Is the Price Right for Seven?

Is The Price Is Right headed for a comeback?

According to News Limited, it appears that Seven is keen to revive the age-old format to run back-to-back with Deal Or No Deal in the important lead-in hour to the 6.00pm news.

It is tipped that the revamped Price Is Right will be hosted by Larry Emdur (pictured), currently co-host of Seven’s popular The Morning Show and who hosted two previous versions of The Price Is Right for the Nine Network.  Emdur has also hosted game shows Family Double Dare, The Main Event, Cash Bonanza and Wheel Of Fortune.

News of the planned revival comes after a wave of nostalgia for the format following the recent passing of Ian Turpie who hosted the game show during the 1980s for both the Seven and Ten networks.

The Price Is Right is certainly one of the most enduring of game show formats on Australian television – usually enjoying a few years on air before taking a break and then resurfacing to an enthusiastic reception. 

It made its first appearance in the late 1950s with separate versions in each of Sydney and Melbourne.  A ‘national’ version, hosted by Horrie Dargie, launched as a daytime program on the Seven Network in 1963.

Ten years later the 0-10 Network revived the titled, based on the updated format launched in the US, with host Garry Meadows.  The program was so successful in its daytime format that the network expanded it to run in prime-time as well.

The Seven Network then launched The New Price Is Right, hosted by Turpie, in September 1981 on the back of failed early-evening game shows Celebrity Tattletales and Catch Us If You Can.  The show was a hit and ran for around four years.  Turpie reprised his role as host when Ten launched The Price Is Right as a Saturday night program as part of its ill-fated 10 TV Australia line-up of 1989.

Nine then revived The Price Is Right with Emdur as host for several years during the 1990s and then again in 2003.  The show last appeared in 2005.

Last year Emdur made a guest appearance on the US version of The Price Is Right as part of that show’s 40th anniversary celebration.

The recycling of classic TV show formats is hardly new but appears to be a trend among American producers and has seen the revival of some former Australian favourites, including Hey Hey It’s Saturday, It’s A Knockout, Young Talent Time and the recent announcement of a remake of drama series Prisoner, but success in this strategy is proving to be hard to come by.  However, The Price Is Right is one format that seems to always bounce back on a high.

Source: News.com.au

Barbie Rogers in Friday flashback

The Seven Network’s The Morning Show last week featured former model and TV personality Barbie Rogers as a ‘Friday Flashback’.

Rogers was a teenage model in the 1960s before becoming a national TV celebrity as hostess of Seven’s early 1970s quiz shows, Temptation and The Great Temptation, alongside host Tony Barber.

Launched as a one-hour daytime show in June 1970, Temptation later expanded into prime time with The Great Temptation debuting in a half-hour weekly timeslot in July 1971 – replacing the recently-departed Pick-A-Box.

The Great Temptation was later ‘stripped’ to five-nights-a-week and host Barber collected the TV Week Gold Logie in 1973 for Most Popular Television Personality.  Rogers also won Logies in 1973 and 1975 for Most Popular Female Personality in New South Wales.

Appearing on The Morning Show with presenters Todd McKenney and Kylie Gillies, Rogers also recalled a controversial incident when presenting movies for Seven.  A pre-recorded segment, with Rogers jokingly threatening to “rip the tits off” anyone who didn’t like the choice of movies presented, was headed for the end-of-year blooper reel but was accidentally broadcast and saw her banned from appearing on TV for two weeks.

Rogers was later back on TV in the ‘80s as a panellist on game shows like Celebrity Tattletales and daytime talk show Beauty And The Beast. 

These days Rogers is a guest speaker for Probus… and is apparently gagging for a stint on Dancing With The Stars!

Picture: TV Guide (South Australia), 2 March 1974.