showcase showdown

Back in November, Julia gave her five reasons why she was going to miss Bob Barker, who is retiring from The Price Is Right this year. Just in time for his tribute on CBS tomorrow comes this list from Best Week Ever, the reasons why they're going to miss the silver fox.

Among the reasons are the women who kiss Bob on the cheek when they come up on stage (I think I saw a guy do it once) and the $100 bill that he keeps in his pocket that he gives to bidders who get the contestant's row price exactly right.

I remember several years back when he used to have the contestant actually reach into his pocket to take out that money. Thankfully they changed that.

As I've been reading the news stories surrounding Bob Barker's retirement, I've been noticing that people have been confusing two elements of the The Price is Right that have similar names. In fact, that confusion has been in place for about thirty years, perpetrated by bloggers, columnists and news anchors: the misidentification of TPiR's final round as "the Showcase Showdown."

The confusion flummoxes the best of them, including our friends at BestWeekEver.tv, who put together a list of ten reasons why they'll miss Bob (must be an homage to our The Five list of reasons why we'll miss Bob). In item number 3, about Bob losing his patience, writer Michelle Collins states, "Often seen when people have difficulty coming up with a bid during the Showcase Showdown." Um, Michelle... that's not quite right.

I've been wanting to get on The Price Is Right for years. OK, not enough to schedule vacations around the taping of the show or fly out to L.A. just to be in the audience, but I've wanted to go on the show since I was a little kid, watching the show with my mom. I think I could do really well. Unless they do that game where you have to pick a certain number of grocery items and come between $20 and $21. Ugh. I never do well at that game.

But if you want to go out and try your luck in L.A., read this NY Times piece. It gives the lowdown on what to do, what not to do, and profiles people who wait in line as early as 3am for one of the 325 spots in the audience.

It also says that many of the contestants stay at the Farmer's Daughter Hotel across the street. There are so many jokes there that I'm not sure which one to say first.

I've watched The Price Is Right for a really long time. Really, really long. Well, long enough to know that, while the Beauties will get old and start to sag in all the wrong places, Bob Barker will never, ever age. And there has something -- someone, rather -- that has bothered me since I started watching.

OK, the curmudgeon hat is going on again...

Contestants on The Price is Right have been spinning the huge wheel to get themselves into the Showcase for over thirty years now, and for most of those thirty years, all they've done is spin the wheel and stand and look.

Now, all of a sudden, as the wheel's spinning, they say hello to their spouses, kids, parents, pets and sewing circles. It makes for a very awkward moment as they try to fit everything in before the wheel comes to rest. I dunno... if it were me, I'd be so preoccupied about what's coming up on that wheel that I wouldn't even remember to say hi to my Aunt Rose in Sheboygan or whatever.