Thursday, June 07, 2007

A tribute to a TV legend



Unless you have been living in a cave you probably have known that Bob Barker was retiring after 35 years on The Price is Right and 50 years on TV. Yesterday, he taped his last show and there were long lines just to get into the studio. Why do people like this show? Is is because of the competiveness on getting the clossest price without going over? Is it because of Bob's midwest charm? The family atmosphere? Or maybe it's because when we were kids that during summer break from school we liked the show and there was nothing else going on during the daytime except going to the pool.


Now I'll admit that I don't like everything about Bob Barker from his animal rights stances to being a vegetarian. Yet, for all these years there are parts of him that remind me of my grandfather. Served in the millitary, loved baseball and most importantly loved being around young folks. He started on Truth or Consequences and then to the Price is right. There have been some funny moments on the show. From the tube top incident of woman coming on down and then they came out........to a contestant who would later be an assitant to another game show, who knew that Vanna White would get first TV appearance on the show.


To me the most memorable moment of Bob will be his small role in the Adam Sandler film "Happy Gilmore." Seing Bob Barker beat up Adam Sandler in the film still makes me laugh even today. Whoever decides to host the show we'll never have the same effect as Bob did....It's kind of like that same feeling when Johnny Carson left the tonight show and Jay Leno took over. Sure, the show was funny but it was never quite the same when he left. The last show will air on June 15th. Bob Barker enjoy retirement you deserve it.
Signed Tim "Come on down" Crippen

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