My mother has always been a huge fan of the CBS game show, The Price is Right. Every morning during my summer school breaks, I would remember waking up as a child to the sound of the show’s Theme Song, followed by what felt like an eternity of my mother’s back and forth with Bob Barker as he asked questions regarding whatever grocery store item prices were on display at the time. She would often blurt out the correct answers with the proclamation that if she were a contestant, she would for sure be a winner.

The television would often stay on for the rest of the day as background noise while my siblings and I would play with our toys and my mother would be doing whatever administrative paperwork she had to do at the time. The television’s daily rotation for the week would play in the background like clockwork: game shows, followed by soap operas, ending with talk shows.

Apparently, my mother wasn’t the only one who had the television turned to the CBS channel every morning. The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills is currently showcasing an interactive exhibit of memorabilia and original set pieces honoring CBS’s five current shows—The Price Is Right, Let’s Make a Deal, The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Talk—as well as legacy programs, including As the World Turns and Guiding Light, as part of CBS’s celebration of being “#1 for 30 Years.”

Remember this guy from The Price is Right’s Cliffhanger game? A life-sized replica of the Yodely Guy, as he’s more commonly known, was refreshing to see.

What about the variations of The Price is Right’s dollar signs over the years? This small typographic study was neat to check out.

Everyone had a blast turning this true-to-life wheel from the game show.

Look, Ma! I’m about to turn the wheel!

Check out these authentic game show contestant podiums. Groovy.

There were other interesting set pieces to admire.

Here’s a few from the Let’s Make A Deal game show:

Here’s the Car Pong game in action:

 

Oh, no! Will we be “Zonked?”

Here’s some display pieces from the soap opera, The Young and the Restless:

As an aside, I was elated to see this life-size cutout of Peter Bergman, the actor who portrays Jack Abbott from The Young and the Restless. I used to pass by the real Peter Bergman all the time when I temped at CBS Studios in an administrative capacity years ago.  He would be exiting the Sound Stage where the show was being filed while I was returning to CBS from The Farmer’s Market on 3rd and Fairfax after my lunch break (back then, the Grove and surrounding businesses did not yet exist to block the walkway to and from the CBS Lot and The Farmer’s Market).

I never found the courage to say hello to him at the time, let alone take a photo with him. Now was the time to take this photo opportunity with Mr. Bergman, even if it is just a cutout version of him. He can’t say no, after all, lol!

I also loved how CBS paid homage to the behind-the-scenes talent of the show. There were a couple of homages, but the one I enjoyed mostly was this small but purposeful display solely dedicated to William Joseph “Bill” Bell, the American screenwriter and television producer, best known as the creator of the soap operas Another World, The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. Unique, right?

Here is an interactive runway and backstage makeup display that my little one and her friend enjoyed from The Bold and the Beautiful.

There were also various costume design and groovy furniture from The Bold and the Beautiful set to check out.

I don’t know much about The Talk, but it was neat to see the sights from this talk show.

Have you checked out this interactive exhibit yet? If so, what was your favorite display?

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The Paley Center for Media
465 North Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
http://www.paleycenter.org/cbs-daytime
Free Admission (suggested donation $10) and Open to the Public
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

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