The Price Is Right premiered on September 4, 1972, at 10:30 a.m. ET (9:30 a.m. CT) on CBS, one of three game shows to debut that day, the other two being ''
The Joker's Wild at 10:00 a.m. ET and Gambit at 11:00 a.m. ET. The show was first billed as The New Price Is Right
to distinguish itself from the earlier/original version (1956–65) hosted by Bill Cullen, but it proved so popular in its own right that, in June 1973, Goodson-Todman decided to drop the word "New" from its title. On March 26, 1973, CBS moved The Price Is Right
to 3:00 p.m. ET, pairing it with Match Game as part of what became the highest-rated pairing in daytime, it ran a close second to the NBC soap opera Another World. The show remained in that time slot until August 11, 1975, when it permanently returned to the morning lineup at 10:30 a.m. ET. Over the next several years, Price'' would face a variety of game shows on NBC, then, as now, ABC did not program that timeslot, leaving its affiliates to do it themselves. During the week of September 8–12, 1975,
The Price Is Right experimented with a sixty-minute episode format, during what it called "Anniversary Week" (the third anniversary of its premiere). The Anniversary Week included a prototypical circular Showcase Showdown spinner wheel used only for that week of shows. The Anniversary Week experiment was a ratings success, and quickly led to the announcement on September 30, 1975, of the permanent expansion of
The Price Is Right to sixty minutes, effective November 3, 1975, its start time moved to 10:00 a.m. ET. From March 7, 1977, to November 4, 1977,
The Price Is Right aired at 10:30 a.m. It then returned to 10:00 a.m. for just five weeks. On December 12, 1977, the show moved back to 10:30 a.m. and remained there until April 20, 1979, when it assumed the 11:00 a.m. ET slot where it has remained ever since. The format of the show has since remained virtually unchanged. New pricing games are generally added each year, while others are retired. In addition, prizes and pricing games have kept pace with inflation, with games originally designed for four-digit prices of prizes (most often cars) adjusted to allow for five-digit prices, such as by providing the first digit of its price for free. While the set has seen numerous redesigns and upgrades over the years, the show has maintained a similar aesthetic element since its premiere in 1972. In season 36, CBS began offering full episodes of the show available for free viewing on the network's website. The show also began broadcasting in
high definition with
The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular primetime specials (the normal daytime version continued to air in
4:3 standard definition). The show made the full transition to HD broadcasts beginning with season 37. During the weeks of September 28, 2009, September 20, 2010, and October 4, 2010, two new episodes aired each weekday on CBS. In 2009, the additional episodes filled a gap between the cancellation of the daytime drama
Guiding Light and the debut of ''
Let's Make a Deal. In 2010, the extra episodes aired between the cancellation of As the World Turns and the debut of The Talk. The intervening week offered a second episode of Let's Make a Deal
. The 2009 second episode aired in the timeslot vacated by Guiding Light'' at 10:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. ET/PT, depending on the affiliate's choice. In 2010, the second episode aired in the former
As the World Turns time slot, at 2:00 p.m. ET/PT. On December 5, 2024, it was announced that reruns of
The Price is Right will temporarily fill in the timeslot of the recently cancelled afternoon daytime talk show
The Talk (which was cancelled on December 16, 2024) until the new soap opera
Beyond the Gates arrives on February 24, 2025. However, on January 27, 2025,
Price reruns were eventually replaced by split repeats of the new CBS primetime
Hollywood Squares, owned by the network (unlike Price, owned by RTL Group). which Carey appears in selected episodes. Both
The Price Is Right at Night and
Hollywood Squares are part of the CBS primetime schedule between
Survivor seasons) hosted by
Nate Burleson until January 31, 2025.
Syndicated productions Three
syndicated versions of
The Price Is Right have aired. The first two followed the same format as the half-hour daytime version but were intended to air on most stations in the early evening slot before or after local newscasts, and as such, they were referred to by the announcer as "the nighttime
Price Is Right."
1972–1980 A weekly syndicated version debuted the week after the daytime premiere and continued to air until September 1980. It was distributed by
Viacom Enterprises, which had started as the syndication arm of CBS. When Mark Goodson devised the revival of
Price for the 1972–73 season, it was intended for a nighttime broadcast only under new rules for
early-prime syndication, and Goodson named
Dennis James to host the show. When CBS commissioned a new weekday daytime version, Goodson also wanted James to host that show, but CBS wanted Barker, who was still hosting the syndicated
Truth or Consequences at the time, to take it. Barker preferred to host ''
The Joker's Wild, but CBS, again, insisted that he host Price'' instead. James eventually hosted a taping day (four half-hour episodes) of the daytime show in December 1974 when Barker fell ill; those episodes were broadcast on and around Christmas Day. James did so concurrently with another daytime hosting gig, on the NBC version of
Name That Tune, another revived format from the 1950s. Though the nighttime version originally had higher ratings than the CBS daytime version, by 1975, the syndicated ratings started to drop. After the fifth nighttime season in 1977, when the contract with
NBC's owned-and-operated stations ended, James's contract was not renewed.
CBS's owned-and-operated stations picked the show up and the decision was made to hire Barker, to bring it in line with the daytime version. The series taped its 300th and final episode on March 12, 1980, and was cancelled after weekly syndicated game shows had fallen out of popularity in favor of daily offerings (such as
Family Feud, which had expanded to daily syndication the same year
The Nighttime Price Is Right ended). With a run of eight seasons, it was one of the longest-running weekly syndicated game shows of the era and the longest-running regularly scheduled primetime version of
Price (the 1957–1964 version aired seven seasons).
1985–86 Five years later, veteran host
Tom Kennedy starred in a new daily syndicated version, which also used the traditional half-hour format and was syndicated by
The Television Program Source. Like the previous syndicated series, this version had a slightly larger budget than its daytime counterpart. A perfect bid during the One-Bids originally won that contestant a $100 bonus (like the daytime show did then), but was later increased to $500. This increased bonus permanently carried over to the daytime show in 1998. Janice Pennington, Holly Hallstrom, and Dian Parkinson all reprised their roles for this series, as did Johnny Olson until his death. Unlike the daytime series, the syndicated series did not employ guest announcers after Olson died and instead named
Gene Wood as his replacement. Wood, in turn, was replaced by Rod Roddy shortly after he was named as Olson's successor on the daytime series. Like its predecessor, this syndicated edition of
Price was intended to be aired in the Prime Time Access slots on local stations. However, unlike the 1970s, local stations found themselves bombarded with game shows and other series looking for spots on stations in an increasingly crowded market. It often resulted in shows like
Price airing anywhere that they could be fit into a station's programming lineup, such as in the early-morning period or in late-night slots. As a consequence, the show was not able to find its intended audience and the ratings reports reflected that trouble.
Price was no exception, as many of the stations who bought the series placed it in those less desirable slots and the show could not find a foothold against the popular shows of the day, such as the runaway success of the syndicated
Wheel of Fortune. Compared to some of the other shows on the market during this period,
Price was a modest success, but it did not meet the very high expectations stations and Mark Goodson had for the series. As a result, the show was not renewed beyond its first season. A total of 170 episodes were produced, and they aired in first run from September 9, 1985, to May 30, 1986. During the six years it held the rights to
Price, the Kennedy version is the only one of the three syndicated versions that was rerun by
GSN.
The New Price Is Right Eight years after the cancellation of Kennedy's
Price Is Right, a new syndicated version premiered on September 12, 1994, hosted by
Doug Davidson (of
The Young and the Restless fame) and distributed by
Paramount Domestic Television. This series featured several significant changes: eliminating Contestants' Row, a different format for the Showcase Showdown, a Showcase featuring only one contestant, a completely different set, and a much larger budget (even when compared to the two previous syndicated runs) that gave contestants the potential to win up to five times what they could win on the daytime show. However, this version had even more trouble finding an audience than the 1985–86 series did and ended its run on January 27, 1995, after only 16 weeks of first-run shows. Several stylistic elements of this series, as well as many of its music cues, were later integrated into both the daytime version and nighttime specials.
CBS primetime specials and series 1986–1996 CBS attempted to break NBC's dominance of
Thursday night prime time by
The Cosby Show and
Family Ties with a six-episode summer series,
The Price Is Right Special, beginning in August 1986 that could be produced at a lower cost and promote the daytime game show. While it did not do its intended idea, it was the first of numerous primetime series for the game show. On August 23, 1996, CBS aired an hour-long 25th Anniversary Special, using the half-hour gameplay format and featuring a number of retrospective clips. The 30th Anniversary Special was recorded at Harrah's Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and aired on January 31, 2002. During the series
The Price Is Right Salutes, spinning $1.00 in a bonus spin during the Showcase Showdown was worth $100,000 instead of the usual $10,000. The primetime episode production codes since 2002 begins with
Salutes (#001SP to #006SP); all primetime episodes since then are legally continuations of these episodes.
2003–08: $1,000,000 Spectacular The success of the primetime series, which aired mostly in the summer, along with the vogue of big-money game shows, led to CBS launching another primetime series in 2003 that ran until 2008, titled
The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular. The
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike and original success in the
Nielsen ratings led CBS to commission ten more episodes of the primetime series. This series introduced set changes as the show was broadcast in high definition television for the first time and the set used for these episodes (except for the black floor) was moved to the daytime show in 2008. On the primetime series, larger and more expensive prizes were generally offered than on the daytime show. The Showcase frequently offered multiple or very expensive cars. In the first sixteen
$1,000,000 Spectaculars, all hosted by Barker, the payoff for landing on the $1.00 during a bonus spin in the Showcase Showdown was increased to $1 million. The rules for the $1 million bonus spin were later revised to offer the winner of the Showcase a spin if no other contestant had received a bonus spin in either Showcase Showdown. If both contestants overbid, an audience member was chosen at random to spin the wheel. This rule was again changed so that in the event of a double overbid, the contestant who overbid by the least received the bonus spin for a chance at $1 million. The million-dollar spin was eliminated in 2008, and instead, contestants were given two ways to win the top prize. One pricing game per episode was selected as a "million-dollar game", with a secondary objective needing to be met in order for the contestant to win the money. Contestants were also awarded the million-dollar bonus if they managed to win both Showcases, and the range the players had to come within was initially increased to $1,000, then reduced to $500. This format lasted one season (2008), which was made as replacement programming for the
2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike.
The Price Is Right at Night In 2016,
The Price Is Right returned to primetime featuring cast members of CBS programs and hosts of CBS reality show franchises, including
The Amazing Race,
Big Brother, and
Survivor. The episodes featured fans of the three programs playing alongside past participants from them. In 2019, a retitled version called
The Price Is Right at Night featured episodes with cast members from
SEAL Team and others with
Seth Rogen. Celebrities are paired with civilian contestants competing to win prizes. If there is a celebrity involved, episodes feature charitable donations toward a cause championed by the celebrity guest, with the celebrity joining the civilian contestants during the program. These shows feature a cash equivalent to all prizes won that episode in pricing games donated to the celebrity's charity, and during the second Showcase Showdown, making one spin of the Showcase Showdown wheel, with the value multiplied by 10,000 to be donated to the celebrity's charity. After the shortened season caused by a six and a half month suspension of production caused by pandemic related shutdowns, Season 49 premiered in October 2020 as a primetime episode, and that season also featured a salute to essential workers in light of the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and the cast of
The Neighborhood playing as themselves for charity in primetime. The first three episodes of Season 49 were actually primetime episodes that aired weekly before the first daytime episode aired November 16. An August 2021 announcement detailed a two-hour primetime special
The Price Is Right to air on September 30, 2021, in honor of its 50th season. The special featured a retrospective of memorable moments and outtakes from the show's history. As a result of the
labor stoppages with the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America, CBS announced on July 17, 2023 new episodes of
The Price Is Right at Night during the
2023–24 primetime season to add to what is normally scheduled during the season between new seasons of
Survivor. The first batch of episodes aired in October 2023, with ''Let's Make a Deal Primetime
airing in November. The first five primetime episodes of season 52 aired on October 2, 9, 13, 20, and 23. On October 18, 2023, the second set of five episodes were announced, featuring Christmas-themed episodes airing in the first week of December (December 4–5 and 7–8, skipping Wednesday because of Survivor and The Amazing Race), and one episode the Monday before Christmas on December 18. The Christmas Week episodes include Office Holiday Party, College Students, Blind Holidate, Holiday Heroes, with the fifth episode being a family-themed episode. A total of 21 episodes were taped in the season, one shy of a normal television primetime season. As such, the series aired seven episodes in Survivor
s time slot, commencing with Jackpot January'
each Wednesday from January 3 to February 21 until the start of Survivor
series 46, with additional Jackpot episode on February 2 (a Friday) and except for February 7. Jackpot January added new twists to classic pricing games, with the introduction of a six-digit 3 Strikes using five-digit rules to allow duplication of the first digit, Bullseye played for cash where a player plays with all five grocery products for a doubling cash jackpot each time the contestant makes a correct guess, Money Game where players played for both'' a car and boat, and a playing of Any Number where the cash in the piggy bank was made larger than the traditional car prize. The February 7 episode was not Jackpot January, but instead the show's quadrennial
Super Bowl themed episode featuring
Jason and
Travis Kelce remotely introducing their mother
Donna Kelce, who presented a Showcase, and the episode's signature prize package of a Super Bowl tickets and travel to the event. The episode was taped January 3, 2024, before the end of the NFL regular season, before Travis Kelce (
KC) would play in the game. Starting in -10 season (the first since Carey took over the show in 2007), the show, in association with
CBS Sports, features a Super Bowl-themed episode in years CBS carries the game (to the point of having the theme from CBS Sports' NFL coverage temporarily replacing the show's own theme), except in -21 season because of pandemic restrictions where the Super Bowl travel and tickets trip could not be offered. Originally done every three years, starting with the -24 NFL season, the first under new media deals, each of the four major broadcast networks carry the game on a four-year rotation. The next Super Bowl episode is scheduled for the 2027–28 season. On August 31, 2023, at 8:00 p.m. ET, CBS aired a special one-hour program called
The Price Is Right: A Tribute to Bob Barker with Carey serving as host. The program was a tribute to the life and career of longtime host Bob Barker, who died from
Alzheimer's disease the previous Saturday morning at age 99. The program featured Carey introducing several segments highlighting the greatest moments of Barker's career, including being introduced as host of
Truth or Consequences in 1956 and the originally named
The New Price Is Right in 1972 as well as the famous movie "brawl" with
Adam Sandler in
Happy Gilmore all the way to his final three guest appearances after his retirement. It also focused on Barker's advocacy for animal rights and spaying and neutering pets. As of September 2023, this is the only episode to not feature any gameplay, studio audience or other members from the show's cast (including announcer
George Gray and the models). Season 52 tapings had commenced in late July 2023, a full month prior to Barker's death, and the special was filmed after a scheduled Season 52 taping day, becoming the first Price-related programming to air from the new studio. Reruns of the program aired on September 4, 2023 (the show's anniversary), and December 12, 2023 (the latter of which would have been Bob Barker's 100th birthday), in the show's customary 11:00 a.m. ET time slot. Season 53 premiered with both a daytime and primetime episode on the same day, and with the reduction in episodes for most scripted television shows, the first three weeks of the season started with Monday primetime episodes, each with themes where all six pricing games are played for the same type of prize (cash in the first week, cars in the second week, and trips in the third). Most primetime episodes were broadcast on Wednesdays from December to February between
Survivor 47 and 48, and additional episodes to be broadcast in May after
Survivor concludes. The Jackpot January format will be used for the winter episodes. On the December 24, 2024, episode ("Holiday Heroes"), Check-Out featured a $20,000 bonus prize if a player could guess exactly the price of any of the five products in the pricing game. The schedule for Season 54 will remain the same with a primetime season premiere, Jackpot January, and May episodes. The
official 100th Episode of the primetime series since May 2002 (since the at Night episode counts begin with the May 2002 military tributes) is also expected in Season 54. (The 1986 series and 2002 Las Vegas episodes do not count in the official production codes.) On November 28, 2025, it was announced that the sixth season of
The Price is Right at Night is expected to premiere on January 7, 2026.
Gameshow Marathon On May 31, 2006,
The Price Is Right was featured on the series
Gameshow Marathon, one of seven classic game shows hosted by talk show host and actress
Ricki Lake and was announced by
Price's then-announcer
Rich Fields. The channel was added to
The Roku Channel on February 8, 2022. Episodes from the 1972–73 season were added into the rotation in November 2023, with those containing fur products remaining banned. On June 1, 2023, Pluto TV launched another
Price channel, which includes episodes from the late 2000s and early 2010s hosted by Carey. Fremantle had an exclusivity agreement with
Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS and Pluto TV, giving Paramount the rights to all episodes of
The Price Is Right from 1972 onward, for this reason, Fremantle could not air
Price reruns on Buzzr's over-the-air affiliates, nor could they license out the show to other networks. On May 28, 2024, this exclusivity agreement was lifted, allowing Buzzr to carry
The Price Is Right reruns from the Barker era on Buzzr, with episodes culled from the same pool of 1980s episodes as the Pluto TV channel. Buzzr would add further episodes from season 17, featuring Roddy as announcer and a gray-haired Barker, in September 2025. In Canada, beginning in September 2023, Canadian network
GameTV began airing episodes from the 1982–83 season, culled from the same pool that aired on Pluto TV channel. In September of 2024, the network began airing the half-hour episodes from 1972–73. == Scientific research ==