The Exhausted Dad: Families built on Barker-era ‘Price is Right’

Summers and sick days belonged to Bob Barker.

Growing up in the 90s, “The Price is Right” was as good as a medicine as Robitussin or Tylenol. No matter the cold, flu or tummy ache, I could count on “The Price is Right” to make me feel better. Not completely better, of course. Because another sick day from school meant watching another episode of “The Price is Right.”

My love for the long-running CBS game show began with my Grandma Rosemary. I’d visit her in Wisconsin every summer, and she started her day with “Price is Right.” As a nurse, she occasionally worked in the morning, but she’d use the good ol’ VCR to record missed episodes.

She knew all the games. She knew how to win all the games.

“The Price is Right” became a regular show in my life back in college. I almost never had class in the morning, so I watched a ridiculous amount of the show during Barker’s twilight years. I especially loved this era because, at that point in his life, Bob didn’t have much patience for indecisive contestants. “What’s your bid, DOREEN?!” “Make up your mind, PATRICK!”

My favorite game? Plinko, obviously. But I also love Hole in One, especially back when Bob would putt from the furthest line and (often) sink the ball into the cup. Dice Game rules because so many of the people who play it can’t figure out how to properly roll those oversized dice. Pathfinder has a fun “loser” horn, and Punch-a-Bunch seems like the most fun you can have winning a small amount of money.

Even in her last years, whenever I visited my Grandma, I’d find DVR recordings of “Price is Right” on her TV. She loved watching Bob Barker, but she remained loyal to the game after he retired in 2007. Grandma even encouraged me to give the new host, Drew Carey a proper chance.

It took some time to grow comfortable with Drew, but he eventually found his rhythm (and he made sure to keep Bob’s “Help control the pet population” message at the end of each show). I heard the words “spay and neuter” hundreds of times as a kid before ever understanding what they meant.

When my Grandma died a few years ago, “The Price is Right” lost some luster for me. I couldn’t watch it without thinking about her, and often, that made me feel too sad to enjoy it. I wish she’d had gone to see the show in person, because she most definitely would’ve made it onstage, and she most definitely would’ve been Must-See television. If she won anything, she’d hop and dance around the stage before hugging every crew member in sight.

When COVID happened, “The Price is Right” reconfigured its stage and ditched the studio audience so they could make new episodes while adhering to social distancing practices. By this time, I could watch the show for enjoyment again, but the lack of a hollering crowd made it seem like a shadow of the show we all loved.

But “The Price is Right” endures. Overwhelmed with my second stage of attending college last year, I was gifted a miracle. I discovered that the totally-free streaming service Pluto TV had an entire channel devoted to Bob Barker-era “The Price is Right.” Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, Barker-era “Price is Right” was there for me, whenever I needed a break from the pressures of work-school-family balance.

Barker began hosting the show back in 1972, and many of the episodes on Pluto tend to be from the 70s and 80s. After spending time on Pluto, I probably know the price of a car in 1982 than I do for one made in 2023. There are some retired games as well, and, because I started watching in the 90s, every episode is new-to-me.

I’ve forced my kids to watch all types of “Price is Right” over the years. Back when I stayed at home with my first daughter when she was a baby, I watched “Price is Right” while she rolled around on the floor. We watched “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Good Wife” during various feeding times, but I doubt she remembers any of it (though Barker makes an appearance on “How I Met Your Mother” in season 2).

Nowadays, my four kids are older, and they don’t quite understand why Dad likes to watch an old game show with weird prices and, gasp!, commercial breaks (it’s how Pluto stays free). Still, we all get a kick out of watching vintage Barker poke fun at the clueless contestants. What was Dorreen THINKING?!

Turns out, ol’ Bob had always been a little irascible with indecisive folks in Bidder’s Row. At least now I better understand why Bob became so violently angry with Adam Sandler in “Happy Gilmore.”

My kids probably don’t think much of it now, but I bet when they’re grown and I’m old, they’ll have strange-but-warm memories of “The Price is Right.” Only my oldest daughter remembers meeting my Grandma Rosemary, but through $1 bids and Showcase Showdowns, she’ll leave a legacy just like Bob.

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Tyler Wilson is a freelance writer, full-time student and parent to four kids, ages 6-12. He is tired. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.