The Price (and the Host) Is Right but the Show Is Boring Beyond All Human Tolerance
Home on vacation, I watched about all I could stand of CBS’s The Price Is Right the day after Christmas.
I’m still trying to recover from that experience.
I think Drew Carey as the new host is great. In fact, he is the only good thing about the show. He is still so enthusiastic about the gig and actually seems to care about the contestants. Bob Barker never seemed like he was too awfully engaged in the show and particularly with the contestants, like he was above all that.
Carey is The People’s Host; Barker was Barker’s Host.
So the change in hosts is a good thing. How long Carey or any semi-normal person can remain that enthusiastic about winning toaster ovens on a set that looks like it’s a runaway from a bad 1970s disco is anybody’s guess.
The biggest problem with the show–besides the cheap ass prizes in many instances–is the games. While I understand that one person’s “tradition” is another person’s “boring,” these games are now so old you can blow an inch of dust off of them. I mean, really, Plinko? The spinning thing where you try to hit one dollar?
Please.
The geniuses who produce this show have been calling it in for 25 years or so. Technology has marched past and over them. We live in a visual, electronic age. The Price Is Right is basically a televised church bingo game.
I wish Drew Carey luck. My guess is that he’ll last five years tops–either that, or he’ll need some heavy doses of drugs to get him through the sheer boredom that is The Price Is Right.
Photo: Bob Barker celebrates his 83rd birthday December 12, 2006 on the set of “The Price is Right.”
Bob is gone and Drew Carey is a more congenial and enthusiastic host, but the show is boringness squared.
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