'The Price Is Right' Is the Longest-Running Game Show in US History — What's With the Reruns?

You're either tuned in religiously on every weekday or you're a kid in the early 2000s sick at home on a school day with nothing else on TV, because you're probably watching The Price Is Right on CBS. The popular American game show has been on the air since 1956 and is currently the longest-running game show in U.S. history. Contestants are picked from an excited studio audience to compete in a series of money-guessing games for a chance to win enormous prizes and big bucks.

The show is practically on every day, with new episodes airing all the time. But every so often, The Price Is Right starts airing reruns in its usual time slot. For a show that typically runs like a well-oiled machine and pumps out new episodes on a regular basis, why is Price Is Right showing reruns? Come on down and find out.

Much like other popular game shows like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Right has held the same time slot on CBS for literal decades. New hour-long episodes typically air every weekday at 11 a.m. EST, with a whole variety of games being played and prizes being won. Its hold on that time slot is immovable, and renewal for the show each year is all but guaranteed. For all intents and purposes, Price Is Right is a staple of American culture that puts out as many new episodes as it can.

But it might surprise you to know that even daily syndicated game shows like The Price Is Right are beholden to the same kind of filming schedules as other TV shows. Despite its steady stream of new installments, the game show is still divided into seasons with a set amount of episodes to air during a specified time frame.

Season 50 of the show premiered on Sept. 20, 2021 and aired new episodes on every weekday all the way until July 1. 2022.

That's a tall order for any show, but business as usual for The Price Is Right. Even so, you can only prepare so many new episodes before you have to take a step back and work on some more.

In the meantime, The Price Is Right is still holding on tight to its usual time slot. During its brief hiatus, CBS will air reruns in place of new episodes to make sure fans are still getting their fix on watching that giant wheel spin. Reruns are more common in the summer.

The Price Is Right is sticking around for the long haul, and one typically never has to worry about a lack of new episodes for very long. But reruns are inevitable for any show, even one as time-honored as a daily game show.

New episodes of The Price Is Right begin on Sept. 19, 2022 on CBS.