# Why did The Price is Right have better prizes than most other 70s/80s game shows?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** reality-or-game-show
**Created:** [March 3, 2022, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418 "2022-03-03T17:30:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418/21 "2022-03-04T14:45:01Z")
GSN was one of my go-to networks when it first came out. Then it went downhill, deciding to air some original game programming and then later lost all of the classic game show content.
BUZZR sounds promising. Not on my cable but maybe I can find it streaming.
TPIR is still a decent show, but do they coach all the female contestants to become woo girls for the showcase round? Every fucking prize they show they have to jump up and down, clap their hands, and go “wooooooooooo!” I swear they could say “You and a guest will fly sub-economy to Pyongyang for a two year stay in a North Korean prison camp! Daily torture IS INCLUDED!” and the girls would jump up and doing shouting “Woooooooo!”
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### Author:  [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418/22 "2022-03-04T14:50:52Z")
> [@dalej42](#):
>
> Another thing I thought of, I’ve heard stories of people turning down some of the prizes once they find out what the tax bill is. So, the car manufacturers or vacation providers get the free ad but don’t have to give away the product.
I heard that there are people who wait outside the studios for game shows, to try and buttonhole the winners and snap up the prizes at bargain prices.
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### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418/23 "2022-03-04T19:50:43Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> TPIR is still a decent show, but do they coach all the female contestants to become woo girls for the showcase round? Every fucking prize they show they have to jump up and down, clap their hands, and go “wooooooooooo!” I swear they could say “You and a guest will fly sub-economy to Pyongyang for a two year stay in a North Korean prison camp! Daily torture IS INCLUDED!” and the girls would jump up and doing shouting “Woooooooo!”
I agree. The producers pick the most enthusiastic (i.e., excitable) people to come on down, so unfortunately the constant “wooooooos” have become a plague.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418/24 "2022-03-04T19:55:43Z")
Pluto has a channel that plays Barker-era TPiR 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418/25 "2022-03-04T20:05:16Z")
Not proud of this but it wasn’t until I was like a teenager before I realized all the games on the Price is Right pertained to knowing the prices of things. I thought of it just as game show with lots of different games. Yes the title should have been my first clue.
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### Author:  [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418/26 "2022-03-06T20:43:13Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#):
>
> The episodes I’ve seen had Cadillac convertibles (not cheap econo-cars)
I was a little surprised the OP thinks _The Price is Right_ had better prizes than other game shows of the era, but admittedly I don’t remember the prizes other shows gave away to compare to. But I do remember watching _The Price is Right_ in the 1990s and remembering that whenever they gave away [Rod Roddy voice] A NEW CAR! [/Roddy] it was usually some cheap econo car. While there were a few exceptions, I remember a lot of Cavaliers and Escorts being featured in that era. And usually pretty basic ones at that, with maybe an automatic transmission and radio as the only options.
As a side note, as I understand Bob Barker stipulated that they only give away American cars on the show when he was host.
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### Author:  [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-price-is-right-have-better-prizes-than-most-other-70s-80s-game-shows/960418/27 "2022-03-09T20:35:44Z")
‘Concentration’ usually had pretty poor prizes. Sometimes a contestant won a Take which they could use to steal a prize the other contestant had won. It went unused some of the time.
The bonus round was played for a car, and they had not one but about eight or nine really crappy cars available. Detroit made nothing but crappy cars at the time so the show was always well stocked with disappointment.
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