Every once in a while, I like to watch a little of The Price is Right…and I'm one of those people (probably a minority) who thinks Drew Carey is a better host than Bob Barker. I couldn't take the show on a regular basis with either host but I usually feel it's harmless fun and I'm fascinated at the sheer skill on display with its production. This is a very difficult show to do in terms of getting the cameras and the prizes and models all in the right place here…and then having everything in a different place thirty seconds later.
I snuck into a few tapings years ago and if I had the connections to do so again, I think I'd go back for another visit because they keep making things faster and smoother…and boy, the show just goes like gangbusters even with the occasional tape stops. The director and the stage crew are all amazing.
Here's a segment from last May when a kid named Ryan set a new record playing Plinko. As you can see, Ryan is a tiny bit enthusiastic. The contestants who get called to "Come on down" from the audience are picked by the producers from the line outside and one of the skills on display in the show is the ability to pick interesting players. If you ever go to a "taping," try acting just like Ryan when the producers come down the line to talk to people. If you do it convincingly, or maybe even if you don't, you'll probably get picked.
One tiny thing I noticed watching this clip is that Ryan is wearing a wireless microphone. At the top of the show, four contestants are called out of the audience and of course, none of them are miked. We hear them because of the visible microphones on the edge of the stage. One wins and comes up on the stage and I'm guessing that if the first on-stage game involved the contestant moving around on stage or away from Drew Carey — as Ryan must do to drop his Plinko chips — they would stop tape and put a wireless mike on that contestant.
Then they put wireless mikes on the other contestants in case one of them gets up on stage and might stray from the range of Drew's handheld mike. The black lady who's added to Contestants' Row to start this segment isn't wearing a mike but I'm guessing she had one on by the next time she bid. I just like noticing little things like that.
Here's Ryan setting a new record for Plinko and screaming "Oh, my God" a lot. I think what I like about this is that it's absolutely honest. No one told the kid to act like that. His excitement is real. The audience reaction to him is real. You're actually watching what may be the high point in some person's life…
