Did you catch 'The Price is Right' episode where the contestant fainted? OMG, it was wild! One minute, Drew Carey is galloping along with his Showcase spiel, and the next, he looks over and she's dropped to the floor.

Now the alleged fainter is denying that she actually fainted. Ok, well ... maybe. Watch the video below from 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' (weekdays, syndicated) and tell us if you think she fainted or not. It certainly looks like a faint; on the other hand, she sprang right back up. Just to be on the safe side, Ellen gave her a backpack mattress. You know, just in case.

Watch the video after the jump.

When I came upon Drew Carey at CBS's TCA party over the summer, he was tapping away on his iPhone. He was sending a tweet to one of the responders on one of his two Twitter feeds, and was generally having a ball. So I figured he was in a good mood to talk about the show he's most known for these days, The Price Is Right.

It was a season of change for Drew and the show; the prizes got more creative, Drew changed his look, and the show in general did a lot to break out of the mold of the Bob Barker years.

Of course, those changes didn't go unnoticed, as some of the show's more "devoted" fans took to sites like Golden-Road.net to disparage Drew and say the show was going downhill. There was even a minor controversy this past season, as a contestant made a suspiciously on-the-mark Showcase bid, and Drew's reaction to it was less than enthusiastic (for good reason, as he mentions in the interview).

Ya gotta give Drew Carey a lot of credit. Going into his third season on The Price is Right, he's been able to step in the shoes of an icon, Bob Barker, and do a good job. He's also his part to drag the 38-year-old show into the 21st century, whether it wants to be here or not.

A couple of weeks ago, Drew simultaneously started a blog called Drew From TV, and a Twitter feed called TPIRHost, essentially to talk about his backstage experiences at TPiR, and whatever else he happens to think about (he soon started a second Twitter feed called DrewFromTV so he could muse on politics, soccer, and his other interests without associating it with the show).

Unlike some of The Price is Right's most ardent fans -- and anyone who's visited a certain fan site know how how anal those fans can be -- I like the job Drew Carey's been doing as the show's host. He's a personable guy whose gentle but somewhat snarky sense of humor brings the show somewhat closer to 21st century sensibilities than it had been under Bob Barker. Yes, his attempts at bringing humor to certain parts of the show and his somewhat uneven levels of enthusiasm have been problematic. But overall, he's doing a good job.

One thing I've noticed about Drew lately is that he's finally dropping the "high school vice principal" look he's had since he started doing stand-up in the eighties. No more round glasses and crew cut; he now sports fashionable black frames and has grown out his hair a bit. Heck, sometimes he doesn't even wear a tie, as the picture above shows.

I've been watching The Price is Right since the 70's and I thought I had seen everything: prizes break, people falling down, April Fool's Day jokes being played on contestants, boobs popping out of shirts. But today I saw something that I'm sure is going to be talked about a lot.

During the showcase, the first contestant came very, very close to the actual retail price. I think she was something like $480.00 off (I didn't record the show so I'm going on memory here). It looked like she was going to win, until they got to the other contestant. He bid $23,743, and then host Drew Carey announced the actual retail price as...$23,743. That's right, the contestant got the price exactly right.

When Drew Carey takes the stage later today to begin taping the 37th season of The Price is Right, he'll be seeing whatever changes they have in store for the first time. Why? Because he's just as much in the dark about it as everyone else is. "They don't tell me anything," he told me on Friday night at the CBS all-star party at the Boulevard3 club in Hollywood. When I asked him if he prefers it that way, he told me "No. It's disheartening. They don't tell me what they're thinking about doing or changing."

Drew also told me that he found out about longtime producer Roger Dobkowitz' dismissal the night before it happened. Executives at Fremantle told him about the change at a dinner near the Price studios. He felt bad for Dobkowitz, especially because of how well he got along with him. When asked if that put a damper on a fairly successful first season, he at first said it didn't, then he reconsidered. "Well, yeah it did, actually, because I really thought the world of him and I was sad that he let go. But like I said, I'm like an employee. They don't discuss their personnel changes with me."

The entire interview, including a response from CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler, is after the jump.

Drew Carey and company recently wrapped up shooting Season 36 of The Price is Right -- Drew had pizzas delivered to the studio from his favorite place in Cleveland -- but when the crew comes back to tape Season 37 in a few weeks, they're going to be faced with a number of changes.

The first change is that Roger Dobkowitz, who's been the producer of the show since it started its run, won't be there. According to Golden-Road.net, a TPiR message board, Fremantle Media let Dobkowitz go after Season 36 wrapped up; a replacement has yet to be named.

But there may be other changes afoot, namely with the look and format of the show, whose ratings declined 15% in the first season after Bob Barker's retirement. Rumors are swirling that the changes will include new pricing games and a video wall, all the way up to a rumor -- published on a TVGuide.com fan blog but later pulled -- that the show will be completely overhauled to make it look more like Fremantle's money-making machine, American Idol (or their new money-making machine, Million Dollar Password).

If anyone thought Bob Barker was going to miss being on stage at The Price is Right, then they'd be wrong. At least if you listen to Bob; he not only thinks he left "at just the right time," but is keeping himself extremely busy.

Barker spoke to the Long Beach, CA Press-Telegram recently, and he explained that "I enjoyed the show right up to the last minute of the last show. But, I don't miss it so much that I want to go back and do it again. I think I'm going to be very happy in retirement." He's currently working with various animal-rights organizations and is writing an autobiography, which he expects to be out late this year (ah, the publishing world moves quickly when they have to, know what I mean?).

Jason's post earlier today about The Price Is Right reminded me of something I've been thinking about for years: what are the best and worst prizes you can win on the show?

This is all personal opinion, of course. Where I might frown or shrug at a prize I might win another person will scream and jump down about. But I think there are certainly some prizes we can all agree are pretty lame. Below are the six that come to mind. Five of them you'll probably agree with, but I bet several of you will have a problem with number six.

Have you guys been watching The Price is Right with Drew Carey? I missed yesterday's episode, but did tune in just in time to catch this gem today.

Apparently Drew Carey's star power makes people go just as nuts as Bob Barker's did. On today's episode, a woman went ballistic when she found out she was playing Plinko. Sure, that's usually how contestants react to Plinko. But, this woman kept saying, "I have to go to the bathroom!" and (ahem) holding herself. Naturally, Drew pretty much loses it.

This has got to be one of the best TPIR clips ever. Video is after the jump:

Monday is the big day for Drew Carey. He'll debut as the new host of The Price is Right. You can check out the new look in this video on YouTube (the video was taken down, try this one instead). It shows the new set and Drew doing some of his hosting duties.

What I like about the new look of TPIR is how it still looks like it's in the 1970s. The set basically looks the same, except for a new paint job. The colors have gone from primary to pastels, but the designs and graphics are still totally retro. It's all quite psychedelic.

I don't know about you guys, but I have TPIR programmed on my TiVo. I loved watching with Bob Barker, and even though I'm not totally thrilled about Drew Carey, I'm definitely going to give the guy a chance. Barker seemed like a squeaky clean guy, while Drew's more of a, well, Dirty Jokes and Beer kind of fellow.

If anyone was curious as to what the Drew Carey-hosted version of The Price is Right is going to look like, here's a taste.

The picture above is of Carey and Rebecca Dobkowitz, daughter of TPiR's longtime producer, Roger Dobkowitz, standing in front of one of the three huge doors on the set. It looks like they're giving the show a bit of a retro-modern look, which seems to fit the nature of the show pretty well.

Where did the picture come from? Facebook, of course! Rebecca put it up on her page, but took it down after it rocketed around the interwebs. Alex Davis of BuzzerBlog posted it a few days ago, generating more details about the revamped set from people who have seen recent tapings. More on that after the jump.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Bear Grylls of Man vs. Wild is not quite as wild a you think.
  
• Yesterday, we finally got our answer: Drew Carey is the new host of The Price is Right.
  
• Hot Ghetto Mess just got a cheerier, less inflammatory name at the last minute.

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

Well, after all the hemming and hawing about who was going to replace Bob Barker on The Price is Right, we finally have a name. And, apparently, a signature pair of glasses to go along with it.

According to James Hibberd of TV Week, Drew Carey has been signed to host the venerable game show. CBS decided to offer Carey the job after seeing his hosting skills in action on The Power of Ten. The plan is to have Carey announce the move tonight on Late Night with David Letterman.

Remember how initial reports said Rosie O'Donnell took herself out of the running for The Price is Right hosting gig because she didn't want to uproot her family to LA? Not entirely true. In fact, the truth is so much better.

During her 'R' cruise, Rosie told TV Guide that CBS didn't want her because she wanted to "gay it up" (her words, not mine). She evidently offered the network a Rosie Hosting Package of some sort that included getting rid of Bob's Beauties and replacing them with "a chorus line of Broadway hunks, confetti, musical bumpers and a new set". O'Donnell admitted that she was disappointed when CBS didn't take her offer, because she's been a big fan of the show for 35 years. That's when she took herself out of the running for the job.

Way to go, CBS! Broadway hunks? Confetti? Musical acts? That sure would've ruined the show. Part of its charm is how outdated it is.