The Day The Lights Went Out (8/1/23 Taping Report)

[Thatgameshowguy]

So. I've been at 4 shows over the last 3 tape days. Everybody's going to have a report on Friday's first show, I'm going to talk about Monday's tapings in their respective recaps, so I figured I might as well write a report on the most interesting thing to happen during my time there.


I was in LA with my mother as she wanted to come out and see the new studio too. She’s nowhere near as big of a superfan as I am, but she didn’t mind seeing a fourth show before we had to fly out as we had a red-eye and didn’t have anything else to do in the area.
We get to the parking lot at around 6:15, which after the first taping where I was gunning to be OOA #001, was our usual arrival time. We liked being early enough to get low-ish numbers because it usually means a slightly better seat than being late. Even though they specifically seat people in certain seats, I noticed a trend of them still loading mostly front to back.


With our priority tickets in hand, we get pulled from halfway back in line to end up with numbers #005 and #006. We’re handed forms to fill out, which by this point I’ve filled out thrice before, so I quickly finish my paperwork and X out my number before getting through security. The process was the same as before with there being multiple checkpoints along the way to the interview room, one for nametags, one for making sure the paperwork was properly filled out, one for having our pictures taken, and one final one to take our cell phones from us. This was changed from Friday to Monday as they didn’t want us having our cell phones during the interviews. From there we got seated in the **incredibly cold** waiting room. They made it slightly better than on Friday but anyone who’s in the first 20 people or so will be seated directly in front of a fan blowing extremely cold air.


Hannah comes out and interviews our group and I notice a few people who I think might make good contestants. I always try to play along with the interviews and get a feel for people and see if I can guess who’s getting called. I won’t spoil anything, but after all the interviews I picked out 6 people who I thought might be called for various reasons, and I went 6 for 6 on it. The best tips I can give are be yourself and bring energy, because that’s what they’re looking for and that’s what they’ll choose.


We sit there for a while as the minutes tick by, watching 8214K with the crowd, snacking on a bag of chips while we wait. I talked with a few people, some of whom have also been at all 4 tapings they could get into, and some of whom it’s their first time being at a taping. Making light conversation, lots of questions as to why my number was Xed out so a lot of explaining about how I was on the show back in February and won over $53,000 worth of prizes. That may have put an idea into some people’s heads that I knew how the show worked and I knew it well. I tried not to be all “I’m a superfan so listen to me!” but I also really couldn’t shy away from it because other people from other tapings started spreading the word for me.


The Season 43 warmup video starts once again, and I continue to enjoy it. We get the word that they’re going to start moving us to stage real soon and a last call to use the bathrooms. Everyone’s super patient at this point and shortly after we start to make the nearly quarter mile walk to the stage. I suspect for reasons caused during the first taping on Monday, my mother and I are removed from the large group being seated near the front stage left side of the audience and are placed in the far back on the stage right side, which is nearly impossible to see from the turntable. I tried to follow the general guidelines of don’t shout things early and if they had a mic on me they’d know just how terrible some of the things I was shouting were, but alas they moved me for a reason. You’ll have to tune in early this season to find out why.


Once everyone is seated George comes out with his warmup, does the same few jokes, gets the word in from the director that we’re ready to roll, and away we go. Slate shows up 312L, air 10/3/23, and HERE IT COMES!!! The first three names are called and they’re from various places from around the audience, one of them was a person I had thought would be called down from earlier. Then the fourth name is called. I recognized their first name but couldn’t place them in the crowd. I’m trying to figure out where they are when all of a sudden they leap about 4 feet in the air right next to me on my left. Duh, that’s where I knew them from. They grab their mother’s cane and start swinging it with reckless abandon and end up breaking it while running down! It made for a nice on-air bit after it was clear that nobody was going to accidentally be beaten over the head with a metal cane.


I won’t go into detail about the rest of the show, but it was a lot of fun. I’m not sure how to write this out without giving too much away, so if it is too vague and hard to follow, I apologize. We get to game 5, the contestant runs up on stage with Drew, and George gets cued for a specific prize package and suddenly the wrong thing swings open, and the audience reacts at it accordingly. There’s a few chuckles from the crew at the mistake, but it doesn’t spoil anything that a superfan didn’t already know based on staging. Once everything is reset and the show is ready to continue, George starts reading the copy… and then all the lights go out. It was pitch black in there for maybe a second before the emergency lights came on. Drew and the models immediately run backstage while George comes down from his podium and goes back into warmup mode.


After maybe 5 minutes an announcement is made that thankfully(??) it’s not just the building, it’s the entire block that is out, and they’re working on fixing it as soon as possible. Some of the crew brought out a little Bluetooth speaker and called up 3 people to have a dance off to keep the crowd hyped up. Yours truly was one of them. The OCA people started giving out candy and ice pops to keep the crowd alive, given that most of them hadn’t had anything to eat of substance since at least 6 hours prior. After everything calms down a bit, the crowd is almost given free roam around the audience area. A lot of people run to the restrooms. I run down to the on-stage contestant and try to calm her down from the shock and help her relax. We had been line mates, she was #014 or so, and she is freaking out wondering if it was all a bad dream and that she wouldn’t get to play, etc. I give her some of the best advice I wish I had been able to be given the day I played. Stuff like “Trust your gut more than the audience, sometimes you’ll be the only person right.” and “They picked you to be a contestant, not everyone else. If they thought everyone else would be a good contestant they would’ve picked them instead. You’ve got this. Now win that thing!” and other little pep talks and reaffirmations.


After a bit, George got the crowd to quiet down and he pulled out his phone and actually called the 87-year old Mama Mai right there for all of us to hear. We all yelled “Hi Mama Mai!” to her and she told us all she loved us and wished us well. Apparently at this point in time the other models were backstage getting ready for the second show, which was the season premiere, and Amber had posted on Instagram that the power went out in the building. Adam Sandler comes out and gives everyone an update that they’re working with LADWP to restore the power to the building and thanks everyone for being super patient. He sticks around the contestants’ row area talking to people and I walk over to shake his hand and talk with him for a bit about how nice the new studio looks and from what I can see on the monitors looking like an excellent transition on-air too. At this point my mother walks over and basically asks him if I can have a job with the show. She knows I’m studying for a degree in Media Communications and would love to work at the show. To my surprise, he doesn’t give a flat no, just a generic keep in touch because they’re always looking for great people.


After that interaction, I start to roam around the audience area again, mainly in the back, looking at everything in immense detail. Being able to see the studio with the lights off, while an accident, was an immense privilege and I knew it. Shortly after that, one of the audience coordinators comes out and lets everyone know that they do plan on resuming taping, but it’ll be about 2 more hours until they can do so and will feed people over at the processing building. If you could stay they would greatly appreciate it, but if you had to go they were understanding. Everyone was offered priority tickets for a future show and were told that whenever they wanted to come back that they would be accommodated.


Walking the quarter mile back from stage to the processing building, everyone is lined up and to my surprise is given their phones back. At this point I pop online to let a few people know the odd scenario that’s ongoing and see if anyone outside our bubble has heard about it. Thanks to Amber putting it on her story, they have. We were then escorted to a new part of the Korean preschool being used as a processing center to where the show’s catering team is. Since there’s not just a commissary on the lot, it appears that the show has been catering lunches for their crew. Unfortunately, due to a lack of a place to keep everyone, the people from the second show were already down there, meaning that those who had been out since 6am and hadn’t had anything to eat, still weren’t able to eat due to them running out of food. As new food was on its way, the crew had announced that show 1 was about ready to resume tape and they will feed us on our way out as they’d like to wrap it up.
Only about half the audience stayed for the conclusion of show one, which means about half the audience was filled with people from show two. It’s going to be absolute hell on continuity, especially with them taping the showcase showdowns out of order, but I can’t imagine it will be too noticeable on air. Game 5 is then resumed from the contestant running up to hug Drew, and I notice that the game setup was altered slightly, most likely because part of the prize was revealed, and a bad actor could theoretically look up the prices of specific items during the break when we were given our phones.


Overall, despite the massive taping delay, the experience was still great. I had a lot of fun, I got to chat with a lot of cool people, and I got to experience one of the uniquest things to happen at a taping. After the show was over, as we were being escorted out of the studio, I bumped into Adam again in the hallway, who recognized me and gave me a quick hello. I’ve had a lot of crazy moments in the Price studio but for some reason having the director of the show casually recognize me in a hallway is one that’s still sticking with me.
This was taping number #4 in such a short period of time; I know by the end of it my mother was rather tired of me and while we possibly could’ve stayed for the second show of the day, the season premiere, we had a flight to catch and decided to head out.


Everybody at the show is the nicest, sweetest, greatest people imaginable. They went far out of their way to try to accommodate us and feed us and they didn’t have to do any of that. They didn’t have to let us stay for the conclusion of the show. They didn’t have to give us priority for future shows. They didn’t have to feed us. They didn’t have to do any of it, but they did, because that’s just the way the show treats its fans. There’s always been a bit of a distance between people like us here in the site and the show staff, not just for the regular S&P reasons but also because back in the day there was a disdain for the “new staff” and “new show” and I hope that with the next generation of Price fans (I *am* only 20 you know!) that the distance will come back to a  level of friendliness like it was in the early aughts. I hope the superfan show was just the start of a new relationship between the show and its insane fans like me. I know I might be a bit annoying sometimes when it comes to knowing every “important” date or try to know as many prices as possible but they’re definitely more than willing to let this little nerd sit in the room and try to help people when I can, and I appreciate that immensely. There’s no requirement for me being allowed in there, especially since I’m ineligible for another 9 and a ½ years, but they still let me in.


I cannot sing the praises of contestant coordinator Hannah enough, when the superfan show had to be cancelled the first time she had the impossible task of getting 20 of the show’s most diehard fans rescheduled to come back out for a new tape date on such a short notice, and even on Monday she became the person having to coordinate interviewing people for Show 2 while also making sure that us Show 1 folk were taken care of. She seems to be put into some challenging positions at times but is a rockstar and handles it super well. I also cannot sing the praises of the “pages” enough as well. John specifically was a highlight. I remembered him from the superfan taping at TVC and having him come with the show to Haven definitely helped with the transition a bit.


So to conclude, while I never had the privilege of seeing a full audience show in Studio 33, the show looks great, is in a new high tech facility, everyone at the show is great, and the future of the show looks very bright. Please tune in this September! I got to see a few friends have a fabulous time, and I hope you’ll have a fabulous time tuning in and seeing the new studio.

[LiteBulb88]

This could lead to a new pricing game, called Blackout Effect, to be played only when a power outage affects a pricing game. I don't know how to play it, but that's why we have other members of this site .

[SecretChip]

Great to hear! I plan on going in February and hope I have at least 1/2 the fun you had. Note to self bring snacks.

[SteveGavazzi]

Massive props to everyone at the show for how they handled this situation.  There's no good way to deal with having a three-hour-long power outage in the middle of a taping, but they obviously rolled with the punches as well as they were able to and did their best to make it not be even more inconvenient for the audience than it already was.

There will definitely be some notes in the timeline when this thing airs.

[FPGWillyT]

I was in the Church in the line for taping 2 Tuesday when the power went out.  About that time the fire alarm went off.  About the same time my back began to go out/hurt.  Knowing how much longer the day was going to be if everything went according to plan, I bailed.  Reading the delay after lights out was 3 hours, I am very happy to have bailed TBH.  I saw taping 1 Monday so I was happy to have trekked out to see the new digs firsthand. 

So, thanks for the post about what happened on “the studio side”.  I now feel better about bailing.  You’ll know, I was at the top of the stairs awaiting the turn it in and the photo 😁

Thatgameshowguy made some good points that should alert you as to what to expect.  SecretChip nailed it I think wanting to wait until February 😁.  There’s apparently many bugs to be squished technically.  If you’ve never ever been to a taping, there or here, you wouldn’t know.  My advice, give it some time. 

[gamesurf]

Everybody at the show is the nicest, sweetest, greatest people imaginable. They went far out of their way to try to accommodate us and feed us and they didn’t have to do any of that. They didn’t have to let us stay for the conclusion of the show. They didn’t have to give us priority for future shows. They didn’t have to feed us. They didn’t have to do any of it, but they did, because that’s just the way the show treats its fans. There’s always been a bit of a distance between people like us here in the site and the show staff, not just for the regular S&P reasons but also because back in the day there was a disdain for the “new staff” and “new show” and I hope that with the next generation of Price fans (I *am* only 20 you know!) that the distance will come back to a  level of friendliness like it was in the early aughts. I hope the superfan show was just the start of a new relationship between the show and its insane fans like me. I know I might be a bit annoying sometimes when it comes to knowing every “important” date or try to know as many prices as possible but they’re definitely more than willing to let this little nerd sit in the room and try to help people when I can, and I appreciate that immensely. There’s no requirement for me being allowed in there, especially since I’m ineligible for another 9 and a ½ years, but they still let me in.


I cannot sing the praises of contestant coordinator Hannah enough, when the superfan show had to be cancelled the first time she had the impossible task of getting 20 of the show’s most diehard fans rescheduled to come back out for a new tape date on such a short notice, and even on Monday she became the person having to coordinate interviewing people for Show 2 while also making sure that us Show 1 folk were taken care of. She seems to be put into some challenging positions at times but is a rockstar and handles it super well. I also cannot sing the praises of the “pages” enough as well. John specifically was a highlight. I remembered him from the superfan taping at TVC and having him come with the show to Haven definitely helped with the transition a bit.

Seconded--I've already sung the praises of Hannah elsewhere, but she is a rock star that really fought for the contestants during all of the craziness at the Superfan cancellation/rescheduling.

And John the page specifically deserves shouting out--we were near the front of the line (OOA 006) but some of our group group arrive a bit late at 7:30 after they had started processing (tickets say arrive by 8:00) and got an OOA in the 080's. We were all messed up and scattered and assumed that we'd be scattered around the studio. John helpfully pulled us aside and made sure our group would not only be seated together, but interviewed together as well, and told us to wave him down once the line had progressed enough to get us all together. They didn't have to do any of that, but they went out of their way to make sure our group would get to sit together.

Thanks, John and Hannah!

[MSTieScott]

(I *am* only 20 you know!)

Oh, that's why you didn't title the thread "The Day the Lights Went Out in Glendale" even though it was right there. ("The Day the Lights Went Out at Haven" also would have scanned.) Young whippersnappers these days...

[OneBidTris]

Along with the original poster, I also wanted to talk about my experience with this taping. There were many joys and pains between these 4 shows I got to see this week, but this was by far the strangest.

I'd been going back and forth pretty much up until game time whether or not to go to this show. Between everything that had happened the previous week and the group shrinking more, I had considered just calling it quits and just heading home, happy with everything that transpired. But the idea that this could've been the premiere tempted me enough to decide to see one more taping of the show (even though it ended up not being the premiere).

I had tried to coordinate with someone that I'd been next to the previous day (and had talked to a couple times during these tapings) who had priority tickets for this show, but I wasn't sure where they had been in line or if they'd gotten there late. So I got in line at about 7:30, roughly 30 minutes before the show, with my line vouchers/general tickets and ended up with #141 of about #170. Didn't realize how close I'd cut it, but I still got in and felt like a throwback to the early times I'd do these tapings alone. I did chat and connect with the group in front of me, so it wasn't a totally solo experience, plus I did get to chat with the other people I knew going into the day.

Got in, got my name tag (after my first one accidentally came out misspelled), and then before we got processed, we got interviewed by the staff. So, we're standing there with our papers in hand as they ask us questions about ourselves to see if any of us were good enough to be contestants. They were a nice bunch, but I didn't feel like any of them were going to end up as contestants (and none of them did). Although, there was a pretty funny moment involving asking a retired doctor if they could use them in case of an emergency. They mention that they were a gynecologist and then the interviewer mentions that there is a pregnant lady out there today. After getting interviewed and processed, we sat down in the cold room waiting for the signal to go in. Most of the snacks had been taken and we didn't have anything to watch before the warm-up reel, but we chatted with the people around us and I would also go up and near the window, mostly just to try and escape the cold.

First sign that things might not have been running smooth, after they do the last call for bathrooms, it ends up being another 15/20 minutes before we go in, they mentioned some hiccups preventing them from getting to stage. Take a couple more bathroom breaks, go down and around to the studio, and wait to get in. This time wasn't too bad and we could stay under the pop-up canopies comfortably, but I do wish I had my friend's fan to help keep us cool as the hot sun wore on. Go into the stage, admire the nice photo, get on stage and get seated.

Given how late our numbers were and how sidelined I'd been all the other 3 shows, it was nice to finally get a center seat, towards the back behind Red. We dance, George does a nice long spiel, and the show begins.

It is funny how many people end up getting called around me. People directly behind and in front of me both get called, along with the group next to us who also got picked later on in the show. It certainly meant that I had to try and help a bunch of people get on stage, and that was a scary feeling, especially after yesterday.

Show moves along fine, someone brings their mom's cane up for whatever reason, my attempts to help had moderate success, and everything seemed alright. There were some Russians that George was trying to figure out how to say Price is Right in their language, Drew pointing out someone who looks like Santa, saying they'd make good money off of it, and mentioning his own beard. The usual banter Drew would have with people, and the struggles of Glendale. Nowhere to eat, everything's far away, Drew and George are definitely still getting used to the place.

But things seemed to move mostly fine. Of course, you'll have technical booboos or things that needed to be reshot, but nothing out of the ordinary, besides that cane. Although, somehow Drew did manage to knock a frame off of one of the bid monitors during one of the breaks. We even had someone who'd been trying the last three days to get on the show get called down. Then that's where the problems started to happen.

Player comes up on the turntable to play their pricing game, and the reveal gets botched. Someone probably missed their cue, whatever, so they reset for the reveal. George talks about the prize for a moment, and then everything turns off, save a few lights and the exit sign. It's a good thing those cameras are wireless, even though they probably couldn't see anything in the dark.

Now, I've got through a minor power outage before, and thought this could've been a quick fix, but oh boy, it was not. No one seemed really sure what was going on, so we're all just kinda sitting there, waiting for an update, and then we were all just kinda stuck in the studio. Apparently affected the whole block, including an Amazon warehouse and the church where processing had been.

And then, it was just the weird thing, George mentions a smart speaker and someone starts playing music with it (Ring the Alarm and Here Comes the Hotstepper are still total bops). People could just wandered around aimlessly, so people definitely got up and chatted with each other, myself included, was nice to chat with the guy who got called down and talk about the situation with other people I knew. I also looked around the audience area, got a good view of the podium the models stand on to model trips and the smaller details on the set. Some could use the bathroom, others just patiently waiting. Highlights include the Mama Mai phone call, a dance contest, George having a sharpie and signing whatever (I got him to sign my shirt), even the director came out and started talking to people. A bulb also managed to break and then they had all the snacks. They were passing out waters, peanut butter cups, peppermint patties, even icy pops and popsicles. I think they just wanted to make sure the food in the freezer didn't go bad, but it was nice of them to have snacks available for everyone as we awaited news of an update with the show.

After about 30-45 minutes, as mentioned above, we hear word that it’ll be at least a couple hours and we’ll get fed along with priority tickets to a future taping if we stay. People did get an option to leave too if they didn’t want to and I’d say about half the people decided to stay. We go out, go into the processing area, and wait in line as we awaited getting food. It’s a new area of the church/school that we hadn’t gotten to see the previous two days. I’m not sure why they also decided to feed the people waiting for the second show, it meant that about 50 people (including me and one of the people in the group that I was hanging with) didn’t get to eat before they ran out of food and transported back into the studio. Shame, the food looked pretty good too and I know that people needed solid food after being there for 5/6 hours.

I would say that the amount of time from went the outage happened to when we got back into the studio was about 2 hours in all. George makes a joke about no one knowing what happened in all that time, but people will know. They just ended up putting people wherever and there were also a ton of viewers who weren’t there in the first part of the show. You’ll know as early as SCSD #1 and then during PG #5 onward. I still think I ended up being close to most of the contestants even after the fact, so even though our little group got moved from the middle towards the turntable, I still think you’re going to see us a ton this episode. It was funny seeing them change the first prize in game 5 to a totally different, but very similar item just to make sure everything was on the up and up.

I’d say the rest of the show went without a hitch, but we still had a couple things go wrong. Showcase podium showed a different difference than what was announced and it wasn’t even close. Didn’t really matter too much, but it definitely felt in tune with how the show had gone. Then the balls fell out of the hopper as they were getting ready to do the door prize (yes, they still do it and it’s still $100). We head out, get our phones, and they bought some Costco sandwiches and pinwheels to those who didn’t get fed earlier. A letdown for sure, but it was nice that they at least got us something and at that point I was ready to eat anything. They did ask if people wanted to stick around for show two, but I was already exhausted from the past week and 4 tapings. As fun as it was, I was fine getting ready to go home.

Everyone seemed grateful to those who stuck around and made it work. I know I was glad that they were able to pull through and make a show even with all the hardship and struggles that came with the power outage. I know that there’s a lot of kinks they’re working out and stuff they’re learning on the fly, but they’re learning to adapt quickly and I think they’re already starting to find their groove. Even just between Friday and Monday, it felt like they figured out what they needed to adjust, and I know they’ll be fine. It does feel more like LMAD processing than Price processing, but it still works out pretty similar and you’re still waiting to go in just like a normal day. Even when things were rocky, they still did a great job trying to make things right and keeping everything cool. OCA has been doing things for Price for years and they know what they’re doing, they’re just finding their footing.

I think it still worth coming out and seeing a taping, even if the location isn’t as prime or as glamorous as the old spot. They’re learning as they go, but it’s a great crew they got and it is a lot of the same people that do processing for Price and helping with audiences other fun game shows. They are in good hands, even as they figure out what to do with the stage and its surrounding areas. I recognize a lot of their faces and some of them even recognize mine, somehow. It will feel a little different if you did a taping at 33. However, at the end of the day, the show isn’t that different from what you’d remember and it is still a thrill to see television magic being made. There were so many different feelings and experiences in these 4 shows that you never truly know what to expect until you have lived through it. No regrets doing this last show and I look forward to seeing all of them in the upcoming months, even with the moments where it may not have been the happiest. But it is truly an honor to be able to catch as much as I have and that everyone at the show still seems to like me. And I hope to see some of you guys out at the show at some point.

If I forget to mention names elsewhere, let me mention people that I don’t think are here on the site for helping make this week a great one. Trent, John, Caridad, Chip, Aaron, Leonard, Taylor, Arlene, Nonny, Meghan, Lorelei, Ann, Donald, Sam, Celia, Tim, Olga, Kevin, and everyone else who I may have encountered there. Here’s to a great season and fun times at Haven Studios.

[jimmyuTPIR]

So how much different does the new studio look compared to the old Bob Barker studio?