Bob Barker will stride on stage to enthusiastic applause. Announcer Rod Roddy will shout the familiar ”Come on down,” and hopeful contestants will tumble down the aisle to shrieks and squeals. It`s ”The Price Is Right.”
But, wait, Barker will be wearing a tuxedo, and the stage will have extra glitter. The prizes, whose prices are the object of the game, will be more expensive than usual. Furthermore, all this will be seen at 7 p.m., not the usual 10 a.m. What`s going on?
Viewers will find out Thursday night when CBS launches the first prime-time game show in 20 years. For six weeks, Barker will preside over a jazzed- up version of daytime`s top game show. (”Price” actually goes back to 1956 on NBC daytime and a 1957 NBC prime-time version hosted by Bill Cullen. The current CBS daytime show bowed in 1972.)
Several factors seem to be at work in giving ”The Price Is Right” a prime time outing:
Nothing else CBS and ABC have thrown against NBC`s ”The Cosby Show” at 7 p.m. Thursdays has dented the super show`s ratings, and another game,
”Wheel of Fortune,” although it isn`t in network prime time, has been unbeatable on local stations in early evening.
Barker, the show`s otherwise affable host, gets a trifle snappish when that reasoning is suggested.
”Some of the top people at CBS have wanted to do this for years,” he said. ”They first started talking about it 10 years ago when we were so successful in daytime, but there were others who weren`t in favor of it.”
”If the six specials do well,” said Barker, ”there`s a good possibility it will be a series. And you can bet that if it`s a success, there`ll be game shows in prime time on all the networks just as there were years ago.”
Barker insists that isn`t all bad. He sees ”Price” less as a game than a talk show, ”a people-oriented show,” he said.
”It`s flexible enough to give me the opportunity to have fun with people, people who aren`t pre-selected. It really is unrehearsed, spontaneous entertainment. When I have people I can have fun with, I play the game faster so there`s more time for talk. There`s some of the same flavor of Groucho Marx`s `You Bet Your Life.` ”
A year ago, ”Price” producers tried a syndicated version of the show with another veteran game show host, Tom Kennedy. ”The New Price Is Right”
was not a success.
Barker ducks any theories on why. ”My agent says it was because Bob Barker wasn`t the host,” he offered.
The daytime ”Price” is taped in batches, which gives Barker time for other things, including the ”Miss USA” and ”Miss Universe” pageants each summer and the ”Bob Barker Fun and Games Show,” a stage show that he takes on the road.
