So, okay, I've been lame about posting the details of the Price is Right, and now so much time has gone by that it's faded a bit. It all feels very surreal. Last night, I spent a good half hour talking about it on the phone with my sister while she was waiting for her flight to Portland, and we were both like, "uhhhhhhhhhh" as we searched our memories. In particular, we're having trouble piecing together the tidbits from the briefing, which is disappointing, because that's the best part. It's all there somewhere, we just need to access it again.

Hey, did everyone watch the show, though? If you know me and you missed it (you know who you are), no worries. I will have a copy on DVD very soon. You will get to see it. Oh yes. You will. I must say that I loved seeing my gorgeous little sister on the small screen. I gathered a bunch of my work friends to watch in a conference room, and that made the viewing very festive and way more fun than if I'd been on my own. They cheered her on even though, yes, she was a bizatch who bid $1 over the girl ahead of her a couple of times. She won the bid on her third try after the girl turned to her and said, "Don't you bid $1 more again!" and she didn't. I have to agree with one of my friends who said, after seeing Molly's shirt, that she couldn't understand why Bob B. didn't just come out with a dress and make Molly a Barker Beauty on the spot. Yeah man.

"Nine, Bob. Seven, Bob. Five, Bob. Four, Bob."

If you, like us, were thinking that heading down to L.A. to try to get on the show was a silly and lighthearted little adventure, you were wrong. Once you step into the PiR line outside of the CBS studios on Fairfax Ave, you are entering a whole other world, baby. It's all Very Serious Business. Everyone has a different set-up for surviving the very long night on the sidewalk. (We became known as the "tent people" in line, along with Adam, the big winner on Molly's show. He was two spots ahead of us. Hmmmm. Maybe the tent is key.) Everyone has a different strategy for maximizing their chances of being picked, yet they are not secretive about it at all. Rather, they share freely and discuss at length. Pretty much all talk is about the PiR and the PiR only. Many, many people have been through this process many, many times, which truly shocked me, considering the minuscule odds of getting on. And, please. After experiencing, once was more than enough.

Basically, the process is that you wait in line outside all night, even if you have tickets. At 6am, pages from CBS come outside, give you a number, and tell you to return at 7:30am. I can't remember exactly what happens at that point, but I think you are given some other info for interviewing for the show and your name badge. Since there are two tapings a day, they also sort out who is going to which one. Our family's tickets were for the 4pm show, so Molly and fam returned to the hotel around 8:30am to rest and get ready. Mols took a short nap and then got up to "gild the lily" as the Price is Right briefing man told us to do. They all had to go back over at noon for the interviews and to wait.

If I remember correctly, the PiR studio holds 349 people, and each person gets a brief 8 second interview with a producer to determine who will get on the show. The four questions they ask are: "What's your name? Where are you from? What do you do? Besides Plinko, what's your favorite PiR game?" We knew this ahead of time from attending the briefing at the hotel. Mols had a nice rapport with Stan the producer, which obviously ended up working to her advantage. After the interviews, everyone just hangs out like a herd of cattle in a waiting area until it's time to start the show. I'm sure you can imagine that tempers get short as boredom sets in for a bunch of peeps who are running on very little sleep. Also, since the making of each episode costs a mil or two, the staff hustles to get things done and shoo everyone out of there in about an hour. All of that for just one hour.

Of course the fam was really surprised by how tiny and gaudy (lots of bright 70's colors) the set was in real life. Mols said the first words out of Joe's mouth were, "Man, I wish Megan was here to see this," since he knew I'd have comments. But, no. Kids aren't allowed, so Trav and I spent a lovely afternoon napping, and then we walked over to the Farmer's Market and gorgeous outdoor mall across the street. While Molly was busy winning a truck, we were playing with in the fountains, basking in the sunshine, and sharing a smoothie. We spent a lot of time watching the koi in the large fountain that sprayed in sync to the music (think Ella Fitzgerald) blaring out of nearby speakers. At one point, water shot way up in the air and landed with a big splash. I said, Isn't that cool, Trav? Zozo turned to me and shouted, "Cool!" through his binky, with a big grin on his face. It was so very cute.