with that item in their pricing game, they may recall the price they saw on the tag and presume it to be correct.  That’s why my inclination would be to err on the side of caution for such hyper-inflated playings as these — if for no other reason than to prevent the possibility of a contestant feeling completely screwed over, realizing they don’t have any meaningful legal recourse, and in turn running to the nearest tabloid or media entity willing to publish their story to the masses, especially considering what’s at stake here (again, life-changing money...not a random trip or a Chevy Sonic). 

All of that is completely hypothetical, and there are 49 years worth of precedent to say that MSRP price discrepancies have never caused a big stink and likely never will.  But we’re also talking about a game show that is in no way built around a million-dollar format with only a handful of cases where a contestant had a chance to win that kind of money.  Other shows of the million-dollar genre have figured out these nuances down to a tee.  But when we’re playing Grand Game in its exact same format for a top prize worth 100x its usual amount with no extra spin or thrills involved, I’m going to be extra critical of minor details like the MSRP of hair gel.

[jhc2010]

Anyone else think there was at least one overbid that was edited out during the second item up for bids?

I've noticed Drew has been referring to the Big Doors by their color a lot more frequently lately.

The technical director totally dropped the ball on the $1,000,000 reveal. After the contestant chose the gel, there absolutely should have been a 1-2 second close-up of the gel. It was for a MILLION DOLLARS, yet no close up of the product was shown until the instant before Drew flipped the price. Whoever is controlling the really should understand that a close up of the product that is standing between the contestant and $1,000,000 deserves a close up. Or maybe I'm wrong?

And I was again left disappointed when the triple-split-screen shot that has been shown during spinoffs in recent seasons was not used during the second SCSD spinoff. I hope this shot has not gone the way of the dodo.

Going back to Grand, the contestant was older and mentioned he was a nurse practitioner.  Maybe he and his wife have a good savings and are set for retirement, so the $100K wasn’t a huge gamble in the grand scheme of things.  I can’t think of any other reason to go for it other than being completely caught up in the moment.

I disagree. If you want to gamble the $100K, I can't think of any easier way to gamble $100K and turn it into $1M, can you? The risk is worth the reward based on simple math.

[gamesurf]

The technical director totally dropped the ball on the $1,000,000 reveal. After the contestant chose the gel, there absolutely should have been a 1-2 second close-up of the gel. It was for a MILLION DOLLARS, yet no close up of the product was shown until the instant before Drew flipped the price. Whoever is controlling the really should understand that a close up of the product that is standing between the contestant and $1,000,000 deserves a close up. Or maybe I'm wrong?

I totally agree, but they have no time.

They have to make sure that they also cover the Golden Road playing with appropriate weight, and the house, and give enough time to both showcases, and oh yeah there's another car game that takes a bit to play, and you have to read the copy for two trips in that quickie two-prizer, and...

I'm sure it was a very emotional week of tapings, but it's all getting lost in the edit because there's so much other stuff they have to cram in as well. There's no time to let any of this sink in and get the impact it deserves, and as a result it feels pretty much like a normal Drew episode when it should feel like an MDS or a season premiere.

[theamazingracer]

The producers of The Price is Right are not responsible for ensuring discount retailers across America sell groceries at the recommended retail price. I can't believe this needs to be stated.

I'm wondering if maybe they wanted all three big prizes to be won to have an enormous season premiere for season 50 (to top 40's "four Race Game cars in 13 seconds" and 35's "everything except Plinko is a vehicle" premieres), and decided to move the episode to midweek when only one of them was. Grand Game and Secret X were both set to easy mode, and even what we saw of Golden Road suggests it was certainly winnable by its usual standards.

[JT]

I really don't think these Million Dollar Pricing Games are adding anything to the show.  It's just a gimmick.  Ratings don't go up if Grand Game is upped to $100k, $500k or $1million.   I don't see how anyone risks $100K for $1.0MM unless they are loaded and I doubt this contestant was.   If you asked him out in the line what would you like to win he would say maybe a car, a trip or a few thousand dollars.  I almost feel one of the models should have wheeled out $100K in $100 bills on a display to show how much money this really is.  I think people just get caught up in the excitement of it all and make the wrong choice.  Too bad. 

[Briguy]

I'm trying to recall if we ever had a show in which Golden Road was played and some other pricing game on the same show had a more expensive prize / cash prize than GR's car.

If it did happen – and that's a big IF – it would have been the nighttime TPiR late in the 1970s run. Golden Road apparently was played during the final two seasons (1978-1980, after Bob Barker had taken over), and we do know the showcases themselves were very lavish.

Unless CBS's O&O had something to do with adjusting the winnings ceiling during that era, it's surely possible.

But getting to this particular episode, remember that it is Big Money Week and it happens to fall on a season premiere week. We already knew that we'd get at least one $1 million game, so it was assured that the grand prize in Golden Road, if it appeared (and it did) would be surpassed.

Just didn't expect the house to be another prize that surpassed it. Personally, if I had won the house and accepted the prize, I'd put it on a piece of property I owned and either would use it as a vacation cabin or a rental house.

Not unlike the joy of winning a vacation cabin on the original Concentration. (At least in the home board game, where the stated value was $3,000 ... assuming it wasn't meant to represent something else, such as a trip to Lake Tahoe.) Or a $15,000 house on the original Cullen TPiR ... or a $60,000 log cabin kit on Wheel Of Fortune in the 1980s.

Brian