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| The New Price is Right | |
|---|---|
 Opening logo of the 1994 New Price is Right. |
|
| Format | Game Show |
| Created by | Bob Stewart |
| Developed by | Jonathan Goodson |
| Presented by | Doug Davidson |
| Narrated by | Burton Richardson |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 80 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Kathy Greco |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Mark Goodson Productions, LLC |
| Distributor | Paramount Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Syndicated |
| Original run | September 12, 1994 – January 27, 1995 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Price is Right (1972-Present) |
The New Price Is Right was a short-lived nighttime version of the American game show The Price Is Right, which aired from September 12, 1994 to January 27, 1995 in syndication. This version of the show did not use the same on-air personnel as the daytime version which ran concurrently on CBS. Doug Davidson, who also appears on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, hosted[1] with Burton Richardson as the announcer. The prize models were Julie Lynn Cialini, Ferrari Farris and Lisa Stahl.
The show was produced by Mark Goodson Productions and distributed by Paramount Domestic Television (now CBS Television Distribution). This version had a different format, and significantly different rules, than the two previous syndicated versions and the early half-hour episodes of the daytime show. Almost all of the daytime show's production staff was involved in this version except producer Roger Dobkowitz. Some of the rules adopted for this version were incorporated in subsequent European versions of the show.
Contents |
Format
The New Price is Right differed greatly from its parent show in several ways. The entire concept, which had not been radically modified since 1975, was given a significant update in an attempt to appeal to a younger generation. Davidson was at the time a popular actor on The Young and the Restless, and Burton Richardson had made his mark as the announcer for The Arsenio Hall Show. The models were also younger: while the Barker's Beauties of the daytime show were mostly past the age of 40, The New Price is Right chose younger models in their 20s. The prize budget for the show was also higher. Non-U.S. cars appeared as prizes, which at the time were prohibited from the daytime show by executive producer and host Bob Barker and producers Phil Rossi and Roger Dobkowitz. Kathy Greco (then associate producer of the daytime show) served as producer, with Jay Wolpert (a producer for the daytime version from its beginning until 1978) also part of the production staff.
Each episode featured three pricing games, a Showcase Showdown, and a one-player version of the Showcase. Rather than waiting in Contestants' Row and competing in One Bids to play the next pricing game, contestants were called directly from the audience. Although some episodes used the Big Wheel from the daytime version, some episodes used a new round, "The Price Was Right", where the three contestants bid on the price of an old product after viewing a commercial for it, which was played much like One Bid.
Some pricing games on The New Price Is Right were played slightly differently to how they were on the daytime version. Games usually using grocery products were played with small prizes instead (Grand Game, Hole In One, Golden Road), and some games featured other experimental rule changes:
- Plinko: While the top prize remained the same at $5,000 per chip for a potential total of $25,000, the values of the slots were rearranged, and two $2,500 slots were introduced. The method of earning chips was changed to a higher/lower pricing format with three-digit prizes.
- Clock Game: The game was digitized, with no prop on stage for it, and the contestant was provided with a $1,000 range in which to guess the price of each prize. The game frequently used prizes with four-digit prices and on some occasions a third prize was awarded as a bonus for winning.
- Barker's Marker$: The name was changed to "Make Your Mark" the single time it was played on this version of the show, as Bob Barker was not the host of this version. This name was adopted on the daytime show in 2008 when Drew Carey took over the hosting duties.
- Hole In One: Small prizes were used instead of grocery items. When an item was chosen, its price was immediately revealed and then placed in line if it was higher than the previous prize chosen. On the daytime version, the price flags are arranged in line according to the contestant's choice, before the prices are revealed.
- Punch-A-Bunch: Instead of using an over-sized "$10,000" bill as used on the daytime show, the top prize was flashed on the video wall. On some playings Davidson pulled the slip out of the hole as soon as it was punched. The player then decided to keep the money or punch another hole. On the daytime show, the slips are not revealed until the contestant has used all of the available punches.
- Three Strikes: The first number was lit at the beginning of the game and the number could repeat elsewhere in the price. Four chips representing the remaining numbers in the price were then placed into the bag. These rules were adopted on the daytime show in 2008. Additionally, when a position was chosen by the contestant a red border appeared around the chosen slot. If the chosen slot was wrong, the border "melted away".
The New Price is Right did not use the traditional losing horns that its predecessors did. Instead, a faint "groan" on an electric guitar was heard, along with several sound effects of glass breaking. However, the international versions that used a similar format as this show (notably Bruce's Price is Right in the UK) did use the traditional losing horns for a loss.
Showcase Showdown
Unlike the other half-hour formats of Price, the Davidson version used the Showcase Showdown. Two different versions were used.
The Price Was Right
The most widely used Showcase Showdown game on The New Price is Right was The Price Was Right, played similarly to the One Bid on the daytime version. The three contestants were presented a vintage commercial for a product, and asked to bid on what the product cost at the time the commercial first aired. The contestant with the closest bid without going over advanced to the Showcase.
In the event that all three contestants overbid (which rarely happened), the bids were erased and began again, with Davidson instructing contestants to bid lower than the lowest bid in the previous round. A "Perfect Bid", however, earned no bonus (and was only accomplished once during the show's brief run).
A similar concept had been used on the original 1956-1965 version hosted by Bill Cullen, which had offered items like a car from 1919 with contestants winning a more contemporary equivalent. It was also similar to "Check the Difference" on the British Leslie Crowther version in the 1980s, where contestants participated in an elimination game to guess the price of a prize from the past.
The Big Wheel
The producers had originally intended to use "The Price Was Right" on every episode, but when tapings for the series began the staff had only been able to complete research on 60 commercials and products. For the other twenty episodes (mostly in the early part of the show's run), the Big Wheel was used.
"The mighty Price is Right Wheel", as it was called by announcer Burton Richardson on-air, was played with the same rules and bonuses then in use on the daytime show; the only difference was that contestants spun in order from highest to lowest winnings instead of the reverse.
The Showcase
With only one person playing the Showcase, the pricing game Range Game was modified for the New Price Is Right Showcases. A new prop was built with a $60,000 scale ($10,000 to $70,000); during the show's final commercial break, the winner of the Showcase Showdown chose a range at random between $3,000 and $10,000 in $1,000 increments.
A single Showcase was then presented. Once it was finished, the rangefinder was started up the scale. The contestant pulled a lever when they thought the Showcase value was contained within the range. If correct, the contestant won the Showcase.
Set
The set differed drastically from that of the daytime show. The Big Doors had different patterns, marbled door frames, and no border lights, while the Turntable was replaced with a large video wall. A black floor replaced the white floor used on the daytime show. The gray/red "CBS Eye" curtains in the audience area were covered with red curtains, as were the colored curtains covering the control booth.
Theme
The series used an up-tempo, smooth jazz-influenced re-recording of the daytime series' theme composed by Edd Kalehoff. This theme song carried over to Bruce Forsyth's Bruce's Price is Right in the UK (as well as El Precio Justo in Spain and O Preço Certo Em Euros in Portugal, as well as in Poland "Dobra Cena").
A redone "come on down" cue used on this program was also heard on Bruce's Price is Right, El Precio Justo, and O Preço Certo Em Euros, as well as Finland's Mitä Maksaa, even though the Finnish version used a different main theme song.
Broadcast history
Two pilots were recorded on July 16 and 17, 1993. Davidson hosted the first, while KTLA news personality Mark Kriski emceed the second, with Bob Hilton announcing on both. The most notable difference was that instead of a special board, a modified and repainted version of the daytime Range Game board was used for the Showcase.
Unlike the previous syndicated series, this version was not required to be aired in the late afternoon or early evening (in the case of the 1980s Tom Kennedy series, this led to poor clearances due to an overabundance of programs airing in prime-time hours). Many stations were able to air the show during daytime hours.
When the series began, a montage of clips was played at the beginning of each show, including brief clips of the 1993 pilots and previous versions. A shorter clip sequence was used for the second half of the run.
On stations where it aired during daytime, The New Price is Right was frequently preempted (along with Richard Dawson's comeback on Family Feud) because of television coverage of the O. J. Simpson murder case. Although The New Price is Right aired episodes through January 27, 1995, the show began to lose affiliates in December due to the anemic ratings.[citation needed] By January, it became clear[citation needed] that continuing the series was no longer worth the relatively high expense, and the show was canceled shortly thereafter.
This is one of only two American versions of Price that have not been rerun by GSN, the other being the 1972-1980 weekly syndicated series hosted by Dennis James and Bob Barker.
Aftermath
After this version's cancellation, many of its concepts were adopted by European versions of the show. Various prop changes and rule modifications carried over to the CBS daytime and prime-time versions of the show, with two of the notable changes being adopted after Drew Carey took over the hosting duties. The "Big Doors" used in the Davidson version were repainted and used on the daytime show from Season 25 (1996) until the end of Season 35 (2007), when they and their door frames were auctioned off for charity.[2]
Several of the personnel continued their involvement with Price after this version's cancellation.
- Kathy Greco, who had served as the producer for The New Price is Right, became the producer of the daytime version in 2008.
- Burton Richardson served as one of several substitutes for Rod Roddy on the daytime version (most prominently during his cancer treatment and after his death). In 1999, Richardson became the announcer for a syndicated revival of Family Feud, a position he still holds.
- Doug Davidson, who is now the longest-running male performer on The Young and the Restless, auditioned to become the next host of the daytime version after Bob Barker's retirement in 2007 (a role which eventually went to comedian Drew Carey).[3] Davidson is currently an alternating host at the live Las Vegas casino show.
References
- ^ Doug Davidson: Biography Y&R home page at CBS.com. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
- ^ The "Price is Right" Timeline from Golden-Road.net
- ^ http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-bobbarkerretirement,0,2893075.story
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