Rahul Sharma (Editor)

The Price Is Right (1957 Australian game show)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Created by
  
Bob Stewart

Original language(s)
  
English

First episode date
  
1957

Number of seasons
  
6

Genre
  
Game show

Country of origin
  
Australia

No. of seasons
  
6

Final episode date
  
1974

Program creator
  
Bob Stewart

Language
  
English

Presented by
  
Bruce Beeby (1957) Geoff Manion (1958) Keith Walshe (1959) Horrie Dargie (1963) Garry Meadows (1973–1974)

Narrated by
  
Keith Livingston (1973–1974)

Similar
  
The Pyramid Game, Three on a Match, Super Password, Le Juste Prix, That's My Line

The Price is Right is an Australian television game show that has been produced in several different formats.

Contents

Original format

Two regional versions based on the original 1950s US format aired nearly concurrently – one aired on ATN-7 in Sydney, hosted by Bruce Beeby and Keith Walshe from 1957–1959; the other was on GTV-9 in Melbourne and hosted by Geoff Manion in 1958. The latter version debuted 10 August 1958, airing for 16 episodes on Sundays at 5:30PM. After it ended, the timeslot was taken up by panel discussion series Face the Nation (based on the US series of the same name), which had previously aired at 5:00PM.

In 1963, Seven Network aired a nationwide version hosted by Horrie Dargie.

Modern format

The Price Is Right then aired in Australia on what is now The 0-10 Network from 1973–1974; this version was hosted by Garry Meadows and announcer Keith Livingston. At this time, Reg Grundy Organisation was licensing many shows from Goodson-Todman Productions in the U.S.; they had a flair for making detailed copies of sets, and The Price Is Right was no exception. Grundy staffer Bill Mason went to the United States to research the show in detail.

The show started in a daytime slot on 5 February 1973 (a mere five months after the original first aired in the States), and was later given a prime time slot on the network. This version established a completely different Showcase round. In it, the day's two top winners first bid on the price of one showcase in the "Showcase Playoff", played in the style of the short-lived U.S. pricing game Double Bullseye. Both players would be given a $50 range to bid within. After one player bid, the other player would be told whether to bid higher or lower than the other player's bid. The first contestant to bid the correct price then attempted to place the prizes in order from least to most expensive on a pricing board in the Showcase itself, similar to the later U.S. pricing game Eazy az 1 2 3.

References

The Price Is Right (1957 Australian game show) Wikipedia