Just realized how ‘70s The Price Is Right was

Not just the music/logo/set design, but like, before education/healthcare/housing became such major expenses, a lot bigger share of consumer budgets went to food, clothing, furniture, and transportation

(Back then people just got less education, rarely flew, more often had one car per 2-adult household, and if they got cancer or heart problems that you couldn’t cut out w/a scalpel they just died. Housing was cheaper but smaller, and a lot of modern home values is essentially education spending anyway.)

And in a less chain-ified retail environment where a lot of women were dedicated home economists not only was “knowing the reasonable price of furniture” for bidding or “of common groceries” for games a more critical consumer skill, but the Showcase prizes of like, “a dinette set” or “a trip to Hawaii” or “a new car!” were more significant at the show’s inception.