The Price is Right Live - On CBS

[Mr. Weatherman]

It’s odd having the pricing games revealed this far in advance, but the press release doesn’t come across to me as ambiguous.  I believe we are indeed getting a hybrid version of the show with three PGs and a Showcase Showdown. 

I correctly predicted one of the PGs in the release prior to reading.  If you haven’t read it yet, you’ll never guess what game it is… 🤣

[Nick]

I’ve long said that the show could go back to live-to-tape if they didn’t have to hack it to pieces to fit into daytime slots

Or they could just accept the first take on everything instead of trying to manufacture the level of excitement or a contestant's particular reaction with multiple takes.

I don't think "live to tape" is a switch you can turn off for 15 years and then turn on again as though nothing happened.

If Roger Dobkowitz was still at that producers' table and Rich DiPirro in the booth, I'll bet they'd be more than happy to get back to live-to-tape quickly.

IIRC, even when Bob was hosting, a taping still took around 75 minutes because the commercial breaks were longer in studio than they were on TV. So there's no way now this can be a 60 minute special with 6 PGs, 2 SSDs, and the showcases and be live.

On the contrary, I can recall people repoting tapings than ran under an hour in length. You absolutely can do a full six-PG, two-Showcase Showdown and Showcases show live, though I'll admit that's a tall order. Still, it's the only proper way to do an hourlong episode of The Price Is Right.

I saw a taping a couple of years back where the First Four calldowns had to be entirely redone.

There is absolutely no excuse for this. So what people saw on TV was a fake reaction to the contestants hearing their names called reading their names on the cue cards? Ridiculous. The only thing worse than how much editing is done to the show now is how fake the excitement is.

The hallmark of The Price Is Right for decades, and many other game shows, was that it was like watching live theatre. The show was as live as it could be without actually being live. Sure, mistakes happened that got edited out, but more often than not, the taping would end with no editing needed whatsoever.

Perhaps the current regime should strive to adhere to Roger's first commandment first before attempting yet another "special" show.

[garffreak]

Shower thoughts.

It cannot be a normal episode  That release leans way too heavy into the backstage/behind-the-scenes action.  They list three games and spinning the wheel for a [as in singular] luxury showcase.

I like the thought of a modified 30-minute/three game hour-long show.  And time is padded with backstage action.  It would be fun.

But who says it's not a full daytime format, but in a 90-minute package?  I have a hard time seeing CBS give the show that much prime time real estate.

I just hope the 7-second delay is ready to get to work.

[alansh42]

At least we know they won't be playing the Lion's Share. I saw at a taping and there's a huge amount of stopdown time getting the contestant in and out of the wind chamber.

They're also not going to be bidding on dancing robots.

[thepriceis_J]

On the contrary, I can recall people repoting tapings than ran under an hour in length. You absolutely can do a full six-PG, two-Showcase Showdown and Showcases show live, though I'll admit that's a tall order. Still, it's the only proper way to do an hourlong episode of The Price Is Right.

I think you're placing the excellent work of the producers and the crew on way too high of a pedestal. While I'm sure they ran a well oiled machine that could get filmed in an hour, there are still *a lot* of things that can, could, do and did go wrong (and not even wrong, just not according to plan) probably more often than not, both while filming and during commercials, that could make filming time balloon over. It's not even about the competency of the crew. You get a game whose electronics won't boot up right or have a call down that takes ten seconds too long and it's a problem.

There is absolutely no excuse for this. So what people saw on TV was a fake reaction to the contestants hearing their names called reading their names on the cue cards? Ridiculous. The only thing worse than how much editing is done to the show now is how fake the excitement is.

I have to say that I feel like criticism of the show's editing has really been blown out of proportion. I'm not going to sit here and pretend the show doesn't edit nor that they reshoot. But this idea that the show is so fake because they're constantly reshooting contestant reactions is not entirely true. I've been to many tapings in this common era and the amount of times they've genuinely reshot a contestant's reaction is low and almost entirely because of an awkward reveal or technical issue, and not because it didn't meet producers' expectations. What you're seeing on air is generally not that far off. Again, I'm not saying that the show is better produced this way or that it wasn't better when Roger was producing, just that anecdotes from taping reports have been greatly exaggerated in my opinion.

But who says it's not a full daytime format, but in a 90-minute package?  I have a hard time seeing CBS give the show that much prime time real estate.

For its #1 show in daytime that generally wins its timeslot in primetime in the dying landscape of network television? They probably would. They gave them 2 hours for the 50th, but that was really special.

[gamesurf]

Or they could just accept the first take on everything instead of trying to manufacture the level of excitement or a contestant's particular reaction with multiple takes.

I’ve been to around 25 tapings now, and I’ve never seen anything even close to that. I don’t think this is a complaint founded in reality.

[Nick]

I think you're placing the excellent work of the producers and the crew on way too high of a pedestal.

Take any episode from 1978 and observe the production values. I expect only the same today.

I have to say that I feel like criticism of the show's editing has really been blown out of proportion. I'm not going to sit here and pretend the show doesn't edit nor that they reshoot. But this idea that the show is so fake because they're constantly reshooting contestant reactions is not entirely true. I've been to many tapings in this common era and the amount of times they've genuinely reshot a contestant's reaction is low and almost entirely because of an awkward reveal

The show is unwatchable now because of how pieced together it is. I checked out a playing of It's in the Bag a while back, and it was just a constant back and forth of shots between the stage and the audience to stich together the critical parts after editing out all the deliberation and any attempt at building suspence for the reveals. It neesds to be done in one take and with no edits.

I’ve been to around 25 tapings now, and I’ve never seen anything even close to that. I don’t think this is a complaint founded in reality.

False. I am speaking from my own experiences from the tapings I attended.

The most egregeous example I can think of that I witnessed in studio was when a home gym was revealed in one of the Showcases, and the contestant reacted in whatever way came naturally to her to see a home gym. They felt it necessary to redo the shot. The contestant gave a very enthusiastic reaction the second time, but then they told her they needed to do it again. The stage manager, or whoever it was, told the contestant before the third shoot that last time, in terms of level of excitement, "You gave me a ten. I need a six".

No, what you needed was to take the first take and go with it because it's a two-second reaction shot that nobody's investing a lot of time into seeing, and you need to pretend you're still in the era where you need to cut physical tape with razor blades to edit, so avoid them as much as you can.

[gamesurf]

I admit that it’s a possibility that things may have changed from your taping experience in 2013 to when I started going years later. I also admit that I have seen retakes for a variety of other reasons. If you had said “do we need to do prize reshoots during commercial breaks” I wouldn’t have said anything, because that’s a complaint I share.

I do not, however, think that it is fair to imply “manufacturing excitement in reactions with multiple takes” is anything close to what’s currently happening at a normal taping experience.

So, uh, good news! Your experience in 2013 seems to me to be unrepresentative of current practice and it’s probably not worth holding onto all these years later as representative of current practice. There are other reasonable critiques that could be made of the most common taping/editing practices at tapings nowadays, but this is not one of them.

[thepriceis_J]

Take any episode from 1978 and observe the production values. I expect only the same today.

As I said after that, it's not about the value of the crew, but about the things that are out of their control. How many games have we heard about with mechanical issues. Games that have been retired because of mechanical delays? Finish Line debuted and retired in 1978 because of mechanical issues that I'm sure delayed tapings. We've seen behind the scenes video from the early 80s of Any Number not working and them having to stop tape because it. They put out an excellent product, but that doesn't mean it was as smooth as peanut butter to produce.

False. I am speaking from my own experiences from the tapings I attended.

The most egregeous example I can think of that I witnessed in studio was when a home gym was revealed in one of the Showcases, and the contestant reacted in whatever way came naturally to her to see a home gym. They felt it necessary to redo the shot. The contestant gave a very enthusiastic reaction the second time, but then they told her they needed to do it again. The stage manager, or whoever it was, told the contestant before the third shoot that last time, in terms of level of excitement, "You gave me a ten. I need a six".

And you seem to think that this is the norm more than it is not. I'm sure that more than a few members would attest that while reshoots do happen, they're not constantly reshooting reactions to some specification or whim of the EP or director. Again, I don't disagree that the show is edited too much, which can affect how it is viewed, but it's not full of inauthentic reactions.

[Nick]

So, uh, good news! Your experience in 2013 seems to me to be unrepresentative of current practice and it’s probably not worth holding onto all these years later as representative of current practice. There are other reasonable critiques that could be made of the most common taping/editing practices at tapings nowadays, but this is not one of them.

I disagree but don't want to argue.  My point is that no matter what you identify it as--reshooting come on downs, Drew's entrance, reaction shots, prize reveals when there were no technical screw-ups, etc.--none of this ever should have been and ever should be happening.  The show needs to be shot live-to-tape and edits only performed when something goes so wrong you can't leave it as is.

As I said after that, it's not about the value of the crew, but about the things that are out of their control. How many games have we heard about with mechanical issues. Games that have been retired because of mechanical delays? Finish Line debuted and retired in 1978 because of mechanical issues that I'm sure delayed tapings. We've seen behind the scenes video from the early 80s of Any Number not working and them having to stop tape because it. They put out an excellent product, but that doesn't mean it was as smooth as peanut butter to produce.

Sure, but you're missing my point.  Mishaps have always happened where editing is necessary, but back in the day, they were striving to record the show with the goal of making no edits; and on a good day, none were needed.  Because Drew refuses to work live-to-tape, and the powers-that-are also have no problem with this, the end product is so heavily edited and stitched together that it's very jarring to watch.  The Price Is Right needs a host who knows how to keep things moving to keep the show on time, speed up when necessary but also have an eye as to when to let an enjoyable contestant shine, even if things start to take a bit longer than they should.

[illustriousrocket]

I have nothing significant to contribute to this debate, just an observation or two:

I've never been to a taping, but I did go to a taping of Power of 10 the summer just before Drew's tenure on Price started. There was one thing that happened during it that felt unusual enough that I've never forgotten it - they reshot a contestant's reaction to a correct answer at least three or four times, seemingly at Drew's behest. Nothing appeared to be all that wrong with it.

I wonder if he has grown out of that over the years. I'd actually be very curious if people with more recent taping experiences have observed anything like this, incidents where he seems to be the one asking for pickups himself.

[thepriceis_J]

Sure, but you're missing my point.  Mishaps have always happened where editing is necessary, but back in the day, they were striving to record the show with the goal of making no edits; and on a good day, none were needed.  Because Drew refuses to work live-to-tape, and the powers-that-are also have no problem with this, the end product is so heavily edited and stitched together that it's very jarring to watch.  The Price Is Right needs a host who knows how to keep things moving to keep the show on time, speed up when necessary but also have an eye as to when to let an enjoyable contestant shine, even if things start to take a bit longer than they should.

And my point is that I'm not just talking about mishaps happening that required editing. I'm just talking about filming the show in or under an hour and that even under the best circumstances, sometimes things take time. If they could get a taping done in an hour's time, and of course they strove for it, great. But there have been games, prizes, props and other things that I'm sure took time to setup even despite the best planning. Paul Alter once joked about waiting a half hour for Magic Number to turn on. They could be perfect, but the things around not be for a variety of reasons.

[illustriousrocket]

If this actually is a backdoor pilot for testing the viability of a format with fewer than six games, what if it's just scripted? A "performance" of The Price is Right, akin to the live performances of the classic sitcoms, instead of a live "episode" of The Price is Right?

Such an approach would allow them to get a handle on the risk of something going wrong live. The live and behind-the-scenes elements would be there to make it a special event as I don't think "The Price is Right with fewer games" is a hook on its own.

[Flerbert419]

If this actually is a backdoor pilot for testing the viability of a format with fewer than six games, what if it's just scripted?

I get the appeal, but wow is this a dangerous path to start going down. You would have people question the results of the show every day and whether it was real. I think they would rather not start the controversy.

[illustriousrocket]

I get the appeal, but wow is this a dangerous path to start going down. You would have people question the results of the show every day and whether it was real. I think they would rather not start the controversy.

Legal, but a complete minefield otherwise if they do it. There would have to be a huge disclaimer revealing it and even then I don't think most people would see or register it.

That said it's not a possibility I feel like I can count out. Commercial time eating into the show has been a major problem for years. That we just got the Canadian version demonstrating a possible way of addressing it, followed by this news right afterward, feels like more than a coincidence.

If they need this live show to be what introduces US audiences at large to the biggest format change in 50 years, they need to avoid any mishaps even more than usual. At the very least I think the non-game content is likely to be scripted.