The Price is Right @ 50 – Wholesome Entertainment in an Increasingly Indecent World

If you’ve ever stayed home from school or work for a sick day some time since September 4, 1972, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve watched an episode or two of “The Price is Right” – the longest running game show in television history.

Although an earlier version of the program ran between 1956 and 1965, the current iteration debuted with Bob Barker as host back in 1972.

The iconic program launches its 50th season on Monday September 13th.

Still network television’s number one daytime show, it features many of the familiar traditions and games we remember from childhood – including “Plinko,” “Hole in One,”  the spinning of the big wheel and, of course, the “Showcase Showdown.”

In an era of high tech and constant change, how does such a simple, throwback type program retain its following and popularity?

Could it be that at a time when the world and its power brokers are working feverishly to amuse us to death with all types of tawdry sophistication, The Price is Right just provides viewers with a wholesome and entertaining reprieve from the current cultural milieu?

Dave Corsten appeared on the show back in 1997. Waiting in line outside the studio, producers quickly evaluated the crowd, sizing up potential contestants. Most people assume the names of those who make it on the program are randomly drawn but the reality is otherwise.

“They are looking for people who stand out. People who have personalities,” he recalled. “I was wearing my young son’s Winnie the Pooh hat and told them that when you live in Colorado, you always have to be ready for snow.”

As it turned out, Dave was the second person summoned that day to bidder’s row and the first up on stage after successfully bidding on a trampoline. He lost in his bid playing the “Check Game” and went over $1.00 spinning the big wheel.

Yet, almost 25 years later, he still has the cancelled check hanging in his office at World Challenge, a Christian ministry located in Colorado Springs, Colo., founded by Dave Wilkerson that strives to share the Gospel through mission outreaches and literature distribution.

According to The Price is Right, over 68,000 contestants have competed since 1972, winning more than $300 million in cash and prizes.

It’s obvious the people playing are drawn to the material prizes and perhaps the viewers at home are living somewhat vicariously through the antics and actions of the contestants themselves.

But the enduring staying power of The Price is Right, along with shows of a similar vein like Wheel of Fortune, revolve around the program’s simplicity and “safe for the whole family” type content.

When you come right down to it, most of life’s greatest pleasures are refreshingly straightforward – the hug of a loved one, a thank you note, a laugh with a friend, an ice cream cone and listening to music at a concert in the park.

It was Henry David Thoreau who once observed, “That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.”

Dave Corsten had the trampoline he won on The Price is Right shipped to his home, where he assembled it in the backyard. It survived several moves, but there it stood for over twenty happy years, where it was used by his two sons, Noah and Luke, along with countless neighborhood kids and friends who came for a Bible study that Dave and his wife, Kelley, hosted and led each week.

In the end, that’s the best prize of all.