The Price is Right With Drew Carey...Your Opinion? (television, cast, theme)
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Mark Goodson and Bill Toddman are probably turning in their graves right now given what Fremantle Media has done to their greatest Game Show.
Michael Richards has ruined everything that made the Price is Right enjoyable for nearly 40 years.
It was the traditional prize cues and stage designs that made the show enjoyable. It was the fact that the models DIDN'T talk that made it enjoyable. It was the fact that it was considered a show for everyday, normal people, not for celebrities to hoar themselves modelling off the prizes.
Then Drew CArey just seems so dry. I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt for the past 5 years, but I just can't get into him hosting the Price is Right. He just seems so apathetic towards the contestants when they win or lose a game. It's almost as if he rehearses what he's going to say. Bob Barker would genuinely express sympathy or excitement towards a contestant if they won or lost.
Then of course, it's the fact that the show feels so RUSHED now. During the Bob Barker-era, we were at least able to see the people in the audience run down to contestant's row. Now it seems after the announcer calls the person's name and the person stands up, they immediately cut to the next person.
I stopped watching a few years before BB left, because the producers basically handed the show over to college-aged contestants who mugged for the camera and acted insufferable. I preferred when the show had a cross-section of contestants' ages. Every time I watched, I had to suffer through watching dorky frat boys--who gave the impression they'd never seen the show--stumble through games. And this was during the period when I was college-aged.
They seemed to give up on games of skill (games where it paid to know the prices of everyday things) and decided to emphasize games of chance (that dumb$ss Plinko, for one). This was probably in response to the above-mentioned dumb college-age kids who couldn't win The Grocery Game if their lives depended on it.
I never liked Drew Carey as a comic or an actor, so when I heard he got the hosting job I knew I had no reason to return to the show. I have watched an occasional bit here and there, and three things struck me:
1. the sets are still loud and tacky, but if they wanted that loud/tacky combo, why change the sets at all? If you are remodeling, it should be for the better!
2. They no longer give the long-winded, sponsor-scripted descriptions of most of the prizes. I liked hearing the descriptions, actually. I thought the descriptions/promos were how the show paid for the prizes, like product placement.
3. As mentioned, they're in too much of a hurry. You would think cutting the descriptions/promos of the various prizes would allow them MORE time, but it's like they're putting the contestants on a conveyor belt, and Carey's lack of small-talk with contestants is in stark contrast to BB, who seemed genuinely interested in the contestants and what they had to say.
I remember thinking that if CBS had wanted to take TPIR in a new direction, they should have hired Anne Robinson as the host(ess). She would eviscerate all those dumb college types who didn't know the price of a box of Tide and make them WORK for that grand piano and brass bed. It would have been a bloodbath for a while, but it would have been soooo entertaining.
I remember seeing Drew hosting another quiz show. I really liked the guy. I think he's a genuine person and it shows. I also think the PisR is so inane that it deadens the mind. I would just hate to have to go to that production daily so that I could collect a paycheck. It must be a real slog for him.
How do you follow up Bob Barker ? You don't, but Drew is trying and he is learning. I can see a marked improvment of his performance on the show since he started in 2007. He was just plain awful when he started, but now I like him, he is not perfect but pretty representitive of what you can scrape up for a game show host these days. Practice makes perfect, I think he will continue to improve. I like most of the little tweeks they have done to the show, and the holiday themed shows they do, it's kind of fun.
I don't mind the set changes, but I wish they would keep the original music they used to use when they would describe the products, they were kind of soothing as I remember, and I liked the old showcase music they used to use, that had some trombone and horns in it. They phased out most of the old music before Bob Barker left, but if they ever show reruns again like they used to on GSN before 2000, then you can hear those half a dozen various little tunes they would play as Johnny Olson would describe the products and prizes, or when he would announce.....If you would like to see the Price Is Right in person, send a self addressed stamped envelope to "Tickets, The Price Is Right, CBS Television Studio, 7800 Beverly Bvd, Los Angeles Ca 90028.........now back to you Bob".......you will never get to see that, even in reruns because they changed the zip code and there would always be some dum dum that would actually send in for tickets on a 30 year old rerun. But when I see a rerun of a game show, I really get a kick out of little things like that, such as the closing credits with the little prizes they gave away to the losers and that sort of thing.
Well, dang, you could have followed up Bob Barker with someone with a little more pep! I heard that Rosie O'Donnell was considered for it, and she would have been great, I think.
First off Rosie O would have been horrible as her stint on The View has shown. I think John O'Hurley or Tom Bergeron would have been a better replacement but I doubt Bob would have wanted someone potentially As good or better replacing him. He's such an egotistical a$$ that I could see him demanding the worst candidate so fans of the show will go for years morning his leaving the show while ignoring his frequent sexual harassment of the models. Oh, and in the early years of the show the models did talk. In fact, they were just as popular as Bob was and he hated that. Know why old episodes of TPIR isn't on the Game Show network? Because Bob doesn't want the three famous models getting royalty checks after they testified under oath in the sexual harassment case. Back then it was three main models (Holly was my favorite). Because of all the sexual harassment CBS switched to a rotation of models from an agency. Now that Bob's gone they have a more regular cast of models and Drew includes them in the show. I like that he brings up major moments in their life like the model who just became an American citizen.
I wasn't happy with Drew at first, but after 5 years I am used to him now. He has also changed his appearance for the better. I think the show has gone downhill, I too, noticed the products don't get the PR they used to, and I have no desire for the prizes that are now being used, except cash.
Bob was married for 30+ or 40+ years to his wife Dorothy, who passed away. So, he became eligible. I don't believe for a minute he "harrassed" any of the models. I believe the relationship with Dian was consentual. I still miss him, he was a "class act".
I sent for tickets for my one and only trip to California for myself and my daughter in 1993. I was sooooooooooo excited! When I received them, they stated the minimum age was 16, and they would check ID. My daughter was 15! She could have passed for 16 or above, but the ID....... :-( So I didn't go (I wasn't going to leave her in a hotel room alone), but I do have a picture of the CBS building from the window of my car with my hands on the steering wheel as we were driving by with me whining.........
Last edited by Lodestar 77; 05-14-2012 at 07:33 PM..
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