Wide World of Women

These caps are from the June 08, 2023 episode and feature Manuela and Rachel

These caps are from the June 09, 2023 episode and feature Manuela and Rachel

These caps are from the June 13, 2023 episode and feature Manuela and the lovely Amber

These caps are from the June 14, 2023 episode and feature Alexis

These caps are from the June 16, 2023 episode and feature Manuela and Rachel

These caps are from the June 21, 2023 episode and feature Rachel

After 50 plus years, the show is going to be leaving the famed Studio 33 to the Haven Studios in Glendale, a northwestern suburb of Los Angeles when filming begins this summer:

https://uproxx.com/tv/the-price-is-right-new-studio/

The final episode will air on Monday, June 26.
What memories, dating all the way back when The Carol Burnett Show dominated American viewers with their unique brand of slapstick comedy.

These caps are from the December 22, 2022 episode and feature the lovely Amber

These caps are from the May 12, 2023 episode and feature Manuela and Rachel

Legendary TPiR Host Bob Barker Dies at 99

He died peacefully at his home in Hollywood Hills of natural causes on Saturday (August 26), just a few months shy of turning 100.

The legendary game host who hosted the most episodes for any network stood at nearly 6,000 episodes until the late Alex Trebek passed him following his retirement with Jeopardy.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/26/entertainment/bob-barker-death/index.html

He first hit major fame with Truth or Consequences, which started in the late 1950's on NBC and lasted for 18 years. Then in September 1972 when it was on for 30 minutes and later on expanded to a full hour until retiring in June 2007--eventually had to give up hosting duties to Drew Carey. It was simply contestants having fun (sometimes way over the top) and a barrel of laughs even before contestants placed a bid.

I guess it was only fitting that the final shows while he was alive were all taped at Studio 33 (renamed as The Bob Barker Studio in 1998) this past spring. Starting in the fall, the show will be at a different studio located in Glendale, California.

Drew Carey and Adam Sandler from the movie Happy Gilmore were among those celebs that paid tribute on social media:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/bob-barker-dead-tributes-adam-sandler-drew-carey-price-is-right-1235575468/

The 8 punch scene earned Bob an MTV Movie Award in 1997 to go along with his 19 Emmys.

Rachel Reynolds did not have anything much to say on her Instagram, but she showed three pictures. Two of them were after she took the mic from Bob during his last show. Devoted fans know that Rachel is the last link remaining from that memorable era.

Another model who would later gain more fame as one of the Briefcase Gals on NBC's Deal or No Deal from 2005 to 2009, Lisa Gleave had a short poem in tribute on her Instagram:

"My time as a ‘Barker’s Beauty’ was short & sweet …
Little did I know that the ‘Price Is Right’ was a treat …
A show adorned by all who will always want more."

Of course, he always said that famed line at the end of each show starting in the late 1980's saying simply, "to help control the pet population--have you pets spayed or neutured."

Daniel Feinberg wrote an excellent tribute at The Hollywood Reporter website that is definitely worth checking out.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/bob-barker-appreciation-price-is-right-1235575497/

But that mini headline is something I am sure we can all agree on this one fact:
Bob Barker was the "Patron Saint of Sick Days."

In my case, it was my grandfather--a true CBS lifer who introduced me to the show while in grade school.

He watched practically every episode when he retired in 1984 until his passing nearly 16 years later in late August 2000.
Other times when the show aired in the afternoon, other great game shows filled the hour with the then named $25,000 Pyramid and the always witty Peter Tomarken and that unforgiving Whammy on Press Your Luck.

Once I made it to college, I watched as many shows as I could when I didn't either have class or getting a day off from studying. I especially made it a point to watch on the one Thursday and Friday in March before the first round of the men's NCAA basketball tournament would start. TPiR before the first set of games and Late Night with David Letterman after the conclusion of 16 games some 13 plus hours later was quite a day. There was nothing better.

Talk about your ultimate game show lineup, heaven gained another one to go along the likes of Alex Trebek, Bert Convy, Bill Cullen, Jim Perry, Gene Rayburn, Richard Dawson, and Monty Hall.

One other small tidbit many people do not know--Bob was the first ever recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award when GSN hosted the 2009 Game Show Awards. In accepting the award, he told the nation "I am forever now a legend."

He was also quite a storyteller. He did a great interview with Larry King in December 2002 and the Television Academy Foundation in 2008 had him do an extensive three hour interview about his early career, catching two breaks that would change game show history forever, and his impressive animal activism efforts.

https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/bob-barker

And after seeing countless interviews with contestants on shows on ET to them uploading their 15 minutes of fame thanks to YouTube, it appeared that Bob was the same guy off screen as he was on it.

That is the legend of a man right there.

The best to ever do it. He will be missed.

Per his wishes, there was no public memorial service. He is buried alongside his wife (his high school girlfriend) Dorothy Jo Gideon (who died in 1981) at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery near his home in the Hollywood Hills. 

These caps are from the February 08, 2023 episode and feature Rachel

Catching some of the last shots from the famed Studio 33 at CBS Television City

These caps are from the May 10, 2023 episode and feature Rachel

Variety was first to report on Tuesday, but I was able to dig up a thread on the TPIR Reddit page from jbish88 regarding the new studio:

"It seats around 180. Feels very intimate. The audience is slightly sloped (think your old fashioned movie theater), and there are no longer stairs to the stage. Contestants row is more podium like, but still feels separate from the stage. The light banners are now in a circle pattern on all three sides of the audience, plus one giant banner that wraps around. The race game curtain folds up when raised because of the new ceiling height. Also, the audience now enters the set from the back left side versus directly from the back."

Further down the thread, someone else pointed out the crowd that used to be 300 people up until early 2020 is going to be cut in half.

This is because it will be "due to stage size and wheelchair accommodations. They've also gotten rid of the little set of stairs contestants go up to get on stage."

Instead, it will be a ramp from the pit area if that is of help in picturing what it will be like when the season begins in a few weeks. I have been reading Monday, September 25 could be the first show.

jasch3 noted that, "the incline is enough to be noticeable while walking it and enough to stumble over yourself if you’re nervous enough."

Potential blooper reel to come, all of you that use either YouTube Shorts of TikTok.

Also changing will be no more individual podiums when the four contestants place their bids. Instead, look for a combination "between the Pre-Haven Contestant's Row and pre-COVID Jeopardy! podiums." If you watch international editions of TPIR, this will give everyone a glimpse of what the opening and the five other segments will play in the first 40 plus minutes.

Bottom line, a crowd of between 150-175 fans will still feel like a full audience but it will be nowhere close to the glory days of the 1980's and 1990's and what felt like that swaying huge underground pit area with the colored CBS "eye" curtains firmly placed in the background near the ushers.

One thing to watch is where will be the camera be placed. What will the angles be because looks could be deceiving with maybe seeing a partial audience?

But do not be at all surprised to see just a small set of contestants, which has been commonplace since early summer 2020. We might see a return to that since COVID cases have been increasing in the last few weeks, just saying.

Hope this helps not only for jchildr with his excellent capping , but hopefully won't throw off the legions of the die-hard fans of America's longest running game show and the highest rated show in daytime history as it begins a new era.

These caps are from the April 05, 2023 episode and feature Rachel

These caps are from the June 26, 2023 episode and feature Rachel, Manuela, Alexis and the lovely Amber.
This was the final episode recorded in The Bob Barker Studio. I missed it the first time around. Fortunately I was given a second chance at capping it today.

These caps are from the September 25, 2023 episode and feature Rachel, Manuela, Alexis and the lovely Amber

The new studio looks nice.

As mentioned previously, the walk for contestants to "Come on Down" is significantly shorter than the large old studio at the former CBS Television City in Hollywood.

Glendale, California--you have a hit on your hands.
But as the familiar saying goes, 'The more things change, the more they stay the same'.

The set is almost a duplicate of the original, right down to the outer lights and the stage doors with their various multi-color designs.

CBS2-WBBM in Chicago had a nice behind the scenes look for those who are curious:

https://youtu.be/jv9qehJrWrE?si=ahmAlduE8hgBWgmZ

Some good looking women out there on that show!