The Price Is Wrong

I was hoping that they'd close the office because of the weather, so I could stay home today and do what everyone does when they're home at 11 AM on a weekday: Watch The Price Is Right. (Sadly, no such luck.)



I love Drew Carey, but it's really not the same without Bob Barker. Luckily, you can get a taste of the Bob days on a episode of How I Met Your Mother. Part of the season 2 finale has Barney as a contestant on the show. I Netflixed that season a few months ago, and enjoyed rewatching those, especially since about a third of the episodes had some kind of commentary track. Oh, and there were deleted scenes, a gag reel, some behind-the-scenes featurettes, and the Robin Sparkles video. Almost an embarrassment of riches, really.

Supposedly there's a documentary about The Price Is Right, but the trailer has been removed from YouTube and the site http://comeondownmovie.com/ simply says "Coming Soon." Hmm. Can I add it to my Netflix queue yet? Or even the best-of DVD compilation? No? Boo!

I caught up with some library books over the weekend. One whose cover looked interesting was Moon Pies and Movie Stars by Amy Wallen. A woman in Texas is raising her grandkids on her own after her daughter ran off and left them. The daughter is spotted in a TV commercial, so the grandma, her sister, the kids, and the kids' other grandma pile into a Winnebago and head to Hollywood to find her and bring her back. At some point, the grandma's sister manages to get on The Price Is Right. She also manages to win, but I was highly annoyed by a small point: You have to win the showcase showdown by guessing the price without going over. She goes over, but the author has her win the whole thing anyways.

Hello?! Does no one at that publishing house ever stay home sick and watch the show? I was liking the book okay up until that point — it does require some suspension of disbelief, but there are some funny moments — but after page 213 it was totally ruined for me. I can't believe that none of the reviews on Amazon mention this. Maybe I'll have to go write one.

Or I can just read this blog post about being on the show, and let it go. (Heh. That YouTube clip is pretty funny. Did they put Bob on a three-second delay there at the end?)