The (New) Price is Right (1972-1980 U.S. Version) is a syndicated TV show that had Dennis James host the show from 1972-1977 and by Bob Barker from 1977-1980. Like the later 80's version, this is often referred to as The Nighttime Price Is Right.
Concept[]
- The 1970s nighttime Price is Right was basically the same as its daytime counterpart, only here it used the half-hour format used from 1972-1975 during the daytime run.
- This version had a slightly larger budget than its daytime counterpart, with Showcases ranging from $9,000 to $23,000. The biggest total awarded was $35,142.
- There was no Double Showcase bonus in this version nor the later nighttime version.
- This version used the same models as the daytime show.
- Pricing Game Stats/70s Nighttime Statistics
History[]
- Dennis James was the initial choice of Goodson-Todman to host all versions of the program. However, CBS wanted Bob Barker, which is why James only hosted this version (save for a few daytime episodes were he filed-in for a sick Bob Barker).
- Unofficially called "The Nighttime Price is Right" as it aired Saturday or Sunday evening in most markets.
- The entire run of this series exists (Except for 001N), but the program has not aired in reruns since the mid-1980s. A large reason for this was Barker's ban on rerunning episodes of the show featuring fur prizes, with this version featuring them much more than the daytime version.
- The third episode of this run (003N) which was taped on August 28th 1972, was thrown out and never aired due to a mistake during the Showcase that no one could figure out how to fix. A replacement wasn't tape until after #039N (the season finale) on May 4, 1973.
- In the show's 1976-77 season, an unfortunate incident occurred for Dennis James during an early playing of the Cliff Hangers game on one nighttime episode. Dennis called the mountain climber Fritz by shouting out "There Goes Fritz" when the contestant lost the game and the climber fall over the cliff. He was not aware that model Janice Pennington's husband Fritz Stammberger had vanished while mountain climbing in the mid 1970s. James' comments distraught and upset Janice so much, that she ran off backstage crying and not appearing on camera nor on air for the remainder of that show.
- The show started off strong in the ratings. However, it began to decline when the daytime version moved to one hour and this version was compared unfavorably to that version. Dennis James signed a five-year contract to host, which expired in 1977 and wasn't renewed. Barker hosted the final three seasons in an attempt to improve the ratings, which was unsuccessful.
- NBC Owned and Operated stations ran the syndicated version from 1972-1977. When Family Feud (Dawson) premiered, they dropped this program and picked up that one instead. CBS Owned and Operated stations picked up the series in 1977 and aired it until 1980.
- In 1980, Goodson-Todman moved their weekly syndicated shows to 5 days a week, including Family Feud (Dawson) and Match Game (Rayburn). However, they decided to cancel this version of The Price is Right to focus on a daily syndicated version of To Tell the Truth (Ward) instead.