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The Bob Barker tribute special

B

bpatrick

Did anyone watch CBS's tribute to Bob Barker's
50 years on television? I wasn't exactly overwhelmed
with it; don't understand why they played three "Price
Is Right" games and had the showcase at the end.
But I suppose the number of entertaining clips from
"Price" is limited; we got the woman who lost her top
when she "came on down," and lots of contestants
doing flips and kissing Barker (yes, including a few men);
the "Truth Or Consequences" clips were also limited.
And yes, they did show him beating up Adam Sandler
in "Happy Gilmore," then Sandler came on and read a
stupid poem about Barker. (There was one interesting
clip of Barker doing a guest shot on "Bonanza.")

I had hoped they might announce Barker's successor
last night, but that didn't happen either.

I'd give this show a B-.
 
Amen on the B- grade...I turned it off in boredom before Sandler came on, so I missed that. I could have done without Les Moonves (I'll bet Bob feels like he needs to shower after spending time with him!) On the promos for the show, they mentioned a "special surprise"...I thought that would be the revelation of the new host. Oh, well.
 
bpatrick said:
Did anyone watch CBS's tribute to Bob Barker's
50 years on television? I wasn't exactly overwhelmed
with it; don't understand why they played three "Price
Is Right" games and had the showcase at the end.
But I suppose the number of entertaining clips from
"Price" is limited; we got the woman who lost her top
when she "came on down," and lots of contestants
doing flips and kissing Barker (yes, including a few men);
the "Truth Or Consequences" clips were also limited.
And yes, they did show him beating up Adam Sandler
in "Happy Gilmore," then Sandler came on and read a
stupid poem about Barker. (There was one interesting
clip of Barker doing a guest shot on "Bonanza.")

I had hoped they might announce Barker's successor
last night, but that didn't happen either.

I'd give this show a B-.
Click to expand...



It felt odd having the TPIR games/showcase interspersed into the program. Another thing that felt odd to me is that Bob was hosting his own salute. I was hoping that the "special guest star" would have been a guest MC paying tribute to Bob.


Sandler is about the only one that I can think of that could read a "stupid poem" about Bob and get away with it. Wouldn't be surprised at all to know Adam Sandler put a couple brain cells together and wrote the silly thing.

One thing's for sure...when Bob leaves the stage for the final time, it will truly be the end of an era. I've watched him as long as I can remember. Kinda makes me feel older now knowing that he's retiring.
 
Kind of reminded me of the 25th anniversary special when they only played 3 pricing games and the showcase and most of the show being clips.
 
It felt like a throwback--in a good way--to the early days of the show, with the three games. Besides, coupled with the Million Dollar version the night before, it was a good chance to get more pricing games another shot on prime time. (Since I doubt we'll see those specials when the new host takes over.)

As to naming the new host on the special, I'm glad they didn't. This was a two-night salute to Barker; there will be plenty of time for the new person to be in the spotlight (for better and for worse).
 
imhomerjay said:
As to naming the new host on the special, I'm glad they didn't. This was a two-night salute to Barker; there will be plenty of time for the new person to be in the spotlight (for better and for worse).
Click to expand...


Couldn't have said it better myself.
 
...well, it was simple to figure out why there were so much of the TPIR material and the "Bonanza" clip -- those were in-house, as CBS/Paramount owns the rights. On the other hand, "Truth or Consequences" was mainly an NBC show and Ralph Edwards Productions, or whatever trust their holdings were put into after Edwards' death, owns that material...
 
I was expecting something a lot better than what they did. I rushed home as fast as I could but got home at 8:10, and Rich was calling a contestant into contestants row?! I can't believe I rushed home from work for THAT.

One thing that really irked me is that in any old clips with an announcer, they dubbed over Johnny Olsen or Rod Roddy with Rich. They also didn't show very many old clips from TPIR itself, and focused too much on the contestants. I measure it on how much dark-haired Bob they showed, and it certainly wasn't much.

Worst of all, in the gameplay, I don't think they used a single classic musical cue. All the new crap ones.
 
M.J. said:
One thing that really irked me is that in any old clips with an announcer, they dubbed over Johnny Olsen or Rod Roddy with Rich.
Click to expand...

Wow, I even missed that one! But, of course, I was "off and on" with it. We knew this was a tribute to Bob, but my wife and I was wondering why didn't they at least do a tribute segment to Rod Roddy. I mean, he was just as much a staple as Bob has been. Plus, I REALLY don't like Rich's voice! IMHO, I feel I can do a much better VO job, which is not saying much!
 
FloydB said:
We knew this was a tribute to Bob, but my wife and I was wondering why didn't they at least do a tribute segment to Rod Roddy. I mean, he was just as much a staple as Bob has been.
Click to expand...



If I may chime in here, the announcer I would have like to have seen a tribute to was the original....Johnny Olsen. Rod and Rich are just Johnny wanna-bes. While Rod and Rich (to some extent) bring their own charisma to the show, Johnny was and will always be the original to me.
 
I recorded the special and just got around to watching it last night. I apologize in advance for what'll probably be a very snarky post.

To each their own, but I can't bring myself to rate it a "B-" (as bpatrick did). Frankly, it was the most conceited program I've ever watched in my life. I knew when Barker opened with "...celebrating MY 50 years", it was going to be downhill from there. The show had its moments -- the Happy Gilmore clip, to name one -- but the idea of someone hosting their own tribute just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And don't get me started about Les Moonves' foamy mouth.

They should've lined up another person to host it .... perhaps another game show icon, i.e. Wink Martindale.

And failing to mention the contributions of Johnny Olsen and Rod Roddy to the team was sacrilege (No, Roddy was no Olsen -- but he brought his own style and sartorial flair to the podium; personally I liked both of 'em). This wasn't just Barker's candy store.

Barker is an icon, and I acknowledge what all he's brought to the show. That said, Barker was not bigger than "Price", much as he thought he was. Bob had a responsibility to groom an heir, to 'annoint' him. I'd love to see the show continue successfully under a new host, but I'd be surprised if TPIR makes it to decade's end.

With all he's done, Bob Barker clearly wants The Price is Right to go down in flames without him.

C-minus-minus. At best.

--Russell
 
I'm not going to take offense; I'm so used to being
generous grading my students that I gave the Barker
special a better grade than it deserved. Someone
else should have hosted the show, and Les Moonves--
for all his success as a programmer--is a terrible speaker;
I would expect better from a business executive.

Elsewhere, Joseph Gallant noted that no mention was
made of Barker's hosting the Tournament of Roses Parade,
nor of his short-lived 1967 show for Chuck Barris, "The
Family Game."

I'll stick to my grade, although I think yours may be closer
to the mark.

BTW, GSN repeated their "10 Greatest Hosts" special Saturday
night and inserted the results of a viewer poll on who should be
Barker's replacement. Tom Bergeron came in first, with 26%;
Todd Newton was second with 19. But since Bergeron is hosting
two shows on ABC, wouldn't this eliminate him?
 
In all fairness, it was his 50th anniversary show, so an extra dose of self indulgence isn't out of line. As to the announcers, yes, they're part of Price, but this wasn't a Price show, it was about Bob.

And I don't buy for a minute that he's done anything to try to sink the series.
 
Hi everyone:
C414B said:
FloydB said:
We knew this was a tribute to Bob, but my wife and I was wondering why didn't they at least do a tribute segment to Rod Roddy. I mean, he was just as much a staple as Bob has been.
Click to expand...
If I may chime in here, the announcer I would have like to have seen a tribute to was the original....Johnny Olsen. Rod and Rich are just Johnny wanna-bes. While Rod and Rich (to some extent) bring their own charisma to the show, Johnny was and will always be the original to me.
Click to expand...
Excuse me but Rod Roddy was NEVER a Johnny Olsen "wannabe". He was just simply himself.

Ohh sure Johnny was the original. No one can dispute that. But Rod left some pretty big shoes in the TPIR VO closet himself ya know.

Just my opinion....

Cheers :D
 
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