Episode 112

I love game shows. I think everyone loves game shows. Who remembers Press Your Luck? Triple whammy, anyone? How about -- for you twentysomethings -- Nick Arcade (what graphics!) and Get the Picture? Who knew Mike O'Malley would ever make it outside of the Nickelodeon game show world? Anyway, these shows are all extremely compelling: people are winning money and prizes for usually doing absolutely nothing at all.

This past September, my childhood dream came true (absolutely not kidding) and I went to see a live taping of The Price is Right. My swanky LA friend and I wandered over to the set around 8:00 in the morning (show is at 3:00) and -- after 7 hours of waiting in line -- we ended up being the very last two people allowed in to the taping (sucks for the couple behind us, but hey, no mercy).

Anyway, we walk into this theater, and I was holding my breath in preparation for pure dreamlike awesomeness... and I'm still holding my breath. It seemed like the size of my shoebox studio apartment and the stage was the size of a breadbox (approximately). Check it out. Swank and I were sitting in the very last row, and I could have been on stage in 12 steps, max. "Could have" being the key words because I wasn't called on down.

There really isn't a point to the story, except that what we see on TV is rarely what's there in real life. Even when it is real life with real people, like on a game show, what you see isn't always what you get.