Friday, February 22, 2013

The Price is Right

"HERE IT COMES!  TELEVISION'S MOST EXCITING HOUR OF CASH AND PRIZES!  IT'S THE 60 MINUTE PRICE IS RIGHT!"

When I would stay home sick from school growing up - I would settle in on the couch - with the cable channel box (back in the old days, the "remote" was a push button box attached to the TV with a wire) and assorted drinks and snacks, in time to watch the 10:00 and 10:30 game shows (usually Password and Card Sharks) before tuning to CBS for the Price is Right!

My father used to refer to the show as the "Instant Greed Hour" - this from a man who used to be glued to the Wheel of Fortune.  I always wanted to be on the Price is Right - in my two trips to California the show wasn't taping - so that's something still on my bucket list.

I noted with some amusement this post from BuzzFeed with "13 Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Price is Right."  The list omitted Bob Barker's fear of Samoan women.
  1. Vanna White was once a contestant, although she didn't make it up on stage.
  2. The wheel was added to the show in 1975
  3. Bob Barker grew up on a reservation in South Dakota and is an official member of the Sioux tribe.
  4. The very first one-bid prize was a fur coat. Furs were not offered as prizes since that episode, due to Bob Barker's strong belief in animal rights.
  5. The show discourages contestants from wearing green shirts because some games use chroma key screens, which can blend into a contestant's shirt.
  6. There was once a "Price is Right" wardrobe malfunction.
  7. The Big Wheel can BREAK.
  8. "Pick A Number," probably the most boring game on the show, requires the contestant to pick a number to fill in a blank spot in the price of the prize they're playing for.
  9. One time Snoop Lion - née Dogg - played Plinko, and it was awesome.
  10. 74 games are currently rotated on the show. (32 have been retired.)
  11. The producers select the contestants based solely on their answers to three questions: your name, where you are from, what you do.
  12. One guy got famous by bidding $420 on every prize.
  13. The first car offered on the show, a 1972 Chevy Vega, went for $2,746.

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