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.

It’s onto something but those were only ever composed as the initial sting