“Cause and Effects” February 6, 2010

Terry Kneiss, a Double Showcase winner on “The Price is Right” in December 2008, sent me the following e-mail (with permission to quote him here) on Wednesday:

I just got word from my publisher that the book “Cause and Effects:  The Amazing Story Surrounding the ‘Perfect Showcase Bid’ on Television’s #1 Daytime Game Show” is available to buy online for pre-order.  The website is www.perfectshowcasebid.com.  Publisher is Langdon Press out of [Minnesota].

That perfect showcase bid led to an unenthusiastic reaction from host Drew Carey.  At the time, I didn’t understand why he reacted that way, but I defended him nonetheless (see the “Double Showcase winner” link):

I believe he was simply in stunned disbelief and shock.  Not everyone handles that situation by yelling and screaming.  Drew has had the yelling, screaming reaction before, but he is far from perfect.  If you want Drew to be wildly enthusiastic every time, you’re going to be disappointed.  Clearly, many were disappointed by this.  If you want to stop watching “The Price is Right” because Drew isn’t enthusiastic enough for your taste, it’s your choice.  But there are plenty of people like me that support Drew and will continue to watch.

I now feel that Drew thought Terry was playing him and the TPiR staff like fools, the same way Michael Larson did on ”Press Your Luck” in 1984.  But I could be wrong.

“Cause and Effects” will showcase, pardon the pun, Terry’s side of the story.  On the book’s website, there is this introduction:

My name is Terry Kniess as in the guy who hit The Price Is Right Showcase on the nose — last done in 1973! That earned me a “double showcase!” Oh, and you pronounce Kniess like “niece”, as in ‘my niece hit The Price Is Right showcase just a few weeks after I did!’ But is this a simple story of incredible luck? Or is this the tale– as so many members of the press are asserting — of a diabolical scheme perpetrated by a family of evil geniuses? Well, it all starts with a dog.

My vote is ”a simple story.”

Terry is a retired meteorologist and has his own weather website.

2/10 UPDATE: Terry has supplied me with an excerpt from Chapter 15: “Pegging the Stranger Meter, or Just a Series of Coincidences?”:

If there is any reason to believe in a conspiracy theory, it’s because of the strange but true coincidences between the show she (my niece, Jodi) was on and the show I was on.  Let’s review:

1.  Her show aired exactly one month to the day after the one I was on.
2.  She sat in the same seat I did.
3.  Her fiancé, Tom, sat in the same seat as my wife, Linda.
4.  Both Jodi and I were among the first four contestants called to “Come on down.”
5.  Linda had to tell me my name was called.  Ton had to tell Jodi her name was called.
6.  She got up on stage with the third prize up for bid.  The same with me.
7.  We were both in the first Showcase Showdown.  The Showcase Showdown is when the contestants spin the big wheel at the end of the first half and second half of the show.
8.  Her first spin was $.95.  My first spin was $.90.