The Price is Right Files Sets a Record

I recorded yesterday's rerun of The Price is Right, with every intention of blogging about it in the afternoon. Right before I was about to turn it on, I checked my site's metrics for the day.

The numbers were, by my site's standards, through the roof.

The reason? It was a rerun of the famous Mothers' Day episode, starring Florence Henderson and Johannes the personal trainer. (You can read my two-part review of this truly momentous episode here and here.)

I can't remember exactly what this site's previous record was for hits in a day, but yesterday's total beat it by at least 40 percent. A lot of the Google searches were centered around Johannes. One of the best was "florence henderson and son on price is right."

And then there was my personal favorite: "was the rock on the price is right?"

I mentioned the likeness when I originally blogged about this episode. Judge for yourself:

 

The Price is Right - 7/3/12 Episode

If memory serves me correctly - and I can't be bothered to look it up - today's episode of The Price is Right was a rerun of the May 14, 2012 show.

This was also known as the "Craig Ferguson Episode."

I missed it on the original air date while on vacation, so I'm glad I got to see it today. Here's Craig's wonderful modeling of a Ford Focus SE:

Craig, who is pals with Drew Carey, made his first appearance of the day on "Pocket Change." With Rachel subbed out as the usual "Pocket Change" model, Erica was playing to buy the car from Crazy Craig's Car Lot.

Erica won with a nearly flawless performance, getting the second, third and fourth digits correct on the first try. After earning the 50 cents necessary to buy the car from Crazy Craig, Erica got to claim her prize from the guest star himself.

Craig popped up again during the Showcase round, presenting an impressive prize that included a trip to his native Scotland, VIP tickets to his show (not included as part of the Showcase price) and an Audi.

Bidders' row FAIL
Some of today's contestants didn't get the memo about the $500 minimum on items up for bids.

In the second photo, Rodney's wise $410 bid got him up on stage. What followed was perhaps the most anti-climactic "Rat Race" in history. After earning one rat, he picked the orange one...

...and the little fucker doesn't even finish the race.

Redemption
Rodney got the last laugh, however, winning a diamond ring, trip to St. Thomas and South American cruise after outmaneuvering Aundrea in the Showcase. Both were well under, but the $54K price tag really cursed Aundrea.

And, finally...
There really can be only one model for the karaoke prize: Rockin' Amber!

Follow The Price is Right Files on Twitter (@TPiR_Files) or email thepriceisrightfiles@gmail.com.

The Price is Right - 6/21/12 Episode

With the 40th season of The Price is Right recently concluded, they've gone to showing reruns for a good part of the summer. We knew this today because a) Drew Carey was wearing a tie, which he didn't do the last half of the season or so, and b) Gwendolyn wasn't pregnant yet.

Don't worry, everyone, she still is. (The blog actually got a few hits inquiring about this yesterday)

I hadn't watched the show in a week, and was fairly excited to jump back into it with a playing of "Plinko" as the first pricing game. And then this happened:

If you believe in karma, you will surely have to feel DeJoie did something to really, really piss somebody off previously. Particularly after she got a 90 on the wheel, only to be trumped by a 95 from Cynthia.

It just wasn't DeJoie's day.

It wasn't really shaping up to be Lori's day, either, after a couple questionable bids in the first two rounds. Here she is (second from left), bidding second on six pairs of shoes...

...and going just $22 under the previous bid, leaving an impossibly small window for victory (which didn't happen). Then, bidding third on a gas range, with bids of $950 and $1,050 right before her...

...almost the same thing. She didn't win.

Lori figured it out eventually...

...thus catapulting her on a terrific run, winning "Pick a Pair" for a trip to China, getting to the Showcase and then winning it with an excellent bid on cowboy/cowgirl boots, a trip to Calgary and a Toyota Tacoma.

While we're here, spare a thought for Jeremy (the guy who bid $1,200 in the photo above), a "first four" contestant who never made on stage. A military man being allowed to languish on bidders' row? I didn't think it possible.

Pricing game WIN
This hardly ever happens: a win on "Line 'em Up" on the first try.

Patrick did it today, though...

...with Manuela more than happy to deliver the good news.

An enjoyable part of this was Drew casually tossing it over to Manuela, expecting Patrick to be wrong and have to use his second guess. At 18-to-1 odds, it's easy to assume the contestant is going to be wrong on the first go. But Patrick made a believer out of all of us.

Commercials
Regular readers of The Price is Right Files know I enjoy my commercials, with a few in particular being my favorites.

Well, today, I'd like to induct a new entry into The Price is Right Commercials Hall of Fame.

Blythe Danner, congratulations. Your outstanding - and incredibly repetitive, seeing as your commercial is on just about everyday - work in promoting post-menopausal osteoporosis awareness deserves this extra bit of recognition.

"Thaaanks, Ed."

Previous entries into The Price is Right Commercials Hall of Fame are, of course, Wilford Brimley, Henry Winkler and the Hoveround Singing Guy.

And, finally...
Our old friend was back today.

Daniel Goddard!

Follow The Price is Right Files on Twitter (@TPiR_Files) or email thepriceisrightfiles@gmail.com.

The Price is Right - 6/13/12 Episode

The Price is Right will often set up games to be won or lost, sometimes more obviously than others.

In yesterday's episode, it was pretty clear where all six games stood.

Karla got a pretty brutal setup in "Lucky Seven":

As so often happens in this game, Karla got off to a reasonable enough start, only for a guess of '5' as the fourth digit to destroy her chances of winning. She needed to get the last digit right on the nose, and went with '3'. As we've seen before, random digits pop up in that spot on occasion. I had a hunch it was a '9', but then again, I've seen this game played a lot lately.

In "The Bargain Game," Matthew did what nearly everyone would've done (myself included) and guessed the motor scooter...

...only for that to be the cheapest motor scooter ever ($1,586, just a $500 bargain), compared to the apparently bionic washer/dryer ($3,198, a $1,500 bargain).

"It's in the Bag" was a typical setup for Aynne, with these groceries...

...and prices of $0.99, $29.99 and $9.99 to start things off. Bizarrely, Aynne originally tried putting the pain reliever in the $29.99 slot, with the audience immediately yelling at her that it was the wrong move. She changed her mind quickly enough to the krill oil supplement, put the pain reliever in at $9.99, and bailed with $4,000 during the reveal.

Then came the second half of the show, which producers decided would be the winnable half. In "Shopping Spree," Brooke needed to pick the three prizes that combined to cost more than $8,500.

The Price is Right - 6/12/11 Episode

I apologize I haven't blogged the last two episodes of The Price is Right - a few things have come up recently. Going forward, I'll still be doing my best to blog about every episode, but in occasional cases that may not be possible.

Alright, on to today's show. It was a day for both the young and the old. Let's start with the introduction of Drew Carey, which included Connor, the son of the host's ex-fiancee:

 

(According to those who report on such matters, Carey's motivation for his recent weight loss was to keep up with Connor as he got older, and that he was planning to remain a part of Connor's life after the couple split in January.)

And then we had Margaret playing "Clock Game" for a trip to St. Thomas:

Ohhhh booooy

To recap, after being told the price of the first item is lower than $900, Margaret proceeds to spend 15 seconds - that's half the time allotted for the game - and 17 (I think) guesses that are higher than $900. I half expected Drew to throw in a "lower than $900" reminder somewhere in there, as Margaret was clearly lost, but I guess that's against the rules of hosting.

Then, she guesses $850, goes back to $800 again, then goes back to $850 again. Concentrate!

Pricing game struggles
Margaret was the last contestant in an 0-for-6 clanger of a day in pricing games.