After 26 years, this clock finally hit 00:00

The story, and look back, at a day 26 years in the making...

What inspired it all? An email exchange with Mike, where I got on the topic of regrets and things I wish I had done when I had the chance (like seeing a Lakers game in person back when Magic Johnson played for them).

We got on the topic of Bob Barker's future (or possible lack of future) as the host of The Price Is Right. Bob's contract expires at the end of this season. He'll turn 82 next month. And there has been speculation he could call it a career - either after this season, or next season (which would make 50 straight years of hosting game shows on television). Not to mention the possibility (one I would not want to see) where Bob's career ends the same way Harry Caray's and Chick Hearn's did - with Bob moving onto the big game show in the sky.

I started thinking "I've watched the show since 1979. Bob is The Man. And I would really, REALLY hate myself if I don't get down and watch him in action in person before it's too late".

That was about four weeks ago. We both quickly got the ball rolling at that point.

This week, it was all set to finally happen. Here, basically, is a look back at the final 24 hours...

November 15:

~2:30 pm (T-24:00:00): Mike and I step onto a train at the downtown Metrolink station, headed for Los Angeles. He rather quickly dozes off, and I spend a good part of the time looking out at the scenary - the "Corona Crawl" near the 91/15 interchange, as well as making the wisecrack in my head "What's the smell? Oh, dear god, it smells like Conservatism!" when we hit Anaheim Hils.

The ride took a bit longer than expected, thanks to being stuck behind a freight train nearly the entire way into LA.

~4:30 pm (T-22:00:00): We finally arrive in Los Angeles, and make our way over to the Metro red line platform (LA's subway system). In the "It's a small world" category, the Metro red line's birth took place in the late 1970's, and a then board member of the Southern California Rapid Transit District contributed to the plans. That board member? George Takei, famed for playing Star Trek's Mr. Sulu, and who recently made headlines when he came out of the closet last month.

~6:00 pm (T-20:30:00): We finally reach our hotel, including a brief walk from the bus stop to the hotel that brought us past CBS Television City itself. The whole time I was looking over to my right, shaking my head in amazement of finally being that close, the whole time saying "This is one of the craziest things I've ever done!" - in a good way.

We check in, take a breather, then head off to find dinner. We finally end up reaching Swingers' a few blocks away. I splurged a bit on myself - NY steak and fries, the whole time thinking "My god, it's finally less than 24 hours away!"

~7:45 pm (T-18:15:00): We return to the room, and basically I let him know (from what I'd found out over the years from people who've attended tapings) what would probably be the best way to handle it: Be in line no later than 5 am, and be prepared for one long day leading up to the big moment itself.

We both crawl into bed shortly after 8 pm, though I know I do my share of tossing and turning, and it's probably closer to 10 before I finally get to sleep. The whole time I have thoughts dancing in my head of finally stepping into a piece of history.

November 16:

3:30 am (T-11:00:00): I wake up, about half an hour earlier than expected, though I should've expected it, as I woke up every half hour from midnight to check the clock. I go ahead and jump into the shower, and get myself ready to go.

After Mike follows up with his own shower, we grab everything we basically need (ID and the tickets) and get set to head out the door.

4:30 am (T-10:00:00): We depart, with Mike the whole time thinking I'm nuts for wanting to leave so soon. We walk a few blocks to the entrance, which is one block short of Beverly Boulevard on Fairfax (yes, ladies and gentlemen, you all know the famous address by now - 7800 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles).

Of course, we arrive to find 18 people already waiting - one of which (a man named Alexander) had been there since at least 7:30 PM the previous night! (more on him later). At this point, Mike isn't thinking I'm so nuts after all.

6:00 am (T-8:30:00): The gate finally opens, and out steps Paul (a member of the staff) to issue our Order Of Arrival slips. These are numbered, and basically "mark" our "place in line". We are then permitted to leave, as long as we are back by roughly 7:45 am with our tickets and our Order Of Arrival slips. We go ahead and head back to our room to get off our feet for an hour or so.

This begins the process of the only snag we encounter the entire day. We both have bags with our changes of clothing and toiletries, and we CANNOT bring them onto the grounds of Television City (they used to allow contestants to check in a bag, but after too many cases of them forgetting bags, then calling and raising hell at 10 pm, they scrapped that policy). We ask the night clerk of the hotel if they can hold onto our bags in the office until roughly 4, and are told yes. Nothing ever goes as planned (more shortly)...

7:15 am (T-7:15:00): We head on back to where the original line formed on Fairfax, and encounter some new people (some who were either much further back in line, or arrived after 6 and were not aware they needed the green OoA slip). We end up then encountering one of the most unique characters we'd met on the day, a man named Millard who in two days would turn 75 (and was wearing a T-Shirt saying "I turned 75 today").

Millard, who doesn't look a day over 55, comes complete with an amazing sense of humor. Not only does he say as a joke that he wants a picture snapped of him and his friend standing in the middle of Fairfax, but when he goes to see what the OoA slip says, he says out loud "Go to hell. Go directly to hell. Do not pass go, do not collect $200!"

At this point, we are thinking between the shirt and his natural charm, Millard is a given and will be picked.

Another man named Ed is there with a small group. His 70th birthday will also be this weekend.

7:45 am (T-6:45:00): After half an hour of chit-chat with some of the other hopefuls, we are admitted onto the grounds of Television City itself. We are instructed to take a seat on the benches outside, where we'll shortly be re-ordered by the numbers on our OoA slips. At this point, we're definitely thinking we are in pretty good shape - no huge groups, and Mike is #19 and I'm #20.

Upon being re-ordered, we are told to walk up where they will take our slips and write our priority number on our tickets. As groups receive priority, there is no guarantee we'll still be #19 and #20, but fortunately we are. At this point, we are free to go until 10 am, where CBS basically owns us until the taping is finished.

We head off to Subway to grab breakfast, then return to the room to rest up a bit before CBS owns our asses.

9:10 am (T-5:20:00): We go to check out, bringing our bags down to the office, where we are then told by the day clerk that she will NOT let us keep the bags in the office, nor would she give us an hourly rate on the room. After about ten minutes of bickering, we are told she will let us lock them up in the laundry room. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous for a while that we would return in several hours to find no bags, or missing items (NEITHER happened, fortunately).

We check out, and make the final trek down to Television City to begin the real process and prepare for the big event. At this point, I am damned grateful I do not own a watch - I know I would've given myself carpal tunnel twisting my arm back and forth every five seconds to look at the damned thing!

10:00 am (T-4:30:00): We are once again re-ordered along the benches based upon our priority number, and walked through the process.

First, we are given small contestant cards to fill out. At this point, it is very basic info - name, Social Security number, signature. Part of the card is detached and given to us - it has our contestant number on it.

Upon filling out the cards, the staff comes through to take the cards, look at our forms of ID, and issue us the name tags. Here I am, after 26 years of seeing thousands of these things on television, now holding a yellow price tag sticker with my name on it. The name tag is them to be placed on us so that it is holding our contestant number underneath it.

Among the people sitting in our general group is a woman named Janet Gail, who has a service animal - a small Papion (I hope I am spelling that right!) named Belle. As a joke, Belle is issued her own name tag.

11:00 am (T-3:30:00): Now that the process is basically done (for the moment), we are free to get up from the bench and walk around - hit the gift shop or cafeteria, or use the restrooms, or go out and smoke (as they do not want us smoking in the covered areas where we were sitting). I go out and smoke, chatting with some of the other hopefuls (among them, a woman named Roberta, another named Vivian, and Janet Gail). We discuss each other's shirt, chat about past memories of the show (I think an older man is surprised when he realizes I know who Johnny Olson was), and wish each other luck.

While I am not so hardcore competitive that I wish ill-will upon the "competition", I would be surprised when watching the show to see some of the displays of support and affection from the audience and fellow contestants. At this point, I am no longer puzzled - after several hours of waiting and going through the process together, you can sense that we're no longer "competition" but companions along for the same ride. Most of us are thrilled with the thought of seeing anyone called up on stage because many of us feel like "we're all here together".

We wish each other luck, and slowly head back toward our seats, prepared for the next step.

12:00 pm (T-2:30:00): The final key step - contestant interviews. We're told basically to be ourselves and be natural, which comes as no problem to me.

We are brought up 10-14 at a time and stood in a row, where Randy (the constestant coordinator, not to be confused with former announcer Randy West) goes up the line, firing off a few questions to each of us, complete with wisecracks. Stephen (#18) is greeted with "You again, Stephen? How many times is this now?". When Mike tells Randy he is an aspiring writer, Randy throws in "And perspiring too, I bet!". And when I call myself a "freelance writer", Randy chimes in with "Yeah, we don't get too many of those around here!", and I fire back "Yeah, we're only a dime a dozen!"

After our group is interviewed, we're sent around the corner to the final holding area, now just feet away from the entrance.

12:30 pm (T-2:00:00): Now just two hours to go, and less than an hour and a half until we're finally let into Mecca itself. One final chance to chat it up with our fellow contestants.

The young woman who has been issued #23 is wearing a T-Shirt saying "I was born to play, just look at my name!". I finally notice her name tag, her name is Janice. I ask her about it, and she tells us "Yeah, I was named after the former model." A couple seconds later, it dawns on Mike "Wait a minute: Your name is Janice Pennington?!", and she replies "Yeah, my mother has been watching this show forever, and named me after her. I'm the brunette Janice Pennington!". She, however, thinks she is not going to get picked. I tell her in a perfect world, she will be picked (along with Millard), just to see the look on Bob's face when her name is called out!

Ahh, how I miss the old announcers and models. Rest in peace, Johnny and Rod...

1:30 pm (T-1:00:00): The time is finally drawing nigh. The seed that was planted 26 years earlier is now 60 minutes away. The contestant interviews are starting to finally come to a close - we're up to about 250 now. At this point, we are awaiting some final instructions from the staff, where we'll then be admitted entrance into the temple itself.

A couple times, I definitely feel my throat catching a bit while talking to Mike. My nervous energy - which I went out of my way to bottle up - is building. Earlier in the day, I didn't know how I'd act come showtime. Would I sit there and just take in the whole thing, or would I go crazy? All I knew is if I didn't feel it, I wasn't going to act like a moron just for the cameras. It had to be real.

1:45 pm (T-45:00): We're finally let in. After climbing a couple small flights of stairs, we see THE plaque - the one declaring this piece of history the Bob Barker Studio. One final left turn, and it's time to pick my jaw up off the floor...

Because there, right there, is the Mecca of game shows. The Studio. The Set. The Seats. The Three Doors. The Turntable.

I mean, is this how professional athletes felt the first time they walked into Fenway Park, or Wrigley Field, or the late great Boston Garden? I am standing in a piece of history!

My first thought was to what a moment this is. The over 6,000 times Bob Barker walked out there. The 2,204 Match Game (the Gene Rayburn version) episodes taped on that very stage. Wink Martindale was here, too, in the early days of Tic Tac Dough.

There to my right is where the announcer has sat for 34 years. Where Johnny Olson sat for 15 seasons, telling us to "Come on down!" (not to mention announcing all those episodes of the Match Game), followed by the flashiest dresser in Los Angeles, Rod Roddy.

Behind me? The giant TPIR logo, and the famous colored curtains with the lights.

In front? Door #2, where in less than an hour, The Man himself is going to walk through...

I've been such a huge game show fan for almost all my life. Real game shows, of course. None of this Dog Eat Dog, Fear Factor, reality show crap. And I am not kidding, I feel like I am standing the temple itself.

My second thought? Oh my god, it's so tiny! I mean, I was warned that the set and stage are smaller than they look on TV, but it's just plain miniscule! The stage - from the displays on contestant's row to the doors to the "giant" doors - can't be more than 10 feet deep. The doors can't be more than 10-12 feet long or so.

The wonders of television...

I'm fighting the urge to defy the order to get to my seat, and just walk up on stage, and touch door #2. I kid you not. But, I decided I'd rather not get myself in hot water...

I just keep shaking my head at Mike. I tell him "You're seeing me in a way few people ever have - I'm nearly speechless!"

2:00 pm (T-30:00): Now just half an hour ago - the same length of time that TPIR was from 1972 until 1975. We're sitting there, listening to 80's music. I'm just looking around, taking all of this in, feeling the anticipation build... 30 fucking minutes.

~2:15 pm (T-15:00): After playing about 90 seconds of Crystal Waters' "Come On Down" (a house/dance song that samples the TPIR theme), Rich Fields (the current announcer) steps on up with a microphone to get us warmed up. He goes over some last minute things: When you name gets called, get on down there. When it's you turn to bid on contestant's row, get it done.

The audience? He wanted to see some energy, hear some excitement. Cheer, yell, call out prices, you name it. And, of course, to bring down the house when The King walks on out the door. Believe me, at this point, he doesn't need to tell me to go nuts, and I'm sure I'm not alone there.

He chats us up, tell us a couple stories, tells a few jokes. He tells us about how he first came to the show in 1979 (the irony), after just turning 18. He tells us to do the math on how old he is, so I yell out "36!", thinking he doesn't look a day over about 35. When he realizes who said it, he turns to me and says "Deborah, thank you, I'll be keeping an eye on you now!"

He then goes on to finish the story, how he convinced Johnny to let him take the microphone and act like an announcer, after asking Johnny how to get his job. He then shouts out "Johnny Olson, come on down! You're the next contestant on The Price Is Right!". Johnny's response? Sit back down, kid.

25 years later...

He also spoke to the person who'd been waiting since 7:30 pm the previous night, saying "I thought I saw someone in a red cap and blue jacket waiting outside." We found out that it was Alexander's seventy-first time coming to the show!

Rich also warns us the place gets so loud that if you're in the audience, chances are you will NOT hear your name if you're one of the first four contestants. Therefore, a producer is up there with a set of large cue cards, and will hold them up one at a time so you'll know you're being called.

He called it the "fastest show on television". And we were about to see what he truly meant...

We're finally a few minutes away. If you bottled the electricity at this point, you'd never have to worry about a power shortage again.

I also have to give Rich some major credit. I had not been impressed with him to date on television, as I wish he'd show some more enthusiam and passion. He clearly has it, he showed it to us before the big moment. Rich, if you by some miracle ever read this, my apologies - and show the TV viewers some of your enthusian and energy. Boy, would they ever love you!

In one last effort to get the crowd pumped up, they start playing "Get The Party Started" by Pink. While not a Pink fan, I could care less at this point if they played Britney fucking Spears. I'm fired up, I've waited 26 years, let's do this!

2:30 pm (T-00:00): Or maybe not... FALSE START! OFFENSE! FIVE YARD PENALTY! REPLAY FIRST DOWN!

After a few seconds of the crowd going nuts, Rich steps back up and says "Hold on, we're having a minor technical problem, we'll be just a minute."

After one of the longest minutes of my life (ranging up there with the two minutes after 7:30 am I waited for my phone to ring on 9/19/*1, because I knew the person on the other line was Sherrie Austin), we're finally ready...

~ 2:32 pm: Cue the music...

Crank up the intensity...

Listen to 320 people make more noise than you thought possible...

We have liftoff!

The producer is up there holding up the four before-mentioned cards. You can barely hear a word Rich is saying...

One of the models walks to the left (from our POV) of contestant's row to grab the microphone...

The producer steps aside, and you watch door #2 start to open. And if you thought just 20 seconds earlier 320 people couldn't be that loud, you've heard nothing yet...

During last year's tour, Esther Madge opened her show by yelling "Behold, for here I come!".

Behold, for there HE comes! Walking through door #2 is the greatest game show host of all-time, a man who's been doing this longer than I've been alive...

At this point, there are 320 people on their feet, going absolutely nuts! And believe me, I'm trying to go crazier than everyone else combined.

It took 26 years, but I am finally standing there, looking right at Bob Barker.

In 2000, Jello Biafra gave a speech about covering the Democratic Convention. He discussed the canned, stage attempt at making Al Gore's appearance feel like an arena rock concert ("that big rush of energy"), and compared it with his first REAL arena rock show, Alice Cooper, and the "groundswell" of emotion and energy.

"And when he finally came on, it was like my jaw just dropped. Oh my god! Right there! It really is Alice Cooper!"

Believe me, I know that feeling, because I just felt it about 24 hours ago...

Biafra goes on to say "Al Gore, you're no Alice Cooper!". If my sister ever heard me say this, she'd murder me. I like Alice Cooper, and I don't mean any offense by this, but Alice Cooper, you're no Bob Barker!

I won't go into any of the details about the pricing games themselves yet, so you'll have to wait to watch my $75,000 win.

Okay, so I'm exaggerating. I didn't quite win $75,000.

Actually, I'm lying. I wasn't called up. But, I wasn't lying when I'd said for weeks that being there was a victory in and of itself. As Mike put it so well, we won the Super Bowl, but we didn't get the MVP trophy...

Very well put.

But, I DO want to share some of the fun that you viewers won't get to see, ever, because it took place during the commercial breaks. If you think Bob is fun on TV, you ain't seen nothing yet...

Bob has got a very sardonic, dark sense of humor. As I do as well, I got a real kick out of him working the crowd. I tell you, they could release a DVD set of Bob behind the scenes and they'd fly off the shelves.

Some of the highlights:

We had a crew from a Canadian TV show taping, so Bob took a couple stabs at Canada (including "There's nothing worse than a drunk Canadian!").

Bob chatted with a few people from a retirement community in Oregon who bussed all the way down. He asked how old you had to be to get in, and someone yelled "You're old enough, Bob!"- so I fired back with "No, you're not even close to old enough Bob!". He may be just shy of 82, but he's as sharp as ever. And, if age is a number only in your own mind, he's not even 30 yet!

Just before the end of the first commercial break, he smiled down at the three waiting contestants and told them "Get up, make another bad bid, sit back down already!". He did lean over and mutter something to one of the three, then smiled, and we're speculating he let them know "Relax, I'm playing around!"

During the second commercial break (the closest I'll come to saying ANYTHING about the game itself until it airs), he said "You know, I don't think it's such a bad thing when a contestant doesn't win a car. Another one for my collection. When cars aren't won, Rich and I get them. We split them 50-50. I went to Rich's house last week, and he had a line of cars two blocks long!"

To end that commercial break, he again turned to the same three contestants and said "Shut up and smile. You haven't won anything yet!", again with a smile.

Bob asked some questions of the audience throughout the hour, which brought up a few great exchanges:

Alexander started his with "I have a kind of personal question." Bob's reply was "Well, if it's really personal, then definitely ask away!". "Bob, I saw a car that looked like it was parked on stage a couple years ago. Was that your car?" "No. No damned way am I giving my car away!"

Bob was asked why we never see Rich on camera (for many, MANY years we saw Johnny or Rod on camera at least once a show, but that hasn't happened for a few years). As a joke, he said "Because I don't want him on camera". A young woman then yelled out "But he's cute!", to which Bob responded "And that's EXACTLY why I don't want him on camera!"

The truth is, when TPIR basically became property of Freemantle Media - AKA Dismantle Media - Freemantle quit showing the announcer on camera. "We want to be consistant with other game shows, and other shows don't put their announcer on camera!" What they don't realize is TPIR is NOT consistant with other game shows. It's unique. It's gone on 34 damned years, and they pull the constestants from the audience.

Of course, Bob was asked boxers or briefs. He replied with "Depends. Boxers one days, brief the next.", which (along with the question itself) had the crowd howling.

The best exchange of the day, though?

A fan asked Bob "Can you please say a line from Happy Gilmore?"

Bob, having a real idea WHICH line, started going off about how "Wait a minute, this is a family show. Okay, fine, since it's your idea, you say a line Adam Sandler said, then I'll respond."

However, he then stopped himself, and said "Wait, I'll ask Eric" (Eric was the guy there to film that segment for that Canadian program) "Eric seems like a fine young man of moral character..."

"Now, Eric, she wants me to say 'The Price Is Right, bitch!'" (crowd erupts) "Should I? You don't think I should? Well, then, I'm not going to say it!"

Trust me, I can live with not being picked, just to actually hear Bob say "The Price Is Right, bitch!" in person!

The man can definitely work a crowd, though. Bob in person is so much more entertaining than Bob on TV. And, I would imagine Bob was taping with a heavy heart that day...

Ralph Edwards, a former game show producer and emcee, passed away yesterday morning at the age of 92. Edwards created the show Truth Or Consequences, and in 1956, hired an unknown 33 year old to host NBC's daytime version of the show.

That 33 year old? Robert William Barker. The man who discovered Bob, and put him on the radar in the first place (and time and time again in interviews he has credited and thanked Ralph for doing so) passed on just hours before Bob walked through door #2. Believe me, had I known, I would've raised my hand and instead of asking a question, I would've given him my condolences.

I do have some more stories to share once the episode airs - one of which definitely brought a huge smile to my face and brought me out of the shell I'm routinely in around strangers.

However, to my surprise, no Janice and no Millard. A shame. I do think Millard would've been a blast had he gotten up on stage...

My thanks to the pit crew of this well-oiled machine, from Bob on down to the staff who handled the entire process from the beginning. It was an absolute blast, and beat my expectations. Instead of feeling a sense of disappointment because of how polished things looked on TV, I walked away with a new appreciation. The show flies by in person - it truly is the fastest 60 minutes you can imagine, and an adreneline rush that puts most roller coasters and "extreme sports" to shame. Thank you for giving me an hour of fun the likes of which I haven't had in a long, long time...

Would I do it again? You bet your ass! We're already tenatively looking at January.

The Price IS Right, bitch!