COLLEGE PARK, Md., June 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- Following is commentary by University of Maryland Resident Scholar and Emeritus Professor Douglas Gomery.
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CBS did two specials for TV's longest running star - "The Price Is Right's" Bob Barker - in mid-May. Sweeps is where you want your best prime time shows.
But the last show for Bob will be taped June 6 and broadcast the following Friday - in daytime and prime time.
And an era will end.
Many of those who survive the 24 hour waiting line to get on "The Price Is Right" (TPIR) tell the same story. "I have been watching you my whole life." They were trained to play Plinkco or the Showcase.
One winner asked Bob if he could say the lines he had literally heard his entire life: "Help Control the Pet Population. Have your pets spayed or neutered."
(Bob has contributed millions to Harvard and other universities for animal research.)
Why do college fraternities on the west coast use their spring break to stand in line 24 hours to get on TPIR? Why military units? Why senior groups? Why church groups?
Why is TPIR the only truly diverse show on TV? Bob and his producers insist on it. This is why in one comic moment we saw Bob - at age 82 - picked up by a Samoan woman in a ritualistic lift.
This is genre TV at its best. The show is always taped live, after just one run though. Bob even talks to the audience during commercial breaks. He knows the audience and the show exudes this love.
Anyone who has watched and knows TV sees TPIR as a logistical tour de force. There are more than 100 stagehands and it is a ballet of prizes. Even "Barker's Beauties" do a ballet. Always face the audience. Once when Tyra Banks guested as Beauty she stumbled about, unable do what the pros made look natural.
Indeed this is a story of professionalism. Bob is "Bob." He never misses a beat. No script; never a missed line. Think about it. Most of us can not do a 10 minute speech without notes. All Bob has is 35 years of experience, and an ability that - if one thinks about it - can only be labeled as professionalism at its best.
Not seeing Bob at lunch time - as millions have done for 35 years - literally has many of us fans in tears.
So on the largest stage in Hollywood (built in 1952 for "Playhouse 90") Bob will tape his last show. He will do it as he always has. It will be the same -- but always better. It will have an audience that has waited all night simply to hope to be chosen to "come on down" and then win to get to stand next to Bob.
I do not know what I will do to be inspired each day - to do my best. Take a complex gig and make it look so easy. He inspires me. And if you catch the show - even after the last one - with re-runs for the rest of the summer, you will see a master of his craft. If only we all were as good at what we did.
As a writer I get to revise. Bob has just that one take. Wow! Will you be missed, Bob!
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Prof. Douglas Gomery made his network television debut in 1950 as a member of the Peanut Gallery on the Howdy Doody Show in New York City. He never looked back and has become one of the nation's leading experts on radio, television and film. He is currently the Resident Scholar at the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland. His newest book is a comprehensive look at the history of broadcasting in the United States to be published this September by Blackwell's.
CONTACT: Resident Scholar and Emeritus Professor Douglas Gomery, 301-405-9160, dgomery@umd.edu
WEB: http://www.journalism.umd.edu/faculty/dgomery/
NOTE TO EDITORS: The above commentary is available for free and immediate use. If used, please contact David Ottalini, University of Maryland Media Relations, 301-405-4076, as a courtesy to the contributor.
Media Contact: See above.
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