The other night, CBS aired prime-time episodes of The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal, both recorded recently and with all sorts of adjustments for social-distancing and no real studio audience. I couldn't make it through Let's Make a Deal but then I've never really been able to enjoy that show — not with Monty in the first place, not with anyone else who's hosted it since. And if I can't like it with Wayne Brady, who I think is one of the great talents of television…
The Price is Right, which I sometimes like to watch was…odd. They piped in a low-level audience presence sound which made it spooky, like ghosts were filling the seats we didn't see out there. The contestants were, like on Let's Make a Deal, essential workers who deserve lots of rewards for the job they've been doing but not a lot of them won anything, and everyone stayed six-feet apart.
They were playing traditional Price is Right games, many of which are routinely won on the regular show because the studio audience is shouting out numbers. One contestant once even won both showcases with an on-the-nose bid which came from someone in the audience. Here, there was no audience helping the guy who didn't know the price of a blender or whatever it was…so less wins than usual. And the pre-selected contestants were obviously chosen for and coached to be super-enthusiastic. They all came on dancing and one even did a cartwheel.
It felt fake and forced and at one point, I got to wondering if everyone had been tested. If they had, there wouldn't have been as much need for the six-foot separations…but then I realized: Without them, it wouldn't have been as good an ad for enforcing social-distancing and other precautions. So I give them an "A" for effort. It didn't work that well as a game show but unlike certain rallies I could mention, it was a nice example to put before America.