History Series / BargainHunters

* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Entirely possible in "Bargain Trap"; if the contestant going first picked the Trap right off the bat, the opponent automatically won the game without having to pick a single prize. In that case, the contestant would be awarded the Trap prize so they would at least walk away from the show with ''something''. This did happen at least once.

* '''Bargain Quiz''' - the players had to guess whether an item at a certain price was a bargain; first to three won the game and a bonus prize.
* '''Bargain Trap''' - the players alternated picking from five prizes, avoiding the one marked up from its actual price; the winner kept the prizes they chose.
* '''Bargain Busters''' - the players tried to correctly guess the closeout price a certain store gave a stated item; best-of-three won the game and the prizes.

Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' wasn't really that good, with Tomarken apparently going so far as to call it a "piece of shit". While the series debuted on July 6, it was preempted frequently during its first few weeks by special coverage on the Iran-Contra affairs, which meant it never really gained a foothold with viewers. The show ended on September 4, and was replaced by reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''.

!!GameShowTropes in use:

* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: Dean Goss.
** GameShowHost: Peter Tomarken.
** LovelyAssistant
** StudioAudience

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!!This series provides examples of:
* {{Expy}}:
** ''Price'' has done two games prominently involving bargains: Barker's Bargain Bar (now simply called Bargain Game) and the now-retired $uper $aver. The bonus round of ''Hunters'' is very close to the latter, which involved picking four grocery items marked down to various degrees and trying to save a certain amount, except ''Hunters'' was competitive and didn't have a target amount.
* MinigameGame
* {{Pilot}}: Taped May 28, 1987, with some different graphics and a slightly different format for Bargain Quiz.

* ProductPlacement: ''Price'' has PromotionalConsideration in its prize descriptions pretty much by design, but they don't turn into QVC and give you a phone number to buy the items featured on the show! They've done HomeParticipationSweepstakes on their website with a similar concept, but its still nothing like this.

** ''Price'' has done two games prominently involving bargains: Barker's Bargain Bar (now simply called Bargain Game) and $uper $aver. The bonus round of ''Hunters'' is very close to the latter, which involved picking four grocery items marked down to various degrees and trying to save a certain amount, except ''Hunters'' was competitive and didn't have a target amount.
** And Bargain Trap? Hello, ''Series/TriviaTrap''.

Short-lived 1987 Creator/{{ABC}} GameShow created by Creator/MerrillHeatter and hosted by [[Series/PressYourLuck Peter Tomarken]] which tried to combine the essence of the increasingly-popular home shopping craze with that of a certain other game show. Three pairs of contestants competed in three separate minigames, always in this order:

In case you haven't noticed yet, that "certain other game show" was most likely ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'', but that's just the tip of the iceberg — every round was followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into the Home Shopping Network (Oddly enough, HSN also had its own game show, ''The Home Shopping Game'', in syndication [[DuelingShows at the same time]], alongside the absolutely terrible ''Series/ShoppersCasino'') and offered viewers a chance to buy an item from the preceding round at a discount by calling the onscreen phone number.

Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' wasn't really that good (Tomarken apparently went so far as to call it a "piece of shit"), and the fact that it got preempted several times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affairs didn't help its chances. The series ran from July 6-September 4, and was replaced by reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''.

** ''Price'' has done two games prominently involving bargains — Barker's Bargain Bar (now simply called Bargain Game) and $uper $aver. The bonus round of ''Hunters'' is very close to the latter, which involved picking four grocery items marked down to various degrees and trying to save a certain amount...except ''Hunters'' was competitive and didn't have a target amount.

* ProductPlacement: ''Price'' has PromotionalConsideration in its prize descriptions pretty much by design, but they don't turn into QVC and give you a phone number to buy the items featured on the show! They've done HomeParticipationSweepstakes on their website with a similar concept, but its still nothing like this.
* RecycledSoundtrack: The music cue for the home shopping segments turned up again on ''The Last Word'', a Merrill Heatter word game from 1989.

* {{Expy}}: ''Price'' has done two games prominently involving bargains — Barker's Bargain Bar (now simply called Bargain Game) and $uper $aver. The bonus round of ''Hunters'' is very close to the latter, which involved picking four grocery items marked down to various degrees and trying to save a certain amount...except ''Hunters'' was competitive and didn't have a target amount.

Short-lived 1987 {{ABC}} GameShow created by MerrillHeatter and hosted by [[Series/PressYourLuck Peter Tomarken]] which tried to combine the essence of the increasingly-popular home shopping craze with that of a certain other game show. Three pairs of contestants competed in three separate minigames, always in this order:

* RecycledSoundtrack: The music cue for the home shopping segments turned up again on The Last Word, a MerrillHeatter word game from 1989.

Short-lived 1987 {{ABC}} GameShow created by MerrillHeatter and hosted by [[PressYourLuck Peter Tomarken]] which tried to combine the essence of the increasingly-popular home shopping craze with that of a certain other game show. Three pairs of contestants competed in three separate minigames, always in this order:

In case you haven't noticed yet, that "certain other game show" was most likely ''ThePriceIsRight'', but that's just the tip of the iceberg — every round was followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into the Home Shopping Network (Oddly enough, HSN also had its own game show, ''The Home Shopping Game'', in syndication [[DuelingShows at the same time]], alongside the absolutely terrible ''ShoppersCasino'') and offered viewers a chance to buy an item from the preceding round at a discount by calling the onscreen phone number.

** And Bargain Trap? Hello, ''TriviaTrap''.

* ProductPlacement: ''Price'' has PromotionalConsideration in its prize descriptions pretty much by design, but they don't turn into QVC and give you a phone number to buy prizes from the show. That said, the current Home Participation Sweepstakes ads mention "money-saving third-party offers" but never specify, and there have been special occasions where Drew does a "Everyone in the StudioAudience got this cool thing from that special guest; go to our website and you can enter to win one of your own" plug. But nothing quite like ''Hunters''.

In case you haven't noticed yet, Heatter was essentially ripping pages from ''ThePriceIsRight'', but that's just the tip of the iceberg — every round was followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into the Home Shopping Network (Oddly enough, HSN also had its own game show, ''The Home Shopping Game'', in syndication [[DuelingShows at the same time]], alongside the absolutely terrible ''ShoppersCasino'') and offered viewers a chance to buy an item from the preceding round at a discount by calling the onscreen phone number.

In case you haven't noticed yet, Heatter was essentially ripping pages from ''ThePriceIsRight'', but that's just the tip of the iceberg — every round was followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into the Home Shopping Network (Oddly enough, HSN also had its own game show, ''The Home Shopping Game'', in syndication [[DuelingShows at the same time]]) and offered viewers a chance to buy an item from the preceding round at a discount by calling the onscreen phone number.

In case you haven't noticed yet, Heatter was essentially doing a knockoff of ''ThePriceIsRight'', but that's just the tip of the iceberg — every round was followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into the Home Shopping Network (which had its own game show, ''The Home Shopping Game'', in syndication at the same time) and offered viewers a chance to buy an item from the preceding round at a discount by calling the onscreen phone number.

* '''Bargain Busters''' - the players tried to correctly guess the closeout price a certain store gave a stated item; best-of-three game won the game and the prizes.

The three winners then played the final round, Super Savers, where each player chose three bargain-priced prizes from a group of seven. The player who saved the most won the three prizes they chose, plus a grand prize.

* HomeParticipationSweepstakes: Not quite a sweepstakes actually, more of a Home Participation ''Offer''.

** TheAnnouncer: Dean Goss.

* ProductPlacement: ''Price'' gets PromotionalConsideration [[ProductPlacement shoehorned]] into prize descriptions from time to time, but they don't turn into QVC and give you a phone number to buy prizes from the show.
** However, the current Home Participation Sweepstakes on ''Price'' alludes to "money-saving offers" in its ad (but they don't actually give them out in the ad), and there have been special occasions when Drew does a "Everyone in the StudioAudience got this cool thing from that special guest; go to our website and you can enter to win one of your own" plug. But nothing quite like ''Bargain Hunters''.

A short-lived {{ABC}} GameShow aired over the summer of '87, hosted by Peter Tomarken of ''PressYourLuck'' fame, which tried to combine the essence of the increasingly popular home shopping craze with that of a certain other show.

Three pairs of contestants competed in three separate minigames; the first pairing played Bargain Quiz (where the goal was to guess whether an item at a certain price was a bargain or not. First to three won the game and a bonus prize), the second played Bargain Trap (Alternate picking from five prizes, avoid picking the one prize that is marked up from its actual retail price. Winner keeps their selected prizes), and the third played Bargain Busters (Correctly guess the closeout price a certain store gave this item. Top scorer after three items won the game, and the prizes). The winners of all three games moved on to play the final round, Super Savers; where each contestant picked three bargain-priced prizes from a group of seven, trying to rack up the most savings. The contestant to do so won all three of the prizes they picked, and a grand prize too!

In case you haven't noticed yet, that "certain other show" is unquestionably ''ThePriceIsRight''. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; every round was also followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into the Home Shopping Network and offered viewers a chance to buy an item from the preceding round at a discount by calling their number. Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{Infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' wasn't really that good: even Peter Tomarken himself hated it and allegedly dubbed it a "piece of shit" (and you just ''know'' a show is bad when even the ''host'' denounces it). The fact that it also got preempted a few times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affair didn't help matters either: ''Bargain Hunters'' only lasted from July 6 to September 4, 1987, and never returned. ABC didn't even bother to put a new show in its place, and simply replaced it with reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''. MerrillHeatter, you know better than that!

!!GameShowTropes in use

** GameShowHost: Peter Tomarken
** TheAnnouncer: Dean Goss

* {{Expy}}: ''ThePriceIsRight'' has done two games prominently involving bargains, Barker's Bargain Bar (now simply the Bargain Game) and $uper $aver. The bonus round is almost just like the latter (which involved picking several grocery items marked down to various degrees, trying to save a certain amount), except there's no target amount, and its competitive.

* ProductPlacement: ''Price'' gets PromotionalConsideration [[ProductPlacement shoehorned]] into prize descriptions from time to time, but they don't turn into QVC and give you a phone number to buy prizes from the show, for pete's sake!

In case you haven't noticed yet, that "certain other show" is unquestionably ''ThePriceIsRight''. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; every round was also followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into the Home Shopping Network and offered viewers a chance to buy an item from the preceding round at a discount by calling their number. Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{Infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' wasn't really that good: even Peter Tomarken himself hated it, and ultimately dubbed it a "piece of shit" (and you just ''know'' a show is bad when even the ''host'' denounces it). The fact that it also got preempted a few times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affair didn't help matters either: ''Bargain Hunters'' only lasted from July 6 to September 4, 1987, and never returned. ABC didn't even bother to put a new show in its place, and simply replaced it with reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''. MerrillHeatter, you know better than that!

A short-lived {{ABC}} GameShow aired over the summer of '87, hosted by Peter Tomarken of ''PressYourLuck'' fame, which tried to combine the essence of home shopping with that of a certain other show.

In case you haven't noticed yet, that "certain other show" is unquestionably ''ThePriceIsRight''. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; every round was also followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into QVC and offered a product from the preceding round at a bargain price for those who call in. Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{Infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' wasn't really that good: even Peter Tomarken himself hated it, and ultimately dubbed it a "piece of shit" (and you just ''know'' a show is bad when even the ''host'' denounces it). The fact that it also got preempted a few times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affair didn't help matters either: ''Bargain Hunters'' only lasted from July 6 to September 4, 1987, and never returned. ABC didn't even bother to put a new show in its place, and simply replaced it with reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''. MerrillHeatter, you know better than that!

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: ''ThePriceIsRight'' has done two games prominently involving bargains, Barker's Bargain Bar (now simply the Bargain Game) and $uper $aver. The bonus round is almost just like the latter (which involved picking several grocery items marked down to various degrees, trying to save a certain amount), except there's no target amount, and its competitive.

* ProductPromotionParade: Not to the same extent, but still: ''Price'' gets PromotionalConsideration [[ProductPlacement shoehorned]] into prize descriptions from time to time, but they don't turn into QVC and give you a phone number to buy prizes from the show, for pete's sake!

In case you haven't noticed yet, that "certain other show" is unquestionably ''ThePriceIsRight''. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; every round was also followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, where the show magically turned into QVC and offered a product from the preceding round at a bargain price for those who call in. Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{Infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' was awful: even Peter Tomarken himself hated it, and ultimately dubbed it a "piece of shit" (and you just ''know'' a show is bad when even the ''host'' denounces it). The fact that it also got preempted a few times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affair didn't help matters either: ''Bargain Hunters'' only lasted from July 6 to September 4, 1987, and never returned. ABC didn't even bother to put a new show in its place, and simply replaced it with reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''. MerrillHeatter, you know better than that!

In case you haven't noticed yet, that "certain other show" is unquestionably ''ThePriceIsRight''. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; every round was also followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, which invited the viewer to call a toll-free number and purchase an item from the preceding round at a bargain price. Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{Infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' was awful: even Peter Tomarken himself hated it, and ultimately dubbed it a "piece of shit" (and you just ''know'' a show is bad when even the ''host'' denounces it). The fact that it also got preempted a few times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affair didn't help matters either: ''Bargain Hunters'' only lasted from July 6 to September 4, 1987, and never returned. ABC didn't even bother to put a new show in its place, and simply replaced it with reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''. MerrillHeatter, you know better than that!

In case you haven't noticed yet, the "certain other show" mentioned earlier is unquestionably ''ThePriceIsRight''. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; every round was also followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, which invited the viewer to call a toll-free number and purchase an item from the preceding round at a bargain price. Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{Infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' was awful: even Peter Tomarken himself hated it, and ultimately dubbed it a "piece of shit" (and you just ''know'' a show is bad when even the ''host'' denounces it). The fact that it also got preempted a few times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affair didn't help matters either: ''Bargain Hunters'' only lasted from July 6 to September 4, 1987, and never returned. ABC didn't even bother to put a new show in its place, and simply replaced it with reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''. MerrillHeatter, you know better than that!

In case you haven't noticed yet, the "certain other show" mentioned earlier is unquestionably ''ThePriceIsRight''. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; every round was also followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, which invited the viewer to call a toll-free number and purchase an item from the preceding round at a bargain price. Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{Infomercial}}, ''Bargain Hunters'' was awful: even Peter Tomarken hated it and allegedly called it a "piece of shit" (and you just ''know'' a show is bad when even the ''host'' denounces it). The fact that it also got preempted a few times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affair didn't help matters either: ''Bargain Hunters'' only lasted from July 6 to September 4, 1987, and never returned. ABC didn't even bother to put a new show in its place, and simply replaced it with reruns of ''Series/MrBelvedere''. MerrillHeatter, you know better than that!

* {{Expy}}: ''ThePriceIsRight'' has done two games prominently involving bargains, Barker's Bargain Bar (now simply the Bargain Game) and $uper $aver. The bonus round is almost just like the latter (which involved picking several grocery items marked down to various degrees, trying to save a certain amount)

In case you haven't noticed yet, the "certain other show" mentioned earlier is unquestionably ''ThePriceIsRight''. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; every round was also followed by a "Bargain Shopper" segment, which invited the viewer to call an 1-800 number and purchase an item from the preceding round at a bargain price. Aside from the fact that it was three parts game show and two parts {{Infomercial}}, Bargain Hunters was awful: even Peter Tomarken hated it and allegedly called it a "piece of shit" (and you just ''know'' a show is bad when even the ''host'' denounces it). The fact that it also got preempted a few times by special reports about the Iran-Contra affair didn't help matters either: Bargain Hunters only lasted from July 6 to September 4, 1987, and never returned. ABC didn't even bother to put a new show in its place, and simply replaced it with reruns of ''[[Series/MrBelvedere Mr. Belvedere]]''. Merrill Heatter, you know better than that!

* ProductPromotionParade: Not to the same extent, but still: ''Price'' gets PromotionalConsideration [[ProductPlacement shoehorned]] into prize descriptions from time to time, but they don't turn into QVC and give you a phone number to buy prizes from the show for petes sake!
** However, the current HomeParticipationSweepstakes on ''Price'' alludes to "money saving offers" in its ad (but they don't actually give them out in the ad), and there have been special occasions when Drew does a "Everyone in the StudioAudience got this cool thing from that special guest; go to our website and you can enter to win one of your own" plug. But nothing quite like ''Bargain Hunters''.