Suggestions for The Price Is Right's 40th Anniversary Season

[groundchuck]

The Price Is Right's 39th season has ended or will end shortly. It's time to start thinking about the show's historic 40th anniversary season. The 40th sesaon will premiere in mid September. What suggestions do have for the 40th season. I have a few:

Do a primetime Million Dollar Spectacular on the road. I would suggest New York or Las Vegas.

Bring some of the Price is Right models back for premiere week.
Bring some of the old "retired" games back and give them a brand new look (Super Ball for example)

Ask Bob Barker to host a pricing game or Showcases with Drew for the week. (Like Monty Hall did with Let's Make a Deal.)

[AlohaDave]

Bring back the purple wheel. That thing rocked! Everybody loved it.

[alex8899]

@groundchuck: Those all sound like good suggestions, but I probably wouldn't bring back Superball if it were up to me to bring back retired games. You DO know why it was retired, right? All you need to do to figure out why Superball was retired is search for "Mohini" on your favorite video-sharing site and remember that the show only has 38 minutes to do its thing these days.

Instead... I bet I'm in the minority here, but I'd probably bring back Mystery Price. I swear, that game is so underrated!

As for my suggestions:

• Get rid of all the Eggcrate displays and replace 'em with LCD's.
• Turn the Turntable into a video wall (but don't replace the Turntable with one, like Doug Davidson's version did)
• I actually have some concept art for set revamps to Now or Then and Take Two. I'll upload it sometime later. I'd really like to see the former get a set change; it's so ugly!
• Start doing Million Dollar Spectaculars again.
• Do an actual 40th anniversary special this time, instead of just celebrating the host like they did in Season 35!
  • Make it two hours long, but play it like a regular episode.
  • Pay tributes to everyone who used to work for the show, even those people that only us fans know about, like Frank Wayne and Bob Stewart, and even those that left the show on a sour note or were forced out, like Rich Fields and the old models. No whitewashing of the past!
  • Much as I'd like Bob Barker to come back, I'd also like Janice, Dian, Holly, and even Anitra Ford to come back for one day only. Of course, Bob's still butthurt over Modelgate and won't return if they do! Hmmmmm; what to do...
• Why limit traveling to MDS's? Start traveling semi-regularly, like Wheel of Fortune does (although not as frequently; maybe only once a season).
• Update Punch a Bunch's money distribution to the following:
  • 2 $25,000
  • 3 $10,000
  • 5 $5,000
  • 10 $2,500
  • 10 $1,000
  • 10 $500
  • 10 $250
  • 4 Second Chances
• Play Grand Game for $25,000 and replace the scrolly thingy with an LCD (and maybe the target price indicator, too).
• Start giving $1,000 for a perfect bid in Contestants' Row. ($5,000 on MDS's)
• Update Grocery Game's cash register, but make it look the same aside from an LCD screen that works like Gas Money's running total indicator.
• Update Rat Race so that anyone who bids on the nose gets all three rats automatically.
• And of course, introduce new pricing games! (Go through my post history for some suggestions.)

[BlancoWhite724]

Why not ask Tom Kennedy or Doug Davidson to host a pricing game or Showcases with Drew Carey for the week.

[gameshowmaniac27330]

Include Mark Goodson back in the credits

[tattooed]

• Get rid of all the Eggcrate displays and replace 'em with LCD's.
• Turn the Turntable into a video wall (but don't replace the Turntable with one, like Doug Davidson's version did)
• I actually have some concept art for set revamps to Now or Then and Take Two. I'll upload it sometime later. I'd really like to see the former get a set change; it's so ugly!

Definitely ditch the Eggcrates for good.

Given the non-success of the Green Screens, I'm not sure how well a video wall would be received. (On the other hand, there is "Door #4", which is a video wall of sorts.)

And I think Take Two's prop is reeeeeaaally ugly. Hello, colour clashes!

• Start doing Million Dollar Spectaculars again.
• Do an actual 40th anniversary special this time, instead of just celebrating the host like they did in Season 35!
  • Make it two hours long, but play it like a regular episode.
  • Pay tributes to everyone who used to work for the show, even those people that only us fans know about, like Frank Wayne and Bob Stewart, and even those that left the show on a sour note or were forced out, like Rich Fields and the old models. No whitewashing of the past!
  • Much as I'd like Bob Barker to come back, I'd also like Janice, Dian, Holly, and even Anitra Ford to come back for one day only. Of course, Bob's still butthurt over Modelgate and won't return if they do! Hmmmmm; what to do...

ALL OF THIS. (As for the last bit? Well, let's just say my advice in that regard isn't suitable for these boards. )

• Why limit traveling to MDS's? Start traveling semi-regularly, like Wheel of Fortune does (although not as frequently; maybe only once a season).
• Update Punch a Bunch's money distribution to the following:
  • 2 $25,000
  • 3 $10,000
  • 5 $5,000
  • 10 $2,500
  • 10 $1,000
  • 10 $500
  • 10 $250
  • 4 Second Chances
• Play Grand Game for $25,000 and replace the scrolly thingy with an LCD (and maybe the target price indicator, too).
• Start giving $1,000 for a perfect bid in Contestants' Row. ($5,000 on MDS's)
• Update Grocery Game's cash register, but make it look the same aside from an LCD screen that works like Gas Money's running total indicator.
• Update Rat Race so that anyone who bids on the nose gets all three rats automatically.

Once a season in a different city for a week (or two?) would spruce things up a bit. (Start with NYC, maybe?)

Punchy's prize distribution definitely ought to be fixed.

Grand Game could do with an update, too. And Grocery Game.

$1000 for a perfect bid ($5000 for MDS) = good.

And you know I wholeheartedly regarding Rat Race.

[ElectricPeterTork]

Y'know, Plinko could do with a money update, too.

Now, 10k is still a great center spot, but the rest? Still stuck in 1983.

I'd have the progression be something like 10k-0-2500-1000-500

That way, if a contestant only hit the lowest spot, they'd stand a chance of walking out with over 1,000 dollars. If they hit the 2,500 spot a few times, they would walk out with 10k. But, the prizes are still reasonable, and better than the current, kind of cheap prize amounts.

I could even see putting 5k spots on the board, instead of 2,500.

[sshuffield70]

Drew has replied on Twitter about the travel part. Remember, it was being talked about when he was hired. He said it got nixed because of the travel costs with the games. If you did a week, say NYC, you'd have to have 30 games plus a few understudies at the ready. I'm going to assume that another good copy hasn't been made yet (though there's the TPIR Live versions). So that's why it's not gonna happen.

[groundchuck]

The Grand Game suggestion I like except, I would do it for $20,000. It would be easier $2,$20,$200,$2,000,$20,000.
I would also up the "Double Showcase" from $250 to $500 and add something else.
0-$100 = Double Showcase plus $10,000 bonus
$101-$500= Double Showcase.

[dtheine]

How about a new prop for Race Game and a new prop for Bonus Game?

[alex8899]

^^^^^Nah. I don't think those two games are ready for big updates just yet. Maybe replace Bonus's blue windows and Race's displays with LCD's, but don't change the actual props.

@ElectricPeterTork: I can't believe I forgot that one when I was posting my suggestions! I've had that exact Plinko money distribution in my head for about six years now!

In addition, in MDS's, the distribution should be (using your ordering) $20,000, $0, $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000.

Here are three more I forgot:

• In MDS's, play It's in the Bag for $40,000, with the first bag being worth $2,500.
• Be more strict when it comes to technical wins! For example, on yesterday's episode, they awarded a full technical win to the contestant who played Race Game because, on her first go-around, she had one price right, but the machine said "0". Instead, they should've just awarded her the one prize she had right. And I'll never forgive Kathy Greco for the January 5, 2010 episode, when they awarded a technical because of something Amber Lancaster did in that day's Switch playing that didn't affect the outcome of the game at all!
  
  Hardly anyone bats an eyelash when Alex Trebek and Jeopardy!'s staffers don't always settle errors in the contestant's favor. The strict judging there doesn't affect the show's ratings all that much, so why are Mike Richards et al so afraid to similarly rule against a contestant, or only award the contestant a partial win?
• Try to negotiate with CBS to get back some of that time lost to commercials. It's so pathetic that they only have 38 minutes of show time! It's caused some games to get pushed to the back burner as well as a bunch of rushing.

[espnews26]

A clip show.

[CardSharks8689]

It would be nice if models such as Shane Stirling, Brandi Sherwood, Gabrielle Tuite, and others who were let go return even for just one day or week. But given the legal problems, it's not in the cards.

Janice, Dian, Holly, and even Anitra appearing for even just one day? Well, for starters, Janice will be 70 years old in July 2012. Way too old to be a model. Dian is also getting closer to 70 (she'll be 70 in 2014), and Holly will be 60 at some point this decade (August 2012?). Kathleen just turned 60 last January, if I recall. I am not certain how old Anitra Ford is right now, but I bet she's old enough to be a grandmother by now. They've outlived their modeling careers and the chances of the "classic" models appearing on the show even for just one day - some viewer will have a better chance of winning the lottery than that ever happening. Ditto for Shane, Brandi, Gabrielle, etc.

As for "legitimate" ideas for TPIR's 40th season, here are some suggestions:

- Update the 3 Strikes display. The same display has been used since 1976, and it's long overdue for an update. Same for Race Game - a prop that is used since the game's inception in 1974, it desparately needs a revamp.

- Increase the top prize in Grand Game to $20,000. The traditional $10,000 prize has been offered for 30+ years and it's time to offer cash prizes that meet with today's inflation.

- Season 30 had the debut of 3 brand new pricing games, so why not Season 40?

- Add at least one brand new model to the rotation. Now that Lanisha's gone, why not replace her?

- More playings of Spelling Bee in the new season. I have only seen the game played 4 times this season so far (with a huge gap of non-playings between November 2010 and April 2011), and I have yet to see the season's fifth playing.

- It's time for a revival of the prime time Million Dollar Spectacular specials. Haven't seen any since Season 36, and seeing it's a milestone season, I can't see why CBS shouldn't order 6 prime time Million Dollar Spectacular specials. I bet the ratings for Season 40 will rise, and I bet by May next year, there will be prime time specials ordered seeing the prize budget will likely increase, just like it did during Season 30.

[alex8899]

And then hopefully I can be done with this thread!

Do a tournament of champions. Find the 81 best contestants in the show's history (and yes, much as I hate him, Terry Kniess should be one of them!) and have the nine Showcase winners (or highest-scoring contestants) enter the finals.

Why only a semifinal and finals? Because if we did a quarterfinal match, we'd need roughly 729 contestants!

[AlohaDave]

And then hopefully I can be done with this thread!

Do a tournament of champions. Find the 81 best contestants in the show's history (and yes, much as I hate him, Terry Kniess should be one of them!) and have the nine Showcase winners (or highest-scoring contestants) enter the finals.

Why only a semifinal and finals? Because if we did a quarterfinal match, we'd need roughly 729 contestants!

Pre-selected contestant on Price is Right will never work. The whole point of the show is the element of surprise: contestants who had no idea they would be on a game show when they arrived at the studio the same morning.