24Dec2008
Top 10 Moments of 2008: Number 8
As we said before, the countdown isn’t going to be necessarily good moments. It’s going to be the most memorable. Like it or not, the cat game show was really memorable. I doubt I’ll be able to erase that from my head. Number 8 is floating between good and bad. We’ve gone over the perfect bid on the Showcase portion of The Price is Right to a point of annoyance, so if you really want to read about our thoughts you can click here or here. But below is the video of The Great Price Fan Freakout of 2008 which includes “enthusiastic fans” memorizing the prices to everything, contestants who can’t think for themselves, and a fantastic host who just couldn’t muster a tiny bit of fake, bull crap enthusiasm for five seconds.
Alex, did you stop to think, for even one second, that maybe Drew was asked to downplay the moment?
The production team thinks it’s fishy but not wrong, and they have to let it slide. Drew acts kind of blase about it to draw as little attention to the moment as possible.
It’s just my theory but anyone who has asked my opinion thinks it makes sense to say “Hey, we think something is askew…let’s draw as little attention as possible to it.”
Yes, I have thought that. Again, I completely understand Drew’s reaction. I totally understand that if I found out a Price is Right nerd memorized the prices to every item and coached people, I’d be a bit pissed too. And while I have thought that, I don’t think that’s the reason he was downplaying it. I think he downplayed it because he knew what happened and was pissed at the 45 minute stop down.
But is that a valid reason? Sure as hell. Again, just so there’s no confusion, I’m on Drew’s side with this. But I do see how people can think the other way and I’d rather not piss off everyone and say, “Drew’s right and you’re wrong.” I think it’s more the fault of people memorizing the prices, but the general public doesn’t know that. I watched the situation after I knew what happened, so I had a different reaction than most.
I don’t know why I’ve been getting so much crap about saying Drew could have pretended. If the producers actually told Drew to act nonchalant about it, they are bad producers. Very bad producers. I don’t think that’s the cause, but it’s a decent theory at least. I don’t know if you were trying to be a tiny bit snippy or if I’m so tired it came off like that (I just got over the stomach flu so I’m waking up from a NyQuil coma, so sorry in advance) but I’ve been a massive Drew can since the start and he’s the only reason I catch up with the show every now and then right now. I thought he dropped the ball a tiny bit, that’s all. I still think he’s a great host.
The problem with your supposed theory, Jay, is that when you have a host (particularly one like Drew who has a track record of empathy with contestants) using the same enthusiasm for a perfect bid that one might normally have for opening a box of cereal – the end result is to actually make it into a bigger deal than it otherwise would have been.
Had Drew shown even a little excitement, then no one would have taken a second look at what happened – and while interesting it quickly would have been a non-event. But instead Drew shows no excitement at something that hasn’t occured since the Nixon administration – and it’s so out of place that every fan watching that day and media outlets up and down the board are puzzled as to what happened.
If the plan was to downplay it, the plan backfired *spectacularly*
I’m starting to think his best reaction would have been to play up a ‘shock’… ‘Twenty-three thousand… *shock* SEVEN FORTY-THREE! *silence for a few seconds* Wow… not happened since ’72 or ’73… you win both showcases…’
Drew, clearly, has a penchant for saying and showing what he feels. I like that, but it can look wrong.
CBS’s best reaction would have been to leave this unaired, to be honest, while they looked at this. If it then turned into some sort of scandal, they could play it up with a bit of publicity, perhaps airing the episode in primetime on a quiet evening around the holiday season.
While not a Drew Carey fan, I can understand his shock. It’s like Jeff Foxworthy when the $1 million was won on 5th Grader, he didn’t know how to handle the moment. I know, had it been Bob Barker, he would handled it well. He might even call it as he would say “a historic moment” even though it happened twice during his tenure.
Honestly, I think CBS did the right thing by airing it. If they thought that it was a scandal a la Michael Larson on Press Your Luck, they wouldn’t have aired it.
But Devares, the whole Michael Larson thing wasn’t a “scandal,” but merely a historical event by a contestant who knew what he was doing in actual game-play. This is practically the same thing, albeit he did get some help. Contestants can think for themselves, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get help from the audience if they want to on TPIR. That’s how it’s always been, and it won’t change.
I still think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion to the most extreme extent. This was a GREAT moment, reaction or no reaction from Drew, and we all need to take a step and put things in perspective.
Trust me, years from now we will remember this for the MOMENT, rather than anything else we wanted to talk about. Also, we will probably wonder why the heck we spent so much time on this, I mean, really!
For me, This is a top moment of 2008, for the MOMENT! We should be happy that we witnessed such an event, because who knows if it will ever happen again. Trust me, I’m not the only one who feels this way! Some people just say things that, in correct sociological perspective, they
shouldn’t say, we can’t stop them, that’s how they feel, so be it. Now this does include everyone on this blog, (you too Alex) and I think in 2009, we should all resolve to have more perspective on great game show moments, and not just rant and rave at will, believe me, we will be better fans for it!
It’s definitely a historic TPIR moment, and one that will be discussed (both fondly and bitterly, and most likely in time with humour) for many years to come.
#10 was a big win happy moment. #9 was contentious if not a little laughable. #8 somehow manages to be both of those…
I’ve been thinking about this moment for sometime and if you feel like assigning blame to anyone here, I don’t know how it goes to anyone except the production team. They have a game that has been on nearly every weekday for 37 years, which asks people to know the prices to retail items and packages, and encourage audience participation (in most games). Then, they constantly reuse items and trips, and expect people not to use any available resource to win the game, or help others to win the game.
You build the system, then blame people who take the fullest advantage of it. A joke. It would be similar to blaming each sports best athletes or coaches for being “too good” or trying “too hard”.
I also can’t blame Drew, he reacted just like I did, a guy hits an exacta, but without doing any work himself. Do I blame the guy for winning, not at all. But, Drew has nearly always reacted like a fan of the show, and as I fan he reacted like I did. Production could have very easily kept him out of the loop, and his reaction would have been more genuine, but they didn’t.
Someone mentioned the Larsons incident, and what did “PYL” do after it happened, they added many more board rotations and eventually made the patterns truly random, and the game hardly suffered. I hope “TPIR” learns a lesson from that.
We are in an age of endless information and constantly growing groups of niche interest. I’m honestly shocked something like this hasn’t already happened. As long as the people involved learn and grow from this, it can turn out to be a huge positive for the future of the show. If they don’t, it will be another nail in the coffin.
Anyone remember the day this aired? I never saw it.
There is another theory which I’ve developed:
Drew could still be thinking he’s on Power of 10.
Probably not, but oh, how i wish this could be true…(hint hint CBS: drop MDP, bring back Po10 you idiots!! Thank you.)
Uh J.C., sure we would love to see Power of 10 return, but…………….
DROP MDP
The BEST NEW GAME SHOW OF 2008 ?!!!!
With all due respect, YOU are the idiot for saying such a thing…..OY.
Oh, and Dayton………….December 16.
Drop Million Dollar Password? Are you on crack, J.C.? I, along with other game show fans think that MDP is the best game show on TV. No disrespect to Po10, but I think CBS did the right thing by renewing MDP.
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