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Season 26 (1997-1998)[]
Pricing game calendar for Season 26, hosted by Scorpz.
In an unusual move, many episodes during this as well the next two seasons open with the "CBS presents this program in color" header, not regularly used by the network since the 1970's. Most of the time, the header is visible for only a split second before being cut off by the show intro. The header is believed to have also appeared on Kids Say the Darndest Things, which aired during this timeframe, and the header was likely done intentionally there as part of that show's callbacks to Art Linkletter's House Party.
Week 1 (1,042 – #043xK): September 8-12
- The set is decorated for the season premiere on Monday
- Monday's opening titles are "More Exciting Than Ever!," "Still Number One!," and "Our 26th Year!"
- On Monday, Rod's opening spiel includes an extra line: "Here it comes! Television's most exciting hour of fantastic prizes! Beginning its 26th year on CBS! The fabulous, 60-minute Price Is Right!"
- On Monday, Bob is introduced as "The star of America's longest-running game show, Bob Barker!"
- On Monday, the text on the Big Doors is changed to say, “26 Years on CBS.”
- On Monday, three special guests: Lucy Johnson, Syd Vinnedge, and Marjorie Goodson appear at the start of Act 2, Lucy and Marjorie both present Bob with checks for his charity, the DJ&T Foundation.
- On Monday, Janice wrecks a van in Lucky $even, this subsequently causes Bob to forget to have Rod read the car plug, which eventually results in the contestant getting $3 back after missing the second number without knowing what kind of car he was playing for.
- On Tuesday, the opening spiel changes back to "Here it comes! Television's most exciting hour of fantastic prizes! The fabulous, 60-minute Price Is Right!"
- On Tuesday, Safe Crackers is played for a car.
Week 2 (1,043 – #044xK): September 15-19
- Tuesday show is the real episode #5,000.
- On Tuesday, “Here Comes the Bride” is played instead of “Walking” when Rod calls a bride to come on down.
- On Wednesday, Super Ball!! is played for a car.
Week 3 (1,044 – #045xK): September 22-26
- On Monday, Hi-Lo is played for a car.
- In Monday's Hi-Lo, due to Bob's interaction with the contestant, the prize is revealed before the groceries are described.
- Friday show features the debut of It’s in the Bag.
- It’s in the Bag’s original intro cue is the full-length version of what would come to be known as the Fortune Hunter intro cue.
Week 4 (1,045 – #046xK): September 29-October 3
Week 5 (1,046 – #047xK): October 6-10
- Monday show features the famous “Timothy’s Dot” incident, in which contestant Timothy tries to play Check Game by writing on one of the price displays.
- Wednesday show has the first appearance of It’s in the Bag’s blue lights, on the game’s first playing, the lights were yellow.
- Wednesday show features a blind contestant named George. The audience remains silent during Rod's prize descriptions so that George can hear them.
Week 6 (1,047 – #048xK): October 13-17
- On Monday, the red-blue-orange-green audience curtains are briefly replaced with the silver ones seen on the 25th Anniversary Special. The regular curtains were removed after someone accidentally burned holes in them by leaving the lights behind them turned on over the weekend.
- On Monday, Plinko is played by Tony Harrison, the founder of the legendary Fabulous, 60-Minute Price Is Right Site.
- On Monday, 2 for the Price of 1 is played for a car.
- On Thursday, the edges of the Penny Ante board's walls nearest to Bob are still white.
- Friday show, which includes the third playing of It’s in the Bag, is also believed to mark the first time the game is introduced with its normal cue. Over the next several years, the normal-length versions of the two intro cues will be used interchangeably, with the one from this episode gradually becoming predominant and eventually being used on every playing.
Week 7 (1,048 – #049xK): October 20-24
- On Tuesday, the audience curtains change again, this time to a color scheme of gold-blue-blue-silver-silver-blue-blue-gold, unlike the normal and all-silver curtains, these have no curves running down them.
Week 8 (1,049 – #050xK): October 27-31
- On Monday, 2 for the Price of 1 is played for a car.
- On Wednesday, the normal audience curtains return.
- On Wednesday, Plinko is still using its second harps.
- Beginning on Thursday, Buy or Sell winners receive the amount of cash they have in the bank at the end of the game in addition to the three prizes.
- On Friday, Safe Crackers is played for a car.
Week 9 (1,050 – #051xK): November 3-7
Week 10 (1,051 – #052xK): November 10-14
- Thursday show features the 1,000th playing of Double Prices.
- On Thursday, Double Prices is played at Door #3.
Week 11 (1,052 – #053xK): November 17-21
- On Monday, contestant Rodrigo gets a ball stuck in Super Ball!!’s $50 circle, against the back of the $100 circle, Bob declares him to have won $54.78 with it.
- On Monday, 2 for the Price of 1 is played for a car.
- Friday show features the debut of Fortune Hunter.
Week 12 (1,053 – #054xK): November 24-26
- Thanksgiving week, only three shows.
- Tuesday show features the 1,000th playing of Clock Game.
- By Wednesday, Plinko has begun using its current harps.
Week 13 (1,054 – #055xK): December 1-5
- On Monday, Double Prices is played behind the Giant Price Tag.
- By Tuesday, the white portions of the sides of the Penny Ante board have become green and blue.
- On Thursday, Most Expensive is played for three trips.
Week 14 (1,055 – #056xK): December 8-12
- On Monday, 2 for the Price of 1 is played for a car.
Week 15 (1,056 – #057xK): December 15-16
- Only two shows, on Monday and Tuesday.
- No Christmas-themed episodes are done this season, although a Christmas tree is set up in the back of the audience on Tuesday.
Week 16 (1,057 – #058xK): January 2
- New Year’s week, only one show.
Week 17 (1,058 – #059xK): January 5-9
Week 18 (1,059 – #060xK): January 12-16
- Monday show features the final playing of Super Ball!!.
- On Monday, Super Ball!! is played for a car.
- On Wednesday, 25-year-old contestant Danitra tells Bob that her name was inspired by Anitra.
- On Friday, 2 for the Price of 1 is played for a car.
Week 19 (1,060 – #061xK): January 19-23
- On Tuesday, Check-Out is played for a car.
- On Wednesday, Range Game is played for a car.
- Wednesday features the well-known contestant “Rosina the Plinko lady.”
- On Thursday, Safe Crackers is played for a car.
Week 20 (1,061 – #062xK): January 26-30
- On Thursday, Cliff Hangers is played for a car.
- On Friday, Pick-a-Pair is played for a car.
Week 21 (1,062 – #063xK): February 2-5, April 27
- Originally scheduled for February 2-6
- On Tuesday, Golden Road is played for a boat.
Week 22 (1,063 – #064xK): February 9-13
- On Friday, Range Game is played for a car.
Week 23 (1,064 – #065xK): February 16-20
- On Monday, Grocery Game is played for a car.
- On Monday, in an unusual move, Bob lets a contestant re-drop a Plinko chip that had landed in 0 because, since the player had knocked it loose after it got stuck on the top of the board, it shouldn't count.
- Monday show features Scott, the well-known contestant who injured his knee before playing Dice Game, in the wake of his injury, Bob spins the Big Wheel for him.
- On Monday's show, due to everyone's reaction to Scott's injury, the car for Dice Game is never fully described.
- On Tuesday, 2 for the Price of 1 is played for a car, despite this, the game uses the “Second Thoughts” cue.
- On Thursday, for no apparent reason, Double Prices is played at center stage with the prize behind Door #2.
- On Friday, 3 Strikes is played under its original rules for the final time.
- On Friday, Most Expensive is played for three trips.
Week 24 (1,065 – #066xK): February 23, 25-27
- Only four shows, Tuesday has the Pillsbury Bake-Off and a rerun of episode #1025D from August 16, 1974.
Week 25 (1,066 – #067xK): March 2-6
Week 26 (1,067 – #068xK): March 9-13
- Tuesday show features the debut of Line em Up.
- On its first several playings, Line em Up uses the think music from Make Your Move.
- Very early in its life, Line em Up's prize labels had black text on white backgrounds, and the rim around the car's price was white.
- On Thursday, Secret "X" is played for a car.
Week 27 (1,068 – #069xK): March 16-20
- Double Prices is played twice this week, Thursday's playing, a substitution for Lucky $even, takes place at Door #3.
Week 28 (1,069 – #070xK): March 23-27
Week 29 (1,070 – #071xK): March 30-April 3
- By Wednesday, Line em Up's prize labels have changed to white text on black backgrounds, and the rim around the car's price has been painted yellow.
Week 30 (1,071 – #072xK): April 6-10
- On Wednesday, Safe Crackers is played for a car.
- Thursday show is the ceremonial 5,000th episode, in reality, it is the 5,132nd episode.
- The set is decorated for the "5,000th show" on Thursday.
- On Thursday, Rod’s opening spiel is, “Here it comes! Television’s most exciting hour of fantastic prizes! Our 5,000th show! The fabulous, 60-minute Price Is Right!”
- All three of Thursday’s opening titles are a special “5,000th SHOW” Graphic.
- On Thursday, the text on the Big Doors is changed from “26 Years on CBS” to “5,000th Show on CBS!”
- On Thursday, every pricing game, including Cliff Hangers and Double Prices, is played for a car, this is one of only four known episodes with a car in each game, the other three being the March 7, 1975, episode, the "teen drivers" show in Season 40, and the "sweet 16" episode in Season 43.
- Lucy Johnson speaks on Thursday.
- On Thursday, Studio 33 is renamed “The Bob Barker Studio.”
- On Thursday, Gena is present with the show’s cast and crew during the credits.
- On Friday, the opening spiel is permanently extended to, “Here it comes! From the Bob Barker Studio at CBS in Hollywood! Television’s most exciting hour of fantastic prizes! The fabulous, 60-minute Price Is Right!”
- On Friday, the Big Doors are changed again to remove the CBS Eye symbol and all text except for the show’s logo, the text is replaced by two additional balloons, and the pattern of the confetti is slightly altered.
- On Friday, 2 for the Price of 1 is played for a car, despite this, the game uses the "Second Thoughts" cue.
- On Friday, Rod Roddy blew the reveal of 2 For the Price of 1, by accidentally reading a page ahead in the script. The item up for bids was shown as a dinette set, but Rod instead blurted out, "A barbecue and a new car!," before quickly correcting himself. It was later revealed, that the next pricing game was 2 for the Price of 1, and the prizes for the game were true, a barbecue grill, and a 1998 Dodge Neon.
Week 31 (1,072 – #073xK): April 13-17
- On Tuesday, Pick-a-Pair is played for a car.
Week 32 (1,073 – #074xK): April 20-24
Week 33 (1,074 – #075xK): April 28-May 1
- Only four shows, Monday has an episode delayed from February 6.
- Wednesday, Pick-a-Pair is played for a car.
Week 34 (1,075 – #076xK): May 4-8
Week 35 (1,076 – #077xK): May 11-15
- On Tuesday, Range Game is played for a car.
- On Thursday, 3 Strikes returns to the pricing game rotation with the “one strike in the bag” rule implemented.
Week 36 (1,077 – #078xK): May 18-22
Week 37 (1,078 – #079xK): May 25-29
Week 38 (1,079 – #080xK): June 1-5
- Tuesday show introduces Line em Up’s normal think music.
- Wednesday show opens with the infamous "Nicole Thorenson/Barrington/Thornbrough incident," in which the name of contestant #4, Nicole Thornbrough, was mistakenly written down as "Nicole Thorenson," which was the name Rod called during the opening (despite Bob's later claims that what he heard through the Big Doors was "Nicole Barrington"). Nicole never got up, and contestant #5 was eventually called in her place. The error was discovered during the first commercial break, and Nicole was finally called successfully before the second Item up for Bids.
- On Thursday, Bob has laryngitis.
Week 39 (1,080 – #081xK): June 8-12
- Season finale week.
- Summer reruns begin next Monday.
- On many of this season’s summer reruns, the replacement copy for the consolation prize plugs is read by Gene Wood.
- On Thursday, Range Game is played for a car.