tpir

Seriously. Mario Lopez is supposedly one of the three finalists in the running to take over for Bob Barker when he retires from the long-running CBS game show later this year. The other two finalists? Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Donald Trump.

OK, I'm kidding about those last two names. But would they be more of a ridiculous choice than Dancing with the Stars star Lopez? What do producers see in him that they say, "you know, he might be a good replacement for Bob?"

Ever since I got CBS's TCA schedule a couple of days ago, I was looking forward to this moment: an hour-long Q&A session with the soon-to-retire Bob Barker. In celebration of 35 years on The Price is Right, 50 years on TV, and his June departure from the long-running game show, the network decided to juice up the crowd by having them wear TPiR-style name tags and play with replicas of the Plinko board, the big wheel, and the Dice Game. After everyone came back inside the ballroom, Barker came out to a standing ovation...

Well, not exactly. But considering the fact that a fair number of the jaded and grouchy critics actually applauded, well, that's probably the TCA equivalent of a standing O. Barker noticed this:

"On The Price is Right, I get a hell of a lot more applause than that." when a few more people applauded, he said, "I usually get a standing ovation," which led me and a few others to stand up. What the hell, the guy deserves it.

The View host and not-at-all controversial celeb Rosie O'Donnell wants CBS to know that she's very interested in taking over The Price Is Right when Bob Barker retires. She actually has a clause in her contract that allows her to take another job like hosting the game show on another network, but she says that the CBS doesn't want her.

Um, yeah Rosie. Why would anyone want you to host The Price Is Right? My God, the contestants on the show are irritating enough (that's why it's always good to have the calming hand of Bob Barker there), and you want us to watch you? The scary part is that Rosie says that the fact that CBS doesn't want her to host the show is "sad" because she "has visions for the show." Oh, great, you're not only going to host but you're going to change one of the most successful formats in TV history.

Other people we don't want to host The Price Is Right:

• Dustin Diamond
• Paris Hilton
• Ann Coulter

Verne Gay over at Newsday is reporting that Dave Price, the weatherman/cohost on CBS' The Early Show, is going to replace Bob Barker as host of The Price Is Right. He says he heard the news from a trusted source and that it's "definite."

Price will stay with The Early Show while doing the game show every day. I know, you're thinking, but The Price Is Right is filmed in Los Angeles and The Early Show is in New York City. He'll pre-tape the game show on Fridays and do The Early Show live the other days.

No idea how I feel about this. I don't watch The Early Show that much and I've only seen Price a couple of times, so I don't really have an opinion of Price. Though I think this is probably the first time in history that the name of the game is also the name of the host, and that's kinda funky.

[via TV Tattle]

As I've been reading the news stories surrounding Bob Barker's retirement, I've been noticing that people have been confusing two elements of the The Price is Right that have similar names. In fact, that confusion has been in place for about thirty years, perpetrated by bloggers, columnists and news anchors: the misidentification of TPiR's final round as "the Showcase Showdown."

The confusion flummoxes the best of them, including our friends at BestWeekEver.tv, who put together a list of ten reasons why they'll miss Bob (must be an homage to our The Five list of reasons why we'll miss Bob). In item number 3, about Bob losing his patience, writer Michelle Collins states, "Often seen when people have difficulty coming up with a bid during the Showcase Showdown." Um, Michelle... that's not quite right.