The Price Is Right is an Australian television game show that has been produced in a number of different formats, based on the American concept of the same title.
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 later Keith Walshe from 1957 to 1959;[citation needed] the other was on GTV-9 in Melbourne and hosted by Geoff Manion in 1958.
Grundy staffer Bill Mason went to the United States to research the show in detail.
The following pricing games were played on the Seven Network version from 1981 to 1985: The show returned on 29 July 1989 until 14 October 1989 for an hour-long version, again hosted by Turpie airing Saturday nights on 10 TV Australia as part of Network Ten's attempted revamp that year; however, it only lasted 12 episodes.
[8] The following pricing games were played during the Nine Network's first run: The show returned on 23 June 2003 on the Nine Network, again with Emdur (earlier news reports had speculated that former A*mazing host James Sherry would be the star, but he was replaced after the previously unavailable Emdur was freed up,[9] following the cancellation of Cash Bonanza).
Segeviano's Mega Showcase win of $664,667 (about US$612,000) was a world record for the Price franchise that stood until almost exactly three years later, in February 2008, when Adam Rose won US$1,153,908 on the U.S. primetime version of the show.
The Showcase dropped the condominium as the top prize, but a cash jackpot of over $100,000 was added to the boot of the car to entice the bidder.
[12] The show ended on 24 November 2005, and Larry Emdur then signed with the Seven Network to revive the ailing Wheel of Fortune, which was cancelled after only a few months.
The show used the logo and look of the 2009 French version called Le Juste Prix (The Right Price).
The first episode of the revamp briefly paid tribute to[16] original host Ian Turpie, who had died of cancer earlier that month.
The Cars in Showcase is supplied by Nissan Speculation of an Australian revival started when Emdur, during a winter 2011 trip to Los Angeles (July), visited CBS Television City, where US version host Drew Carey had Emdur call down a contestant and host Cliff Hangers during a taping in July for an episode that aired in December 2011.
However, the cash and prizes featured were much lower in value than the previous versions (sponsored by Big W), which disappointed many viewers.
The format was similar to the short-lived United States syndicated version hosted by Doug Davidson in 1994.
The winner also now had 40 seconds to make all the decisions and if time expires, any item(s) left over are automatically locked in.
The 2012 series had 17 games on rotation, including: The models of The Price Is Right often drew as much interest as the show itself.
Some of these models include: Fictional scenes from The Price Is Right were featured in the 1997 comedy film The Castle, showing the narrator's sister appearing on the show and almost winning the showcase, but leaving with the amount of $1,234 ("If only she knew the price of the luggage!").