One of the first projects after Mark Goodson died was the new syndicated version of The Price is Right for Paramount Television. This project was put together by Jonathan Goodson and some others that worked in Mark Goodson Productions. Their goal was to "bring Price into the 21st Century". They felt the CBS daytime The Price is Right (1972) looked old-fashioned and they were worried that Bob Barker was getting old and would not be able to do the show much longer. They also believed that Wheel of Fortune (1983) was ready to sink soon in the ratings and they believed that a syndicated version of Price would take its place as the #1 syndicated show.
This new version of Price was quite different and separate from the daytime version. Jonathan Goodson and Andy Felsher were in control and running things. Phil Wayne and Kathy Greco from the daytime version were also brought in as "producers"
Although Doug Davidson was the first choice by the producers, Paramount Television wanted to try out other hosts including Bob Goen and Mark Kriski who also did pilots with them hosting the show. Paramount apparently thought Kriski did a real good job and wanted him over Davidson. Jonathan Goodson and Paramount went back and forth over Kriski and Davidson for a couple of weeks. However, Jonathan prevailed and Davidson was kept as host.
The set was designed to have an updated 90's look, which is quite different from the 70's look of the CBS daytime show. This set featured darker lighting, different color schemes and patterns for many of the set pieces, including the usage of a large video wall.
Edd Kalehoff created an entirely new jazzy music package including an up-tempo, jazzy edition of the famous theme song. The theme was later used in several international adaptations of this series, while a number of the prize cues were recycled into the music library of the CBS daytime show.