FULL RECAP - TPiR 12/16/2008

[Mallory16]

Someone tell me if I'm just crazy, but Karen looked a LOT like Janice!  Just to drive that point in further, she got to be one of the models in the first showcase, and was undoubtedly the best of the three models.  Really, she did well for having it thrown right on her like that.  Joseph's modeling was kinda' the funniest, though, not even pretending he had any clue how he was supposed to be doing things !  Leizl seemed more like a Price is Right parody model, or something.  Which is understandable, really, since it was just sprung on them out of the blue.

Really, that may have been the best "Drew showcase" all season!  On the other hand, it was, surprisingly, the "Every Trip in the House" showcase that sucked.  Inappropriate music cue, and horrible trip introductions ruined the classic theme.

Why did the camera continually shoot Sharon at odd angles when she was in contestants' row?  I'm not sure what was up with that, but Sharon was a pretty awesome contestant, so excited, and nervous, and everything.  So glad she won that car!  And so disappointed when her showcase difference of $494 was revealed first, since I pretty much knew it meant she lost.

...on the other hand, a perfect showcase bid!  That was both incredible to see, and... well, disappointing, at the same time.  That may have been Drew's absolute worst moment of hosting the show ever.  What the hell kind of "reveal" was that?!  I don't care about the situation:  Drew's on national television, and it's appalingly unprofessional of him to act in such manner over the historic showcase win!

Bart, this new Swap Meet reveal sucks.  Seriously, I was confused as to what the heck they were playing at first.

HOWEVER...I share a personal responsibility for helping a contestant named Summer win "Switch?" on the show that aired on April 11 (last season), because I was in the front row that day.

I don't think only helping a contestant win a random playing of Switch? is likely to raise many eyebrows .

That fact sure did take the fun out of what I saw today.

I'm not sure why.  Drew's lackluster reveal may have killed some of the excitment, granted, but why would an audience member helping out the contestant put a damper on the win?  Realistically, the only other way we'd ever get an exacta is if a contestant lucked into one with a rare showcase that ends in "000."  I really can't figure out why you would be personally offended.

You know, if the three from the Row could have done an actually half-decent job modeling those prizes, instead of leaning all over them like Joseph did with the pool table, it might have been something great;

Watch again:  Karen did a surprisingly good job with the trailer.

[Otm Shank]

Having some TV experience, here's what I see.

That 45-minute stopdown is murder for on-air performance. I have to say that certainly breaks any kind of mental continuity. That said, when the red light goes on, you must be on. It doesn't matter how tired you are, you are a professional. I had a situation where food got stuck in my lower esophagus. I did the 10:00 news and then drove right to the hospital. Only one person in the control room knew ahead of time, and nobody realized that there was a problem.

I don't put the blame on Drew for the reveal, I place it on the producers who should have told him how significant this was.

Sorry, a professional is always aware of the significance of the situation. I once stopped a parade for two minutes to get an interview with the honoree's family. The parade organizers were pissed, but it was my judgment that this moment was too much to pass up.

Lost in the exacta was the first bid: no mention by The Host that it was a spectacular bid, off by $400-(too-lazy-to-scroll-up)-ish. And no matter what the personal feelings of cheating or not, that should not have affected The Host's ability to perform. This is not episodic television -- there is no producer asking for a re-take. I realize time was at a premium, but edits can be made, credits can be shortened to free up 15 extra seconds.

I seem to remember the first $1M prize was, as I thought at the time, "dispensed with rather quickly."

[Ted]

The stopdown was NOT 45 minutes, at least not in my recollection.  Maybe more like 15 to 20.  As I posted earlier, lots of conversations were taking place across the stage.  I already suspected Terry had a perfect bid because the moment he announced his bid, Kathy walked over and stared into the puppet theater screen.  I'm sure some communication was happening even then.  By the time they went to commercial, probably just about every staff member knew what was going on. 

Kathy spoke to Drew and although he was trying to keep a poker face, I could tell he was being told something significant.  They also had a cameraman take shots of Terry's wife and me (although the red light wasn't on, I could tell that's what they were doing, since the camera was looking right at her and right at me a few moments later).  During the stopdown,  they played jazzy music to keep the audience pumped and Drew did NOT retire to his dressing room, but stayed on stage the whole time while decisions were being made.

Having now perused the show a bit, did anybody notice that they avoided shooting me at all during the one-bids?  I don't know if that was done during the taping or in post-production (I would imagine it would be very hard to edit to look the way it did on TV), but they always cut back to Drew when the bidder in the #3 position bid and then had a close up of the bidder in the #4 position.  Perhaps they knew ahead of time that I was a "ringer" as it were and avoided showing me giving any perfect bids on the air.  But it had been over two years since I had been there, so I kind of doubt that.

Oh, and thank you, John, for your well wishes. 

[Otm Shank]

Having now perused the show a bit, did anybody notice that they avoided shooting me at all during the one-bids?  I don't know if that was done during the taping or in post-production (I would imagine it would be very hard to edit to look the way it did on TV)

I was trying to figure out why they did that. It was definitely fixed in post. I wonder how that looked in 16:9.

[PriceRox]

After reading the recap here about what happened, I decided to watch the show online.  (My co-workers won't watch at work anymore and I stopped recording it)

As the show was progressing, especially with One Away, I really remember why The Price is Right put such a smile on my face every day.  Sharon was such a memorable contestant and just seeing her genuine reactions really, really made my entire day.  To me, it reminded me of the days where the show wasn't so concerned with spiffy prizes or green screens or anything other than making someone really enjoy their day.

Then Drew blows the entire day by making me remember why I no longer watch.  What a shame to see him singlehandledly destroy an American tradition.

[Todd]

Ok, time for my actual breakdown of the rest of the show, since I haven't posted it yet. Minus the showcase reveal, Drew was on his A game today!

Pre-Any#: There's some nice interaction with Drew and a contestant! I loved this bit with David!

Any#: Terrible editing here, but a nice comeback from David, we get to see the CBS curtains, and we get to see Drew lifted high into the air!

Pre-IUFB2: Some more nice interaction, but yet again some bad editing.

IITB: Is this the second time in a row someone who would've had the win bailed out?

IUFB3: CLANGER!

SCSD1: Oh, now even Price is trashing Vista!

One Away: Yay! Sound effects lady is back and better than ever! Sharon was one of the best contestants this season, hands down.

SCSD2: "Showcases are next, best part of the show, you don't wanna miss it!" Hmm, trying to tell us something Drew?

SC1: This was a great showcase! An awesome idea and it worked really well! Oh, and Frank, I thought the exact same thing about Karen.
SC2: Well, that's a cool use of the green screen.

[MrPlinko]

Thanks Ted for your insight,

I agree with everyone.  You did NOTHING wrong,  In fact you did everything right!  If the producers are concerned over a perfect showcase bid where a LFAT knew the combined prices of the prizes, they should use different products in rotation more often.

Don't blame the veteran viewers of the show.  This brings to mind, what Bob would have done in this situation?  Obviously he would have done this historic reveal 1000x better than what Drew did.  But I wonder if the same "attitudes" would have been in the air if Bob and Roger had been there?  I wonder if they know about this?  I would love to hear their thoughts!

Obviously, you can't mention names Ted, but after the ARP of the Showcase Reveal, did any audience members, or staffers, look to you or speak to you specifically as in "What does he know?" kind of thing?

Anyway, I hope if you go back for more tapings that you are NOT signaled out in any way.  To do that would be a great injustice to you.

Joe

[JohnHolder]

Of course, there's a possibility that we're all overlooking:

Ted's contribution notwithstanding, it's entirely possible that the contestant is one of those who watches the show regularly and carefully enough to make reliable mental notes of prizes and prices. I'm not saying I'd be able to do this, but if you see the same prizes over and over again (as many have commented is going on this season), it's not out of the question that an attentive player would be able to remember the right three prices at the right time, and add them up perfectly.

In other words, Terry may really, honestly, be the best Showcase player in over 36 years.

John

[Wayoshi]

He would have been able to win "Switch?" if that was so, and then he was looking directly at the audience (Ted) during his bid, so it's very doubtful.

[tpirfan28]

I'm going to make a statement slightly off the current topic of the uber-win.

Did anyone else think Showcase #2 (ye Every Trip in The House) lost every single drop of excitement with the green screens?  And did it look really really bad with the cheap "house" they framed them in?  And apparently South Africa isn't known for anything?  Most likely unintentional, but it was really cool how there was a music bridge between the airfare/hotel and rental car/second half of the South Africa description.

[rodroddyfan]

Just out of curiosity, what was everyone reaction in chat when the exacta happened.  I was like oh my god a exacta.  I agree with everyone else though, drew blew it all with his reveal.

[Ted]

Obviously, you can't mention names Ted, but after the ARP of the Showcase Reveal, did any audience members, or staffers, look to you or speak to you specifically as in "What does he know?" kind of thing?

Nobody said anything to me.  Not nobody!  Not nohow! 

[MrPlinko]

Ted's contribution notwithstanding, it's entirely possible that the contestant is one of those who watches the show regularly and carefully enough to make reliable mental notes of prizes and prices.

Exactly John!

If LFAT's like many of the regulars of the board are able to go to the show to help contestants win, they should be rewarded, not punished.

Joe

[SteveGavazzi]

The second part of One Away today was some of the best hosting I've ever seen from Drew...although it certainly didn't hurt that he had a wonderful contestant to work with in Sharon.

The Showcase, though...wow.  While that bid was absolutely incredible, Drew's reaction to it was...barely a reaction.  I can't believe somebody could be so disinterested in one of the most exciting things to ever happen on their own show.

Speaking of that...does anyone find it appropriate now that the Big Doors opened on a garbage can today during Drew's entrance?

On a less important note, I can't say I cared for the new Everytrip prop.  It's just bland.  Showcase #1 was good, though...very, very creative idea.

Drew did keep the "sound effects lady" gag in today. Probably, other than Sharon's One away win, the best moment of the show.

Folks, please keep in mind that this episode was aired out of order.

You know why Drew was monotonous at the end? Because he realized SOMEONE ELSE helped him get that EXACTA. Someone else had those prices (well-done, random audience member) memorized. While I absolutely agree he SHOULD have been much more excited, I think that's why he got so down, which is weird, because he's supposed to love big wins.

So what?  Part of Drew's job is to act excited about things like that even if he really isn't.  You can bet your ass Bob wouldn't have blown it off that way.

At first, I smelled a rigging on that number. Now that I know that some person memorized the prices on all of the items and yelled it out to the contestants... well, I'm not sure what to think.

That fact sure did take the fun out of what I saw today.

Oh, come on.  Ted is probably the only person in the entire country who could have caused something like this.  I don't think anybody could have concluded that it had been caused by anything else, anyway...and really, I think it's pretty cool that one of our own prominent members -- in fact, the one who figured out in the first place that paint sealant and fabric protectant was what made car prices end in weird numbers -- is the one who made it happen.

I'm hoping the production staff learns from this and works harder on getting new items that people can't memorize.

Okay.  How many of those prices did you know?

And folks...can we please have a small reality check here?  No showcase is "begging for a perfect bid."  99.99% of viewers DO NOT KNOW these prices.

[tpirman1982]

Oh, my gosh!
That was so amazing! Terry got his showcase bid exactly right.