Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much

Well-edited and visually pleasing documentary. Nice mix of old and new footage. There's a whole lot of talking heads but the camera work is such that you never get bored because of the various angles at play and the way sometimes the narration is laid over other types of images such as documents, animations, computer programs, old playbacks and etc. A number of editing tricks are employed so you get the message of the film without it being stated in an overt way. An appreciably well-made documentary film that makes a good point in a supported and subtle way. However if you, like me, are not familiar with the gameshow The Price is Right or its various scandals then there is a bit of too much subtlety about what exactly is being argued. If you read the documentary description then you will have the right context though.

This documentary is about "loyal friend and true" The Price is Right mathematician and super fan Ted Slauson. It is also about former producer Roger Dobkowitz and former host Bob Barker. Watching the documentary you start to wonder how the pieces fit together, but by the end you realize the documentary is about telling another side of the story and expunging Ted Larson and Roger Dobkowitz of any kind of public guilt about a scandal that happened in 2008 when a contestant Terry Kneiss got a showcase prize number exactly right. The argument is that Terry Kneiss was not responsible for his victory and has not given credit to Ted Slauson, who in turn was not set out to damage the show like it was supposed because of the firing of Roger Dobkowitz. The argument is that Ted Slauson simply liked seeing contestants win and gave the perfect number one time too many.

This documentary doesn't like to be overt but if you know that Ted Slauson knows his prices and that at one point he is banned from the show, then you have adequate context to watch the whole hour and twelve minute run. There is a fine line between spelling out too much and leaving your audience lost, and this documentary falls a bit to the latter fault. The various anecdotes are entertaining enough to keep you engaged but to me this documentary lacks a feeling of complete resolution. There is however one moment that I thought was particularly riveting by the end and that's the moment where we realize how much an effect this scandal has had on Ted and how much greater credit he deserves even if he has a way of coming off as slightly autistic and over zealous. From the various clips shown I don't believe Ted Slauson is as creepy as other reviewers here want to make out. I think the documentary is more about trying to help us view his oddities in a kinder light.

I have no previous knowledge about the scandals connected to Bob Barker but the documentary does give him a fair share of positive acknowledgement. I didn't think it went overboard or anything in doing so but the other reviewers are right in that there is basically no comment about the allegations against him. This documentary isn't exhaustive and it's kind of more like an ode to The Price is Right. It nods to scandal by the end but doesn't make it a focus, almost like it's trying to disengage the various figures involved from scandal more than anything. And I do happen to believe that there was a great deal of sensationalism that went on about the "2008 perfect bid showcase scandal" as it was called and the documentary makers are right to try to put much of that sensationalism to rest, at least in regards to Ted Slauson and by extension Roger Dobkowitz. There wasn't commentary about Bob Barker and what he had to do with the scandal because he wasn't there for two years or four years, but you get the feeling that the filmmakers are sympathetic to whatever side of the story he had to tell as well in his own scandals. There is a point where it seems implied that Bob Barker protected Holly from too long of an interaction with Ted Slauson by, as Ted says, pulling his elbow forcefully away and leading him to the other section of the stage.

Overall a particularly well-executed and rare de-sensationalist documentary that makes its point by rather being too subtle rather than being too overt. The case set for Ted Slauson is pretty straightforward and I'm glad the filmmakers cared enough to do him some small justice. It seems right for media to imply his innoncence as much as it has implied his guilt for its own reasons. That to me is the best part of this documentary, and probably the parts involving Bob Barker weren't relevant to Ted Slauson's story and I perhaps think the documentary was not as tightly woven as it could've been. However if this were a thesis it would still deserve high points for supporting its claims in the favor of Ted Slauson. But as we note Ted Slauson is not particularly charming or likable even though he has my sympathy in this matter. He is also gay, which does go a long way of removing the creepiness other reviewers have connected him to in regards to a model on The Price is Right, Holly. I think his antics there were more of an attempt to get him noticed and chosen to be on the stage to play. However because the documentary is so subtle the fact of Ted Slauson's sexual orientation just kind of slips in at the halfway point and we are left with having judged him prematurely by our own assumptions.

Recommended documentary, but do expect to have to orient yourself by way of outside context.

Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much (2017)

**** (out of 4)

If you're a fan of The Price Is Right then you probably know about them an who won the showcase with the perfect bid. What you might not know is that the man who "won" the show wasn't really the one who gave the bid. This documentary covers super-fan Theodore Slauson who had a long connection with the show and did some pretty amazing things on it.

I had never heard of this documentary before stumbling upon in on Amazon and I'm so glad that I watched it because it truly is wonderful. If you're a fan of The Price Is Right then this here is a must see but I'd say that even if you hate that show this is still very much worth watching because it tells the story of a pretty incredible event and the various years of things that had to happen for everything to fall into place.

Game show scandals are always a hot topic and I'm sure most people know about the one on Press Your Luck. What was so shocking about this is that even casual viewers could often times know that the show repeated the prices on items so it's really no wonder that someone like Slauson took it to the next level and really programmed the prices. The documentary does a terrific job at getting his side of the story, his train of thought and letting him explain how he accomplished what he did.

Even better is that we get interviews with producer Roger Dobkowitz and Bob Barker who talk about some of the earlier episodes that featured Slauson doing his magic. There's also an archival interview with Drew Carey where you can see his reaction to this perfect bid and it makes sense as to why he was so worried and upset over it.

This documentary seems to slowly be picking up some traction as far as people talking and hopefully it gets out there into more homes. Slauson's story and what happened from that perfect bid were great entertainment and this is certainly worth watching.

Interesting story, with compelling characters, works hard to stretch out its content to feature length, but falls a little short; made me hungry for a more all-encompassing BTS of 'TPIR'.

#nitrosMovieChallenge.

There is a lot to like about this documentary. It covers a silly human interest story in a lighthearted way. It treats the film's subject-Ted, The Price is Right-in a respectful way and never condescends to either. It moves at a great clip and while it is very much in the talking head mode the various locations/angles keep the film visually fresh.

Now the film is centered on the 2008 incident where Terry K. got the final showcase bid perfectly. The doc is mostly interested in demonstrating that he got help from Ted, which is fine. But I think a more dynamic version would have centered on the conflict between their two accounts of what happened. In a weird way the film isn't about what it is about because of being one sided in how it presents the history. It is not hard to imagine a better take on this material.

I will not lie, I love game shows. I especially loved The Price is Right for the seeming randomness of the show and the prizes. Over the years the internet exposed some of the underbelly of the show, such as people not being able to afford the taxes on the prizes of the fact some went dozens of times and never got on. Most importantly, I learned the selection of contestants wasn't always random.

These are not the kinds of details that would make me hate the show. They are no different than a carnival game, and they have to stack the deck in their favor because promising cars, trips and campers and giving them away constantly would be costly. So it makes for the question...what if someone studies really hard, took advantage of lazy producers and literally made spread sheets to beat the system? Well, that happened in 2008.

Ted Slausen was a mathematician, and like anyone who is good with numbers, he was incredible at remembering them as well. Ultimately, he turned that knowledge into an obsession and actually figured out a way to beat his favorite game show. Before computers and other systems were involved, we saw this happen on Jeopardy and Press Your Luck as contestants utilized learned patterns and probabilities to win games.

Slausen probably would have gotten the perfect bid himself if chance had not hurt him before the show case showdown. But the events that led up to the perfect bid are a slow burn, a lifetime revelation. Drew Carey's commentary at the end is pretty amazing. "I thought this was the end of the show."

If you like the old time game shows, you will probably dig this little documentary.