Now, almost a quarter of a century later, I've become an authority on the intricacies of pricing games, and one of Bob Barker's biggest fans. My support of Bob stems from two sources. One is that the man has the best job imaginable - He gets paid millions to work three hours a day, is surrounded by supermodels the entire time, and is universally loved by all. The second is that his show is the single greatest source of daily comedy ever. Just watch an episode of The Price Is Right. If you take a step back and think about it, it's about as crazy as any of those Japanese game-shows where people are jumping from lilypad to lilypad over shark infested waters.
Ok, so maybe I exaggerated a bit (or a lot), but The Price Is Right is a pretty wild hour of television. We just don't realize it because we're all desensitized from watching it every morning as a child.
Let's start with the audience. There's a pretty good chance that CBS is pumping crystal meth through the ventillation system during taping, because these people are far to hyped up about potentially winning a tandem bicycle or new bedroom set. Then you have the actual contestants. Watching these shell-shocked people stumble down to the stage and then proceed to make completely irrational bids never ceases to entertain me. After they finally find the right spot in contestant's row, a pool table will come up for bid. After searching through the audience for their family members advice, they'll completely ignore it and go with "$6,000, Bob." Cracks me up every time. Then you have the items that people bid on during the games. Seriously, who came up with the idea of having people win cars based on their ability to correctly price geriatric necessities like Centrum Silver, Fixodent, and Preparation H?
I'm not sure, but it was pure genius. And all of the wacky action on The Price Is Right just wouldn't be complete without the one and only Bob Barker. There's never been another game-show host that was even worthy to sniff the man's drawers. Bob flawlessly toes the thin line between cheesiness and respectability. He's much more engaging than the catatonic Alex Trebec, and doesn't give off an ounce off that "used-car salesman" vibe that most other hosts ooze.
Point blank, Bob Barker is the perfect game-show host of the the perfect game-show. And seeing as he's been entertaining me with his games revolving around adult diapers since I was in a pair of my own, that's more than enough reason to enshrine him in The Hall of Legends.
