TPiR Recap - 9/25/2023 (TPiR Season 52 Premiere)

[therealcu2010]

Any one else notice that George called it Bidder's Row (for the laptop reveal)?

He's been calling it that for years.

One minor change I noticed, though- Drew no longer says "More pricing games coming up on the second half if The Price is Right" during the toss to commercial after the fourth pricing game.

[SeaBreeze341]

I totally agree about Card Game being intentional which helped show the return of the audience.  On another note, that was one of things I admired during the Superball!! Era.  Just something about playing a pricing game with the several people as fans/spectators in the background rooting you on.  Of course, if they wanted to go "big" on the premiere they could've done a 3 car (or 3 trip) Most Expensive segment.  However, I think they still could've done that within Door 2 in the new studio.  So it was great to have Card Game on this first episode, especially with the outcome.

To respond to jbrocato: It's been a long time now, probably about 2 years ago at this point, where the BBB name change was brought up.  Someone inquired if they'd change it back to Barker's Bargain Bar in the aftermath of Bob's passing, and someone else concluded that it was probably not going to happen.  Maybe one time, but no more than that.  I still agreed, but I think that's a no-go.  Who knows?  Obviously there are episodes featuring Bargain Game that were taped while Bob was still with us that will air soon (1-2 I suppose), so I wouldn't be surprised if they actually did it one time if they wanted to honor him later on.  Not going to bet on it.

I do agree about the set.  While the name of the game doesn't need to be changed, I do agree about the lack of appeal in terms of the current set.  I'd love to see the return of the old set or something else, but it's still unnecessary, especially when this is a quick, 2-prizer.


I probably would not have noticed or thought of the end of the closing from Drew at the bottom of the hour for a week.  Therefore, I don't think I'll miss it too much if it's done away with for good.  I wasn't a big fan of the mid-show bumper going away 18 years ago, but IMO, it's not a big deal.  I guess everybody's used to TPIR being 60 Minutes long as opposed to one half hour in length similar to other game shows; so no need to mention pricing games & fabulous showcases in the second half of TPIR anymore

[Trevor Tuominen]

I would like to offer as a friendly suggestion that since they are not in the Bob Barker Studio anymore, they bring back the original name of the Bargain Game to Barker's Bargain Bar as a way of paying homage.  I think they still used the original name during the first few Carey seasons.

I was thinking for a new set for the revived BBB, they could build a backdrop like a general store with the game name on it.  The current Bargain Game set is probably the least interesting set, save for Double Prices and One Right Price.

They only played it as Barker's Bargain Bar until a couple months into season 37.

[priac]

Someone else alluded to this here.  During One Bid, can't they somehow (hydraulically?) raise the cameras a bit to at lease give the illusion that contestant's row is lower than the main stage? It might also prevent the 4 bidders from blocking some of the audience members. Having the camera square on the bidders seems strange. Previously contestant row winners not only won the one bid prize, but also got to "come up" on stage.
Now, everyone is on stage.  Remember Johnny Olsen: "Contestants not appearing on stage will receive..."

Also, the camera seems a little too close to Drew during the One Bid.  Again these are minor issues given the great job they did duplicating the BB Studio.

[jimmyuTPIR]

It’s nice to see a clean shaven Drew again. He even got a haircut!

[Mr. Weatherman]

Someone else alluded to this here.  During One Bid, can't they somehow (hydraulically?) raise the cameras a bit to at lease give the illusion that contestant's row is lower than the main stage? It might also prevent the 4 bidders from blocking some of the audience members. Having the camera square on the bidders seems strange. Previously contestant row winners not only won the one bid prize, but also got to "come up" on stage.
Now, everyone is on stage.  Remember Johnny Olsen: "Contestants not appearing on stage will receive..."

That was me.  If there is a way to raise the cameras, I do think it would help quite a bit during the intro and subsequent call downs to achieve the same angles we’re familiar with, but it would depend entirely upon if the camera platforms can be height-adjusted that significantly and on the fly…and still be operated as normal. 

When considering raising the camera for contestant row shots specifically, I’m not sure if it would achieve a desirable effect — particularly as a contestant is running onto the stage.  At 33, the camera was pointed straight ahead during the bid reveal with contestants row at the bottom of the frame.  The camera would then zoom in on the winner and zoom out and pan *up* as the winning contestant ran up on stage.  With the new setup, we have a similar wide shot during the reveal, but the contestants are now more centered with the frame to account for the base of contestants row, and as the winner is running onto the stage, we get the same ‘zoom in, zoom out,’ but the camera is no longer panning upward with the contestant due to being on the same level.  If the camera were to be raised, we would have a similar wide shot during the bid reveal as we did at 33 (which I do think would look much better), but as the winner is running onto the stage, the camera would be pointed downward at them for a really awkward shot, as it’s raised and probably can’t be lowered on the fly — if it can even be raised or lowered at all, which may not even be possible or at least practical.

I think all of that makes sense?

Unless Adam Sandler and his directing team can come up with something more creative I’m not thinking of, I’d say the only way we’ll ever be able to truly simulate the contestants row at 33 would be to literally dig out a pit so the audience section can flow ‘beneath’ the stage.  This would require heavy machinery and likely only be feasible if there is solid ground beneath the studio floor with no water-electrical-sewage lines in way — in other words, it’s probably not happening.

They’ll experiment over the next few years.  What we see right now is a product of a giant move and very limited time, and I think they did an outstanding job all things considered.  But I’m sure they’re already thinking of ways to improve the production at its new home, and I’m certain we’ll see some tweaks being made as time goes on until they perfect it.

[tpirfansince1972]

Card Game, most appropriate, 52nd season, 52 cards in the main game deck!

Really great "home opener" for the new place.

[shell_game]

One minor change I noticed, though- Drew no longer says "More pricing games coming up on the second half if The Price is Right" during the toss to commercial after the fourth pricing game.

Maybe it was edited out to allow time for the intro before the show about the wildfires in Hawaii. He said it in the Tuesday show.

[JayC]

The set looks very nice in the new studio, and it's so great to have an audience back again. I didn't hate the pods, but it just looks so much better with an audience in the seats. I like the new Contestant's Row setup also.

Can't start the season off much better than a Golden Road win! The only downer today was Plinko.

[Counterpoint]

Great season premiere and they did a great job re-creating the set at the new studio.  Yes some of the camera angles and lighting are a bit different but nothing we won't quickly become accustomed to.  They definitely wanted 5 winners today as they continue to rely on human behavior:  contestants tend to go high on the 3rd number in Golden Road if the 2nd number is a low number.  They put the $5,000 card in the middle vs on one of the ends because contestant's gravitate towards the center of the deck -as if there is something wrong with the outer cards.  I also thought they played Card Game on the premiere to emphasize the full audience in the background.  I'm just glad they didn't do any unnecessary gimmicks this year for the premiere.  This was a premiere for the loyal fans all around.

Could they theoretically increase the number of $5000 cards when they wanted the game won, since it isn't listed anywhere (obviously at least) how many there are?  The odds are shown so clearly on games like Punch, Pocket, Bee, Pass, etc...

[SeaBreeze341]

Just one $5000 card for the record, and 2 of each for everything else