Breaking: Weird Ex-Standup TV Actor to Host Game Show
No, no, not Howie Mandel. Though it still works with him.
Drew (Drew Carey) Carey has signed on to take over for Bob Barker on The Price Is Right. It seems a little soon to me. Mandel was in the showbiz wilderness for a decade before he got his game show. Carey, maybe half that. I don’t like how this is trending.
Also troubling is Carey’s ironic subtext. TPIR is all about winning your share of the American Dream; Carey is all about gently mocking the American Dream. Sooner or later the contestants will see through him, recognizing his smug contempt. Perhaps they will try to hurt him. I like my game show hosts with no personality, like Alex Trebec and Wink Martindale, thank you very much.
That is an old picture of Drew Carey, BTW. He is slimmer and spec-less now. I wonder how he looks in a blazer?
-daniel k
July 24th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Old picture? Good. He looks like a cranky retiree (”Get off my lawn!”).
As for his Letterman-esque ironic detachment, I think that all drained away years ago, around the time of “Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show.”
Nobody’s gonna hurt Drew Carey. He’s an ex-marine. He might go all R. Lee Ermey on the more flaky contestants, which could be fun (”No! Your guess was too f***ing high! What is your major malfunction?”).
July 25th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Saw Carey on Letterman last night - he’s gained weight and put the glasses back on. He probably doesn’t need them (I assume he’s had lasik) so it’s purely an image thing.
That Green Screen Show - there’ a cocktail napkin pitch if I ever heard one. That’s the kind of idea you come up with after your real idea meets with blank stares.