Joe's TV List Would Like to Spin Again

#25: The Price Is Right
(CBS, 1972-present)

Readers of this blog know about my Nana and Pop Pop’s house in Bridgeport, where I spent countless weekends of my childhood and teen years. It’s also the only place where I ever watched The Price Is Right, because that’s what kids of that era watched in the morning with their grandparents. (Evenings: Wheel of Fortune and The Carol Burnett Show, with particular emphasis on the end credits, when cartoon Carol scratches her ass. Afternoons: General Hospital, so hopefully you brought a book.) But here’s the thing about The Price Is Right: college students watch it. Housewives watch it. Everyone watches it, no matter how lame and gaudy it gets, because lame and gaudy are the point. I mean, Password never featured a yodeling mountain climber lazily plummeting off a cliff. No one ever played miniature golf on Card Sharks, and Jeopardy doesn’t let the audience yell out answers. (“Four! Four! Count my fingers, you moron, four!”) But let’s give due credit: no one could have carried off this brand of supermarket insanity better than Bob Barker and Rod Roddy, although others still try. Pop Pop watched until he died. He’s probably watching right now, still muttering angrily each time a Plinko chip drops into the $0 slot. And Nana’s still laughing at him. But she doesn’t mind. It’s almost time for her stories.