So I take it TPIR is never going back to pre-covid ways?

[tpirguyMN]

I saw this in a photo taken by Colorado governor Jared Polis, who is one of Bill's guests tonight (11/11/22). It looks like they can actually remove Contestants Row.

Here is a link to the photo: 

Looking forward to being a guest on @billmaher’s show tonight on @HBO pic.twitter.com/t65NkVqted

— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) November 12, 2022

/photo/1

[PIRfanSince72]

Roger did another interview recently on Rich Fields' podcast and he believes Price will never again go back to a 300 member audience.

Roger's reasoning was prior to Covid, the show had to pay some people to attend, to sit in the audience.  I forget what his annual calculation was regarding payment for audience members but he claimed it was over $1 million dollars.  To that end, having a 36 person "audience" would appear on the surface at least to be far more beneficially financially.

It is a shame though that this is just the latest in a long line of things that are changing for the show, and not necessarily for the better (at least from a home audience's point of view).

[urbanpreppie0004]

Roger did another interview recently on Rich Fields' podcast and he believes Price will never again go back to a 300 member audience.

 Roger is clearly not the best source on price is right details anymore, especially as we are now coming up on 15 years since he's been there.

As for audiences? We honestly dont know. LMAD added more people this season, price could as well.

[SeaBreeze341]

I haven't listened to the podcast, but if I had to guess, I think it's trending more toward speculation and less toward what actually might happen.  If the attendance is accurate then I think it's a valid point, or he made a valid point in general.  If there are no restrictions but a business can't reach capacity (on a regular basis or at all), then what's the point of increasing the number of attendees at a particular show or event.

Like urban mentioned, I'd take this with a grain of salt.  However, Drew recently tested positive for COVID.  I think he has/is taking everything seriously, so that might factor into a delay or (current reluctance) to increase the size of attendees.

The above is just my thought(s).  Nothing concrete.  If they don't ever get to 300, but maybe move to 100, I think I might be fine with that

[Thatgameshowguy]

As of now the audience is 20 "invited" contestants and up to 3 guests, for a theoretical audience maximum of 80 people in the audience.

[BillyGr]

Roger did another interview recently on Rich Fields' podcast and he believes Price will never again go back to a 300 member audience.

Roger's reasoning was prior to Covid, the show had to pay some people to attend, to sit in the audience.  I forget what his annual calculation was regarding payment for audience members but he claimed it was over $1 million dollars.  To that end, having a 36 person "audience" would appear on the surface at least to be far more beneficially financially.

It is a shame though that this is just the latest in a long line of things that are changing for the show, and not necessarily for the better (at least from a home audience's point of view).

Though they should have a decent accounting of how many people actually had to be paid on average, so they could use that to come up with a number that would work (that is 300-that number of paid people = how many seats would be feasible to have back.

[GameShowFan1987]

Do we have any actual proof that the show was paying people to sit in the audience? I know that was a thing when Drew first started back in 2007 but I have strong doubts that was still the case 13 years later in 2020.

[gamesurf]

Do we have any actual proof that the show was paying people to sit in the audience? I know that was a thing when Drew first started back in 2007 but I have strong doubts that was still the case 13 years later in 2020.

Well, Roger's say-so, and people who attended tapings on this board from 2008-2012 who met them.

Roger's math was based on needing to 100 people for every show, getting paid $80 for a four hour taping, costing $8,000 per show. If it was needed for 200 shows a year, that's an $1,600,000 expense. This seems like an incredibly high estimate to me.

Maybe it was true in S36 or S37 when Drew was just starting out, but that doesn't match with any of my experiences visiting the show in the past four years. Each taping I attended had people numbered in the 250s-300s that showed up at the same time as everybody else, had numbers attached to their name tags, got interviews from Stan, were wearing custom T-shirts, and seemed enthusiastic about the show when had the chance to chat with them. If dozens of them were seat-fillers then they truly went the extra mile to blend in and deserved to get paid a lot more than $80.

Afternoon taping were less full than morning tapings, and they occasionally let a few people from the morning taping stick around and see an afternoon taping, but the few times I tried it there were far less than 50 seats available. Maybe 20 or 25 max. It wasn't ever enough to fill one of Stan's interview groups and the numbers assigned were all pretty close than 300.

Obviously this is all anecdotal. I'm sure that seat-fillers were necessary on occasion, but it certainly seems far lower than 100 people per show, 200 shows per year.

[LiteBulb88]

I asked a page about this when I attended a taping in 2019. He said he could only recall 1 time in his years of doing TPiR that audience fillers were needed. I don't know how long that page had been at TPiR but he didn't seem to be new.

[Plinkoman]

When I went in December 2018 they used fillers. One of the main security guards was sitting in the audience too; he said it was the first time he had ever did that. He told me it was a very slow week and that it was rare when they didn't fill an audience. It was Dec. 10-13 that week and I met a handful of "actors," although they weren't allowed to say they were actors, they eventually told me they were (after I called them out on it and told them I'm one of those TPIR Super Fans- they were impressed).

[Thatgameshowguy]

The show would occasionally need to purchase audience members during the slower tapings, usually around the holidays. This has been a common practice dating back well into the Barker era.

[jericho]

Honestly, if the show only wants contestants that are hyperactive, then their casting process they have is fine.  But if they want a true sampling of what their viewers are like, they’re missing it completely.  That level of energy from every contestant just screams “fake.”

The modern youth generation (whatever you want to label them) is used to and even embraces "fake". It started with reality TV.  I could see how reality shows were scripted and fake decades ago. Unfortunately, modern society slowly got used to the fakeness and now watches it like a brain dead corpse. Then came social media. Today's youth with their smartphone apps all desperately want to be an "influencer" basically recording a TPIR audition every day for anyone who will watch. It's annoying and stupid, but I guess that's what every aging generation says as they get older. As for me, I don't even pay for television or streaming services.  What I watch is mostly old stuff because it actually has substance.

[jericho]

I had not watched a new daytime the price is right since the contestants were on stage during Covid in 2020. While working out at the gym, I happened to see one of the primetime shows recently and I was appalled and in shock at the small amount of audience sitting at tables.  What the heck is that?  How is it even exciting or surprising that you get called to "come on down" out of 30 people? I'm obviously not the target demo anymore for TPIR and I never watch new episodes, so I'm sure CBS cares as much about my opinion as a Gen Z'er cares about a rotary phone.  But my gosh, there is no energy or excitement in that studio anymore.  There is simply pre-casted over-energetic, attention-seeking, good looking robots who nobody cares about.

[b_masters8]

What I watch is mostly old stuff because it actually has substance.

I'm in with you in a lot of ways-- I prefer Emergency! and The Streets of San Francisco from the 70s over Chicago Fire and Blue Bloods of today.

[Thatgameshowguy]

But my gosh, there is no energy or excitement in that studio anymore.  There is simply pre-casted over-energetic, attention-seeking, good looking robots who nobody cares about.

As a Gen Z pre-casted over-energetic attention-seeking good-looking robot contestant who was on a primetime show, politely, mrrp off. The energy in that studio is still immensely overwhelming. You still have no idea you’re being called until they say your name. And absolutely nothing is fake, what you see is real human emotions. Everything that I “manufactured” to bring up my energy was edited out.


Also, I love rotary phones. I’ve got three of them, one of them hooked up and working!


There’s no need to make broad generalizations about the show and an entire generation because you personally don’t like it/them.