The Price Is Right (1956 American game show)

The Price Is Right
Created byBob Stewart
Directed byPaul Alter
Max Miller
Presented byBill Cullen
Narrated byDon Pardo
Johnny Gilbert
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons9
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production companyMark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions
Original release
NetworkNBC (1956–1963)
ABC (1963–1965)
ReleaseNovember 26, 1956 (1956-11-26) –
September 3, 1965 (1965-09-03)
Related
The Price Is Right (1972 version)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Price Is Right is an American game show produced by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, wherein contestants placed successive bids on merchandise prizes with the goal of bidding closest to each prize's actual retail price without surpassing it. The show was a precursor to the current and best-known version of the program, which premiered in 1972 on CBS's daytime schedule. It makes The Price Is Right one of only a few game show franchises to have aired in some form across all three of the Big Three television networks.

The series, hosted by Bill Cullen, premiered on NBC's daytime schedule on November 26, 1956, and quickly spawned a primetime series that aired once a week. The Price Is Right became one of the few game shows to survive the rigging scandals of the late 1950s, gaining even more popularity after other game shows had been canceled when exposed for being rigged.

The show was sponsored primarily throughout its run by Unilever, then known as Lever Brothers Corporation, and the specific products that were often featured were Imperial margarine, Wisk laundry detergent, Handy Andy liquid cleaner, and Dove bath and beauty bar.

The four contestants of the week would usually receive a complimentary supply of Dove beauty bars.

An alternate sponsor was Speidel watchbands, notably their then-new Twist-O-Flex bands.

In 1963, The Price Is Right switched networks and both the daytime and primetime series moved to ABC. On September 3, 1965, the show aired its final episode after nearly nine years on the air.

It also Aired in Canada on CBC Television, unlike the 1972 TV Show.