Game shows “The Price Is Right” and “Let’s Make a Deal” are each extending their holiday hiatus and pushing back return-to-production dates amid spiking COVID-19 numbers in Los Angeles County.
Both Fremantle-produced daytime shows, which air on CBS, are currently slated to resume filming at the end of January.
The Drew Carey-hosted “The Price Is Right” had restarted production in October at Television City after pausing in March as the coronavirus first hit Southern California; “Let’s Make a Deal” had similarly gotten back into action in October.
Deadline first reported news of the delays at “The Price Is Right” and “Let’s Make a Deal.”
The Fremantle game shows join CBS TV Studios, Disney’s 20th Television and ABC Signature, Warner Bros. TV, Universal TV, Netflix and other major studios in halting active production while Los Angeles sees record rates of COVID-19. On Tuesday alone, 13,512 new cases were reported to the county, with a seven-day testing positivity rate of 20.5%, which means that one in five tests comes back positive for the coronavirus.
But as Variety reported Monday, industry insiders believe that a lengthy production shutdown akin to that of spring 2020 is unlikely, given the rigorous, often-expensive measures that have been taken to create safer on-set environments, as well as the jobs and revenue at stake, should another prolonged shutdown occur.
A number of daytime talk shows have resumed filming or plan to resume production soon. “The View” and “The Talk” have resumed remotely, “The Ellen Show” has pushed production by a week, while “Dr. Phil” will resume taping on Jan. 11 at Paramount Studios with a live Zoom audience.