Drew Carey and company recently wrapped up shooting Season 36 of The Price is Right -- Drew had pizzas delivered to the studio from his favorite place in Cleveland -- but when the crew comes back to tape Season 37 in a few weeks, they're going to be faced with a number of changes.The first change is that Roger Dobkowitz, who's been the producer of the show since it started its run, won't be there. According to Golden-Road.net, a TPiR message board, Fremantle Media let Dobkowitz go after Season 36 wrapped up; a replacement has yet to be named.
But there may be other changes afoot, namely with the look and format of the show, whose ratings declined 15% in the first season after Bob Barker's retirement. Rumors are swirling that the changes will include new pricing games and a video wall, all the way up to a rumor -- published on a TVGuide.com fan blog but later pulled -- that the show will be completely overhauled to make it look more like Fremantle's money-making machine, American Idol (or their new money-making machine, Million Dollar Password).
Wow. That's a lot for a game show fan like me to take in. Granted, the program showed some growing pains this year with Drew as the host; while he's been personable and entertaining, he often underplays the drama of the show and sometimes sounds unenthusiastic when people win pricing games and the Showcase, even when he doesn't mean to be. But overall he's been a good replacement for Barker and should continue to grow in the role in the 37th season.
Whatever problems Price has, however, should not have been placed in Dobkowtiz's lap. He knows the show better than anyone, and he did a good job seeing Drew and the staff through a mostly painless transition from Barker, who had become such an institution on the show that CBS ended up naming the studio where the show is taped after him.
Perhaps Fremantle, seeing how well the Million Dollar Spectaculars have done in primetime, think they can capture a younger audience in the daytime, as well. That's going to be tough; aside from the significant number of college students that watch the show, there aren't many adults between the ages of 18 and 34 that are either going to be home at 11 AM to watch the show or have the patience to TiVo it day in and day out.
And how do you make TPiR seem "younger?" Shark tanks on the Hole in One game? A two-day expense-paid trip to Paris Hilton as a Showcase prize? Not sure what else they can do for the show to make it appeal to "the kids."
(Thanks for the tip, Tony)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-08-2008 @ 11:37AM
Oreo said...
They should have just canceled it after they fired Bob.
However they are completely over looking something, maybe ratings are down because they changed the sets, and people don't like that. Maybe change is the problem.
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7-08-2008 @ 1:18PM
lucyfan62 said...
The changes to the sets so far have been mostly cosmetic and even during Bob's reign they repainted the sets several times. I just don't think people are warming to Drew. I've watched the primetime specials and I just don't think he meshes well with the contestants. He doesn't have that warm personality that Bob had and he really doesn't seem interested in the contestants if they win or lose. If anyone should have been fired, it should have been Drew. Radically altering the set to make it look like Idol or Password will only drive away the really loyal fans. It's daytime...it's got to bright and colorful not dark and sleek like a nighttime show. Freemantle is just going to screw up the show. They've altered Password so it's actually more like Pyramid so I don't know why it's even called Password because they don't actually PASS the WORD back and forth unless there's a tie and it becomes "Classic Password." Now they just play eight "Lightning Rounds" to get to the bonus game. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the show but it's not Password! If they make radical changes to TPIR it won't be TPIR either.
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7-08-2008 @ 4:50PM
TVGenius said...
I know the ratings aren't in the demos they would like, but I find it ironic that the studio audience for that show is usually almost all people under the age of 50, with a few exceptions. But I guess the opposite is true of the viewers. Strange.
I was just watching some of the 'New' Price is Right from back in the day on YouTube yesterday. Absolute crap. No contestants' row, the lone showcase was a game of Rangefinder, and the set (what few changes were made) was crappy, with the video wall crammed in for no good reason. Sounds like the Ice Queen was watching too.
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7-08-2008 @ 11:06PM
Oreo said...
I remember watching that after school. It was only 30 minutes long and that was too much. I think it lasted a week before rightfully getting canceled.
7-09-2008 @ 8:39AM
GameShowFanMan66 said...
I'm taking a "wait & see" approach to this. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. Whether this holds true for "The Price is Right" remains to be seen. I remember watching the very first episode back on Labor Day 1972, just 2 days before my first day of Kindergarten. With all the cutbacks the show has had to make, especially due to longer commercial breaks, the 6 pricing game format was not working as well as it did back in the 70s, 80s & 90s. Unfortunately during these trying times, we have to give much more and get much less. Still, I am curious to see what "new" direction this beloved show takes. I doubt it will be for the better, but who knows?
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7-09-2008 @ 12:12PM
Chris said...
Let's start an angry mob and go after FremantleMedia! They're trying to ruin the show!
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