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Oct. 31, 2006 Before I retreat completely from Useless Knowledge for my annual NaNoWriMo sabbatical, I wanted to let everyone know about a job that will be coming open in June. The job pays very well and requires a genuine desire to work with people. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the beautiful women who will be helping along the way, making the potential candidate look even better at every turn. There are just two tiny little catches to getting this job: 1) The potential candidate must be willing to relocate to Los Angeles. 2) The potential candidate must have a mind like a steel trap. The job opening happens to be what I’d consider to be a dream job—hosting The Price Is Right, the longest running game show in TV history and one of the longest-running shows of all time in any category. The job is opening because the man who has held it for the last 35 years is calling it quits. It’s hard to believe that Bob Barker is retiring. It seems like just yesterday I was watching him on Price in the afternoons, back when CBS ran it in the afternoon, and on Truth Or Consequences in the evenings. And, yes, I would always tune in to watch the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, just to watch him. Finding out which beautiful woman would win was as suspenseful as finding out who was going to win the Showcase. Alas, time has caught up with this great master of the game show. He is 83 now, and by his own admission the physical and mental demands of hosting the hour-long prizefest are taxing him. He’s ready to retire now and pass the reins on to someone else. FremantleMedia, Price’s owners, haven’t exactly been caught flat-footed here. They’ve been looking for someone to replace the venerable Barker for the last couple years. But exactly how do they plan to replace a legend? Who would be so daring to fill such big shoes? Well, there’s Doug Davidson, one of the stars of another long-running CBS daytime series, The Young and the Restless. In the mid-1990s, he hosted a half-hour syndicated version of Price that, although critically panned, garnered him some good personal reviews. There’s also Pat Finn, the host of the long-running Shopo Til You Drop and a short-lived revival of The Joker’s Wild. Then there’s Todd Newton, the host of GSN’s Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck and a recent incarnation of another FremantleMedia property, Family Feud on the PlayStation 2. And there’s Tom Bergeron, the host of America’s Funniest Home Videos and host of the most recent revival of Hollywood Squares. He’d actually be quite at home, considering that Squares was taped at Price’s longtime home, CBS Television City. Then there’s yours truly. What? Don’t think I could host The Price Is Right? I’ll have you know that, when I was in college, I once stood up a lunch date, accidentally of course, to watch a particularly engaging episode of the show. At the same time, I managed to list at least forty of the games played on the show at that time. I know, being a fan and being a host are two different things. But maybe now that Bob is going to give up hosting, he can enjoy being a fan just a little more. No matter who takes over for Bob Barker, Price just won’t be the same. ------------ About the author: Claxton Graham has written over 100 articles for Useless Knowledge. He has also written the unpublished novels The Writer's Nightmare and Santa's Sleigh Is Missing. He works as a business analyst. Email: scifiwriter8502@email.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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