New 'Price' host has the joy to be a game-show great
July 25, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
Drew Carey has been giddy, contemplating life in Bob Barker's shoes.
"All I'm doing is giving away prizes. ... And it's not even my money," Carey said last week amid negotiations to host "The Price Is Right."
"It's like Oprah giving away those cars. She didn't give away those cars," he said. "The car company gave away the cars. Oprah just said, 'You get a car, and you get a car,' and she gets all the credit. That will be me: 'You win a car!' And they'll go, 'Oh, Drew, thank you!'"
The next "Price Is Right" frontman is not your typical pandering game show host. He doesn't even know the name of "the big wheel."
At a press conference last week, a TV critic asked Carey which "Price Is Right" minigame is his favorite. He said he watches only "once in a while," so he was kind of stumped.
"I think 'the wheel spin,' where you have to be closest to the dollar without going over -- that one I like."
Then he started calling it by another name. "One of the things we're having trouble with is I want to change the name of the show to 'The Magic Golden Wheel,' " he said. "You know, 'Price Is Right,' 35 years. Enough."
Barker fans can stop worrying. Carey, 49, is joking, mostly. "That show needs to be treated with a lot of respect," he said.
Barker said Monday he doesn't know Carey's work, but he advised that Carey try not to imitate him. That shouldn't be a problem.
When I screened an episode of "Power of 10," his new nighttime game show that starts Aug. 7, I realized Carey has the potential to become an all-time great game show host. He immediately connects with contestants, he's smart and he's genuinely happy-go-lucky.
I asked Carey why he's so joyous all the time.
"Wouldn't you be happy if you were me?" he said, then laughed like a little boy in an ice cream factory.
CBS courted him. He was psyched about the prospect, even if it means coming out of semiretirement.
"I didn't want to do TV ever for the rest of my life. I was, 'Screw TV.'
"I had all this free time. I had all kinds of money. And people loved me. ... I had all these benefits of TV, but [none] of the work."
There is a political twist to the "Price" hire. Liberal Rosie O'Donnell had been in the running. Carey goes another way. He has been filming documentaries about medical marijuana and eminent domain for the libertarian Reason Foundation's upcoming Web site, he said.
Carey then volunteered that although he doesn't belong to a particular religion, he believes his money is "not my money. It's God's money."
"I am really blessed to have it," he said. "Money is only worth what you perceive it to be worth. If you're even a lower-income guy in the United States, you live better than Solomon. You have a way better backyard than me if you go to Central Park. You have a way cooler TV room than me if you go to Hooters. ... I just happen to have a little extra property that's more private."
And constant mirth. And two new jobs.
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
Drew Carey has been giddy, contemplating life in Bob Barker's shoes.
"All I'm doing is giving away prizes. ... And it's not even my money," Carey said last week amid negotiations to host "The Price Is Right."
"It's like Oprah giving away those cars. She didn't give away those cars," he said. "The car company gave away the cars. Oprah just said, 'You get a car, and you get a car,' and she gets all the credit. That will be me: 'You win a car!' And they'll go, 'Oh, Drew, thank you!'"
The next "Price Is Right" frontman is not your typical pandering game show host. He doesn't even know the name of "the big wheel."
At a press conference last week, a TV critic asked Carey which "Price Is Right" minigame is his favorite. He said he watches only "once in a while," so he was kind of stumped.
"I think 'the wheel spin,' where you have to be closest to the dollar without going over -- that one I like."
Then he started calling it by another name. "One of the things we're having trouble with is I want to change the name of the show to 'The Magic Golden Wheel,' " he said. "You know, 'Price Is Right,' 35 years. Enough."
Barker fans can stop worrying. Carey, 49, is joking, mostly. "That show needs to be treated with a lot of respect," he said.
Barker said Monday he doesn't know Carey's work, but he advised that Carey try not to imitate him. That shouldn't be a problem.
When I screened an episode of "Power of 10," his new nighttime game show that starts Aug. 7, I realized Carey has the potential to become an all-time great game show host. He immediately connects with contestants, he's smart and he's genuinely happy-go-lucky.
I asked Carey why he's so joyous all the time.
"Wouldn't you be happy if you were me?" he said, then laughed like a little boy in an ice cream factory.
CBS courted him. He was psyched about the prospect, even if it means coming out of semiretirement.
"I didn't want to do TV ever for the rest of my life. I was, 'Screw TV.'
"I had all this free time. I had all kinds of money. And people loved me. ... I had all these benefits of TV, but [none] of the work."
There is a political twist to the "Price" hire. Liberal Rosie O'Donnell had been in the running. Carey goes another way. He has been filming documentaries about medical marijuana and eminent domain for the libertarian Reason Foundation's upcoming Web site, he said.
Carey then volunteered that although he doesn't belong to a particular religion, he believes his money is "not my money. It's God's money."
"I am really blessed to have it," he said. "Money is only worth what you perceive it to be worth. If you're even a lower-income guy in the United States, you live better than Solomon. You have a way better backyard than me if you go to Central Park. You have a way cooler TV room than me if you go to Hooters. ... I just happen to have a little extra property that's more private."
And constant mirth. And two new jobs.
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