2008 Woodie Awards
Media Darling: Drew Carey, come on down
by Jeff Ruoss
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Mosaic
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On June 15, 2007, I had to come to realize one of the most steadfast things in my life was coming to an end - Bob Barker would no longer be the reason I skipped class from 11 a.m. to noon. As the deity of daytime game shows waved his last three contestants on down, a small part of me disappeared with him.
Then the rumor mill started to fly. Who would be the replacement for the greatest and longest-running host of all time? The first major option was Mario Lopez, or, as I will always know him, A.C. Slater.
That's like replacing James Brown with Kevin Federline - blasphemous.
Soon Lopez was shot down - good.
In the months following the vacancy, other names popped up. John O'Hurley, George Hamilton and Rosie O'Donnell were thrown around.
Fortunately, the search to find a new host came to an end on July 24, when CBS announced that Drew Carey was taking over for the silver-haired God of game shows. Carey, 49, is a fair choice by common standards, I suppose.
He has been a stand-up comedian for the past 20 years and has had his own run of hit TV shows, most prominently a self-named show which ran on ABC for nine years. Also, Carey gained notoriety for his role as the host for "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" and "Improv All-Stars." He even hosted the pilot episode of "Power of 10" for CBS - he will continue on as host of this show also.
The day finally arrived - Oct. 15, 2007, Carey's first day as host of the holy grail of game shows.
For someone who has run a game show before, Carey seemed more like a high school substitute on his first tour of duty and the crowd noticed. The first winning contestant walked up to Carey, shook his hand and proceeded to walk over to touch the Jeep he was about to play for.
Had Barker still been in charge, he would have thrown his tiny little microphone at that man and screamed. You just don't walk away from the host like that, and it's Carey's responsibility to get things under control.
Another stand out is his relationship with announcer Rich Fields. Fields, who has been the announcer of "The Price is Right" since 2004 when long-time announcer Rod Roddy died, always seemed to have a close-knit relationship with Barker, with each referring to the other on a first name basis.
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