The Price is Right 1986 Primetime Special

For six weeks (1½ months) during the summer from August 14 until September 18, 1986, CBS produced a special prime time edition of The Price is Right in an attempt to stop rating winner NBC and their successful Thursday night sitcoms The Cosby Show and Family Ties, but with no success. Also, host Bob Barker and announcer Rod Roddy wore tuxedos for these specials and occasionally, the models (Dian Parkinson, Janice Pennington and Holly Hallstrom) wore evening dresses for these specials too; Barker later wore a tuxedo on 25th Anniversary and Bob Barker's 50 Years in Television specials, while Drew Carey and the models also had on the same formal wear during the 2008 airings of The Price is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular. It was this very special that premiered several things that would be used for the daytime show, like the following pricing game rule changes:

Pricing Game rule changes[]

Any Number - The car now has five digits in its price; the first digit is revealed for free and is the only one that repeats. The "CAR" label now slides to alternate between four-digit and five-digit car prices. A new board was introduced to accommodate that change.

Clock Game - If the contestant wins both prizes within 30 seconds, he/she wins a cash bonus from a choice of four envelopes (almost to the similarity of what "Let's Make a Deal" would do). The contestant blindly chooses an envelope with a cash bonus inside. Possible values include $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 and $5,000.

Hole in One (or Two) - If the contestant correctly orders all 6 products from least to most expensive, he/she wins a $1,000 bonus; but regardless of how the contestant did with the products, he/she gets up to two putts, which changed the name from "Hole in One" to "Hole in One or Two," a change later made to the daytime show; the title prop was not changed until 1987.

Lucky Seven - The car now has 5 digits in its price, but the last digit in the price was given for free, and the contestant had to give the first 4 digits. This was likewise carried over to the daytime version as well (which had them taped before the specials) but disappeared after a couple of playings. When it returned in the 1990s, the first digit was given for free, and the contestant had to give the last 4 digits. Like in Any Number, a new board was designed to hold five numbers.

Other Pricing Game Pictures[]

Showcase Showdown[]

NOTE #1: Unlike the daytime shows, there were no commercial breaks in between the 3rd and 6th pricing games and the Showcase Showdown. Instead, there was a "stop-gap" similar to Wheel of Fortune with the old puzzle board, meaning that the cameras would stop the tape, giving the crew time to move things around on the set. In this case, after the appropriate pricing game played on the stage floor was over, the cameras stopped taping to allow the crew to move the props out of the way to make room for the Big Wheel (unless it's a game played at the Big Doors, meaning that they just roll in the Big Wheel). After the wheel came in, the cameras started rolling again with the shot of the dollar space zooming out, and Bob and the contestants seeming like they came from behind the wheel. The probable exception was the turntable games (games played on the turntable). When those games ended, the show would stop the tape, the wheel would roll in, the show would start tape again and Bob and the contestant would descend from Home Base down to the stage floor. Plus, there would be a shot of the turntable game turning away (a common feature from the early to mid-70s in the daytime shows). The music played during this immediate transition is the same one used for when the first non-car prize is revealed in Temptation.

NOTE #2: Instead of playing "Dig We Must" when the show goes to commercial, they played the main theme music; something the show would do in the daytime at the end of the first Showcase Showdown due to the ticket plugs from November 14, 1988, until June 5, 2009. This also occurred on The Price is Right Salutes in 2002, as well as some episodes of the The Price is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular. However, a slightly shorter version of Dig We Must got played when a contestant spun $1. A similar shorter version of Dig We Must got put into permanent use in 1996.