ANDRE BEGIN

I’ve never been one who suffered much from FOMO, the fear of missing out, but I will admit that in my younger years, while in school or at work, I often wondered what was happening on The Price is Right.

The show was my happy place when I was off from school or from work when I was feeling under the weather. On vacation days, when I was close to home, I almost always stopped and made a point of checking in while preparing lunch.

In those moments, The Price is Right was always a bright spot in my day. I often wished I could bottle its energizing powers, and uncork it whenever an occasion called for it.

The truth is, the pure escapism that the show offered me was consistently successful in distracting me from fear, worries and rumination about day-to-day problems, at every stage of my life.

The Price is Right was a quick mental health tune-up for me. It didn’t make problems go away, but I could forget them for an hour.

What made it so engaging? Was it the overall carnival atmosphere? Was it the brightly coloured sets? Was it the prizes? Was it the brilliantly chosen background music to go with the prizes? Was it the fun games that could even get my serious father in on the action?

Or was it the total package and its slick production value?

The Price is Right could not have achieved its iconic status and earned its place as a fixture of daytime TV for so many generations without the contributions of the hundreds of people associated with its production over the years: the production staff, the technical crew, the models, the announcers, the contestants, and of course, the dynamic hosts.

To me, it was a master class in game show creation and execution. To all, I offer a most reverent bow of respect and gratitude.

In recent years, there have been times when I would scavenge through the web for vintage episodes from that period when I was in school or at work. When I found some, I would start watching them and fall down the rabbit hole only to look over at the clock moments later (or so it seemed) to suddenly find it well past midnight.

Despite the sleep deprivation that sometimes resulted, I rationalized that I had missed those episodes, so it was perfectly justified.

In the last year or so, I started hearing about a 24/7 channel devoted entirely to The Price is Right. I searched for it a few times, but never really found any leads to it.

Can you imagine my surprise just a couple of weeks ago, when I received an ad on Facebook, promoting “Plex”, a streaming platform that seems to have been around a while but escaped my radar. Somehow Facebook picked up on my enjoyment of the show, and gave me an ad promoting Plex’s Price is Right Channel… available in Canada!

Beads of sweat started forming on my forehead. “I think I found it,” I thought to myself, “but at what cost” (…metaphorically speaking!)

A few clicks later, I had succeeded in traveling back in time to 1985, watching an episode featuring a beautiful (and very big!) Chevrolet Monte Carlo and some of the retired games I miss like Super Ball.

There was no turning back.

Moments later, I had created an account, downloaded the app and had Plex streaming from most of the devices in the house.

As much as this was a dream come true, being able to watch The Price is Right, anywhere, any time, on any streaming device, it could also mean something that could potentially keep me from my other dream come true: writing.

The fear quickly passed. As much as I wanted to relive episodes from a simpler, more easy-going period of my life, just the knowledge that it will be there for me anytime from this point on, enabled me to get past the novelty quickly and not highjack my entire schedule.

I was still able to keep to my writing routine, and save my viewing as the reward after, maintaining it as my background enjoyment when preparing food, cleaning up, folding laundry, that sort of thing.

I also watched a little bit before bed, trying to remain mindful of not getting overstimulated from the flashing lights, the rapid motion visuals, the persistent winning bells, and my favourite background tunes. Sometimes I had to give myself an extra 15 minutes after I turned it off to properly wind down.

In any event, my relationship to The Price is Right channel quickly became a very harmonious one, filling in gaps between activities, and allowing me to catch up on what I missed so many years ago.

But yet it was a little more than ironic to hear the news yesterday afternoon of the passing of its long-time, award winning host Bob Barker… while in the middle of watching an episode hosted by Bob Barker.

I don’t think The Price is Right would be what it is today if it wasn’t for the vibe that he created when the show re-launched in 1972 as The New Price is Right. Given his experience in radio with audience participation shows and then in the early days of television with the stunt-oriented game show Truth or Consequences, Bob’s instincts were spot on for teasing out of his contestants displays of off-the-charts excitement over household appliances.

Also, who could forget his tireless advocating for the welfare of animals and in helping control the pet population? I am certain there will be no shortage of tributes in the coming days.

For me, to now being able to access classic episodes of The Price is Right on a regular basis is a welcomed addition to my routine. Even though my worries may be fewer than they were in my school or working years, the infusion of energy the show can bring is still welcomed.

The classic episodes also serve as a personal walk down memory lane as I check the original air dates and try to recall where I might have been and what I might have been doing at that time.

The nostalgic element of seeing products that don’t exist anymore or the huge boxy cars that have since been replaced by SUVs also has a power to transport me back to a time when I felt my first aspirations as a creative writer, brimming with thoughts and ideas I wanted to share with the world.

If watching The Price is Right channel on a loop serves as a reminder of a creative time that inspires a steady flow and abundance of writing ideas, then maybe it’s not such a guilty pleasure after all.

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André