I’m watching this $1M episode of TPR and this is the first time I’ve seen DC hosting. Does he always seem so awkward and rambling? Bob used to tell them what to do and shut up and let them do it but Drew keeps rambling every time there is a moment of silence. It’s REALLY bad when they spin the wheel and he repeats what they need to spin about 1000 times. He just says alot of weak dumb rambling stuff.
Is he always this bad?
Give him a break; he’s had the job for what, 15 minutes? Barker was there through several ice ages.
He’s needed a while to hit his stride. I mean, can you imagine following a legend? You need a while to get used to things and establish your own style. Same with the audience, really.
I think he’s getting better, though. Saw this clip where a contestant of his broke the daytime Plinko earnings record. You could tell how excited he was leading up to the final chip, and the contestant’s success.
I like Drew as host. He’s not Bob Barker, but he’s not trying to be- he’s his own person. I like the way he jokes around with the contestants and makes fun of the sponsors. He’s very energetic, but not too much.
How long did it take you to get really good at your job?
If you think he’s bad now, be glad you didn’t see the first few weeks of shows. I was about the only person here who thought he was occasionally showing some promise, but…ouch. Not that I watch every day, but it makes nice background if I’m at home.
I think he’s shaping up quite nicely, actually. Comparisons to somebody who did the show for 35 years, I think are a bit unfair at this point. He’s improved dramatically already, and I don’t even want to think about how terrifying a job that must be to have taken on.
I heard somewhere, on another board I think, that he was ill during the tapings of at least some of those special eps. That could explain part of why he was a bit “off.”
Be glad that you just now saw him! In the first few weeks/months, his voice was barely above a mumbled whisper, and he spoke too quickly.
To say that comparisons of him with Bob Barker are unfair, because Bob had 35 yrs is a lame excuse. Drew is a seasoned performer, with, what, 10 years behind him? And that ten years was high quality stuff. He ain’t no punk, but he certainly was crappy at the first. He’s getting better, but I expected him to excel out of the gate. He didn’t, so I don’t know what the problem was. The only explanation that I have is that, well, this IS The Price is Right, and the bucks and the prestige were so totally, totally intimidating, along with terrors from the powers that could hire and fire him, had him all in a tizzy.
He had 10 years, or whatever, of experience – but in totally different kinds of jobs, with a totally different audience. Probably the vast majority of TPIR’s immensely loyal viewership had never seen – or didn’t care for – either The Drew Carey Show or Whose Line, neither of which was exactly mainstream comedy. He was right to be intimidated as hell, and I salute him for coming up with ways to make the show his own (“Anyone you want to say hi to?” during the wheel-spinning) while staying true to the vibe of the show.
Did you guys notice that most of the contestants didn’t know how to play the initial bidding game?
A typical run of bids looked something like this:
$1000, Drew.
$1500.
Drew, I’m gonna bid $850.
$3000!
The last one gets a WTF.* But I only saw one case where the final contestant didn’t do this.
-FrL-
*If you think everyone else underbid, you should just add one to the highest bid so far. And you certainly shouldn’t jump up by anything like a wide margin.
That makes sense. You could definitely hear that he was trouble talking for parts of the show. And put me down as someone who thinks Drew is doing a great job. He looked genuinely thrilled when the young mother won $1,000,000. It was awesome.
Did we watch the same show? Because I saw a lot of people win by going $1 over the person next to them. And the person that bid some ridiculous number way higher than everyone else won (it was the Simpsons pinball machine, which I so want).
I only see this at work (the pts have it on), but I never could stand Bob Barker, <shudders> so any host is an improvement to me. It’s still as annoying as ever at work… (guess you can tell I’m not a fan!).
My wife just reminded me I only saw the second half of the show, so I didn’t have as much information as I thought. But I do specifically recall two people failing to use the one-dollar-over strategy when they should have.
Even if someone made a bid like the one I described and won, that still doesn’t mean it was a good idea.
Okay, I went and looked it up, and it turns out my memory has failed me.
In the part of the show I saw, one person used bad strategy and two used good strategy. Same goes for the first half of the show–one used bad strategy, two used good.
The worst offender was the one I saw. The bids were, in order:
950
1300
700
4200
Turned out the 4200 won. But she shouldn’t have. 
-FrL-
I agree totally. I actually turned to my wife and expressed complete shock that not would someone not use the $1 trick, but would bid so high on a pinball machine.
She told me, “Who’s laughing now.” Not me.
She may have been going for an exact amount bid, to win the cash.