The Price is Right is an American game show where contestants made successive bids on merchandise prizes with the goal of bidding closest to the actual retail price of the prize without going over. The show was a precursor to the current and best-known version of the show, which premiered in 1972 on CBS' daytime schedule. This makes The Price is Right one of only a few game shows that have aired in some form across all three of what were then the Big Three television networks.
The series premiered on NBC's daytime schedule on November 26, 1956, and quickly spawned a primetime series that aired once a week. Bill Cullen hosted both versions of the show; his easy-going personality was cited as a key element of the show's success. The Price is Right became one of the few game shows to survive the rigging scandal of the late 1950s, and gained even more popularity after other game shows exposed for being rigged had been cancelled.
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.
