Recently, Drew Carey took over host duties on The Price Is Right from the retired Bob Barker (pictured at right leaving the stage for the last time.) Bob had hosted for thirty-five years, many of which were filled with some kind of off-screen drama including affairs with the staff and numerous sexual harrassment lawsuits. As a testament to his likability he survived all of them.Often, when I'm home, I like to eat my lunch while guessing dollar amounts for things that I will never buy. But you know, Ever since Mr. Carey took over hosting duties, I have felt that he's not going to last. It's not a case of him hitting his stride. He's just not right for the job. But if he does plan to stay he's got a few things that he's going to need to address:
1. He won't shut up. Bob didn't feel the need to fill every silence with his voice. Drew Carey can't stand the silence and feels like he should be saying something. His hosting duties most resemble an announcer at the dog track. For instance, when a contestant is called down to contestants' row he calls the action all the way down; "She's getting up...She's getting up...She's running down...Here she comes...Here she comes." And as you can see he has a habit for saying the same thing twice. Even better is his calling out the numbers on the Big Wheel as they come around; "there's 35¢, now 60¢, 20¢, 40¢, here comes 75¢, now 55¢, now 95¢, now 50¢..." Perhaps he feels that a large portion of the viewing audience can't actually "view."
Advice: Shut up and let the show happen. Silence=Confidence. The people will say and do things that are entertaining. You aren't doing stand-up.
2. Mr. Carey often makes fun of the models; Bob merely had fun with the models. Drew is constantly jokingly pointing out that the models are wearing high heels while demostrating the treadmill or exercise bike prizes. Well Mr. Carey, you should know that there are a lot of us that watch the show specifically for the models in high heels. I mean, there's only so many times I can bid on "A New Car!" or the perennial sauna before it loses it's appeal.
Advice: Don't make fun of the show; viewers don't appreciate it because it makes them think you are making fun of them. And let the models do their thing; point and be pretty. They have more fans than you do.
3. The advertisers on the show seem to believe that the same people are watching as before while Mr. Carey, it seeems, is trying to make the show a little younger. All of the ads are still for "HoverRound" Scooters, mail-order diabetes medication, laxatives that "taste good," and Medicare Health Plans. Somebody needs to get the advertisers and producers together so that they can decide what their target demographic is. Something tells me the advertisers will win out.
Advice: Slow down and act more like a distinguished older fellow. Court the blue-hairs and they will immortalize you. Show the program some respect as though it were an elderly person. The viewing audience demands it.
You know, in the end, none of this should surprise me. Drew Carey has a habit of making it all about him. When he ressurected "Whose Line Is It Anyway," contrary to the British version, he made the "Grand Prize" an improvisation with him. And he was easily the worst improviser on the show!
Something's gotta give. I can't watch The View and keep my lunch down.
It;s tough whenever they try to replace an icon. Not just the host of the show, but THE GUY. I don't think I can ever fully accept Jay Leno, regardless of how good or not good of a job he does. He'll never be Carson to me. And that's been, what? 15 years?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Drew Carey yet host "TPIR." It seemed like a really weird choice to me, but those are big shoes to fill. I don't envy anyone in his position. You want to make it "yours," while still honoring the old guard. Still, though, his sitcom was terribly unfunny, and he couldn't hold a candle to Clive Anderson as host of "Who's Line?"