The Future of TPIR: Post COVID-19

[TimK2003]

Roger Dobkowitz made a post on Facebook questioning the future of TPIR (which can also be applied to LMAD) once the COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed:

Here's a question I would like to ask my friends to think about...what will become of the Price is Right this year?  Almost any TV show can tape without an audience (Jeopardy, Wheel, and even Dancing with the Stars).  However, Price NEEDS an audience.  When this emergency is over and people begin slowly to go back to normal lives, I am sure it will be slow. We will probably still keep a social distance for awhile.  It will probably be a long, long, time until we are 100% normal.
So....when the show attempts to tape again, will people be willing to attend, will they require the audience to sit 6 feet apart, would they dare to attempt to preselect contestants and only have them in the studio.  I worry that the show will be quite harmed in the next 12 months.   They might have to go on hiatus until 2021 

.

I know that Roger still has a bit of animosity regarding his old employer, but he does have a few valid questions.

I guess that would also apply to the types of prizes both shows will offer as well.  I think cruises will be off the table for a long time and any trips requiring an air flight I would think as well. 

Is this the time CBS considers moving out of TV City to a smaller studio (CBS Radford or other) given the amount of people they now have to pay to see TPIR?

Maybe Mike Richards unknowingly chose the right time to jump ship and go to Sony??

[Joe Mello]

I think the better question to ask isn't "Will Price be ready for the fall?" but instead "Will there actually be a fall TV season?"

[Kevin Prather]

The lack of an audience will certainly be the most noticeable on TPIR, but it's not impossible.

[tyshaun1]

I don't think it's as big of a deal as it's made out to be. They may have to go to online interviewing contestants in the LA area for a while and bringing 9 of them in at a time, possibly with a family member or friend, but the game itself wouldn't be affected. The question to me is how Drew's hosting would be affected, since he tends to play towards the studio audience more than the home audience.

[colonial]

Given that the fall season (which, to be honest, could be a thing of the past once we start seeing a semblance of normalcy) starts in September, a show like TPIR should not have to worry about resuming production until August.

I do think that once the curve flattens and lawmakers start lifting stay-at-home orders, quarantines, etc., it will be a slow process to get back to "normal." But I also believe people want to experience some kind of normalcy again ASAP.

To be honest, I don't think TPIR and LMAD are on the top of CBS's "to-do" list on how to move forward in the COVID-19 era at this time. The Eye is probably much more concerned about the fate of its summer and fall "reality" shows (TAR and Survivor suspending production, Big Brother and Love Island both in a flux).


JD

[jjman920]

I think Roger is overreacting a little. First off, given how many people different governors have seen defying stay-at-home and social distancing orders, I'm sure that once those are lifted in some capacity, people who are abiding will be itching to go anywhere and everywhere to get out of the house. I'd doubt that any show in LA would have trouble getting an audience. Second, TPIR is a show that has previously taped an episode with half an audience in past when a bad storm hit the area. If they can do that, they can let in a half capacity audience that features some distance between folks. In fact, TPIR in Argentina has recently done episodes with a very sparse audience, probably about 10 or so people (though they didn't do much social distancing in the episode I saw). I think Price will be fine.

I mean, honestly, he's bringing up social distancing guidelines and what game show currently on the air could even begin to abide by them? Until Millionaire returns (or if Mental Samurai ever gets a chance to film its second season), to my knowledge, there are no game shows on the air that feature a single solo player playing by themselves. Every show features contestants/panelists sitting near each other for either game play reasons or directorial reasons, or requires their solo players to come from an audience (TPIR/LMAD). Wheel of Fortune would be impossible to adjust because the three contestants have to be in front of the wheel to spin it. The families in Family Feud have to be next to each other to confer for stealing. I'd could go all day finding holes to poke into different shows.

To be honest, I don't think TPIR and LMAD are on the top of CBS's "to-do" list on how to move forward in the COVID-19 era at this time. The Eye is probably much more concerned about the fate of its summer and fall "reality" shows (TAR and Survivor suspending production, Big Brother and Love Island both in a flux).

Honestly, that would probably be the reason TPIR and LMAD would be at the top of CBS's "to-do" list because it would be much easier to put both of those shows back into production and filming ASAP than it would be to arrange filming locations and travel plans for Survivor and TAR (and the challenges in TAR). Just like TPIR came in handy in a pinch during the 2008 Writer's Strike, equally if there's no filmed programming on their end and won't be for a while, they could start pumping out TPIR and LMAD episodes quickly. TPIR has done 1 to 2 day turnarounds from taping to airing in the past and LMAD's done at least a 7 day or less turnaround; though I'm not saying they would do turnarounds that quick. Just that both shows present themselves as cheap and quick fill-ins that are going to be exactly what CBS will probably end up needing once this is all over.

[jjman920]

Maybe Mark Richards unknowingly chose the right time to jump ship and go to Sony??

*Mike

Honestly, I don't think he's got it that much easier over at Sony. This must be a literal nightmare for them right now, especially in the middle of a regime change, and especially after already having things go haywire with Pat earlier in the season. Also, this season has seen Wheel dive head first into almost bi-weekly sweepstakes for European tours from Collette and cruises from Carnival and because of how built into the week they were (and Collette and Carnival both suspending operations), they've pulled two weeks worth of shows that probably aren't going to air for a while. And just like Price and LMAD, he's going to have to figure out what shows from what seasons he's going to send to stations for airing over the course of the summer and potentially longer. He'll also have to determine when/how to pick up the contestant selection process to get contestants whenever they can start filming both shows again.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Given that the fall season (which, to be honest, could be a thing of the past once we start seeing a semblance of normalcy) starts in September, a show like TPIR should not have to worry about resuming production until August.

The potential kink for Price here is that they're actually not done taping the current season yet.  There's still 26 shows they haven't done, including two that are supposed to air before the scheduled resumption of production on May 11 (and God knows if that will hold).

Now, given the circumstances, they could certainly decide to just scrap those episodes altogether, but otherwise, shutting down until August isn't really gonna work.

[tvwxman]

I know i'm going to get a lot of flack for this answer, but......

The average, common viewer does not notice the minutia that we, the above-average, uncommon, abnormal game show fan observes.

They can rerun the entire season and most if not all won't notice a thing. Rerun last years season - the prices haven't changed all that much.

If anything (ugh, get ready) - this may be a good thing for the show - because the work-stop keeps them well under budget for the season - and maybe, just maybe, that can be amortized into future seasons.

Oh, and screw Roger. Seriously. It takes a lot for me to lose respect for someone and their work - but he wasn't friggin Watson to Barker's Holmes. He produced a friggin game show, and 10 years later, he still has it stuck in his craw that he was wronged, and no one else should do his job.  I left a TV station in town 10 years ago and I was pissed that my contract wasn't renewed for budget reasons - and it left me sore - but you get over it, and you learn to take that pissy-ness and use it to work towards a new job. I got one - at the competition - i work my ass off, and it gives me great pleasure to know that my ratings up against my old station.....dominate.

If Roger is THE EP to have on your team,  why hasn't he worked in 10 years?

[Jeremy Nelson]

Maybe Mark Richards unknowingly chose the right time to jump ship and go to Sony??

*Mike

Honestly, I don't think he's got it that much easier over at Sony. This must be a literal nightmare for them right now, especially in the middle of a regime change, and especially after already having things go haywire with Pat earlier in the season.

This. Either way, Mike was inheriting a challenge, which became an even bigger one this season with both hosts having health issues and now COVID. At this point, he’s probably having to curate a larger summer rerun schedule.

Roger is a bitter dude who’s been waiting for the show to fail since he left. The first couple times that Roger fielded questions on FB re: Price was fine, but now his comments on the show have at least a hint of sourness to them, and the LFATs love to go to his page and feed the flame. I was done with him last year when Elizabeth Banks got the PYL job and he made some stupid comments about it.

[BrandonFG]

Roger is a bitter dude who’s been waiting for the show to fail since he left. The first couple times that Roger fielded questions on FB re: Price was fine, but now his comments on the show have at least a hint of sourness to them, and the LFATs love to go to his page and feed the flame. I was done with him last year when Elizabeth Banks got the PYL job and he made some stupid comments about it.

That's my biggest takeaway from his posts as well. It's been what, 12 years since he was fired? I've been there before. It sucks. But like Matt, my greatest opportunities came from being fired. Hell, I should probably send my former managers a fruit basket. Also, as much as it sucks, in a situation like that, reflecting on where you could've improved doesn't hurt. It is what it is.

I get it, Roger's page is where the fanboys converse about a show they ironically find unwatchable, and he's found common ground there. But, the current staff lives rent free in his head, mainly because to him, change is bad, and everything is wrong because it's not Bob's way from 40 years ago.

As for the show itself, the transition companies have had to make is not easy. Depending on technology, some transitions will go smoother, and it's a learning process for everyone. But just like I don't see the NBA or MLB folding, I don't believe the most popular game show in daytime is in grave danger because they had to take an indefinite hiatus. I don't know the financial side of the industry, but I imagine reruns are still lucrative as long as the ratings remain solid.

[TLEberle]

The average, common viewer does not notice the minutia that we, the above-average, uncommon, abnormal game show fan observes.

I grab the last ten minutes of Wheel of Fortune as a lead-in to Jeopardy every night. Had the program guide not said so nor the bonus envelope had $36,000 in it I would not have known they were in reruns right now. 

If CBS really wanted to go off the reservation they could air episodes of TPIR from when Bob was on the show--anyone who wasn't watching pre-2007 may not have seen the original article. If we don't get current television while this once-in-a-century situation resolves it would be the least of our problems.

[BrandonFG]

If CBS really wanted to go off the reservation they could air episodes of TPIR from when Bob was on the show--anyone who wasn't watching pre-2007 may not have seen the original article.

Which actually isn't unprecedented. When CBS aired the Pillsbury Bake-Off's in the late-90s, they aired the contest at 11, then a classic half-hour TPiR at 11:30. It's not like they don't have a vast library of episodes.

[tpirfan28]

If CBS really wanted to go off the reservation they could air episodes of TPIR from when Bob was on the show--anyone who wasn't watching pre-2007 may not have seen the original article. If we don't get current television while this once-in-a-century situation resolves it would be the least of our problems.

This.  There are 9000+ shows in the can, pick a bunch of them and rando-air them.  Promote it as best-of-Price with Bob and Drew and I'd assume the ratings would be up.

[Sodboy13]

I was thinking to myself a couple of weeks ago - if they can't start the season's production on time, why not run "classics" for a spell, or throw in a week of vintage shows here and there?