I hated that they made me use my full name on my name tag: “Eugene!” Nobody calls me that!
It was sad to hear today that the legendary host of The Price is Right Bob Barker has passed away. As a kid, radio wasn't my dream job yet. I wanted to be a game show host. I loved Tic Tac Dough with Wink Martindale and the Joker's Wild with Bill Cullen. Later in my teenage years, I loved Remote Control on MTV with Ken Ober.
Hosting a TV game show never panned out. But being a radio DJ was the next best thing. I get to give away cool prizes every day on Q105. I've only had the chance to go to see one TV game show in person. Fortunately it was when Bob Barker was still hosting The Price Is Right. The photos below take me back that day!
About 20 years ago, I was doing a morning show in California. It was January and everyone was making New Year's resolutions. That seemed boring to do on the show. My cohost and I decided instead for the new year, we would pick something we always wanted to do... and then do it live on the air. She wanted to jump out of an airplane. I wanted to see The Price Is Right in person. Fortunately I must've won the coin toss because we ended up in Hollywood and not in a plane with the doors open.
Thank you for the great memories on those days I pretended to be sick so I could stay home from school and hang out with you Mr. Barker!
Arriving in LA
As someone who grew up on the east coast, going to LA meant doing all the cheesy touristy stuff that my cohost (a lifelong Californian) really didn't care much about doing... but she was a trooper.
First stop... the Hollywood sign.
We hiked up in the Hollywood hills hoping to get up close to the sign. Google wasn't a thing yet so we were left with advice from tourism books to try to find it.
Oh well.
This was about as close as we got.
Found it!
Yay for zoom lens. Hooray for Hollywood.
Jack!
We ended up at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Alice from The Brady Bunch
... and of course we had to do the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Being a Brady Bunch fan as a kid, the only star I wanted to get a pic with was Ann B. Davis' star. (Alice the housekeeper on The Brady Bunch.)
Taping day at The Price Is Right
OK, day 2 in LA. It was time to head to Television City in Hollywood to hopefully get on The Price Is Right.
Caffeine please.
As you can see by the pajamas in these pics, you have to get there STUPID early to claim your seat. I was surprised... is that what people picked to wear to be on TV!?
Nope.
Turns out that early call time was just to get your tickets. So once we got ours, we were allowed to leave. They apparently all knew that... thus the pajamas. Oh well, we had our tickets.
TPIR T-Shirts
We opted not to make and wear Price Is Right shirts. But maybe that's why we didn't get called up on stage.
Got our tickets... let's go eat.
After we finished doing the morning show live from the line at CBS, we were hungry and the taping was hours away. Fortunately they let you leave the CBS lot and come back later.
Miceli's
It was a no-brainer for me. Miceli's in Hollywood is my go to spot for great Italian food when you're in LA. It's been around for decades.
Another TV show?
As we walked around killing time, we noticed another TV show was filming. Turns out it was that short-lived TV show Ryan Seacrest did. They hoped it would put TRL out of business. It didn't.
Cheesy
My excitement about being on the Ryan Seacrest show was minimal...as you can tell by the sarcastic pose. We just wanted to get back to CBS and hopefully become contestants on The Price Is Right.
Bob Barker
Mark Davis/Getty ImagesThis wasn't my photo. They don't allow you to bring cameras into the studio. And back then camera phones weren't really a thing yet.
The legend in action!
Frederick M. Brown/Getty ImagesSeeing the game played live was a blast. Bob would do the show as if it was live... if there was a 3 minute break for commercials on TV, that's how long the break was between games.
The big wheel!
(Photo by Lumeimages/Getty Images)Getting to see the big wheel was almost as exciting as seeing Bob in person.
Remember her from earlier?
I hated that they made me use my full name on my name tag: "Eugene!" Nobody calls me that!
No car, no money, no Plinko...
It didn't happen. Neither of us ended up being asked to "Come on down!" However, remember this woman in red from earlier? She made it and went all the way to the final round! I think she won her showcase too. I at least did leave CBS with an autographed Bob Barker 8x10.
