Was anyone else afraid of Dennis James?

[bandit957]

Was anyone else afraid of Dennis James?

When I was a youngster - I'm talking preschool age here - Dennis James used to host an evening edition of 'The Price Is Right'. My parents loved it. But I was afraid of Dennis James because he had very frantic, fast-paced mannerisms that made it look like he was about to pop out of the TV screen and go berserk. So I made sure to run out of the living room when 'The Price Is Right' came on.

But one evening, my parents made me confront my fear by making me stay in the living room when Dennis James was on. I don't think I was afraid of him anymore after that. But that was probably around the time he left the show anyway.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I was never afraid of Bob Barker.

[abefroman329]

That must've been before my time.  I was pretty young when Bob Barker stopped dyeing his hair, and IIRC, he stopped abruptly.  So to see him with black hair one day and silver the next was pretty jarring.

I remember being really scared of the gorilla in the Showbiz Pizza animatronic band and refusing to go in the dining room while the band was performing.  I still don't like him that much, to be honest.

[Max Rockatansky]

I wasn't even aware the Price is Right had a nighttime edition.

[PHLBOS]

I wasn't even aware the Price is Right had a nighttime edition.

It was during the mid-70s.

[US71]

I wasn't even aware the Price is Right had a nighttime edition.

It was during the mid-70s.

I rarely watched it.

[Scott5114]

There was one in the 80s with Tom Kennedy, and one in the 90s (where the entire set and music was 90s-ified, although the same game props from regular TPIR were used) with Doug Davidson.

Dennis James caused an incident during a playing of "Cliff Hangers" where, when the mountain climber fell off the end of the mountain, he yelled "There goes Fritz!" Apparently he didn't know one of the models had a husband named Fritz, who was a mountain climber who had just gone missing...

[jp the roadgeek]

Think it was Janice Pennington whose husband was Fritz.  At least Drew Carey's usage of Yodely Guy shouldn't spawn a repeat.

Too young to remember the Dennis James nighttime version, but I do remember the Tom Kennedy and Doug Davidson versions.  The latter had some different pricing games not used on any other edition, such as "The Price is Was Right" 

This commercial (and all in the series) used to paralyze me with fear and make me scream and cry when I was about 3 or 4.  The spookiness was traumatizing, but I can look back and laugh in retrospect.

[jeffandnicole]

I think they had a short-lived nighttime edition in the 80's or 90's as well.

[bandit957]

I remember when the number displays where the 4 contestants bid on prizes used to all be brown. A website said they were changed to different colors in 1975, but I know it had to be later, because I remember before it happened.

[jp the roadgeek]

Actually, that is true.  I just watched a couple of clips on YouTube from 1975: one from May, and the other from September.  The displays were indeed brown in May, but in September, the color screens had debuted (along with the familiar rainbow curtain behind the studio audience).

Some other things that were different: The music bed as the contestants were called down changed somewhere in February of 1976.  The old music appears in the 2/2/76 episode, with the new (current) music appears in a 3/11/76 episode.  Also, the green sections of the wheel debuted for the 78-79 season (along with a lower pitch sound for the spokes) . Another thing that I noticed was a crude version of the wheel in a special week of one hour episodes in September of 1975.  Same pattern of numbers, but it was almost set up like the wheel the contestants on Wheel of Fortune spin before the bonus round.   These episodes were to commemorate the beginning of the 5th season, but in reality, they were testing the waters to see if one hour episodes would work permanently.  The one hour episodes did begin permanently on November 3rd, 1975.  The only reason I remember the date: I was born on the Saturday before.

[PHLBOS]

Back when the show was just a half-hour, regardless of whether it was the AM version (w/Bob Barker) or PM version (w/Dennis James); the two contestants selected to be in the final showcase always seemed to be the first & the third.  The second contestant, regardless of whether or not they won their pricing came, was almost never seemed to be in the showcase round.

The two showcase showdowns with spin-off wheel debuted with the one-hour format (dubbed One Hour Power IIRC) and was never used in the half-hour PM versions until the mid-90s with The New Price is Right series hosted by Doug Davidson.

*Edited for correction*

[abefroman329]

Dennis James caused an incident during a playing of "Cliff Hangers" where, when the mountain climber fell off the end of the mountain, he yelled "There goes Fritz!" Apparently he didn't know one of the models had a husband named Fritz, who was a mountain climber who had just gone missing...

I always thought that story was about Bob Barker. 

[Henry]

Dennis James caused an incident during a playing of "Cliff Hangers" where, when the mountain climber fell off the end of the mountain, he yelled "There goes Fritz!" Apparently he didn't know one of the models had a husband named Fritz, who was a mountain climber who had just gone missing...

I always thought that story was about Bob Barker. 

That would be Janice Pennington, who is the show's longest-tenured model to date (1972-2000).

Another thing that I noticed was a crude version of the wheel in a special week of one hour episodes in September of 1975.  Same pattern of numbers, but it was almost set up like the wheel the contestants on Wheel of Fortune spin before the bonus round.

When they spun that wheel, it made a sound reminiscent of the one that you would hear when the dollar amounts and clues were loading onto the Jeopardy! board.

The two showcase showdowns with spin-off wheel debuted with the one-hour format (dubbed One Hour Power IIRC) and was never used in the half-hour PM (Dennis James) versions.

Not entirely true. The Kennedy version never used the wheel either, but the Davidson version did, as a backup to "The Price is Was Right" (a One Bid-based variant of the Showcase Showdown; ironically, contestants who were called down proceeded directly to the stage). On that show, only one contestant advanced to the Showcase, which was essentially Range Game with a varying rangefinder.

Bill Cullen was the original host from 1956-65, when it aired on NBC for seven years and then ABC for the last two (with four players per episode bidding on various items until a champion emerged). The current version with Bob Barker and Drew Carey as hosts has been on CBS since its 1972 debut, so it has held the rare distinction (outside of sports programming) of being on all of the original Big Three networks at one point or another.

[jeffandnicole]

We might've discussed this in the past, but has anyone here ever been to a taping? My wife and I went about 10 years ago, shortly before Bob Barker announced his retirement.  We were seated in the 5th row behind contestants row, and you can easily see us every time they panned contestants row.

The quick version of how it goes down (and this was 10 years ago, so there may be some slight changes): You get to the studios early to get in line.  Eventually, you are given a number and told to come back at a certain time.  When you come back, you're in a line.  10 at a time go up to a table and the producers briefly ask you who you are, where you're from, and what you do.  That's about it.  From that extremely brief interview, they determine who they may call down.  They are looking for various segments of the population, so there's usually going to be a mix of people, someone from a group, someone from the military, etc.  They're also looking for excitable people.  However, you do not know if you will be called down until you hear your name. 

You're told several times you aren't guaranteed a seat in the studio until you are seated in the studio.

Name tags:  They write your official name on the tags.  If you're Christopher but go by Chris, they write Christopher.  No exceptions.

Finally, you go into the studio, where the staff will hear about 300 times a taping that the people entering can't believe how small the studio is.

There's a few people there to warm up the crowd, and next thing you know, they are calling people on down, and the host comes out.  The show has begun!

You don't know what games will be played (although if you were looking around the back lot, you may have seen some of the games moved around).  You don't know who will be picked and when.  And, if anyone is familiar with the game, you may or may not know how to play the game; obviously, they help you out when needed.

Cool experience.  Neither my wife or I got called on down, but that's fine.  We had a blast.

And at the time, the taping schedule was very current - Our show taped on a Tuesday; It aired Friday.