More Price is Right DVD news...

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'Pyramid80\' post=\'174878\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 06:29 PM\']Was Dian around on the first hour long episode?
[/quote]
Sure was.  In fact, she started sometime in the summer of '75, when Anitra took a leave of absence.

[scottua1]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'174873\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 06:28 PM\']
[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' post=\'174868\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 05:00 PM\']
[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'174865\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 03:58 PM\']
Does Barker have a say in that? [/quote]
If Barker's lost the power to stop episodes due to furs, I'd imagine it'd be the same thing for Dian or any of the other models.[/quote]
But it's all just been speculation.  None of us knows* whether Barker is wielding any veto power over this set.  
[/quote]
According to the aforementioned "BCI guy," the set "can't have episodes that feature furs, as Bob won't allow it." Which is why I was surprised when it was reported the first episode is included. Probably just an exception because of its significance.

BCI did try to negotiate (for lack of a better term) with Bob to include fur episodes, but no go (also a mention of other hosts' exclusion at that link).

[Mike Tennant]

Here's why I think it makes sense for Bob to have veto power over DVD releases.  Those in the know about such things, correct me if I'm wrong.

Bob's contract (at least until recently) probably had no clauses relating to home video releases of the show since (a) none was planned and (b) until the advent of DVD, doing so was fairly cost prohibitive.  Therefore, just as GSN has to obtain releases from all hosts and celebrities to rerun older shows, and just as BCI likely had to get releases to release the Best of MG DVD, so they probably have to obtain releases from Bob to release the Best of TPIR DVD.  Thus, Bob can simply refuse to release any episodes he does not want to be seen again, which means BCI is stuck with whatever non-fur, non-Dian/Holly/Kathleen episodes they can find.  (It's possible his recent contracts did have clauses giving him veto power over reruns and other releases of old shows, too.)  This may also explain the lack of James/Kennedy/Davidson episodes; Bob could have held his episodes (at least the ones he was willing to have included) hostage until BCI agreed not to include any other 1972-and-beyond versions of TPIR .

[tpirfan28]

[quote name=\'scottua1\' post=\'174883\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 07:10 PM\']
BCI did try to negotiate (for lack of a better term) with Bob to include fur episodes, but no go (also a mention of other hosts' exclusion at that link).
[/quote]
My god...if that is true, it just proves that Barker is/was a complete jerk*.  It's nice that he cared about Uncle Bill...but denying a PSA possibility or a donation of the proceeds to a charity (I'd assume either the charity the money from the mic and chair went to or his DJ&T foundation) is just plain silly.

*Yeah, I went there.  Sue me.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'174887\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 07:24 PM\']
[quote name=\'scottua1\' post=\'174883\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 07:10 PM\']
BCI did try to negotiate (for lack of a better term) with Bob to include fur episodes, but no go (also a mention of other hosts' exclusion at that link).
[/quote]
My god...if that is true, it just proves that Barker is/was a complete jerk*.  It's nice that he cared about Uncle Bill...but denying a PSA possibility or a donation of the proceeds to a charity (I'd assume either the charity the money from the mic and chair went to or his DJ&T foundation) is just plain silly.

*Yeah, I went there.  Sue me.
[/quote]
This quote got me:

...I don't think Barker will allow any other hosts to appear, but he has great reverence for Cullen...

Are you serious...no really, are you serious?!

/somewhat rhetorical question

[Scrabbleship]

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'174887\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 07:24 PM\']
[quote name=\'scottua1\' post=\'174883\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 07:10 PM\']
BCI did try to negotiate (for lack of a better term) with Bob to include fur episodes, but no go (also a mention of other hosts' exclusion at that link).
[/quote]
My god...if that is true, it just proves that Barker is/was a complete jerk*.  It's nice that he cared about Uncle Bill...but denying a PSA possibility or a donation of the proceeds to a charity (I'd assume either the charity the money from the mic and chair went to or his DJ&T foundation) is just plain silly.[/quote]

The quest of revisionist history can be one that can be at times jerkish. Barker's attempts at it have worked out well since your average person under the age of, say, 30 would be (and, from my own personal experience, have been) floored by the idea that Mr. "Have Your Pet Spayed or Neutered" wasn't always that way.

Besides, who wants to say that the PSA possibility hasn't been brandied about before? Back in the day GSN had to have thought of giving PSA time to animal rights organizations in exchange for airing fur episodes a la the deal with cigarette shows, yes?

[chris319]

it just proves that Barker is/was a complete jerk

You hadn't figured that out already?

I really take umbrage with this jerk, who doesn't even have an equity stake in the product, pulling the levers. Leave it to his monumental, unbridled vanity to exclude the other emcees and Dian/Holly/Kathleen. Jerk. He's probably got it set up so he can pull the levers from the grave.

*Yeah, I went there. Sue me.

Kudos to you! If we had any money we'd pay you a bonus.

P.S. Yes, five emcees, but I don't think Drew is far enough along to be immortalized on DVD as yet.

[ChrisLambert!]

Bill Cullen is truly a god, if even Bob Barker likes him.

I do question how much of a market beyond us geeks that there really would be for eps of the other hosts.

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'ChrisLambert!\' post=\'174900\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 08:39 PM\']I do question how much of a market beyond us geeks that there really would be for eps of the other hosts.[/quote]There probably isn't much of one, but tossing in even one James and one Kennedy as extras wouldn't be asking for much.  Besides, how much market do you really think exists for black-and-white Cullen episodes either?  Surely more living Americans remember the James (especially) and Kennedy versions than the Cullen ones, and many of these same people view B&W as only slightly better than a test pattern.

[chris319]

I do question how much of a market beyond us geeks that there really would be for eps of the other hosts this whole DVD deal.

There, fixed that for you.

[ChrisLambert!]

[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' post=\'174902\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 08:58 PM\']
 Surely more living Americans remember the James (especially) and Kennedy versions than the Cullen ones, and many of these same people view B&W as only slightly better than a test pattern.
[/quote]
True, but at least the Cullen eps offer something that is completely different from the current format. No one could look at Unca Bill's show and think "who's that weird guy on Bob's show?"

[petek66]

Let's hope Bob doesn't "go green" next and ban all shows including machines with gasoline internal combustion engines.

[William A. Padron]

[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' post=\'174902\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 08:58 PM\']
[quote name=\'ChrisLambert!\' post=\'174900\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 08:39 PM\']I do question how much of a market beyond us geeks that there really would be for eps of the other hosts.[/quote]There probably isn't much of one, but tossing in even one James and one Kennedy as extras wouldn't be asking for much.  Besides, how much market do you really think exists for black-and-white Cullen episodes either?  Surely more living Americans remember the James (especially) and Kennedy versions than the Cullen ones, and many of these same people view B&W as only slightly better than a test pattern.
[/quote]

Well, what I have been seeing in the last seven years of any connection with The Price Is Right is that severe usage of "revisionist history" that I am sure that Bob Barker has had as a strong, evil clout for really too long, and it is really much more than him with a severe ego problem that I have witnessed in the last 35 years.  I have this strong belief and theory that Barker may have had a very intensive dislike and even jealousy for Dennis James, and perhaps vice versa, and you hardly heard or saw any news of the two of them together in the same room.  Compare that with the always friendly relationship with Dick Clark and Bill Cullen when they were on the same soundstage for Pyramid, and those two game show icons had great admiration for each other, particularly as seen on the ABC daytime finale of Friday, June 27, 1980.

Barker's veto power of denying any viewing of Dennis James' episodes, even without the usage of fur coats, is one of the lamest excuses I ever heard in my life.  Sure, Barker may have respect for Cullen, but not necessiarly for James or even anyone else who hosted or modeled the show for that matter.  Just look at the sixth nighttime episode available on the trading circuit, as taped on the same date of the first airing of the CBS daytime version of Price, and I do not see any such type of that prize offered anywhere at all on that broadcast.  By today's standards, it would be almost politically correct even by Barker's standards.

Oh, yeah...count me in as another one who also thinks that Barker is a jerk also.  I have seen his swelling ego on other shows far too long as I can remember, particularly also when he hosted the Daytime Emmy Awards in 1976 and 1979.  As a matter of fact, I would not even dare to be in the same room as Barker, unless I want to say to him, to parapharse the line from the movie Happy Gilmore, "The $20,000 Pyramid,...you mutt!!!"

[rugrats1]

[quote name=\'William A. Padron\' post=\'174966\' date=\'Jan 15 2008, 12:33 PM\']
Oh, yeah...count me in as another one who also thinks that Barker is a jerk also.  I have seen his swelling ego on other shows far too long as I can remember...[/quote]

Considering that the details are coming out piece by piece (no furs; no Dennis, Tom or Doug; Bob's last week in its entirety), I inclined to agree that he's a pompous jerk. It's things like that that make Drew's PIR more and more a breath of fresh air. Personally, I'm surprised that Bob didn't hire any fanbois to vandalise Wikipedia by removing furs, Dennis and Tom from the TPIR articles.

[quote name=\'William A. Padron\' post=\'174966\' date=\'Jan 15 2008, 12:33 PM\']
I would not even dare to be in the same room as Barker, unless I want to say to him, to parapharse the line from the movie Happy Gilmore, "The $20,000 Pyramid,...you mutt!!!"
[/quote]

Considering that Happy finagled the title in the film, have you meant "The $20,000 Trapezoid"? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

[rigsby]

[quote name=\'ChrisLambert!\' post=\'174914\' date=\'Jan 14 2008, 09:22 PM\']
No one could look at Unca Bill's show and think "who's that weird guy on Bob's show?"
[/quote]I'm personally waiting for the day when my kids are old enough to ask, "Who's that weird old guy on Drew's show?"