> > The question is, after all these years, would the audience
>
> > accept a different host when Bob has had enough? I think
> > CBS will have to cancel TPIR once Bob goes.
> >
>
> Personally, I think when Bob steps down, or becomes no
> longer able to host the show, the show should probably go
> away. While CBS may try to continue the show with a new
> host, I don't think the audience will accept anyone else as
> host. Bob Barker and TPIR are one in the same.
>
> This leads into another issue...if CBS cancels TPIR, and
> it's also believed that "Guiding Light"'s days are probably
> numbered, what does CBS do with those time slots? As far as
> I know, every CBS affiliate clears the TPIR, and all but two
> affiliates clear GL, with a handful of stations, primarily
> in the East, airing it in the morning. If one or both of
> those shows gets cancelled, will CBS give the time slots to
> the affiliates to fill locally, or will CBS try something
> new? Over the years, the nets (particularly NBC) have
> trimmed back their daytime schedules, usually giving time
> slots to affiliates that were already moderately to heavily
> pre-empted. In the case of CBS and these two shows, you're
> looking at time slots that have 99 to 100 percent
> clearances. At least in the short-run, I don't think CBS
> will give up...I think they will try something new (in
> addition to possibly expanding "The Bold and the Beautiful"
> to an hour), and if that doesn't work and pre-emptions start
> to come, then CBS will give the slot(s) back to the
> stations.
>
In the past year or so Steve Beverly suggested on
www.tvgameshows.net that a new host should be phased in by having them host one or two days a week until Bob Barker retires, similar to what was done with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. His first choice for the new host was Todd Newton.