Television series
The Price is Right
The longest-running game show in American history, and still the purest hit of televised optimism there is. Come on down, guess a price, win a car — it's slot-machine simplicity dressed up with clapping and a big wheel. Bob Barker gave it courtly menace; Drew Carey gave it warmth. Watch it for the audience's noise, the contestants' joy, and the reassuring sense that someone, somewhere, is always winning something.
If you liked this
Jeopardy!1964no page yet
The thinking person's version of the same come-down-and-win thrill, minus the price tags and audience shrieking. Ken Jennings-era or Trebek-era, it's smart, fast, and quietly addictive.
But No spinning wheel, no dancing, no cash spilling everywhere — if spectacle is what you love, this is a much quieter show.
Supermarket Sweep2020
Contestants sprint down grocery aisles hurling meat and diapers into carts for cash — it's Price's item-obsession turned into full-body chaos. Ridiculous, kinetic, and weirdly moving in its greed.
But The 1990s revival lacks some of the manic charm of the original; hunt down old episodes if you can.
Press Your Luck1983no page yet
The board of flashing lights and the phrase "no whammies" entered pop culture for a reason — pure risk-it-all tension with none of the price-guessing homework.
But Less strategy, more luck — if you liked the skill element of pricing games, this is randomness by comparison.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much2017no page yet
It's a documentary about a man who memorised the exact retail price of nearly every prize The Price Is Right ever gave away, then used that knowledge to win big. Same show, other side of the screen.
The secret history of the show you just watched: obsessive superfans reverse-engineering decades of pricing patterns until the game stopped being luck and became pure memorization. Genuinely strange, funny, and a little sad.
But It's a niche documentary about a niche subculture — if you don't care how the sausage gets made, this is inside baseball.
More like this (3)
Deal or No Deal2005
Twenty-six briefcases, one enormous banker's voice, and tension stretched to agonizing lengths — it swaps variety for pure nerve, and Howie Mandel is a gleeful ringmaster of dread.
But One game repeated over and over lacks the constant novelty of Price's ever-changing pricing games.
Quiz Show1994
It's set at the birth of the American quiz-show format, dramatizing the 1950s scandal that made networks paranoid about rigged games — the same anxiety that shaped every "guess the price" contest that followed, including this one.
Robert Redford's drama about the 1950s quiz-show scandals pulls back the curtain on the corporate machinery lurking behind the cheerful "isn't this fun" surface of every game show that came after, this one included.
But It's a slow courtroom-adjacent drama, not a game show — there's no dopamine hit of watching someone win a car.
Squid Game2021
Strip away the retail prizes and studio audience and what's left is the same primal engine: ordinary people publicly competing for money they desperately need, cheered on by people risking nothing themselves. Squid Game just removes the pretense that any of it is fun.
The Korean thriller keeps the exact structure — desperate contestants, spectacle, a crowd watching for entertainment — and asks what happens when the stakes go from a new car to staying alive.
But It's violent, bleak, and genuinely upsetting in places — nothing like the cheerful chaos of daytime game shows.
People
Cast
Bob BarkerHost
Drew CareyHost
Rod RoddyAnnouncer
Johnny OlsonAnnouncer- Rich FieldsAnnouncer
Production
- Kathy GrecoAssociate Producer
- Bob BarkerExecutive Producer
- Evelyn WarfelExecutive Producer
- Frank WayneExecutive Producer
- Jennifer MullinExecutive Producer
- John QuinnExecutive Producer
- Mike RichardsExecutive Producer
- Philip Wayne RossiProducer
- Roger DobkowitzProducer