I think it's silly to say that everything on TPiR was organic and not "fake" in Roger's day. How many times did we see Bob laughing and joking with Janice, Holly or Rod like they were the best of friends, when we all know now that their relationship off the air was much, much different?
Game shows, by definition, are a fantasy world. Nowhere else do people have a chance to be famous and win prizes for knowing how much toothpaste costs. TPiR has always been slick, prepackaged entertainment--it may be a different kind of entertainment today, but it's never been "real."
Yes, the show is too tightly edited and less spontaneous than before, but a lot of that is due to things that were a lot different in 1972, and not necessarily in the show's control today. Fewer commercials, editing that was much more time-consuming and expensive, and Bob simply being a product of the live-TV era and being used to doing things that way.