Get ready to come on down!
For this installment of Variety’s Making a Scene, presented by HBO, the team behind one of America's favorite game shows came together to break down its primetime special: “The Price is Right At Night: Superfans.”
For this installment of Variety’s Making a Scene, presented by HBO, the team behind one of America's favorite game shows came together to break down its primetime special: “The Price is Right At Night: Superfans.”
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PeopleTranscript
00:00 (laughing)
00:01 - Folks, we just gave away a $53,000 Alfa Romeo.
00:06 - We never had an audience full of people
00:10 who just knew everything about every game.
00:13 - We do 190 daytime episodes a season.
00:16 And each year we get a handful of prime times.
00:19 We like to take them to a whole new level.
00:21 - $20.
00:21 - $20, is he right?
00:24 Yes.
00:26 (cheering)
00:27 Of course he's right.
00:28 - He's a super fan.
00:30 - We did an episode called "Super Fan" episode.
00:32 And it was amazing because if you watch,
00:35 you know little tricks of the show.
00:37 Like, you know, oh, in cliffhangers,
00:38 there's things you do.
00:39 I'm not telling you what they are, you have to watch.
00:41 Everybody in that room knew everything.
00:44 - Seven chances now to give us the price of the car.
00:46 - I got it, I got it, I got it.
00:48 - He says he's got it.
00:49 - It was pretty amazing 'cause I think the super fans
00:53 of "The Price is Right", they know the show better.
00:55 I would say better than us, all of us that work here.
00:58 They couldn't believe they were here.
01:00 And so it was a special day.
01:02 - Now what makes you such a super fan?
01:03 - I'm a super fan 'cause I was born,
01:05 "The Price is Right" was in my DNA.
01:06 I was named after one of the Barkers' babies.
01:09 - Were you?
01:09 - Yes.
01:10 - Oh yeah, wow.
01:11 - Absolutely.
01:12 - There was a giddy energy in the audience.
01:13 So like whenever a game was revealed,
01:15 like all of a sudden people in the audience
01:17 would just start yelling out answers
01:18 before they even saw the prizes or, you know,
01:20 and they won everything.
01:22 - First try.
01:24 - And we did it like just a short time
01:27 after we did a show with all the geniuses.
01:30 So the genius show, we thought they would clean up
01:33 and they did not.
01:34 They played, some of them made the same mistakes
01:36 that any other contestant makes,
01:38 even though it was a very interesting crowd.
01:40 And then the super fans came on and cleaned our closet.
01:43 Yes.
01:44 (audience cheering)
01:46 Don't get it.
01:48 11.98.
01:49 - Yes.
01:52 - Now we're there, yes.
01:53 - Yes, yes, yes.
01:55 (upbeat music)
01:57 - Hi everybody, I'm Drew Carey.
02:07 I'm the host of "Price is Right."
02:08 - Hi, my name's Evelyn Morfel,
02:09 the executive producer of "The Price is Right."
02:12 - Hi, my name's Adam Sandler.
02:13 I'm the director of "The Price is Right."
02:15 - Hi, I'm Kim Lowry, a producer on "The Price is Right."
02:18 - Hi everybody, I'm George Gray,
02:19 the announcer of "The Price is Right."
02:21 - And this is Variety's Making a Scene.
02:24 - As you can hear,
02:27 we have an audience full of super fans tonight.
02:30 We quizzed them about how much they know about the show
02:32 and they supposedly know how to play every game.
02:35 They know every trick.
02:36 - To find these super fans,
02:39 we posted on all of our social medias
02:41 and we wanted to make sure we got people
02:42 that really, really love the show
02:43 from a variety of different ages, different places,
02:46 just all different kinds of people.
02:48 And then we asked them super fan questions.
02:50 So it was questions like,
02:52 what are some of the former announcers
02:54 or former models that are on the show?
02:55 Do you remember games that have been retired?
02:57 Do you remember things that happened in the past
02:59 but then also stuff about now?
03:01 So, you know, we taped at the Bob Berger studio,
03:03 like what is the studio number?
03:05 - The people that we found are ones
03:08 who keep stats of the show,
03:09 who watch every day and have conversations
03:13 with their friends, a play-by-play conversations.
03:16 Those were the fans that we wanted on.
03:18 - I'm a big fan.
03:19 I'm so happy for you.
03:20 I'm so glad you got to be here.
03:22 George, what's he probably gonna win?
03:25 - Jacob, he's a super fan, obviously.
03:28 He had all of the retired games on his shirt.
03:31 Games back in the 70s, 80s, 90s
03:33 would sometimes only run for one or two seasons.
03:35 Most of the games we have now,
03:36 except for our new ones,
03:37 have been around for a really long time.
03:38 So he had to really dig deep into the archives
03:41 to put that shirt together.
03:42 - A once in a lifetime dinner
03:44 with the one and only Drew Carey.
03:47 (audience cheering)
03:49 - When we were planning the show,
03:50 we really thought about gifting people things
03:53 that were priceless and that only our super fans
03:58 would really appreciate.
03:59 - I have a very special gift for you because you won.
04:02 (audience cheering)
04:03 - Really?
04:04 - You can take this home with you.
04:05 - Oh, that's so awesome, thank you!
04:08 - And so the significance of Yodeling Guys,
04:11 you know, cliffhangers is such a famous game on our show.
04:14 A lot of these fans collect memorabilia.
04:17 And so that's something that no one else
04:19 could possibly have.
04:20 - I have a very important question
04:21 because we're getting ready to start the show.
04:23 So is there anybody here,
04:25 they asked me, this is legally,
04:26 they have to ask this.
04:28 Is there anybody here that wants to come on down?
04:32 (audience cheering)
04:33 - I come out, do what's called warmup,
04:35 you know, to the audience and say,
04:37 "Hey, welcome to the show.
04:38 "Who's excited?"
04:39 You know, sometimes I'll say, "Who wants to come on down?"
04:42 But I don't know what I'm gonna say.
04:43 I just make it up.
04:44 - And now, here's your host,
04:47 Drew Carey!
04:48 (audience cheering)
04:50 - They give me a list of games that are gonna be played
04:54 for the whole week.
04:56 And I never look at it.
04:58 'Cause I wanna be surprised, like the audience.
05:01 I just wanna know what's happening.
05:02 So everything is kinda like in the moment.
05:05 I like it to be like that.
05:06 - People will ask,
05:07 "How do you get ready to get on stage with Drew?"
05:09 And it's very organic.
05:11 When I introduce him and he comes out of the doors,
05:13 that's the first time I've seen him during the day.
05:15 And then like, when the credits are rolling,
05:17 we're waving to everybody.
05:19 It's like, I'll lean over,
05:19 "Hey, how's it going, man?
05:20 "You know, is everything good?"
05:22 - The thing about Price, because we do so many shows,
05:24 we're always in pre-production, production,
05:26 and post at the same time.
05:28 And not for a short period of time,
05:30 but for, you know, eight, nine months.
05:32 And so, a typical day, I'll try to get through a show
05:36 for post to give the editors notes.
05:38 Then we go to rehearsal and we rehearse the prizes
05:41 and sometimes the games
05:42 and what the shows are gonna look like.
05:44 And then we do the taping of the show
05:46 and we do that three times a day.
05:48 - Three, two, one.
05:50 - Up on camera.
05:51 - Welcome back, everybody, to the Price is Right.
05:52 - It takes about an hour and a half
05:54 to shoot an episode of the Price is Right,
05:56 when everything's going well.
05:57 There are a ton of moving parts on this show.
06:00 Everything from the people in the warehouse
06:02 who get the prizes over here.
06:04 Once they come over, the set dressers,
06:06 the prop people get it all together,
06:08 put all the displays together,
06:11 the grips who put them out,
06:13 the electricians who patch everything in,
06:15 audio, video, lighting, cameras.
06:19 It's absolutely massive.
06:21 The amount of moving parts is astonishing.
06:24 It boggles my mind.
06:25 - I think the audience is always surprised
06:27 with how the camera people are moving around all the time.
06:30 It's amazing they don't run into each other.
06:32 If you watch, you'll see like Chris, the game producer,
06:34 and a couple other people,
06:35 or there's a stage photographer.
06:37 They're ducking and avoiding the crane camera
06:40 and all that kind of stuff.
06:41 Crucial components to every Price is Right episode,
06:43 it's the excitement.
06:44 It's the huge shots of the audience.
06:46 It's everybody coming down
06:48 and not only is the search for them iconic,
06:50 but also that shot of them when they stand up
06:52 and they all of a sudden realize they're coming on down.
06:54 Then of course, we see our host, Drew Carey.
06:57 He comes out, he meets the model, he grabs the mic.
06:59 That is an iconic Price is Right moment.
07:01 He throws it over and says hello
07:02 to our announcer, George Gray.
07:04 We're seeing everything virtually 360
07:07 and what absolute madness is happening.
07:09 And there's nothing like it
07:11 in those first couple of seconds when we start.
07:13 - This is the broadcast mix room
07:14 where we do all the music playback,
07:16 mix all the sounds that come and go out of the show.
07:18 We have things offsite or on the stage,
07:21 but everything comes here and leaves from here.
07:24 It's wall-to-wall music and Henry's our mixer here.
07:27 And Nancy's a technician who hits all the cues
07:30 and makes sure everything's leveled and all right.
07:32 - The care and maintenance of the games,
07:33 I am in charge of that.
07:34 You know, the games are decades old.
07:35 Many of them have parts that have been around
07:37 for, you know, 40-ish years.
07:39 Even though we do refurbs
07:40 and replace parts every so often,
07:42 there's original components in there
07:43 that can take a lot of tender, loving care.
07:45 - We're playing a game, famous game, called 10 Chances.
07:48 That's actually our easiest game,
07:50 but not everybody knows that Easter egg trick to it.
07:54 And I'm not allowed to say anything,
07:55 but every number ends in zero.
07:58 So the first two should be gimme's.
08:00 You should get those right away.
08:01 And then there's only so many combinations
08:04 for the car that makes sense.
08:06 Even if you mess up, you'll get six chances
08:09 to get the car with the five numbers in it.
08:12 You can get the first two numbers pretty easy,
08:14 and then the zero's right there.
08:16 So even if the flip-flop, the first two numbers,
08:19 then flip-flop the last two numbers,
08:20 that's one, two, three, four chances,
08:22 out of the last six, you should be able to get the car.
08:25 - Hi, everybody, it's Santa, my friend, George Gray!
08:28 - Hey, Drew, good evening, my brother!
08:31 - I had hosted a lot of shows
08:33 kind of coming up through the ranks.
08:35 This one is so iconic, and it's so special,
08:39 and it's so woven into the fabric of our lives in America.
08:44 Everybody's seen it, everybody knows it.
08:48 We all have memories of sitting,
08:50 with me, it was my dad's mom, my nana,
08:52 sitting on her lap when I was just a small child,
08:56 and one of my first memories watching "The Price is Right."
08:58 So I now get to be part of that,
09:01 and I don't take that lightly.
09:04 There's only been three other guys
09:06 who've had this job full-time since me,
09:08 and so it's really an amazing honor.
09:13 - I like being here more than I like being home
09:14 or anywhere else, to be honest.
09:16 - The first day I walked on set,
09:18 I felt like I walked back into eighth grade
09:22 and was home from school watching the show.
09:25 It was really surreal to walk onto the set.
09:28 And it was a lot for me to work on a show
09:32 that had so much history for me growing up,
09:36 but also to be able to preserve that
09:39 for the people at home.
09:40 And it's unlike any show I've ever worked on.
09:43 Carrying that history is a big responsibility.
09:46 - One of the first things that people said to me
09:47 when they knew I was gonna get the show was,
09:49 "Come on down," that was the thing I heard over and over,
09:52 "and spay and neuter your pets."
09:54 Like, I'm gonna be on "The Price is Right."
09:55 Oh, spay and neuter your pets, huh?
09:56 And I went, yep, that's it.
09:58 So I gotta keep saying it.
10:00 And I would anyway, it's part of the show.
10:01 When I told Bob I was gonna do it,
10:03 we were at lunch and I mentioned it to him
10:04 that I was gonna keep doing it,
10:05 but I was gonna do it whether he wanted me to or not,
10:08 'cause it was just, it's such a big part of the show.
10:10 - What a great show.
10:11 Please get your pets spayed or neutered,
10:12 help control the pet population,
10:14 and take care of yourselves
10:15 so we can see you next time on "The Price is Right."
10:17 Love you, mean it, see ya.
10:19 (upbeat music)
10:22 (upbeat music)
10:25 (upbeat music)
10:27 (upbeat music)
10:30 (upbeat music)
10:32 (upbeat music)
10:35 (upbeat music)
10:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]