Tuesday, May 11, 2010

A la línea de las cifras...

...¡baja, y atínale al precio!

For those who know me well, this is already an established fact, but for those of you who are new to my little universe, I am an obsessive game show fan. Kinda tough not to be, considering I grew up watching Jeopardy! and Wheel (Price here and there). I've even been on Jeopardy! and Price and have won a considerable amount between the two shows.

I recently discovered that Mexico rebooted its version of "The Price is Right" last month. The original version lasted from 1997 to 2001 with popular TV host Marco Antonio Regíl, who could quite easily be the Mexican Bob Barker.

The new version came back last month--Marco is back (and still as damned good of a host as ever), the set is (a little too) flashy, and the contestants are still crazy. I thought American contestants were about to snap poor ol' Barker in half--they've got nothing on these Mexican contestants. They've mauled Marco so much, even wrestling him to the floor on occasion. And I mean to the floor--flat on his back on the floor. Of course, Barker's now 86 and Marco's...what, half that?

Now that I've seen full episodes on YouTube, I am hooked. Of course, the only gripe I have is the new way the Showcase (or, as they call it, "El Gran Paquete") is done, but that's still a minor gripe for an otherwise fantastic show. The energy is high, the prizes (while considerably cheaper than those on the American show) are very much sought-after, and the talent is amazing. There's nothing more thrilling than hearing Julio César Palomera belt out that a contestant can win "¡UN AUUUUUUTOOOOOOOO!" or "HASTA CIEN MIL PESOS JUGANDO PLINKO!"

There aren't that many foreign game shows that I like--my list is limited exclusively to UK Deal or No Deal, Japanese Millionaire, Russian and Hong Kong Russian Roulette, and--now--Atínale al Precio.

Drew Carey, you'd better watch your back.

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