~
~
( * I wish...! )
Today Michael (a friend of a friend), Betty [Mimi] (a long-suffering and good-natured member of my church) and I (a glutton for punishment) went to a taping of "The Price is Right" today. This was my third time going over there. While it's fun to see the show being made and how all the behind-the-scenes stuff works, it's a long, grueling, tedious six-hour experience comprised mostly of just waiting and waiting and waiting.
We got to the CBS Studio at 8:00 in the morning and got in the first of many lines. We had priority tickets which meant we went to the head of the line.
At 8:30 they herded us to an outdoor holding area lined with dugout-style metal benches. We filled out personal info forms and releases, then had our photos taken from which overpriced prints could be obtained. There was also an overpriced gift shop, an overpriced snack food stand, and rest rooms (no charge to use the potty, shockingly).
A CBS Page checked our IDs and had us sign paperwork to certify that we haven't won prizes on a game show in the last 10 years and that we won't run for political office in the next year.
Then we got our famous yellow name tags. Someone actually writes the names on them by hand. It's her duty to have perfect "Price Is Right" penmanship.
Then it's time to wait some more.
About an hour later it was time for interviews. Groups of about 15 potential contestants lined up to meet with "Price is Right" contestant screener Stan Blits who peps everyone up with his cheerful banter. Most people just answer his questions then wait for him to move on. I spontaneously tried to offer a bit more, answering his question about what I did for a living with a brief elaboration. He seemed to like that and smiled widely.
From there we went around another corner of the building where we went through a security check and had to surrender our phones. Then we sat on metal benches again.
After a while, a row of television screens above us flickered to life. Excerpts from a couple of old "Price is Right" shows & blooper reel were played for us and then the screens went black again.
A while later it was lunch time. A tiny lady with a stentorian voice bellowed out that the menu items are first-come, first-served and that those who dilly-dally may not get their preferred choices and maybe nothing at all.
A slow, deliberate yet determined line began to form and menus were passed down it. There were only a few items, all of them ... you got it ... overpriced. $20 got me a soggy "angus" burger, a small handful of limp "home-made" potato chips, a bag of pretzels and a bottle of iced tea.
Just as we were settling down on our benches trying to balance our plastic food containers on our laps, Miss Stentorian bellowed that we only had about 20 minutes to eat and use the rest room, and "you better go now because it will be your last chance before we go inside."
More waiting, then finally the time came to go in to the sound stage, which is much smaller than it looks on TV. It's familiar-looking but tiny and crowded.
Well, after an hour and a half of screaming, cheering, dancing, leaping to our feet, high-fiving and gesturing price suggestions, the show was over. None of the three of us were selected as contestants. After a couple of quick retakes by Drew and announcer George Gray, we filed out of the sound stage and fell into a very long and slow-moving line to retrieve our phones.
Then folks had to walk all the way back around the building to where our long trek had begun to claim the $20 prints of their photos. (Thanks, Mimi, for getting one for us!)
For my part, not having been chosen again, I say "three's a charm." It was real, it was fun, but it wasn't real fun. I really can't see me doing it again.
"And So It Goes."
P.S.: The show will air on October 13th.
~
( * I wish...! )
Today Michael (a friend of a friend), Betty [Mimi] (a long-suffering and good-natured member of my church) and I (a glutton for punishment) went to a taping of "The Price is Right" today. This was my third time going over there. While it's fun to see the show being made and how all the behind-the-scenes stuff works, it's a long, grueling, tedious six-hour experience comprised mostly of just waiting and waiting and waiting.
We got to the CBS Studio at 8:00 in the morning and got in the first of many lines. We had priority tickets which meant we went to the head of the line.
At 8:30 they herded us to an outdoor holding area lined with dugout-style metal benches. We filled out personal info forms and releases, then had our photos taken from which overpriced prints could be obtained. There was also an overpriced gift shop, an overpriced snack food stand, and rest rooms (no charge to use the potty, shockingly).
A CBS Page checked our IDs and had us sign paperwork to certify that we haven't won prizes on a game show in the last 10 years and that we won't run for political office in the next year.
Then we got our famous yellow name tags. Someone actually writes the names on them by hand. It's her duty to have perfect "Price Is Right" penmanship.
Then it's time to wait some more.
About an hour later it was time for interviews. Groups of about 15 potential contestants lined up to meet with "Price is Right" contestant screener Stan Blits who peps everyone up with his cheerful banter. Most people just answer his questions then wait for him to move on. I spontaneously tried to offer a bit more, answering his question about what I did for a living with a brief elaboration. He seemed to like that and smiled widely.
From there we went around another corner of the building where we went through a security check and had to surrender our phones. Then we sat on metal benches again.
After a while, a row of television screens above us flickered to life. Excerpts from a couple of old "Price is Right" shows & blooper reel were played for us and then the screens went black again.
A while later it was lunch time. A tiny lady with a stentorian voice bellowed out that the menu items are first-come, first-served and that those who dilly-dally may not get their preferred choices and maybe nothing at all.
A slow, deliberate yet determined line began to form and menus were passed down it. There were only a few items, all of them ... you got it ... overpriced. $20 got me a soggy "angus" burger, a small handful of limp "home-made" potato chips, a bag of pretzels and a bottle of iced tea.
Just as we were settling down on our benches trying to balance our plastic food containers on our laps, Miss Stentorian bellowed that we only had about 20 minutes to eat and use the rest room, and "you better go now because it will be your last chance before we go inside."
More waiting, then finally the time came to go in to the sound stage, which is much smaller than it looks on TV. It's familiar-looking but tiny and crowded.
Well, after an hour and a half of screaming, cheering, dancing, leaping to our feet, high-fiving and gesturing price suggestions, the show was over. None of the three of us were selected as contestants. After a couple of quick retakes by Drew and announcer George Gray, we filed out of the sound stage and fell into a very long and slow-moving line to retrieve our phones.
Then folks had to walk all the way back around the building to where our long trek had begun to claim the $20 prints of their photos. (Thanks, Mimi, for getting one for us!)
For my part, not having been chosen again, I say "three's a charm." It was real, it was fun, but it wasn't real fun. I really can't see me doing it again.
"And So It Goes."
P.S.: The show will air on October 13th.
