They line up early in the morning outside the CBS building on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Many admit they didn’t sleep the night before. They represent cities and towns that span the globe. They are in college. They are retired. They work at jobs that fulfill or frustrate them.
They are as different as humans can possibly be, but they share an identical dream: They all dream of hearing the three magic words: “COME ON DOWN!”
The Backstreet Boys wish they could generate this kind of excitement. How could a pop group ever compete with standing on a stage with Bob Barker? How could a mere concert compete with going home with “A NEW CAR!”?
Then again, the Backstreet Boys have been around only about five years. “The Price is Right” has been around, in one form or another, for 44 years, so it has had more practice at creating excitement.
And the numbers don’t lie. “The Price is Right” continues to generate excitement. It is the second-highest-rated show on daytime television, behind the formidable soap “The Young and the Restless,” and it shows no signs of slowing after 28 years in daytime.
It is that rare TV show that attracts diverse generations of viewers, and it is even rarer in that its audience appears to be getting even younger as the seasons roll along.
“I was watching some tapes from old shows the other day,” said Roger Dobkowitz, a producer who has been with the show for all 28 years, “and I noticed that our contestants used to be slightly older and dress in nice outfits. They even wore ties.
“Now we get a lot of college kids in sweatshirts, and I think I know why. My theory is that this show is like comfort food, in that it brings back all these nice memories.
“They walk by a television set in the dorm and they catch a glimpse of `The Price is Right.’ They remember that they used to watch with their moms when they were little kids and home sick from school. . . . It’s the same show they remember, and it feels good to watch something that hasn’t changed. It’s just a theory.”
Not a bad theory. “The Price is Right” is a lot like a steaming plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It’s comfort food for the eyes.
For 28 years, the game show has been a staple of daytime television. It has changed some during the years — it expanded from a half-hour to a full hour in 1975 — but for the most part, it’s the same basic game show. That’s not surprising, considering that many of the 120 people it takes to produce the daily show have been there for most, if not all, of the 28 years.
And right at the top of that list is Barker.
The handsome, silver-haired host, who emceed “Truth or Consequences” for 18 years before taking the reins of “The Price is Right” in 1972, is the one indispensable fixture on the show. Without Barker, there probably is no “The Price is Right.”
A few months ago, the network and the show’s producers were forced to ponder that possibility when Barker underwent surgery to clear a blocked carotid artery. The show went into reruns while Barker recovered.
“Bob and the show are so dependent on each other,” Dobkowitz said, “that the show should be called `Bob Barker’s The Price is Right.’ It is Bob’s show, and we wondered during his illness whether we would continue with the show if he didn’t come back.”
But Barker, 76, did return to the show and is back to a full shooting schedule.
“I’m feeling better every day,” the host said in his dressing room after a recent taping.
“I’ve got much more energy than I did before the surgery,” he added.
In March 1998, the legendary Stage 33 at CBS, where Jack Benny, Red Skelton and Carol Burnett taped their shows, was renamed the Bob Barker Studio to honor the host for his 5,000th episode of “The Price is Right.”
“I’ll have to make a decision soon on whether I’ll return for a 29th season,” Barker said, “but as long as I feel well, I’ll probably come back. I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do my whole life, and I’m stimulated by the challenge each day of creating spontaneous entertainment with unrehearsed contestants.
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If standing next to Barker is your goal, then Phillip Wayne Rossi is the man you need to impress.
Rossi, a producer and 24-year veteran of the show, has all the usual producer responsibilities but perhaps his most important job is screening contestants.
Before each taping, more than 300 potential contestants parade past Rossi to strut their stuff. He speaks to each one briefly, giving secret signals to his longtime assistant, Sharon Friem, who writes down his selections. At the end of the session, nine names are picked. Those names are then run through a CBS computer to determine whether they have ever appeared on “The Price is Right.”
Contestants are allowed only one appearance on the show per lifetime.
“For 22 years, I have felt like Santa’s helper,” Rossi explained. “I help them get closer to Santa. And Bob really is Santa. He makes Christmas happen every day on stage.”
Rossi said the best way to impress him is to act natural. “What I’m really doing is looking for people who will interact with Bob on stage. We don’t want people who will freeze up in front of the cameras.”
Once inside the studio, the 300 or so potential contestants are led to their seats, where they wait anxiously to see if their name will be called.
In the meantime, announcer Rod Roddy, who has been with the show 16 years, warms up the crowd. Well, ignites a fire under them is more like it.
Wearing one of his trademark gaudy sports jackets — on this day, it was fire-engine red — Roddy whips the crowd into a controlled mob.
They promise to laugh at all his corny jokes, to applaud when the applause sign lights up, to shout out prices at the contestants and not to visit the bathroom during the taping.
That said, it’s party time. He announces Barker, whom the audience clearly adores, and then calls out the names of four people to “COME ON DOWN!”
“The Price is Right” debuted in daytime on Nov. 26, 1956, and continued through September 1963. There were various incarnations, daytime and prime time, after that until 1972, when the current edition started.
The show itself is simple enough.
After the four lucky contestants have been exhorted to step on their neighbor’s toes and run like a crazed, screaming lunatic to the front of the room, they must try to guess the price of an item, the winner being the contestant who comes closest without going over the actual retail price.
The winner then joins Barker on stage, where he or she plays a game to win an even bigger prize.
At the end of each half-hour, the contestants who managed to get on stage once return to spin a giant wheel. The person who comes closest to 100 points in two spins or less moves on to the showcase round at the end of the show.
The secret to the show’s longevity seems obvious. After all, this isn’t “Jeopardy,” where knowledge and education are factors. This is a pricing game, and everybody holds an advanced degree in pricing.
“I once asked Mark Goodson (one of the creators of the show) what he thought the secret of the show was,” said Dobkowitz. “He told me that if he knew that, he would have six shows just like it on the air.”
There are about 60 games for producers to choose from each day, and anyone on the staff is invited to create a new game.
“It’s a like a gigantic puzzle that we have to put together each day,” Dobkowitz said. “Everything has to fit into a certain time period.
“And if we have done our job correctly, the show goes smoothly, and the audience is satisfied.”
Like the satisfaction of finishing a steaming plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
