“The Price is Right” Launches First-Ever “Celebrity Week” on January 2nd
CBS’s daytime game show The Price is Right will celebrate its 40th season on the air by having its very first celebrity week in the long running show’s history. The special week begins on January 2nd and ends January 6th. The celebrity week will see one celebrity appearing each show playing with contestants. The celebrity will be playing for charity. The celebrities also get to spin the Big Wheel for a chance to win big money for charity. Finally, each celebrity has prepared a Showcase filled with their personal favorite prizes which the two regular contestants get to play for.
Here’s a list of the celebrities you’ll see and a schedule of their appearance.
Monday, January 2 — Snoop Dogg playing for Snoop Youth Football League
Tuesday, January 3 — Jenny McCarthy playing for Generation Rescue
Wednesday, January 4 — Neil Patrick Harris playing for The Noreen Fraser Foundation
Thursday, January 5 — Chris Daughtry playing for Alzheimer’s Association
Friday, January 6 — Heidi Klum playing for Unicef
“It was a lot of fun to watch these celebs play our iconic games,” said Mike Richards, Executive Producer. “Each one had their own unique strategy to win. Let’s just say Snoop knows more about the price of grocery items than you might think!”
A big steaming pile of FAIL, FO’SHIZZLE!!!!!!
How about reserving judgement until the episodes air?
Considering Richards’ penchant for wanting to make Price a “variety show”, this is no surprise. I’m willing to give it a chance…as long as the show doesn’t beat viewers over the head with it (in other words, make it an occasional thing and don’t Jack Wagner-it).
What do you mean by that?
I mean that if they limit how much the celeb is involved (i.e. 1 pricing game and a showcase), then it could be tolerable. If they do what they did with Wagner (basically devote most of the show to him), then it will be a very long week.
Operation Rescue? The movement that opposes vaccines and spreads unscientific claims? Not my idea of a worthy cause.
It’s rare I root against contestants, but I so would not mind if that were an 0-fer show.
No, Operation Rescue was that group that protested at and tried to blockade abortion clinics.
Generation Rescue is pretty much as described above. Look up Ms. McCarthy’s page in the Wikipedia.
Strikes me that would be like somebody getting on a celeb-for-charity version of “Family Feud”, and wanting to raise money for the Ku Klux Klan!
I thought that it came out that her kids didn’t even have Autism? Not that that means you shut down an organization, but, just saying.
Her son actually has Landau-Kleffnor syndrome, which is often misdiagnosed as autism.
As much as this hurts me to say this, Price these days looks a little TOO gimmicky compared to the Barker Era. Have have a high hunch that it’ll be going to somewhat of a downside a few years from now with them overdoing it on the gimmicks.
I have to agree with you here. It has lost its appeal to me over the years…
You mean it’s less Serious Business now. ;)
IMO, this is a game show that screams “Have fun!”. Personally, I’m having a hell of a lot more fun watching TPIR now than I did when Barker was at the helm.
And maybe, just maybe, they’ll begin bringing down the average viewer age to something less than 95-to-dead by loosening up and accepting it’s a new century.
That’s funny, because I’m at the opposite place right now. The contestants are dumber than ever. Drew’s hosting is all over the place. Right now, he’s in one of his blue funks where he doesn’t talk to the contestants at all, constantly mumbles Dawson-style after losses and generally looks like he doesn’t want to be there. But the worst part is that there is so…much…losing. It sucks the energy out of the audience and Drew as well. Too hard set-ups plus dumb contestants plus glum host is not a pleasant combination. It’s just desperately trying to call attention to itself through the over-the-top prizes and stunt casting to make up for the fact that they can’t really have fun any other way. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad they are trying something different. It was inevitable. I just don’t like what they’re doing. I stopped watching last year after the horrible New Year’s Eve lossfest. This year’s gone a little better in terms of game variety and not feeling as rushed, but otherwise it’s meh on the high side to borderline unwatchable.
I agree. All these celebrity appearances and plug are really truing me off on the show. Most of the time when I see a celebrity plugging something I just turn it off or change the channel.
Cool. Do you think Neil might get the showcase & get the exact bid again, just like from the one episode of HIMYM?
No. Not unless he plays as Barney Stinson.
Oh, yes, I’ll record it! Barney Stinson, come on down AGAIN!
I will watch the NPH episode for sure, but I refuse to watch the episode with Jenny McCarthy and her foundation which spews lies about vaccines.
Here comes the Black Widow!
Just remember what happens to a lot of gameshows the moment they become “celebrity editions”.
Conspiracy theorize all you want fanboi, this show isn’t going anywhere.
Despite all the moaning and groaning, this is not original!
Back in 1963, they did the same thing on Bill Cullen’s version of TPIR, with a celebrity playing against 3 players. In that case, however, the celebrity played for either a member of the audience, or a home player.
See for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvm2fztbO5I
Doesn’t surprise me that Snoop knows the prices of groceries well. I’m sure hes had the munchies for most of his life.
This is probably the first time that any celebrity played on any version of TPIR since the final years of the Bill Cullen version. For a few years, they had a celebrity contestant playing for a member of the studio audience. Then again, in that format, the four contestants played for the entire show.
Before you hit the panic button, TPiR had celebrities play pricing games with contestants before — although the occurrences were few and far between.
Today’s a good time to bring up a certain TPiR primetime special — which, when it aired, celebrated Bob Barker’s 80th birthday (he’s 88 today; hence why this is a good time to bring this up).
In this episode, Larry King, then the longtime host of CNN’s 9:00 talk show, helped a contestant play Grand Game. Plus, Chuck Norris (yes, *that* C.N.; he used to teach Bob karate) joined a contestant in a playing of Lucky $even.
Plus, I vaguely recall reading on Chris Lambert’s website (since defunct) at least one cast member of the daytime drama “Capitol” joined a contestant in the playing of at least one pricing game in a daytime episode in the ’80s. (Probably was a week-long promotion; again, recollection’s vague.)
As long as the current Team TPiR keeps celebrity promotions to few and far between, as illustrated above, we should be OK. Only difference between then and now: The celebs weren’t playing for charity.
Capitol? I never heard of that show.
Larry King playing the Grand Game with a contestant, what was that like?
Is the celeb playing alongside a contestant, or against them? I’d rather see an all-celebrity show with celebrities playing against each other than competing against civilian contestants.
Actually, celebs have played Price before in CBS’s short lived Gameshow Marathon in 2006. Not sure if that counts or not…
It was short lived by design, and really more of a different animal than what’s happening in this case.