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The Price is Right isn't really a gameshow. Sure, contestents get are called "randomly" from the audience to come down to the podium and guess the prices of selected merchandise and, if successful in their estimates, go on to play idiotic games for other prizes. They scream and howl for whatever it is they've won, and sometimes those prizes are really great (new cars, boats, travel packages).
But The Price is Right is nothing more than free advertisement for thousands of brand name products. The entire show is built around people guessing prices of selected products (such as household cleaners, shampoos, and so forth). And the games are really just a front for the blatant advertising (the games themselves are pretty ridiculous and more of the show is spent announcing the product than playing the games). Whenever products are introduced for the various games, they are announced like a commercial (try Alkaseltzer so and so for fast acting pain relief from--insert brand here). Then, before they break to a commercial, they have to tell you what product made the show possible and then do another product placement (for a while during the early 90s, this was often Chia Pets and things you can find at Walgreens) and where you can find them. Then cut a commercial (many commercials). Then back to the show.
It is a show based on commercials and that is really all it is. So why is it so popular that it has survived nearly thirty years one the air (as of this writing, it is only 28 years on air)? Is Bob Barker really that charming? Or are people really that boring?
score /10
vertigo_14 17 August 2004
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0120681/ |
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1-11-2020 13:40:11