What about Bob?

By Tom Fink

June 15, 2007 08:30 am

— In a daytime wasteland of soap operas, “reality” judge shows, The View, and too-long local news/entertainment programs (”Stay tuned to Channel 8 .. OR ELSE!!” I heard D.C. Roberts warn this morning), “The Price is Right” has always been a true diamond amid the cheap costume jewelry that passed for programming.
At the heart of that diamond was the show’s silver-haired host, TV legend Bob Barker.
After an historic 35-year run, however, Barker will be hangs up his skinny microphone for the last time Friday — truly the end of an era, one that will leave the morning landscape a lot more barren.
Barker’s retirement doesn’t just signify the changing of the guard or cancellation of another game show (CBS already is searching for Barker’s replacement — bad idea, which I’ll address shortly), it marks a dignified exit of a man who’s come into American homes every day since 1972, offering the common man and women the chance to win trips, cars or other valuable prizes.
Barker is truly the last of his kind — an old-school morning personality with genuine personality — a man who enjoyed the people he interacted with (even the problem ones) and was gracious enough to give them their moment rather than try to use them to make himself look good.
Barker, 83, has hosted the show every day of its 35-year existence, and will walk away with a 50-year television career in one hand (some of us still remember him as the host of Truth or Consequences) and more fans than anyone could expect in the other.
It’s hard to say exactly when Barker went from just another game show host to beloved daytime personality that all the girls want to kiss (the man gets more smooches from college girls in a single show than I did in four years at a university), but his presence seeped into our conscious and subconscious somewhere along the way.
Maybe it was his honest warmth for guests — he was especially fond of servicemen and senior citizens — or maybe it was his ability to turn guessing the cost of a box of Rice-a-Roni into a skill that could win you person a car, but either way, Barker was always there— consistently smiling his way through a record 6,586 “Price is Right” shows, a record that I’ll wager, won’t be broken during my lifetime.
Additionally, Barker’s small-screen career transformed him into more than just another quiz show host — it paved his way to become an advocate for animal rights and even allowed him to achieve cult status among college aged students with a small but memorable part in Adam Sandler’s “Happy Gilmore.”
Ask anyone who’s seen the movie, and Barker’s scene and his last line is the one that stands out and always elicits a smile.
His departure signifies the loss of one of the last active links to a bygone media era.
During the span of his career (not without controversies, including a spat of lawsuits claiming sexual harassment and discrimination), the medium evolved from vacuous morning television with Day-Glo Arid Extra Dry commercials into an insatiable YouTube universe, churning out HD programs 24-hours a day.
Maybe the only other “game show” hosts with nearly Barker’s tenure may be Pat Sajak or Alex Trebek, and neither of them seem to inspire the excitement if not reverence that Barker’s “Price” fans have.
I’ve seen people scream, tremble, bow, cry — basically everything but wet themselves upon meeting Barker.
Here’s the thing:
Even though I haven’t watched “Price” regularly in years, just knowing it was there was reassuring — knowing that Barker was letting contestants spin the Big Wheel and people were biting their nails as the mountain climber yodeled his way up to the mountain peak was a strange comfort.
While CBS has announced plans for a replacement host search, “Price” and “Bob Barker” are inseparable — can anyone really imagine John O’Hurley or Rosie O’Donnell politely telling over-enthused contestants to get off the stage before they actually get out of “contestants row.”
If only for old times sake or if only to remind myself of why the show and Barker both have had such longevity, I plan to tape Friday’s show, and I’d encourage everyone else to do the same.
That, and to be sure to spay and neuter their pets, although there’s no one that can say it with the “come on down” intonation of the one-of-a-kind Barker.

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