Post by Todd Robinson on Apr 8, 2005 10:57:18 GMT -5
As most of you probably know, I was in LA last week and saw a taping of Price is Right on 4/4/05. I've never done this before. Heck, I've never even flown on a commercial jet before!
Being there is something to experience. The crowd is so loud at the beginning of the show, you cannot hear your name being called, the music, or anything. All you hear is the crowd yelling. Because of that, they have a stage person who holds up large cue cards with the person's name on it. You look for your name instead of listening for it to be called.
At the opening of the show, to my suprise, they have a 6' tall yellow board with a black rectangle at the top with sequencing lights trailing around the rectangle. This is used for the frame of lights at the beginning of the show. It's the same old optical effect used in the 70's!
The one bid displays are controlled by a device that looks like an old adding machine. There are 16 columns of numbers 1 through 0; four for each digit of each display. The numbers are punched in by this device. Again, it's something from the 70's that is still in use today.
The one bid displays are SMALL! Well, the whole set looks a lot smaller than it does on TV but for some reason, this struck me as particularly curious. Behind each display are arrows of matching color with the display that point to where you go if you win. And if you win, two lights flash to indicate you're the winner. A person on the stage directs the person as to where they need to go.
The other lighted displays, from the best I could tell, are controlled by an old DOS computer. It was at the main menu when I saw it and each game was numbered. Apparently, the games hook up to this computer and are controlled by this computer.
I was also suprised by how many stage people stayed on stage throughout the show. There are quite a few people on stage as the game is going on. It's amazing how they know exactly where to stand and not to stand so they don't intefere with camera shots.
Bob looks old on television but he looks even older in person, especially during the commercial breaks when they turn the stage lights down and Bob comes out to speak to the audience. Of course, he's 83. He just doesn't look his age on TV. And on the topic of age, I think his hearing or attention may be slipping. Someone made a perfect bid and he ignored the sound effect used to indicate it. They had to sound it again and it wasn't until then that he realized someone made a perfect bid.
Bob is still sharp and has a great deal of wit with contestants and with handling questions from the audience. When asked how much longer he was going to to Price is Right, he looked at his watch and said, "for about another 15 minutes." When asked if he would ever star in another movie, he told us they were thinking about Happy Gilmore 2 but "Adam Sandler couldn't handle another beating" from Bob. Even though he does all of this on auto-pilot, he's still awesome at it.
I was able to take a brief walk back stage. There are pictures of women in seductive clothing pasted on the other side of the doors and set pieces. And the doors are pretty loud when they're being opened and closed. It's amazing the sound doesn't make it on TV.
Although I can't give details of the game away, both tapings were good shows. You'll probably want to tape the Thursday game whether you tape it for me or not. A couple of events in the game were worth movie-style plots.
That's about all I can recall at the moment. If you have questions, please let me know and I'll try to answer them as good as I can as a spectator.
Being there is something to experience. The crowd is so loud at the beginning of the show, you cannot hear your name being called, the music, or anything. All you hear is the crowd yelling. Because of that, they have a stage person who holds up large cue cards with the person's name on it. You look for your name instead of listening for it to be called.
At the opening of the show, to my suprise, they have a 6' tall yellow board with a black rectangle at the top with sequencing lights trailing around the rectangle. This is used for the frame of lights at the beginning of the show. It's the same old optical effect used in the 70's!
The one bid displays are controlled by a device that looks like an old adding machine. There are 16 columns of numbers 1 through 0; four for each digit of each display. The numbers are punched in by this device. Again, it's something from the 70's that is still in use today.
The one bid displays are SMALL! Well, the whole set looks a lot smaller than it does on TV but for some reason, this struck me as particularly curious. Behind each display are arrows of matching color with the display that point to where you go if you win. And if you win, two lights flash to indicate you're the winner. A person on the stage directs the person as to where they need to go.
The other lighted displays, from the best I could tell, are controlled by an old DOS computer. It was at the main menu when I saw it and each game was numbered. Apparently, the games hook up to this computer and are controlled by this computer.
I was also suprised by how many stage people stayed on stage throughout the show. There are quite a few people on stage as the game is going on. It's amazing how they know exactly where to stand and not to stand so they don't intefere with camera shots.
Bob looks old on television but he looks even older in person, especially during the commercial breaks when they turn the stage lights down and Bob comes out to speak to the audience. Of course, he's 83. He just doesn't look his age on TV. And on the topic of age, I think his hearing or attention may be slipping. Someone made a perfect bid and he ignored the sound effect used to indicate it. They had to sound it again and it wasn't until then that he realized someone made a perfect bid.
Bob is still sharp and has a great deal of wit with contestants and with handling questions from the audience. When asked how much longer he was going to to Price is Right, he looked at his watch and said, "for about another 15 minutes." When asked if he would ever star in another movie, he told us they were thinking about Happy Gilmore 2 but "Adam Sandler couldn't handle another beating" from Bob. Even though he does all of this on auto-pilot, he's still awesome at it.
I was able to take a brief walk back stage. There are pictures of women in seductive clothing pasted on the other side of the doors and set pieces. And the doors are pretty loud when they're being opened and closed. It's amazing the sound doesn't make it on TV.
Although I can't give details of the game away, both tapings were good shows. You'll probably want to tape the Thursday game whether you tape it for me or not. A couple of events in the game were worth movie-style plots.
That's about all I can recall at the moment. If you have questions, please let me know and I'll try to answer them as good as I can as a spectator.
)