TVSquad

No one will replace Bob Barker as host of The Price is Right. Not the statement you probably had in mind when you read the title of this post, but it is undeniably true. With 35 years and tens of thousands of episodes under his belt, Barker and TPIR became a single entity. And, at least in the short term, his successor would always be compared to Bob, no matter who was chosen to host the mother of all daytime game shows. Heck, the Pope could have been chosen to host and people would say 'Yea, the Pontiff is good, but he isn't Bob.'

With that out of the way I can say that Drew Carey is the right man to take the microphone as host of The Price is Right.

Seriously. Mario Lopez is supposedly one of the three finalists in the running to take over for Bob Barker when he retires from the long-running CBS game show later this year. The other two finalists? Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Donald Trump.

OK, I'm kidding about those last two names. But would they be more of a ridiculous choice than Dancing with the Stars star Lopez? What do producers see in him that they say, "you know, he might be a good replacement for Bob?"

There's an interesting little blurb on The Price is Right website which questions earlier reports that CBS weatherman Dave Price has been selected to replace Bob Barker when he retires at the end of the season. Here it is, straight from the site:

All fans of The Price Is Right, here is your chance to attend a taping on a Thursday as two non-air shows of Price will be taped on Thursday, January 25 at 12:15pm with John O'Hurley and Todd Newton and at 4:45pm with The Young and the Restless' Doug Davidson.

Hmm. Certainly sounds like an audition to me, particularly for Newton and Davidson, who have hosted other versions of TPIR. Todd has been hosting stage versions of Price Las Vegas and Atlantic City, while Doug hosted the short-lived, nighttime, syndicated version of the show back in 1994-95. O'Hurley may be there due to his recent hosting duties on Family Feud. So, if you live in the Los Angeles area you may want to stop by . . . you could be watching a try-out for the next host of The Price is Right. More information on tickets can be found at the show's website.

I didn't even know that Syler was a host of The Early Show. How could he be the host of a daily morning talk show on CBS and go around the country, cutting open people's heads and stealing their superpowers?

Actually, it's Rene Syler, one of the 34 co-hosts they have over at The Early Show (last time checked it was Syler, Harry Smith, Hannah Storm, and Julie Chen) is leaving the show to pursue other projects, including a book that will be released this spring. Her last day on the show will be December 22.

Ever since The Price is Right's Bob Barker announced his retirement, game show fans have been bandying about names of possible replacements. The names most commonly mentioned are Todd Newton, who hosts the TPiR road show, Marc Summers of FoodTV's Unwrapped (and the late, lamented Nick game show Double Dare), and Rich Fields, the show's current announcer. But an unexpected name is coming out of left field, and may be a strong contender: Dave Price.

The Early Show's weatherman and all-around goofball recently signed a new deal with CBS, and according to an article in the New York Daily News, that contract also calls for him to do "entertainment-based projects" for the network. In addition, the story reports that he was at the offices of TPiR producer Fremantle Media doing a mock run-through of the show for a small audience (who responded to a Craigslist ad, for crissakes). CBS is saying that it's too early to even talk about a replacement for Barker.