Price has gone green: According to Marc Green, Contestants' Row is now LED.

Also, Mike Richards is EP.

I read that as "Mike Richards is also LED"

Now that would be unbelievably cool.

Two new tweets from Drew- First one includes a pic of DiPirro, Richards, and Fingers, where you can see that they are using the MDS lights around the edge of the stage. I am wondering if that plasma is staying on stage in plain sight for this season- probably not.
http://yfrog.com/5gfqjbj
EDIT: Sorry, forgot the pic was already posted!

Second, straight from the tweeter's thumbs:
"TPIR Will be tweeting from backstage tomorrow from my arrival til show start. With pics! Stay tuned! :) Show airs Sept-U get 1st!"

Is the Wet Paint Game in the lineup?

Here's a new one:
New blog up. Good night. :) http://drewfromtv.blogspot.com/

The blog entry is actually pretty good...no new info in it concerning S38, but still a good read nonetheless.

In his newest blog, Drew refers to the trip skins as "old paintings." Touts the triumph that is "trips you'd kill for" instead of grandfather clocks.

Sadly, as Drew misses the point a few times with his thoughts, an impassioned G-R.net user commented on the post, spewing claptrap about what Drew's rumored to have done on the set, and in turn invalidating all criticism of Drew's Price vs. Classic Price. Hopefully some more reasoned discussion with Drew can happen in time. It's clear he cares about Price, and he's accessible.

-Jason

So the change to LEDs actually is a budget-saving move, in a way...assuming the old displays are the same ones they've had since they were installed 30+ years ago, they probably eat up quite a bit of energy. Newer displays would be much more efficient.

If this is the case (and I'm only making an educated guess) then I certainly wouldn't mind and will gladly ignore the fanboy rabble-rousing.

--Sam

Here's my guess:

Since Bobbo's gone, they're giving away furs again. Zinman Furs is still in business in Camden, NJ.

First off, Mark Goodson said the "without going over" rule was genius. It prevented conflict and assured ONE winner, not two. What happens if you throw out this rule and one person is fifty bucks under and one person is fifty bucks over? You have a conflict, and don't say they both win and both come up to play the same pricing game.

As for nobody remembering Cullen's version, think again. I'm sure Matt Ottinger, for one, remembers.

BTW, if you're just kidding. my apologies.

http://img4.yfrog.com/i/oru.jpg/

Now you may all speculate. Major set change.

That does it. I am never....EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVAR...watching this show....AGAYIN.

/Approves

Is that a huge video wall off in the distance?

So the turntable's now a...cove? Is that a door or a projection on a screen?

I thought you were the one who *liked* change.

Really, with that shot it's impossible to tell if the turntable is even gone...it could just be inset really well into that backdrop.

Technically speaking, I don't "remember" the show. I was five when it went off the air.

But I totally agree with the first part of your statement. The "without going over" business hasn't been retained for thirty-seven years just because it's a nod to the classic show. It's been that way because it's a simple rule that works.

Still...while Drew continues to show that he genuinely cares about the program (his blog is very interesting reading), he also wants to change the stuff he doesn't like, and if he were to get it in his head that "without going over" is a dumb rule, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that they could change it.

Seems it'd be rather easy to deal with, actually. If there's a tie, give it to the one who didn't go over. Or the one who bid first. Or the one wearing polka-dotted underwear. There are any one of a crapload of workarounds, some easier than others. If anything, the difficulty would be in figuring out when there's a tie when both bids are far apart. If the retail price is $2,561, contestant one bids $1,772 and the other bids $3,350 - that that's a tie that may well require some math work to even recognize as such, and might well cause a problem if no one notices it right away.

I could see how one would want to change the rule, though. Let's say the item up for bids is a MacBook Air (since those have become popular items to give away under Drew). MSRP right now is $1,499 (after the recent price cut.) Contestant 1 bids $1,500. Contestants two through four, not as familiar with Apple's pricing, bid $420, $750, and $751. To a lot of people, it looks just short of absurd that contestant 1 loses for being *one dollar off*, while contestant 4, the next closest, is off by $749 - just under 50% of the value of the item. And I can think of a lot worse changes to the show they could make than to say that the guy who bid $1,500 on the $1,499 laptop wins.

I do like change, in general. I'm just confused as to what this change is.

Fair enough. I interpreted your statement above as "wtf why are they changing this?" I apologize for the misinterpretation.

Which takes you right back to "closest without going over".


Not if the rule is "without going over".

We're playing Blackjack. I have four and you have 22. Who wins? It's called irony. It's why people bid "one dollar, Bob".

It looks like somthing they built, rather than a video wall or a projection. According to ClockGameJohn over at Golden Road, the turntable is still there. Good to see that they're using the entire space now.

I will admit, it looks cool- it gives them more options for.....something. More as this story develops, I guess.

They're calling it Door #5 (Door #4 being the monitor in the back of the audience)...so I assume it's being used to display something. And since there appears to be very little physical space behind this new door, I assume it's a monitor or projection screen of some sort.

One of my first thoughts was that you could probably run a curtain in the gap between the wall and the chase lights and stage whatever. I'm also wondering if this change was made just so that the turnable area matches the door areas.

An interesting thing I picked up on the blog when he was talking about how awesome having all the exotic NU NU NU! prizes are.

Considering I can probably count on one finger the number of other game shows that rely on non-cash prizes, that's not a great selling point. Granted, I think some of the stuff they've offered recently is pretty cool, but that's like saying you're good at basketball just because you're tall.

I get the distinct feeling that's all the farther the staff's gotten with it so far.

This bothers me a whole lot more than it probably should, mainly because there was likely no reason for doing it beyond somebody wanting to tinker with the Turntable.

Recognizing this is the first step. :)

That reminds me. What happened to the "playing non-cash games for cash" idea? False rumor? On hold? Circular file?

There was a planned playing of Shell Game for $10,000 that for one reason or another never happened.

(Which is probably good -- I mean, playing a game that already has a cash bonus for cash?)

Actually, it's more like saying you're the very best basketball player on your football team.

But yeah, give them their mad props for coming up with some sweet, creative prizes. Just remember...that's one of the things that made Cullen's version work.

One of the neatest prizes I've seen the show offer was a few months ago, during Pass the Buck, when they had a restored '69 Mustang as the prize. Give me the choice between that or a car normally offered in that game (read: Chevy Cobalt) and I'll take the classing Mustang any day of the week.

I meant momentum in terms of how long the show has been doing what they're doing.

Agree wholly on the former, I don't quite agree on the latter. While I'd like to see some decent showcases again (as opposed to "these three unrelated things will be funny because we're saying FRIED CHICKEN!" or "here are three prizes connected by a linking word", I wouldn't mind seeing showcases where there are four or five unconnected prizes again.

In what way? You have a content hole and so many ways to fill it. I think it's more a case of "You can't go home again." Things have been done in a particular way that it would be too strange to go another direction.

Wait, are you suggesting that people watch game shows and are disconnected from the outcome? I'm not saying that I always want the best player to win all the time, I'm saying that I like to watch people play well-designed games properly. I think I'm not alone in that regard. Just because I happen to like a particular thing doesn't de facto make me wrong.

But it's not really drama. You could put an immunity idol in a dark chamber and have the Survivors hunt for it. Is there drama? Yeah, I guess, but it's the same kind of groping for the end.

I actually like the idea of ordering everything in the Showcase to win it. I think that doing Double Bullseye to get there is pure rubbish. And here's something that hasn't been considered. With the standard Showcase, you have a decent idea of how long it will take. Present prizes, bid, present prizes, bid, reveal, spay/neuter, roll credits. When you have the possibility of a prolonged round that exists just as a play in to the Big Fella, you're either going to have to stretch or cut somewhere.

A better solution to that is to allow each finalist a secret bid at the Showcase. Closest without going over gets to play for it.

I suspect that's exactly the reason they spot them a $100 range at the start. Takes *roughly* the same amount of time to play each day, and on those days when it's on the long or short end, the stretch time or rush time isn't so much that it can't be handled.

EDIT. Special Premiere guest is Craig Ferguson, per Drew's Twitter, and for some reason, Feud won't stop posting tweets about car wins.


True- all cash games have some sort of suspense, whether it's picking a number, punching holes, or watching chips drop- seeing a cash game with a potential guaranteed win would be quite awkward.


Yeah, they even gave away a plane one time, IIRC. I just wish the show would stop buying Temptation's overstock of designer crap.....they even have a cue now that's an obvious ripoff of the Sex and the City theme song.

My mistake.


We most likely have Ted to thank for that (as well as the 30 new prizes per week). However, despite all the new awesomeness, I'd still excercise some moderation. I mean, do we really have to have two designer-fashion prizes per show? Really?

I know...it's not the Phone Home Game...it's the Twitter/Facebook Game!!! or they raised the bonus money for the Clock Game...

As of special guest...Katie Couric???

Charles Atkins

The next view - see , all the fanboi worried that the turntable was gone? All for nothing.

It looks like a modified turntable area - nothing more - though it looks like there are new Showcase podiui.

http://img3.yfrog.com/i/p7n.jpg/

If I were to make a guess, I'd say the slot that tells which showcase is which is now an LED screen, instead of a slot for the showcase slides?

I could definitely see the the showcase name being in Ferranti-Packer, but it's probably going to be LED, which is definitely cool.

As someone on the G-R board stated as well, I'm surprised it took this long to make some noticeable changes.

That was going to be my guess, too, but I'm not sure why they would do it, unless they think it's worth spending the scratch on tech that looks pretty but otherwise is wholly unnecessary.

(Unless they do some fancy animated stuff like flashing WINNAR or something in the place of the Showcase name.)

And to me, for a show that has taken so much effort to look retro (i.e. the fugly DSW graphic, the set) and has kept so many old-school props/slides, it seems a bit out of place.

Of course, there is the possibility that they're doing the Jeopardy! thing where the bid readout and the name-slot are the same LCD / plasma screen, in which case it would cost them not one red cent more to replace it and would potentially save production time.

Please, that's the moronic fanb0i spelling, and you're not a moronic fanb0i. It's Ferranti Packard, which I don't think exists in the same form it did back in the day.


Yup. Them displays ain't cheap.


Gawd, don't give them ideas. They might be inclined to flash LOOSER as well, but it would have to be TEH WINNAR!!11 and TEH LOOSER!!11.

So, how long did it take everyone to notice the two super hot models in the foreground?

\Don't ask me what my time was.

They have a pill for that now.

Use as directed.

Why do that...I say, when a contestant makes a bid so outrageously stupid and loses, forget "TEH LOOSER", they should just sum it up in one word.

FAIL! Big bold white block letters on a bright red background.

So... a year ago, they decided the producers' table didn't look good on camera so they built a box to hide it. Now they're quite literally putting it on a pedestal?

With these fancy-ass LED displays, they can make it alternate between "TEH LOOSER!!11" in white on blue and "FAIL" in white on red. When they get tired of that they can make it say "YOU PINHEAD!!11". If another contestant gets a showcase on the nose, they can make it say "CHEATER!!11". So Mikey, if you're reading this, the possibilities are limitless.

When there's finally a shot of these podius in use, I can't wait to see what sort of doctored photos some of you are gonna come up with...although its gonna be hard to beat the Pyramid "Teh Winnars" graphic.

No one's posted this information yet, but the square tiles on the background apparently rotate after the showcase winner is revealed...

Psycho-delic.

And this, incidentally, makes you teh winnar.