Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [59]
Having the ducks visit was really a beautiful experience, one for which I am genuinely grateful. However, when the beautiful experience was concluded, I had the pool drained, thoroughly cleaned, and painted, and I installed a new pool filter.
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What’s Right About The Price Is Right?
When I started doing the revised version, The New Price Is Right, in 1972, the show was an immediate smash success. Ratings were strong, attendance was robust, and the show’s popularity gained momentum rapidly. Still, none of us could have predicted that the show would go on to be the longest-running game show in television history. Many of us involved in the show continued to work for The Price Is Right for decades and decades. That includes directors, producers, stagehands, cameramen, models, contestant coordinators, announcers, and, of course, me. That is a tribute not only to the success and longevity of the show, but also to the fun we all had. The reason many of us continued to do the show for such a long time was because we all loved it. When you do something you love for work, that is indeed a blessing. We took pride in keeping the show fresh and lively, and we took pride in the tremendous success of the show.
One of the reasons for the fast-moving and always changing nature of Price was the number of games we had in the rotation. We constantly developed new games. The audience loved the variety, and, of course, people picked out their favorite games and looked forward to seeing them on the program. The fundamental concept of all the games was always based on price, but we had so many variations and so many fun sound effects, lights, bells, and amazing props that it was a kaleidoscope of visual entertainment. Nevertheless, these games were carefully conceptualized, and we continued to brainstorm and experiment and try new things. Of course, we would play different games every day.
We were not only playing different games on Price each day, but within the same game, each contestant was different with a different personality and the prizes changed, and it made for an entirely different game. Let’s say you play Ten Chances with one lady. The next time you play it, it is entirely different because now you have a male contestant or a teenager or another woman with a completely different personality. Who knows? And the game changes completely with the personality of the contestant.
I used to say when you watched Truth or Consequences, you never knew what was going to happen—because I was the host, and I never knew what was going to happen. I felt the same way about The Price Is Right. When I arrived at the show, they would hand me a list of the games we were going to play. I would look them over and I knew how we played them, but I had no idea what might happen with the contestants, and I would not know until I got a contestant onstage and saw his or her reaction and the audience’s reaction to the contestant. At that moment, I would decide in which direction to go to get the most out of the game.
And you never knew who was going to correctly guess the prices. Some people knew them amazingly well, and other people had very little knowledge about them. But on the show, it did not make any difference. A ridiculous bid could be just as much fun as an accurate bid, so far as the crowd reaction was concerned. And you never knew who was going to win. Some people knew the games very well, and others looked panicked and confused—but even those confused folks could surprise you. I couldn’t tell who was going to win. I have seen people walk off that show with hoards of money and prizes, and I would