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!

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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 - 6/7/12 Episode

Today's going to be more of a "quick hit" post, but here's a few things that jumped out at me from today's episode:

I thought the first Showcase that David bid on was sneakily expensive. For trips to Palm Springs and Ireland, and a Volkswagen Beetle, David bid $27,000. Playing along at home, I went $27,100.

The actual price? $38,297. Drew Carey gave it the "What?" as he read it out, meaning even he thought it was incredibly expensive. Admittedly, I undervalued the Beetle (I based my guess on $17K for the car, $6K for Ireland and $4K for Palm Springs, which doesn't require airfare from L.A.). But, even high-balling the price of the Beetle at $25K, that leaves over $13,000 for the two trips. Apparently, I missed something in the details.

So did David, but it didn't matter after Selena went over on her sneakers/home gym/trip to Dominica package (a $22,300 bid on a $20,344 prize, pretty low by The Price is Right standards).

Don't be that guy...
Who rubs it in after he bids $1 over somebody...

...and then put on a sour face when someone else wins.

Scott's bid was a good one, but enough of America already thinks you're a big enough douche as it is when you bid $1 over somebody. Don't give them more ammo.

A rare opportunity
Today's playing of "Now or Then" was for a car, something I hadn't seen since I started re-watching the show.

The Price is Right - 6/6/12 Episode

Well, this happened on The Price is Right today:

Henry may be a world-class prankster; or maybe he just needs a new dentist. Regardless, this was an epic performance on so many levels. Bravo.

Henry couldn't add to his haul of a fireplace and $500, however, as he misfired on "Squeeze Play" for two motor scooters. At the wheel, Henry lost his tooth again, and then couldn't match a $1 spin that came before him.

Regardless, add Henry to the list of legendary The Price is Right contestants.

The odyssey of Daisy
Today was quite a day for old people on The Price is Right. Let's take a look at Daisy's day on the show.

One of the "first four" contestants to come down, she was stuck on bidders' row through the first half of the show. Here's one reason why: for this set of luggage...

...Daisy bid...

In the next round, though, Daisy got it together with a $1,500 bid on a set of jewelry that was worth $1,505. When she got up on stage, Drew Carey commented, "You went from a disaster bid of $8,000 to being off by $5."

The Price is Right - 6/4/12 Episode

I'd read about this before, but I forgot today was the day until the show started: it's the "Wedding Shower" episode of The Price is Right!

More duos - in this case, engaged couples - bidding and playing pricing games! Because the Mothers' Day and "New Drivers" specials that we've had in the last month weren't enough!

And - here's a shock - it was such a happy occasion, all six pricing games were won! I'm sure that was not fixed or arranged in any way.

For today's blog, I'm going to go in chronological order of the show - a running diary of sorts. Here's how it played out, from beginning to end:

After the first four eight contestants came on down, the first item up for bids was a wedding gown and tuxedo. Rachel drew the gown modeling assignment, and since Manuela and Amber would probably look weird in a tux...

Daniel Goddard is BACK.

James and Cheryl won the prize, at which point we found out that all couples who made it on stage win a trip to Miami. George Gray delivered the good news.

After James and Cheryl won the prize, they got up on stage to play Plinko. They did well to earn all four chips, giving them five total. While watching, I wondered to myself who would get to drop the chips. Surely, they would split it up somehow.

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 - 5/10/12 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 - 5/7/12 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 - 5/3/12 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 - 4/30/12 Episode

Ugh.

That pretty much sums today's episode of The Price is Right, and that even takes into account a $1 spin on the wheel and an exact bid on bidders' row.

That was more than offset, however, by contestants' 0-for-6 performance in the pricing games. The first was the toughest one to take, as Kevin very nearly became the first to ever win $100,000 on "Pay the Rent."

Unfortunately, he took home $0.

Here's the set-up:

You get six grocery items, and each item or combination of items has to cost more than what you put on the "floor" below it. So, the items you put on the first floor (that blue "couch" and green "stove" you see in the photo above) have to cost more than what you put in the red mailbox there at the bottom. And so on and so forth, with the most expensive item up top.

What made today's defeat so heartbreaking was that Kevin played it correctly, and I genuinely thought he had it. What most contestants do is place the obvious least expensive item in the mailbox at the bottom, placing more expensive items above and leaving no chance of the top item being more than the floor below it. Most of these contestants take home the $5,000 or $10,000 - you can stop at any time, or risk what you've won already to move on to the next level - so that's not exactly a bad haul.

Kevin put the Twinkies (or "snack cakes" as Drew Carey and George Gray were contractually obligated to call them) on the second level, which was the right move.

Unfortunately, it didn't pay off.

I really enjoyed Drew's buildup, and Rachel looked legitimately excited about the prospect of a $100K winner. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Nor was Erin's trip to Rome on this brutal "Range Game" loss:

Would Bob Barker have asked how to say "That sucks" in Italian?

The Price is Right - 4/27/12 Episode

OK, first thing's first.

If this isn't the best picture on the Internet right now, I don't know what is...

Why is Manuela holding a puppy? We'll get to that later (nice tease, eh?).

For now, let's chronicle a couple terrific pricing game wins. We had Rodney playing "That's Too Much" for a Jeep Wrangler. This is one of The Price is Right's toughest games - according to The Price is Right Recaps, contestants were 3-23 coming into today's show.

Make it 4-23.

Take a bow, Rodney.

As impressive as that was, Kelly Anne's performance on "Hole-in-One" was better. A quick explanation of the game: you have to sink a putt to win a car. How long that putt is depends on your ability to price grocery items. You're given six items, and you have to guess them in order from least to most expensive. The more you get right, the closer you get to the hole. If you blow it on the first one, you're looking at about a 14-foot putt. If you get all six, you have a tap-in for the car.

Kelly Anne got a pretty brutal set of groceries:

Lighter fluid? A five-gallon keg of root beer? If I had played this, I might have been looking at that 14-foot putt. Kelly Anne, however, went blackberries ($1.49), lighter fluid ($3.99), canola oil ($5.29), walnuts ($9.99), root beer keg ($18), pain reliever ($6.79)... All things considered, that's really damn good. I mean, I know that's a big-ass bag of walnuts, but really? $9.99?

So, Kelly Anne had to hit a three-footer...

...and completed her audition for a job in television, which she had been doing pretty much throughout the show.

Bidders' row FAIL
I admit I didn't have much faith in Kelly Anne after one of her first bids: $580, right after someone else bid $599. But she certainly righted the ship.

Poor Adam, on the other hand...

The Price is Right - 4/26/12 Episode

Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good.

And since nobody is good at "Cover Up," somebody needs to get lucky to win it. No one had coming into today's show: according to The Price is Right Recaps, contestants were 0-21 in "Cover Up" this season.

Today was Naomi's lucky day.

Playing for a Hyundai Sonata, here was the setup:

Like everyone before her, Naomi tried to get every number right on the first go, which is not the right way to play (the "Cover Up" link above explains why). Like everyone before her, Naomi got the very easy first two numbers right...

...leaving her in a position where, as Drew Carey said, "All you have to do is get the hardest three numbers now."

Naomi's first bit of luck here is that she didn't get any of those last three right on the first try, giving her an extra shot (compared to most other contestants) at guessing another number on her second turn. Which she did:

The second bit of luck here is that she got the fourth number right (at 4-to-1 odds), and now that third number is a 50-50 toss-up. Get that one and, assuming you're wrong on the last digit, at least then you have a 3-to-1 shot at the car with your final turn.

Naomi did not get that third digit and, as it turned out, there was her third and best bit of luck:

And there you have it - the "Cover Up" hex is broken!

Drew and I share the same sense of humor
One last note on Michael Jackson from his "Thriller" video Naomi. The show was taped on her 30th birthday, apparently, prompting Drew to make one of my go-to quips:

Cliffhangers FAIL
As I noted on this blog sometime last week, I really, really wanted to see "Cliffhangers." It had been a while. It was the first pricing game out of the chute today, and I was pumped.

The Price is Right - 4/24/12 Episode (Part 2)

Read the first segment of my review of the April 24, 2012 episode of The Price is Right right here.

Sometimes, you have to learn the hard way.

Carol was the sixth and final contestant to make it on stage today on The Price is Right, doing so after earning $500 cash for an exact bid on a $670 cookware set. Her reward was a shot at a car, playing another of my favorite games (I don't have that many, I swear), "One Away."

Drew Carey always makes it pretty clear that, in order to win the game, you have to plead with the Mighty Sound Effects Lady. Carol, for whatever reason, ignored these directions with blunt obduracy...

Carol... Carol. CAROL!!! YOU DO NOT MESS WITH THE MIGHTY SOUND EFFECTS LADY!!!!

Carol's two changes were incorrect, and she lost. And that's what happens when you run afoul of the Mighty Sound Effects Lady.

The Mighty Sound Effects Lady's latest victim.

A Price is Right odyssey
Phyllis also had an interesting day at the office.

We'll start with her facepalm-inducing performance on the second round of bidding.

Phyllis (second from left), as the last contestant to bid, went almost halfway between the two highest bids. Instead of, you know, just bidding $576. Sure enough, the actual retail price was $875.

She got the hang of it, though:

Phyllis' bid, again the last one, didn't win here either. But the next one did.

And then this happened:

Phyllis then got one of the easiest setups of "The Balance Game" I've seen. Today's prize was a trip to Savannah, Georgia. I'm sure it's a wonderful place, but you know it's one of the cheapest trips The Price is Right will give away.

Here's what the game looks like:

The '771' next to Drew is the last three digits in the price of the trip. You then have to pick two of the three "bags of coins" with monetary values attached that will add up with the 771 to get to the price of the prize. Gwendolyn then puts her "treasure" on the scale, and if they "balance," you win.

It's a simple concept, but the values attached to the bags usually make for a difficult decision. I'd say I've seen this game lost more often than won since I've started re-watching the show.

Today, though, the bags were $1,000, $4,000 and $7,000. A $5,771 price for a trip to Savannah was pretty easy. Phyllis went for it, and won.

Phyllis then won the wheel - jumping right into Drew while he was going to commercial in the process - and faced off with Neil in the Showcase round. She won that, too, with a solid $25,500 bid on an iPod touch/Palm Springs/Mini-Cooper package (worth $28,979).

Not that Neil gave her much competition...

That is not Neil's bid - that is how far off he was with his bid. The package was four pairs of designer shoes, a six-night trip to England, and an RV. He bid $15,500. The actual retail value was $36,439. Just missed!

The Price is Right - 4/19/12 Episode

There is a famous YouTube clip from a The Price is Right episode, toward the end of the Bob Barker era, of a contestant with absolutely no idea what she's doing on "Ten Chances."

Even people who work for a living and don't watch the show know of this clip, one of the very few moments where Bob became noticeably upset with a contestant.

I bring this to your attention because of Kendra's performance today on "Bonkers." She did everything wrong - including constantly looking back to the crowd during a TIMED game - and yet...

My favorite part of this is Drew Carey, normally pretty affable with contestants, having to yell in desperation, "Put the paddle up there!" Even as I was watching this, I was writing my scathing critique of Kendra in my head.

And then she won despite, as Drew said, doing everything you're not supposed to do.

Drew didn't get pissy like Bob did, but he reminded Kendra of her luck every chance he got. And there were many chances, as Kendra got all the way to the Showcase (with a 30-60-90 on the wheel).

She won that, too, with an impressive $18,000 bid on a trip to Aspen, home gym and jetski.

What a start
Kendra's "Bonkers" performance - the first pricing game of the day - was part of a tremendous start to the show. In the next round, the item up for bid was a limited edition Star Wars-themed XBox 360...

(Model-bots not included)

...which Robert won with an exact bid of $650, allowing him to pocket $500 in cash straight out of Drew's pocket. Robert was pumped...

...and so was I when the next pricing game came out: Any Number. My favorite game! (I didn't make it the background to my blog for nothing.)