Game Show TV Milestone Of The Week-Part 2

[AH3RD]

Continued from Part 1...

The first episode of The New Price Is Right, which came on directly after, saw Sandy Florinar, Paul Levine, Connie Dunnall and Myra Carter, beckoned by Johnny Olsen to \"stand up!\" and \"come on down!\" as its first four contestants. The first Item Up For Bids on this new TPIR was a $592 fur coat!!! Connie Dunnall won it and the chance to play the very first pricing game on The New Price Is Right: Any Number, for a $2,746 Chevrolet Vega, which she won, too. Other pricing games to show up on the NPIR debut were \"Which Is The Right Price?\", where a player selected one price from two possibilities (also won, courtesy of Paul Levine), and \"Higher Or Lower,\" where an item was shown with a price and the player had to decide whether the real price was higher or lower. Paul and Connie faced off in the very first Showcase at the end of the first TNPIR (The Showcase Showdown wouldn't exist for another 3 years), which offered, for the first one, a week's vacation in Acapulco, an Kimball organ, a gas range, and floor tiles; and a second Showcase consisting of roller skates, a stationary bycycle, and a Mazda 808 sedan. The actual retail price of Connie's showcase was $2,307, she bid $1,750; while Paul's showcase was worth $2,500, he bid $2,504 missing the ARP by $4!!! (The Double Showcase rule didn't exist yet either, so Paul just made history by winning the first Showcase ever offered on TNPIR.)

And--well, nothing is known about the debut of Heatter-Quigley's Gambit on CBS, as many of the tapes containing its episodes (save for a precious few!) were erased for reuse...  

All three game shows had different degrees of success. The Joker's Wild concluded its 3-year, 685-episode run on June 13, 1975 (superceded the following Monday by Nicholson-Muir's Spin-Off), only to find new life in repeats and a return to TV in firstrun syndication in 1977 for a 9-year run. Gambit's 910th and last episode aired on CBS December 10, 1976, after 4 years (Goodson-Todman’s Double Dare replaced it the following Monday), and was brought back by NBC for another year in 1980 under a new moniker, Las Vegas Gambit. (Its host, Wink Martindale, would gain greater fame on Barry-Enright's The New Tic Tac Dough.) Of these 3 shows, The Price Is Right (the \"New\" having been removed from its title in June 1973) has lasted to this very day, with the current CBS Daytime edition still hosted by the unconquerable Bob Barker (Tom Kennedy, Doug Davidson and the late Dennis James having emceed various other editions)!

[rugrats1]

Other pricing games to show up on the NPIR debut were \"Which Is The Right Price?\", where a player selected one price from two possibilities (also won, courtesy of Paul Levine), and \"Higher Or Lower,\" where an item was shown with a price and the player had to decide whether the real price was higher or lower.

Actually, \"Which Is The Right Price?\" was \"Double Prices\", and \"Higher Or Lower\", the one that Paul Levine played and won, was \"Bonus Game\".

Details are available from this old alt.tv.game-shows article, through Google:

http://tinyurl.com/lsyt

Screengrabs from the first episode, which includes Paul playing Bonus Game and he and Connie vying for the Showcases, are available here:

http://www.tpir.tv/1sttpir/1sttpir.htm

I take it that you used \"The Encyclopedia of TV game Shows\" as the source of the pricing game names, as they also used the incorrect names (they also referred to the main Showcase round as the \"Showcase Showdown Round\").

[drmusic_99]

What music was used for the fee plug (Contestants not appearing on stage...) on those early shows? Was it the same bed that was used for the ticket plug? Was it the music used today (part of the original package)? Or was it something else altogether?

[TheInquisitiveOne]

What music was used for the fee plug (Contestants not appearing on stage...) on those early shows? Was it the same bed that was used for the ticket plug? Was it the music used today (part of the original package)? Or was it something else altogether?

Being that I acquired the first episode of The New Price is Right in a recent trade, allow me to chime in on this one. Actually, no background music was played. You heard Johhny O. announce said prize while there was audience applause in the background. All of this was IN THE MIDDLE of a commercial break.

As for the ticket plug, a lighthearted variation of the main theme was used as a ticket plug. It is hard for me to describe it, but Simpson Geek and whoever else moderated the first Game Show Concert at Yahoo! Groups have a better grip of the tune that I am talking about. I'll put in a good word for you and ask to have it put back in the concert loop.

The fee plug that we have all became familiar with and love was not used until TPiR went to an hour long, as far as I know. Correct me if I am wrong.

I hope I helped.

The Inquisitive One

[drmusic_99]

You have indeed. And, boy, would I dearly love to see that first episode in its entirety... but alas, I have el zilcho to trade.

[rugrats1]

You and me both -- I love to get my hands on that first TPIR episode, but I also have no game shows to trade, or any stuff that's worth trading.

[ChuckNet]

As for the ticket plug, a lighthearted variation of the main theme was used as a ticket plug. It is hard for me to describe it, but Simpson Geek and whoever else moderated the first Game Show Concert at Yahoo! Groups have a better grip of the tune that I am talking about.

It's basically a slowed-down remixed loop of the main theme bridge.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")

[drmusic_99]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Sep 2 2003, 11:31 AM\']

As for the ticket plug, a lighthearted variation of the main theme was used as a ticket plug. It is hard for me to describe it, but Simpson Geek and whoever else moderated the first Game Show Concert at Yahoo! Groups have a better grip of the tune that I am talking about.

It's basically a slowed-down remixed loop of the main theme bridge.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby") [/quote]
 I have it, in the clear. I like it a lot, but it sure reflects the toned-down pace the show had in its early days.