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Axed: The Price is Right

Larry won't be coming on down anymore after Seven opts not to renew its Price is Right revival.

Photo1priceCome on down? Not anymore…

Seven has not renewed its revived game show The Price is Right.

Entertainment reporter Peter Ford revealed the axing this morning on radio.

The Larry Emdur-hosted show returned in May amid much buzz about a favourite format returning to Australian television.

But once viewers got a look at the show it was soon clear Seven and FremantleMedia had cut corners with reduced prizes and the Big W branded sponsorship.

It may have had Micra cars but Showcases in 2005 were worth far more than those being short-changed to contestants in 2012.

It was hard watching Larry trying to get excited about such diminished Showcases and readers slammed the remake:

-What a load of junk! Maybe the big budgets all go to those trashy “reality” shows these days.
-I am the biggest fan of the Price is Right. However this sadly is absolute garbage. How can Seven do this to this show???
-I was so looking forward to this, but was really disappointed when I saw it. Larry is great, but it looks like an ad for Big W.I was in the audience one night and they gave away 2 big w vouchers on the one night. All they give away is the Micra and never change cars.
-Good lord. Watched a bit of it last night and couldn’t believe how cheap and tacky it looked.
-Sooooo disappointing!! Totally agree with all the comments – was just a really cheap and inferior remake of a great original.

Ratings for the show quickly dropped and in Melbourne it was even moved to mid afternoons as part of a larger plan to lift the lead-in for Seven News.

It’s a shame, there was genuinely a lot of enthusiasm about the show returning with Larry. The words “wasted opportunity” spring to mind?

Seven’s 4:30pm News has been continuing and that looks like remaining part of the plan with Deal still in place at 5:30pm.

21 Responses

  1. I too lament the days when Australia had good game shows. The new Price certainly lacked something from the old days and the Big W branding was a complete turn off. It’s a shame because Larry is your classic game show host.

    My faves were always Wheel of Fortune and Family Fued (especially Bert’s) because you could actually play along at home, unlike the tediously boring guessing game that is Deal or no Deal. I have never understood its success or why people watch it. Let alone the mystery of why Andrew O’keefe has a job on television.
    I would rather watch Supermarket Sweep than that garbage.

  2. One must wonder what future lies ahead for traditional gameshows in Australia. I can’t see Wheel Of Fortune or Family Feud ever returning to our screens, unless Feud returned in its current smutty American format as a cheap, late night show.

    Deal and Hot Seat have been the clear successes over the past decade in terms of gameshows. They share a number of similarities:

    1. Aside from the car case in Deal, they both offer money prizes only.
    2. They are both able to advertise large prizes when in reality they very often give away less than 10% ($20,000) of the biggest prize in Deal’s case and 0.1% in Hot Seat when the contestant gets the last question incorrect and only wins $1000. In contrast, showcase wins seemed fairly frequent throughout 2012 on Price and so total winnings would be above 85% a couple of times per week.
    3. They both have a single ‘storyline’ that runs from the start of the episode to the end. A contestant’s decisions in the opening minutes of a show can have major ramifications on the end result.
    4. Aside from the token ‘correct guesses’ in Deal, both shows end with a final decision that determines how much is won all up in the episode. Nothing is actually ‘won’ by a contestant prior to the final minute of the show.

    The Price Is Right is going well in the US and to an extent France, but is a broken format everywhere else in the world. People pining for a return to the Channel 9 format forget how badly it tanked against Deal – although there were also 200,000 more viewers to share around in that timeslot. Game shows need to be able to offer big prizes but in places like Australia they simply can’t afford to give away a high percentage of those winnings away.

  3. I think the calls for bigger prizes are a bit greedy – is that really the only thing wrong with the show? How big were the old showcases really?

    My 2 beefs were: Big W being thrust upon us; and a lack of hot lady models. Seemed like there were only 2 guys and 2 girls modelling: one of whom was so skinny a gust of wind would knock her over. Actually 3 beefs: the time…if it had been 5:30 instead of 5 it would have been much more convenient for me to watch.

  4. shame the show flopped. used to love it in it’s heyday.

    In the new incarnation with prizes being so crappy it made it laughable.

    shame we’ve forgotten how to make a good game show in this country

  5. @PJs Ronin

    A lot depends on the percentage ratio of oxygen administered, and if the paid ‘price was right’ for a Top of the Range Defibrillator, and they only adjust the previous settings to suit the patients current prognosis, and the wishes of our extended family.

    Taking special care not to miss a faded “Do Not Resuscitate” tattoo, that was much brighter many years ago when different personal perceptions were held.

  6. How about reviving Family Feud. Loved the show with Bert in 2006-07 but sadly Channel 9 axed it. Much more entertaining than DoND hosted by the one and only Bert Newton. Much better than Andrew O’Keefe who I can’t stand.

  7. in 2005 it became million dollar price is right to go head head with deal or no deal. Sevens price is right was about as good as channel nines wheel of fortune. a good game show works and survives only if it is easy to follow, once you add in to many rules or change something that makes the show interesting you are destined to fail. price failed because it was changed way to much and the prizes were shitty.

    deal or no deal still draws an audience because it has a simple format. as does hot seat.

  8. Studio was way to small for this show and the prizes were a joke. How on earth is the audience at home meant to barrack for a contestant when all they stand to win is a $500 Big W or 30 DVD’s.
    There is a lot of love for this show and indeed Larry hosting it. It is a real shame that the network and producers didn’t deliver what viewers were looking for.
    Give it a few years, it will pop back up somewhere.

  9. The comment by jimbo k brings up a great point about the cheap prizes. Well the idea of using everyday household items wasn’t a great idea.

    Also were they were shooting it didn’t look anything like a price is right set, plus it looked so much like the low rating Deal or No Deal which I think might soon have it’s competence as a result of even a worse rating this year.

    Also the idea that it could try and work on its third FTA broadcaster was an absurd idea. They should have left it as a once great show instead it is consigned to the history books as a flop which doesn’t look go for any show.

  10. With the cheaper prizes, and low ratings, this news didn’t surprise me.

    It was a shame that Seven didn’t tweak with it throughout the year, when everyone complained about it.

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