The Price is Right - 5/31/12 Episode

I'm calling today a 6-for-6 day on The Price is Right.

Technically, it wasn't, as neither contestant who played for a car actually won a car. But they showed some common sense (a rare concept on this show) and took home pretty good prizes, so I'm giving them the 'W.'

In today's second pricing game, we had Morningstar (yes, really) playing for a truck in "Temptation." One by one, the models trot out four prizes (usually, one of them is cash)...

...and you have to guess which of those numbers is the next digit in the car. You're given the first digit in the car price (in today's case, a '2'), so here, Morningstar has to guess whether the next digit is a '3' or a '4.' And so on and so forth. In addition to the $3,434 in cash, today's other prizes were a portable satellite receiver for $776, a 32-inch HD television for $499, and a trio of watches for $595. So, each digit is a toss-up.

The game is called "Temptation" because you can just keep the prizes without doing a thing, or risk it all on the premise that you guess all right digits in the car. If you are right, you get the car and the prizes. If you go for it and lose, you lose everything.

To me, it's an easy decision: take the prizes. Today, they were worth over $5,000 total. Why risk that on the 16-to-1 odds that you have the right price of the car? And yet, most contestants go for it. They almost always lose.

Morningstar, however, took the prizes. And it's a good thing she did.

In today's fifth game, Dennis was playing "Gas Money" for a shot at a Chrysler 200 LX. In this game, you're given five possible prices for the car. One is correct, and the other four have money values of $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 and $4,000. To win the car, you have to pick the car price last, accumulating your "gas money" along the way. You can stop and just pocket the cash at any time, but if you keep going and pick the car price before you're supposed to, you lose everything. The game is difficult because the five prices are all within about $1,000 of the one above and/or below it.

The Price is Right - 5/30/12 Episode

Today's episode of The Price is Right witnessed what has been a rarity this season: two car games, two wins.

I'll start with the more impressive of the two, which came in the sixth and final pricing game: Jason's victory in "One Away." According to Price is Right Recaps, this is only the second win in 15 tries on this game this season.

This game was my favorite as a kid, and I still enjoy it now. The premise is simple enough: you're given a wrong price of a car, and you have to guess whether each digit in the real price is one higher or one lower. So, a car that really costs $17,493, for example, could be presented as $26,582. You have two rounds to do it. At the end of the first round, you're told (by begging the "Mighty Sound Effects Lady") how many numbers you have right, but not which ones.

Playing for a Ford Fiesta today, Jason was presented with $27,532 and went "lower" with the first four digits, and higher with the fifth.

The Mighty Sound Effects Lady told Jason he had four numbers right. And then...

The Price is Right - 5/29/12 Episode

Well, this happened today on The Price is Right:

She bid on the fucking tugboat prop!!!

Novel's $800 bid didn't win the surfboards, either. And she didn't cover herself in much glory in the next round. As the last bidder on a portable DVD player, Novel went with $900...

...when a bid of $651 would have done the trick. Particularly since the actual retail price was $780 - oops.

Novel finally figured it out in the last round, going $1,501 after bids of $1,200, $1,499 and $1,500. But Orchid (above, far right) won the pool table with her $1,200 bid, avoiding becoming a "first four" flame-out in the process.

Orchid didn't have much luck in "The Race Game," though (click here to see how the game is played). Here were her prices:

And the prizes were: desktop computer, women's accessories, treadmill, kitchen range. "The Race Game," like other timed games, requires poise and at least some retail knowledge. It also helps if, as I've mentioned before, you pay attention to George Gray as he's describing the prizes. The women's accessories - a pair of platform sandals, leather tote and sunglasses - were from Prada.

Prada.

The shades alone are probably $880 for all we know, so hearing "Prada" should ring alarm bells that the accessories might be one of the more expensive items here. As it turned out, it was the most expensive at $3,590, but Orchid went with $880 - and then never changed it. In the end, she got only the treadmill for $2,499.

Considering the presence of Prada, and the $880 just screaming out "desktop computer," this was a really winnable setup.

Pricing game WIN
Contestants went just 1-for-6 on pricing games today. The '1' was a hell of a win, though.

After getting a $500 and a $0 with his first two "Plinko" chips, here's Ryan's last two:

"Cover Up" FAIL
I'm going to throw a party when someone finally plays "Cover Up" correctly. You're all invited.

I know I bang on about this every time (here's my original banging on, complete with how the game is played), but here's the thing: this game is played a lot. Perhaps some contestants show up to The Price is Right on a whim without watching it beforehand, but not all of them. Surely, at this point, a lot of these people have seen this game played already.

If I can figure out the strategy, so can they.

The Price is Right Files is Taking a Holiday

While I'll be watching today's episode of The Price is Right, unless something bananas happens, I won't be blogging today in lieu of Memorial Day festivities. I'll be back with a full blog post tomorrow.

In the meantime, don't forget to thank a veteran, policeman, fireman, or anyone else who has risked their lives for us.

And that means if you happen to run into Drew Carey, you can thank him, too.

Drew Carey, Marine

The Price is Right - 5/25/12 Episode

Today was a fairly average episode of The Price is Right - until Alexandra's performance in "Lucky Seven."

Going for a Honda Civic LX, Alexandra took it right down to the wire. Playing along at home, I actually guessed the exact same numbers for the second, third and fourth digits. I "played it safe" with a 5 as the last digit. Alexandra did not...

...and was rewarded with a new car (I would've lost). Nicely done.

It would have been hard to top yesterday's 5-for-6 showing, but this was a solid highlight of a 3-for-6 (which seems better than average the last few months) episode.

Margarita also had a nice win in "The Bargain Game" (nee "Barker's Bargain Bar"). Here's the setup:

Both of those prices are "bargain" prices, and you have to pick which is the bigger bargain. I thought this was a trap game: $786 sure seems really low for a motor scooter. I've seen them sneak in $3K grills, though. I'd have gone with the grill, which at $2,049 was a $500 bargain.

Margarita went for the scooter...

The Price is Right - 5/24/12 Episode

What a day it was for The Price is Right contestants today: 5-for-6 in pricing games, and even the loss wasn't a total wipeout. On top of that, we had two exact bids on bidders' row and a $1 on the wheel.

Mary started us off with a "One Right Price" setup that was clearly meant to be won. Having to choose between a trip to San Francisco and Cancun, with $5,780 as the price, Mary went with Cancun. It seemed like a perfectly logical choice - no one would think a trip within the state of California would be over $5K.

Mary was right, but here's the thing: the price of the San Francisco trip was revealed to be over $6,300. Drew Carey did a double-take...

...and who could blame him? Had Mary been given the $6,300 price, she (and anyone else) surely would've gone with Cancun there, too. Given some of the evil setups there have been this season, I'm surprised they didn't go that route.

Matthew won a Hyundai Elantra in "Switcheroo" (here's a recap of how the game is played). After going 0-for-5 in the first round, he got three right numbers on his second try. Accidentally, he left one of the numbers the same (the '3' in the blender), so when it was revealed he had those three numbers right, it was almost automatic he had the car.

Matthew also wisely went with the '1' for the car. Most contestants eliminate the possibility of repeating a number in the price in these kinds of games, and the show likes to trick contestants accordingly. Matthew wasn't buying it, and was paid off.

The Price is Right - 5/23/12 Episode

After a nice vacation, The Price is Right Files is back! And to commemorate the blog's return, here's our first ever Caption Contest!

What's going on in this picture?

I'll tell you what's really happening at the end of this post, but if you have a funny alternative, email thepriceisrightfiles@gmail.com. Funny contributions, if there are any, will run in a blog in the near future.

Taking the piss on bidders' row
Stephanie joined the infamous list of "first four" contestants to not make it on stage. She had a unique approach.

Here's the very first bid of the show:

Haha. Very original. Very funny. Haha.

In the second round, here's Stephanie's offer on a desktop computer:

You bid $10,000. Yes, very good.

And then in round three, with bids of $599, $650 and $499 already logged to set up an easy win for a beverage center, Stephanie says...

So, having wasted space for a contestant who may have actually given a shit, Stephanie can now tell her friends she had bids of $420, $10,000 and $1 on The Price is Right. Awesome.

Stephanie did actually put her game face on for the second half of the show, but karma was not kind. Good.

The Price is Right - YouTube Classics

In lieu of not being around to do episode recaps, here are just a few of my favorite The Price is Right YouTube highlights that I've discovered in recent weeks:

A dramatic playing of "3 Strikes" for an awesome car:

 

Going back to the Bob Barker era, here's a perfect playing of "The Dice Game":

A "Cliffhangers" malfunction just adds to this epic win, which also featured an appearance from a young Roger Dobkowitz (a couple years before he became producer of The Price is Right):

"You won a million bucks! You won a million bucks! You won a million bucks!" - Drew Carey, here:

 

The Price is Right Files - An Important Message

A note to my readers: I'm going to be on vacation, starting today through Tuesday, May 22. So, no The Price is Right episode recaps during that time.

I know what you're all thinking...

                                        

I will still be setting up a few posts to pop up throughout the week to keep the blog relatively fresh.

For daily recaps, I recommend my two favorite TPIR-related sites: Golden-Road.net and The Price is Right Recaps. Both have been wonderful, entertaining resources for me as I've gotten my blog off the ground.

I'll be back to the daily recaps starting Wednesday, May 23. Until then, thank you to everyone who's read this blog so far. I look forward to returning.

The Price is Right - 5/11/12 Episode (Part 2)

For the first part of today's The Price is Right episode review, click here.

As part of today's Mothers' Day special episode of The Price is Right, Florence Henderson (of "The Brady Bunch" fame) was part of the show as a guest host/model/etc. Drew Carey introduced her prior to the first pricing game.

During Flo's opening comments about Mothers' Day, she says, "I know what mothers really want for Mothers' Day, and it isn't candy. It's eye candy."

At which point we're introduced to Johannes.

The thing is, he was introduced simply as "Johannes." No last name, no clue as to who he is - nothing. So, who is he? Flo's adopted son? Her lover? A model? The Rock's stunt double?

(According to Price is Right Recaps, he's personal trainer Johannes Brugger. So, there you have it - a little info during the actual show would've been nice.)

And here's my other thought: For the Fathers' Day episode - if they even do one - are we going to have an old man introducing some female "eye candy"? No, because that would be sexist and creepy, of course. I don't begrudge women's right to check out hot, muscular dudes, and the full-time The Price is Right models more than fill the "eye candy" quota for men. Just pointing out a little double standard there.

Oops
During the playing of Lucky Seven (covered in the first half of this review), Drew made it a point to say how "rugged" the SUV was. Here's Johannes and Flo bringing the car out on stage:

And here's why Drew went out of his way to mention the ruggedness (note: this didn't make the cut for television. This clip is courtesy of CBS' YouTube channel): 

                   

I'm glad I didn't make the "Good thing the man was driving" joke for the photo above.

Pricing game FAIL
In honor of the happy-go-lucky spirit of today's episode, I won't go on a diatribe of dumb bids on bidders' row (even though there were a few). There were some pricing game gaffes, however, that just can't be ignored.

Nikki and Lora were first on stage, playing "It's in the Bag" for the chance to win $16,000. Here's the setup: you get six groceries...

...with five prices that you have to match to the groceries. If you get the first one right, it's $1,000, and then the money doubles from there on out, up to $16,000 if you get all five. You can stop and pocket the cash at any time, but if you keep going and are wrong, you lose everything.

Usually, the first two are really easy. Today was no different: the prices were $1.19 and $16.07, by far the least and most expensive prices shown. Looking at the items above, it's obviously the tissues and Allegra, right?

Nikki/Lora went with the tissues and... the coffee pods! Game over. What did those coffee pods actually cost?

Just missed!

Our other loss today came from Sharice and Ryan playing "Secret X." This is the tic-tac-toe game where an 'X' is hidden in the middle column, and you can get up to three X's to complete the tic-tac-toe to win the prize. You get one free 'X' and earn the other two by guessing the price of two items.

The first item seemed to be a slam dunk: $15 or $48 for what was basically a little towel rack with suction cups. For some reason, Sharice/Ryan thought this product to be $48. Rachel had to deliver the bad news...

...which Sharice did not take well.

They actually got the second, more difficult prize ($40 instead of $65 for a food processor) correct, giving them a shot at winning. I had a hunch the 'X' would be on top; Sharice/Ryan guessed the middle.

I was right.

LOLZ
This mother/daughter combo obviously has a sense of humor:

Yup, it's Donna and Dona! I assume Dona is short for Donatella or something, but still... very interesting.

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

The Price is Right - 5/11/12 Episode (Part 1)

Today was the Mothers' Day special episode of The Price is Right. I have mixed feelings about these gimmicky type shows, but after a skeptical start, I came around on this one.

Prior to the third round of bidders' row, Gwendolyn brought along her husband and 4-year old son Molloy for a big announcement:

  

Hoop heads will, of course, recognize Mr. Osborne as Kenny Smith, current NBA on TNT pundit and starting point guard on the back-to-back NBA champion Houston Rockets teams of 1994 and 1995.

As if that wasn't awww-dorable enough, Molloy then shows his mom she may have some competition for "best model in the family."

I've watched this several times already and still laugh at the 1:05 mark every time.

(Yes, that was Florence Henderson modeling the jewelry. More on her, and the guy showing off the computer/television in Part 2 tonight.)

Pricing game WIN
After winning the flowers following Gwendolyn's announcement, Patricia and Emilee played for a Ford Escape XLT in "Lucky Seven." After an inauspicious start left them with just $2 for the last two digits, here's how it played out:

That's a hell of a win. The '5' is as good a guess as any on the last digit, but getting close to the '9' on the fourth digit required a good amount of logic (and a little bit of luck). That fourth number dooms most contestants that play this game.

To close out the pricing games, Patricia and Abby played for a Mini-Cooper in "The Money Game" (Here's a reminder on how it's played). Today's setup looked like any other for this game:

We can say with just about 100 percent certainty that the first two digits are 22, 23 or 24. As I mention in the link above, I think the strategy here is to get the last two digits first. Nobody plays it that way, and neither did Patricia/Abby, who went with 24 first. They missed.

Then it got interesting - they picked 30. Whether they changed strategy on the fly or thought this was a $30K car, I can't be sure (my guess is the latter, but you never know). Regardless, the 30 was correct - as the last two digits.

From there, it was a piece of cake, as they had three tries left but only the 22 and 23 as logical guesses for the first two digits. After missing on 23, they hit on 22 and won the car.

And good times were had by all.

In what I'm sure wasn't fixed in the least to make the Mothers' Day episode a happy occasion, contestants went 4-2 in pricing games (including 2-0 in car games), two $1 spins on the wheel, and a Lexus convertible win in the Showcase round.

Part 2 of this episode review can be read here.

The Price is Right - 5/10/12 Episode

Today was a pretty boring episode of The Price is Right, so this is going to be relatively short.

Let's take a look at the highlight of the day: David winning a new truck in "Grocery Game." This is my favorite grocery-related game.

 

It requires strategy, retail know-how and has a cool setup, including Rachel operating an old-school cash register with the spinny numbers. The purpose of the game is to "buy" groceries until you get to a price between $20 and $21.

And David nailed it.

 

Here he is with his truck:

"It's got wheels!"

David was the star of the day, as he also won an epic Showcase duel with Felipe (who wiped out on "Gas Money" earlier in the show).

To get two bids that close is rare. Felipe looked like he had his iPhone/iMac computer/Prius in the bag, but David topped him with a $28,300 bid on his snorkeling gear/Belize/ski boat package. Well done.

Pricing game FAIL
There were a few of these today. In addition to Felipe, we had Francina asking for the first digit and then getting the next two wrong in "2 for the Price of 1" (a double fail), and Jason blowing "Swap Meet" (by guessing that two pairs of Gucci heels and two pairs of Gucci sunglasses were only $1,650).

The Price is Right - 5/9/12 Episode

Having hosted hundreds of episodes of The Price is Right, Drew Carey is entitled to get a little confused every now and then.

Today was one of those days, as in the first round on bidders' row, he had a tough time discerning who had won. Apparently, the contestants couldn't quite figure it out, either.

Observe Pamela's and Jermaine's Pavlovian response when Drew points to them, even though they had overbid.

So Jeffrey gets on stage with the opportunity to win a car in "Let 'Em Roll." The game looks like this:

You get one free roll of the dice, with the chance to win two more by guessing the prices of a few grocery items. Jeffrey went 1-for-2, so he had two rolls. Each of the five die have three car symbols and three cash values (one each of $1,500, $1,000 and $500). After your first roll, you can keep the cash that comes up (assuming you didn't roll five cars) or take the die that didn't come up car and try again. If you don't have five cars after your last roll, you get whatever cash you got on that last roll.

Here's the result of Jeffrey's first roll:

Again, here's why I'd be a boring game show contestant: I'd pocket the $3,500 and call it a day. Maybe if the odds of rolling three cars were a little better than the 8-to-1 that it is here, I'd consider taking the risk. But $3,500 is a pretty good cash haul from this game.

Jeffrey, naturally, went for the car. He didn't get it, and took home $2,000 instead.

Drama and intrigue
Today, we saw why "Any Number" is the best game on The Price is Right.

The Price is Right - 5/8/12 Episode

Regular readers of The Price is Right Files may not believe this, but I have a heart.

Yes, I criticize contestants on a fairly regular basis. But those are the stupid ones. If a smart contestant makes a good effort, I can appreciate them.

Zachary was one of those contestants today, and I genuinely felt sorry for him watching the show. He was a "first four" contestant that never got on stage today. While most people have this happen to them because they're clueless, Zachary was anything but.

Here he (second from right) is bidding last on some gardening equipment, playing it perfectly, only to have Diana get it exactly right...

Now, here's Zachary bidding third on a dishwasher, again making a terrific bid...

...only to have the actual retail price be $799.

Bidding third in the final round, Zachary knew he was screwed as soon as Wesam bid just over him. And he was right...

Zachary clearly knew the machinations of The Price is Right. On his $901 bid above, as soon as the bell went off signifying that someone was exactly right, you could see Zachary shake his head and say, "Dammit." He knew what was up.

Players like this deserve better.

Stage tomfoolery
A couple people who did win on bidders' row, however, had some interesting entrances. Here's Octavia unexpectedly jumping into Drew Carey's arms, then doing a dance:

The Price is Right - 5/7/12 Episode (Part 2)

In the first part of today's The Price is Right episode review, we saw plenty of win.

Let's see some fail.

We'll start with Megan's tutorial of how not to play "The Race Game":

Let's break down this performance:

1) When will people learn to not look back to the crowd during a timed game? If Drew Carey is yelling at you, you're doing it wrong.

2) Upon learning she had zero correct prices on her first pull, Megan then changes just two of the prices. This wouldn't be a bad strategy... if you had more than eight seconds left for the second pull.

3) After discovering she had one correct price on her second pull, Megan then goes back and changes the two prices she switched after the first pull - when she had zero. Savvy.

4) Megan apparently thinks a desktop computer goes for either $2,880 or $5,299. In 2012. With a motorcycle and fancy kitchen range also in play. Fascinating.

Next up we have Thomas playing "Hi-Lo."

Here's the setup:

The premise of the game is simple: pick the three most expensive of the six items, and you win the prize (today, it was a new dining room). Today's items were Bailey's non-alcoholic coffee creamer, Unisom sleep tablets (48 count), Kraft American cheese singles, children's Allegra, Aspercreme heat gel...

...and this thing of makeup:

Like Thomas, I'm a dude who's never shopped for makeup (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt). While I'm aware these kinds of products can probably be expensive, I don't think this little thing quite measures up in price to, say, sleep tablets. Yet when Drew asked Thomas for the one thing he was sure was the most expensive, while all six items were still on the table, he went with the makeup ($5.51). He then picked the sleep tablets ($12.39) and heat gel ($6.79). Not that it matters what order you pick the three most expensive items in, but that still struck me as curious.

Thomas left the children's Allegra on the table. That cost $10.78, so he was drawing dead after picking the makeup.

A classic game
I've watched The Price is Right everyday since I started this blog a little over a month ago, and had been watching it pretty consistently for a couple months before that. Every once in a while, a game that I haven't seen since I was kid will still pop up.

Today, that game was "Spelling Bee":

You get two free chooses of those 30 cards, and if you can guess the price of three small prizes with reasonable accuracy, you get three more cards. Alicia got one of the prizes right on the nose, giving her the three extra cards automatically.

The point of the game is to spell "car." There are 11 C's, 11 A's, six R's and two automatic winners that say "car." Each of the cards is also worth $1,000, so you can stop at any time and just take whatever money is left.

Personally, if I got all five cards, I'd just take the $5,000 and run (which would make for boring television, I realize). Nobody ever actually does that, though, and Alicia got off to a good enough start with a "C" and an "A." Unfortunately, it was three C's after that. Cue that losing horn.

The Price is Right - 5/7/12 Episode (Part 1)

Robert won The Price is Right today.

And thanks to him, we now know the combined value of a set of Oakley his/her sunglasses and watches, Hyundai Sonata, $26,000 cash, six pairs of Asics running shoes and a BMW 128i Coupe.

That is an astronomical figure.

And as if that wasn't enough, he even got to wear a legit Olympic gold medal, courtesy of U.S. decathlete Bryan Clay.

He was way more pumped about the possibility of winning the Hyundai Sonata, though:

And he won it, playing the (formerly?) difficult "That's Too Much." I say formerly in parentheses because that's three winners in the last month on a game that had barely been won at all this season. He even rode it almost to the end before saying, "That's Too Much," which almost never works. But it did today.

I'm not even going to bother with a video of it (click here if you need a reminder on how it's played) because it wasn't his biggest highlight. After spinning 40-60 for a dollar (and $1,000 cash) on the wheel, here's his bonus spin:

Any time you hear this sound, you know something big has just happened.

To cap it off, Robert won the sneakers/BMW Showcase with a bid of $31,229 (actual price: $37,125). Given that his opponent, Megan, vastly underbid the first Showcase ($22,253 for a hot tub, trip to Hawaii and an African safari), I wouldn't put it past Robert to have purposely bid well under, but close enough that he knew he'd have it won. There's a certain advantage to bidding on the second Showcase, depending on what the first bidder has done. Whether he did it on purpose or not, Robert took full advantage.

And as if all of that wasn't enough, he got in a super-long hug with Rachel after his pricing game victory.

Click here for Part 2 of my recap of the May 7, 2012 episode of The Price is Right.

The Price is Right - 5/4/12 Episode

I'm not quite as obsessed with Plinko as many other The Price is Right fans are, but it can sometimes make for riveting television. The exultation of a $10,000 chip, matched by the utter despair of the $0 chip. Fortunes hang in the balance and can change in a second.

Today, Kyong's playing of Plinko gave me goosebumps.

That's pretty damn good.

Kyong earned her three extra Plinko chips with some sound pricing strategy (including the generally accurate principle that if they give you a '0' for the second number as an option, take it. She did twice, and won a chip both times).

Kyong's highlight reel wasn't over. At the wheel, Mary has just gotten a dollar. Here's Kyong trying to match it:

Mary got an 85 in the spin-off, and Kyong was one peg away from matching it and creating the most epic spin-off in recent times. It didn't happen, but $22,000 in cash isn't a bad day on The Price is Right.

The Plinko and wheel moments saved an otherwise fairly mundane show. There were a few highlights and lowlights, though.

Bidders' row FAIL
Ladies and gentlemen, let's say you're convinced the item up for bid is $900. The three bids before you were $775, $800 and $1,200. What do you bid?

The Price is Right - 5/3/12 Episode

Maurice had a fascinating day on bidders' row today. He joined the circus for the second round, and never got on stage.

Let's examine why. We'll start with his first bid on men's and women's watches:

What's the deal with these types of bids lately?

They were pretty nice watches, but...

Maurice appeared to have it figured out in the next round, bidding $1 over Vincenza as the last bidder. He didn't hesitate to rub it in, either.

Too bad for Maurice it didn't pay off.

Instead of sticking with the process, though, Maurice grew increasingly erratic. He soon went back to the $1-over strategy, except this time, he was the second bidder. This opened the door for James (who didn't win, either) to one-up him...

...which is why you don't do that as the second bidder.

It was then all set up for Maurice in the sixth and final round, as he was the fourth bidder. So what does he go and do?

Say it ain't so, Mo. Say it ain't so.

James, by the way, was another "first four" contestant to never get off bidders' row. Oh well.

My weekly "Cover Up" whinge
Someday, somebody will play this correctly. Someday...

The Price is Right - 5/2/12 Episode (Part 2)

The first part of my review of the May 2, 2012 episode of The Price is Right can be found here.

I left off the first half of this review with crazy Joshua #2 getting on stage to play "Step Up."

It did not go well.

Note to everyone: designer shoes aren't cheap. Especially if they're featured on The Price is Right.

It's moments like these where I wonder what Drew Carey is really thinking. He tried his best to play up Joshua, only for him to play the game like that. And this came virtually on the heels of that "Rat Race" disaster in the previous pricing game.

Not that Joshua seemed to know where he was too bothered by it all, once he was reminded that he'd get to spin the wheel.

Bidders' row FAIL
So, George Gray's facepalm in the first half of this review? It came after everybody over-bid on a sofa:

Here's the thing: Peggy (second from right) was the last to bid. The lowest bid before her was $990. If you think the sofa is worth $700 in that situation... just bid a dollar. It's that simple. Peggy would've won.

Idiot.

The Price is Right - 5/2/12 Episode (Part 1)

I'll let George Gray sum up my thoughts on today's episode of The Price is Right:

The first round on bidders' row pretty much set the tone for the day. Note the antics of both Joshuas (not that you would miss them, anyway):

We have Joshua #1 wearing a "Big Poppa" hat and a Dolly Parton t-shirt, bidding $1 right out of the chute. We have Joshua #2... well, I don't even know what to say there.

As you can probably imagine, both played a starring role throughout the show. Joshua #1's opening bid "strategy" didn't work out, but he went back to the $1 well in round two. As the last bidder, it worked.

And then this happened:

So, up to now we had a pretty entertaining show. Unlike most of the "characters" that appear on The Price is Right, Joshua #1 was actually humorous.

Sadly, he blew a really easy set-up of "Flip Flop." With a trip to Atlanta on the line, he flipped when he clearly should've flopped.

The Price is Right just doesn't do $3,500 trips when airfare is involved. Oh well.

The Price is Right - 5/1/12 Episode

Well, this happened today:

I would say that people should be made to take a basic competency test before being a contestant on The Price is Right, but then we wouldn't have classic moments like this.

Drew Carey was giving everybody the business today, which I really enjoyed. The last week and a half has been Drew's best stretch as a host since I started re-watching the show: engaging contestants, making fun of them where applicable, building the drama at the right times. He's been on top of his game.

And here he is getting a little dig at our old friend Daniel Goddard:

Top model: Daniel
They really put Daniel over on us today; he modeled most of the prizes up for bids, and even helped out in a few pricing games:

Daniel says, "Sorry - you lose."

Daniel says, "You lose again!"

The fact that Daniel's high level of involvement came right as sweeps month is kicking off is just a coincidence, I'm sure.