I've seen at least two online reports that say that reselling Price is Right tickets is illegal in violation of LA Municipal Code 42.03. Well, did anyone read the code? That code specifically mentions selling tickets in public places, like parks or stadiums. Since when is EBay a public place?
For the bored, here's the full text:
SEC. 42.03. SELLING OF TICKETS OF ADMISSION TO PLACES OF PUBLIC ASSEMBLAGE IN PUBLIC PLACES AND PLACES OPEN TO THE PUBLIC PROHIBITED – EXCEPTIONS.
(Amended by Ord. No. 120,444, Eff. 12/21/61.)
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person in or upon any public street, sidewalk, park or other public place shall sell or re-sell or offer to sell or re-sell any ticket of admission to a place of public assemblage
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person in or upon any place which is open to the public shall sell or re-sell or offer to sell or re-sell any ticket of admission to a place of public assemblage.
Sorry folks, I *still* don't see how selling Price tickets on EBay is illegal.
10 new tapes up for grabs on the Giveaway page, but a special note: these are PAL tapes, which means they can't be played in a normal USA VCR. They require a multi-system converting VCR, which will run you about $300 if you don't have one. You can also pay to have them converted but that's a pricy option.
For that reason, I'm opening up this set to residents of foreign countries as well (US residents who can play PAL tapes are also invited to enter). Keep in mind that shipping costs are much higher outside of the US (thanks to our recent rate increase here), so bear that in mind when bidding. Good luck!
Well this was an absolute shock to hear that Charles Nelson Reilly passed today. The news reports say he'd been ill for a while but to be honest I hadn't heard anything about it. As of around a year or two ago he was doing a one-man show here in L.A. that had gotten pretty good reviews from my friends who'd seen it.
Well what is there to say about a man who is a total game show legend? Alongside Paul Lynde, he's probably the most famous game show celebrity who never really hosted a show (yes, I'm intentionally forgetting "Sweethearts"). Without Charles there would have been no Match Game, an absolute comedic wit who could turn a one-liner faster than Brett could take a swig of her drink. He pushed the envelope all over the place on the show, never hiding his sexuality even when it was certainly taboo to discuss it.
Favorite memories? I have to say the episode of Match Game '75 which started without him (Mark Goodson filled in temporarily) because Charles was late getting a new toupee. They talked about it openly on the show. It was fantastic. There were no limits to what he and Brett would do. There may not have been a more amazing twosome in the history of game shows.
Another legend is gone, but luckily we will always have the video record of Charles' great contribution to the genre.
National Bingo Night won its timeslot in the 18-49 demos. That's the bad news. The good news is, it won with a 1.7 rating. Basically America has given up on television for 3 months. Despite the win, don't expect NBN to last much longer, although kudos to it for outlasting The Rich List.
I haven't heard any more updates on when the TPIR DVDs will be released, but they'd be stupid not to put them out soon to capitalize on all the press and goodwill the show and Bob are getting lately.
Now, here's the intriguing question, what episodes would be on there?
*Last show (a given) *First show (would they? there's a fur in it!) *Yolanda's tube top (gotta be) *????
GSN is going to rerun the long-lived (7 episodes total, 2 unaired) ABC series "Show Me the Money". I'm glad to see it back, especially the two missing episodes. You have to wonder how cheaply they got the reruns for? I mean, the cost of paying the winnings of the unaired contestants could easily exceed the rerun rights, no?
I'd like to see them take a shot at bringing it back in a lower-stakes version, although if they were really considering something like that, they should just bring Greed back.
Two things about the reports that tickets to Bob's last show are going for $1000 on eBay:
1) Wow.
2) Why is it illegal? Sites like StubHub and the like have allowed people to exchange tickets for years. Granted, a ticket to TPiR is "free" but I can't think of how it would fall under a different category of ticket than say, the 7th game of the World Series?
I checked out a few of the listings myself...an interesting workaround some people are doing is by offering the tickets "free" with a trinket item, like a paper clip. There are definitely some $400 winning bids up there, but I still couldn't find anyone selling tickets for his last show.
Regardless, the last month of Bob's career has certainly been an interesting one.
* The show seems way too hacked to bits, filled with my least favorite edit of all, the overdub. Can't editors find a way to make audio added in post seem less obvious? * "Play is still on!" What does that mean? It's not even correct English. * The reminders to the at-home audience are too frequent. It's bingo. They don't really need to be reminded of the rules. * Who wants a KMart gift certificate? Was Big Lots unavailable as a sponsor? * They shouldn't show the ball rolling down, at least later in the Bingo 500 game, since they are color coded and it became pretty obvious that the guy wasn't going to win on the roll. If the contestant is one ball away, add a little more suspense. * Our host from across the Pond does a decent enough job, but why is he shouting so much? * The bridge/groom game was just embarassing. At best it was a cheap rip off of Cliff Hangers on TPIR, at worst it was, well, what we all saw.
I have to say, the tribute to Bob tonight was great, much better than the not-so-bad $1 Million Spectacular that preceded it. They had a ton of never-before-replayed clips, and the appearance by Adam Sandler was a nice surprise. The mid-show interview with Bob was a great addition, especially the discussion of his animal rights activism.
Funny how no clips of the old models were shown though...
And has there ever been a showcase difference of more than $49,491? Yikes!
Pretty standard fare for tonight's (last ever?) Million Dollar Spectacular. The More or Less playing was surprising, one, because I would have never expected to see it in primetime, and two, because the lady blew it on the first prize.
Were the wheel bonuses different this time around? I don't remember the $10,000 ($1.00) and $20,000 ($.05/$.15) bonuses from the last specials, but maybe I was just fast forwarding too much.
I have to admit, I found it a bit odd that Felicity was concentrating more on shout outs to children she used to babysit rather than her spin for the million. (???)
And if we're totally giving away the budget on these specials, why is there no provision for a double showcase?
I was driving down Fairfax Blvd. last night around 11pm and there were already 150 people camping out to see the next day's Price is Right taping. Back in the day when I was trying out (it took me about 6 tries to get picked), I remember lamenting about having to get there at 6am to get in. The first time we went in 1996, we sauntered in at 9:30am and got in.
I mean I understand the desire to see the show, but being up for 36 hours straight doesn't seem to appeal to me. Even if you get picked, how can you think straight with no sleep?
It is definitely a tribute to Bob's appeal though. I wonder how crazy the ratings will be for his last show?
Just as I was mentioning the great Match Game gag on the Simpsons, tonight's Family Guy had an extended Price is Right flashback, where Peter and his family were guided up the Cliff Hangers board by the mountain climber. The best part was that they had the exact yodeling theme and loss stinger the real show uses.
Peter then proceeded to remember that life was better for his friend Cleveland, who rode a Plinko chip all the way down the board but landed in $0.
The Simpsons don't do game show parodies that often (Family Guy seems far more interested in the genre), but a great skit they did in 1994 was a look into the future to "Match Game 2034". Bart was paranoid he'd be a one-hit TV wonder and feared he'd end up on the game, which featured the following panelists:
Billy Crystal Farrah Fawcet-Majors-O'neal-Varney Ventriloquist Loni Anderson Spike Lee
and my personal favorite...
The Always Lovely and Vivacious Head of Kitty Carlisle
Well, a friend of mine has the musical cues and I have to say, that's probably the best new game show theme package since Millionaire came around 8 years ago. So that's one thing the show had going for it. The game was actually pretty solid. Shatner was serviceable as host. The dancers weren't overly obnoxious (save for perhaps that over the top premiere episode with the minutes-long dance solos).
I really think Shatner doomed the show however. Not because of his hosting ability, but because he's Shatner. Everything he touches sort of gets an air of corniness, and it's hard to imagine the average person taking a show he hosted seriously. Throw in pole dancing hotties and you probably have your reason why the show was doomed.
Too bad though, I looked forward to it on a weekly basis more than Deal or 5th Grader, that's for sure.
Well we all knew the $1 Million Question was coming on 5th Grader tonight...I just never expected the guy to miss it, thereby losing $475K in the process. Does that set a record for most accumulated winnings ever lost on a game show? I have to think it does. $218K had been lost on Millionaire a few times, but this easily overshadows that.
Kudos to the guy for trying for it, but it really just is not a choice that is in the contestant's favor. Plus those astronomy questions are always killers on that show.
According to cbs.com, Mark Steines is getting another test show, taping May 14th. Could this be the ultimate clue that he's gotten the Price job permanently?
A semi-unique new show on VH1 called Acceptable TV has gotten my attention as of late. Basically each week they create 5 4-minute pilots for really bad TV shows. Viewers vote on their favorite and the top 2 vote getters have a new episode produced the next week, along with 3 new pilots. And the cycle continues.
One of the pilots they debuted on last week's show was "The Price of Dollars", basically a Price is Right clone. The interesting thing about the pilot is that it was an allegory for the departure of Bob. Basically they show the new host of "Dollars" being shunned by contestants and even have him become the victim of a hostile takeover attempt by the jealous announcer. Not totally laugh out loud stuff, but still worth a watch at their website. Wonder what Rich Fields would think?
It's down to Mark Steines, Todd Newton, and George Hamilton for the Price job. I'm not going to pull any punches--I'm rooting for Todd. I was part of a small group of people 4 years ago that worked with Todd to go over the mechanics of the pricing games, and I can tell you he really didn't need much help. He was solid. His other hosting performances have far exceeded the quality of the show he was given. He's got a game show pedigree and has been a champion of the genre.
I can't speak for Mark Steines to be honest, but if we're going to go with someone who isn't really a household name, Mark can't be any better than Todd. That leaves George. Fans who were in the audience for George's tryout have indicated it was awful, and at 67 he's probably not a good choice. On Match Game '98, as a panelist, he hardly wowed me with his comedy or his timing.
If we're down to these three, they need to go with Todd. All indications are that they've already made their pick, and I'm sure we'll here it this month, perhaps as soon as a day or two after Bob's retirement specials have aired. The world will be waiting to hear.
The little show that couldn't, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, continues to annoy me. One, Fox is, for reasons beyond comprehension, airing the show for 2 hours this week. I mean, 1 hour is too much at the pace they take that game. Two hours is just torture.
Second, they completely spoiled the outcome of one of the games. I mean, totally spoiled it. Give me a break! Everything about this show, from the pacing, to the producers demanding that every contestant be "attractive" (their words), to the promotion of it just irks me. It's not a bad format on its face, it's just been executed horribly, and I think the constantly plunging ratings are an indication of that.
Howie and a few Deal models will be featured guests on Tuesday night's Larry King Live. Hopefully it will be as uncompromising a piece of journalism as his show tonight, which featured an hour long dissection of the David Hasselhoff "drunken hamburger" tape. That episode also featured guest commentary from noted family expert Judge Hatchett. Good times.
Kudos to Deal for hitting 100 episodes. I will honestly admit I never thought it would reach this milestone, at least not in primetime, so congrats to everyone involved in the show.
I thought the episode was well produced in bringing in past contestants and the clip montage at the front of the show was great.
So that being said. Why on earth did they give the show's worst contestant the chance to play again? Why. Oh. Why. So many other deserving past contestants. Sigh.
I did appreciate the recap of Brooks' first episode, or as I like to call it, the "descent into madness".
I have to admit that new episodes of Family Feud are totally off my radar screen normally. But being on vacation means I actually have the chance to watch it. John O'Hurley is ok I guess, but this version, in its 3 hosts, hasn't really produced anyone who comes close to holding a candle to Richard or Ray.
I'm not sure what's going on with the set these days. It seemed to be OK before John took over, but now it's just kind of a mess.
Also, one of the Fast Money questions today was "Name the state with the highest life expectancy for men." Really? I mean, that's pretty specific, and not really based on any common knowledge. Seems like more of a Hot Potato question than a Family Feud question.
