I enjoy The Price is Right for the play along at home factor and for the big exciting wins. Although there is room for improvement I still feel the show is far better today than it was in the late 2000s. Set updates since 2010 to Any Number, Temptation, Check Game, Card Game, and Clock Game have made the show much more of the 21st century giving it a fresher look and more modern feel. And it's always a great thing when LCD replaces eggcrate. LCD>eggcrate. Fact. I'm also glad that less desirable prizes such as pianos have become less common and more desirable prizes such as electronics are now more common. Meanwhile the creation of some wonderful new games, especially Double Cross with its enjoyable touch screen concept and Do the Math with its simple but substance niche.And the revival of Time is Money with a much better set and much better rules and structure. Some problems of the early Drew Carey era have been fixed. In season 37 there was a time when they would play a car or cash game first in every lineup. While the majority of car and cash games are in fact good lead off hitters, lineup construction becomes much more interesting if there are a variety of games that might be first. Fortunately we have reverted to having more variety in that lead off slot and overall lineup construction is far better than when Mike Richards first started. And around season 37 we also saw a number of retarded showcase skits. The pie in the face being by far the worst of these. Luckily such garbage is no longer part of the show. So how can the show improve? Well first reduce the number of themed shows. In particular, eliminate all playing in pairs shows. The Price is Right was designed as a one player game and should be kept that way at all times. And there's no need for a social media week either. Halloween and Christmas are events that lend themselves to good specials and Dream Car Week and Big Money Week are what the show is all about so I'd keep those. Rank and File episodes could be improved by a few simple adjustments. First, use proper names instead of generic terms. Have George say"Mountain Dew" not just"a 2 liter bottle of soda". Proper names enrich the show whereas generic terms give off a"meh" feeling. Next eliminate gender specific prizes as they are worthless to half of their potential winners. Then, eliminate contestants personal stories (which are of no interest anyway) and go straight from having Drew read the ARP of the contestants row prize to having George read the prize copy for the pricing game prize. This would have save 2-3 minutes per show and allow longer and better end of game buildups. Drew could wait a few more seconds to reveal that final price in Grand Game. The reveals in games like Range Game and Side by Side could be drawn out a 6-8 more seconds. This would create more tension and drama and therefore greater feelings of both excitement about wins and heartbreak about losses. This would also allow better lineups by reducing the need for quickies. The frequency of games like Coming or Going, That's Too Much, and Switch? could be reduced and there would be more time for games with more substance like Take Two, Danger Price, and 10 Chances. There could even be a few extra playings of 3 Strikes and Golden Road. Finally I'd like the full opening restored. "Here it comes. From the Bob Barker Studio at CBS in Hollywood, television's most exciting hour of fantastic prizes. The fabulous 60 minute Price is Right. The full opening was really fulfilling and enjoyable and really got me in the mood for the day's show. There's been some improvement but there's room for more. I'll go with 7 out of 10 here.
Review of The Price is Right
