The Price Is Right Resuming Production Without Live Audience

After months off of the air due to the coronavirus pandemic, The Price Is Right is finally heading back into production. The iconic game show resumes filming on Monday afternoon in Los Angeles, preparing to bring it back to TV screens around the country very soon. This revamped version of the Drew Carey-hosted show will have its changes, of course, including the absence of an audience. The Price Is Right really works because of the audience participation, but the team behind the series is finding ways to push forward and innovate.

While there won’t be any audience members, since putting 300 people in the same room for an extended period of time isn’t a good idea at the moment, all 77 beloved games will be making a return. Additionally, the set has been redesigned to fit the new format of the show. The stands usually filled with audience members have been removed.

The Price Is Right showrunner and executive producer Evelyn Warfel spoke to Deadline about all of the changes that had to be made in order to make this restart work, and how exactly the team will be bring the series back to TV.

“We quickly realized we were not going to be able to have 300 people on the show sitting close together,” Warfel said. “We decided that we were going to come back without an audience to maintain the safety as best we could for our talent, for the contestants, for our staff and crew.”

“That was the hardest part of all of this; the audience is such a core part of that show, and so, for the first time in 48 years we’ve had to look at it and go okay, we’re bringing the show back and it’s going to be different and we have to hope and know that everyone understands what’s going on and how serious it is and that we want to bring back this show for everyone, but it has to look different. If we want to come back, we have to do it safely.”

Are you looking forward to seeing The Price Is Right back on TV this year? Let us know in the comments!