The Price Is Right (1956 U.S. game show)
| The Price Is Right (1956) | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by | Bob Stewart |
| Directed by |
Paul Alter Max Miller |
| Presented by | Bill Cullen |
| Narrated by |
Don Pardo (1956–1963) Johnny Gilbert (1963–1965) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 2,263 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network |
NBC (1956–1963) ABC (1963–1965) |
| Picture format | Black & White (Daytime 1956–1959, 1963–1965; Nighttime 1963–1964) Color (Nighttime 1957–1963; Daytime 1959–1963) |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | November 26, 1956 – September 3, 1965 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The Price Is Right (1972 version) (1972–present) |
The Price Is Right is an American game show where contestants made successive bids on merchandise prizes with the goal of bidding closest to the actual retail price of the prize without going over. The show was a precursor to the current and best-known version of the show, which premiered in 1972 on CBS' daytime schedule. This makes The Price Is Right one of only a few game shows that have aired in some form across all three of what were then the Big Three television networks.
The series premiered on NBC's daytime schedule on November 26, 1956, and quickly spawned a primetime series that aired once a week. Bill Cullen hosted both versions of the show; his easygoing personality was cited as a key element of the show's success. The Price Is Right became one of the few game shows to survive the rigging scandal of the late 1950s, and gained even more popularity after other game shows exposed for being rigged had been cancelled.
In 1963, The Price Is Right switched networks and both the daytime and primetime series moved to ABC. On September 3, 1965, the show aired its final episode after nearly nine years on the air.
On the original version of The Price Is Right, four contestants – one a returning champion, the other three chosen from the studio audience – bid on items or ensembles of items in an auction-style format.
A prize was presented for the contestants to bid on. A minimum bid was specified. After the opening bid, contestants bid on the item in turn with each successive bid a certain amount higher than the previous bid. A contestant could freeze his/her current bid instead of increasing it if he/she believed his/her bid was close enough to win. A later rule allowed contestants, on their opening bid only, to "underbid" the other bids, but this automatically froze their bid and prevented them from later increasing the original bid. Some rounds were designated as one-bid rounds, where only one round of bidding was held (this is the format used on the current version of The Price is Right); sometimes the minimum-bid and higher-bid threshold rules also were waived.
The bidding continued until a buzzer sounded, at which point each contestant who had not yet "frozen" was given one final bid. Bidding also ended when three of the contestants had frozen, at which point the fourth contestant was allowed one final bid, unless he/she already had the high bid. Cullen then read the actual retail price of the prize. The contestant whose bid was closest without going over the actual price won the item. If everyone overbid, the prize was not won; however, Cullen sometimes had the overbids erased and instructed players to give lower bids prior to reading the actual price (similar to what is done on the current CBS version and its syndicated spinoffs).
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