I hope Bob isn't going to leave. If he leaves, I don't watch PiR anymore.

You lie like a rug. If there were a new host announced, you'd be right there with the rest of us to see how he would do.

Good point there.

btw Clemon, alright, maybe Id watch 1 or 2 shows, just to see how Todd Newton does ;)

I agree that Season 40 is optimistic. It's beyond optimistic. The man will be 88 years old. Something tells me this won't happen.

Yeah, he's "weathered" a few models, all right :)

My guess is CBS really hasn't thought too much about Barker's retirement or passing, whichever would come first. Some might argue a part of the reason CBS tried an hour-long Feud in 1992 is to see if Ray Combs could handle an hour-long format, and if he could handle it(he did an admirable job), perhaps then he could have been prepped to succeed Barker.

Too bad he didn't get the nod to helm the nighttime Price Is Right after
being dumped from Family Feud.

Combs would have been a good choice. He had that warmth that most hosts don't seem to have these days.

CBS might not think much of his replacement (I'm sure they have), but Barker should.

It was reported about 1 year ago that Barker has a financial stake in the show. It's in his financial interest to keep the show going as long as it can, thus finding someone that can get the job done.

I think it could work with a new host - depending on who they got. I've enjoyed previous versions of "Price" with people like Dennis James and Tom Kennedy. If the show remains as strong as it is, it could go on indefinately.

I don't think Tom really wants to do more game shows after Squares ends. He probably would do an admirable job with it. The cancellation of Squares may, fortunately and unfortunately at the same time, come before Bob retires. Squares' renewal for next year is not certain(though it had about at 10% upswing in ratings for the last ratings period), but TPIR's is more certain.

I agree, but he's got to be weened off of using cue cards.

I have a hunch that shouldn't be too much trouble. My first exposure to him
was on fx's late great Breakfast Time, which was choc-full of ad libs.
My first choice would be Geoff Edwards, but since I think he's in his 60s,
"the suits" would say, "No way!!". Either Todd or Tom, I believe, would work
out great.

I agree on Ray Combs. He'd have been terrific. His kind of energy seems more suited to TPIR than Bergeron's. Not that Bergeron isn't great, but he seems a little too cerebral, a little too sophisticated for this. Todd Newton'll be fine once he escapes Whammy.

The question I was trying to raise, though, was more about how hard it will be to pry Barker's hands off the mike.

Is it kind of a vanity thing, or will it be the financial interest in seeing the show remain successful be the motivation? I'd hate to see him go on so long we remember him as a doddering old fool, rather than an amazing broadcaster. Also, a timely, well-handled transition would help keep the show on the air.

At this time I would like to move that the banner at the top of this site be changed from "THE GAME SHOW FORUM" to "TOM DOESN'T WANT THE FREAKIN' JOB ALREADY"...

Won't be easy that's for sure.

I wouldn't be shocked of an on-air passing of the torch, but I would be shocked if someone else guest hosted/trained while Barker is still doing the show.

I'd pay to watch that only if you could promise me that Stone Cold would do a run-in and drop a Stunner on both participants at some point. :)

That's too bad. Because he's going to host the show anyway whether he wants
to or not. I'll get to work on the blackmail right away.

And as I pointed out before, Tom didn't work with either cue cards or an IFB on "Breakfast Time"--just some note cards he occasionally looked at ("my ad libs, please," he'd always say before he made the daily walk down the hallway from the "ballroom" to the living room in the fX apartment) and his own instincts. The only time he read from a prompter was in the early days when he and Laurie Hibberd did the news inserts before Jane Fergus took that over (and she then did the segments from her cubicle one floor above the apartment studio, so for a good portion of the run Tom never saw a prompter during the show).

He uses cue cards on squares.

So did Peter Marshall--even though at one point he was doing the "Object for the players..." spiel faster than the cue card guy could change the cards.

Very often, game show producers still have the cards out even if the host's done the show for years, just as a backup in case they have a brain freeze. I still recall Chuck Woolery saying in amazement, "I've been doing this show for five years and you still show me a card saying 'good morning and welcome to "Wheel of Fortune?"'"