Apologies in advance, this will be a long post. This week was the long touted Roger episode, and I want to start by saying I enjoyed the episode overall. It was great seeing Roger again and I'm happy that he seems to be in good health. I enjoyed his story about how he got started in the business, and his years working for Goodson Todman. When it came to what he had to say about Bob, I felt bad for him. I had heard and read stories about how Bob is doing and it looked like he was doing well.
Anytime I hear an update about Bob's health, I go back to the last picture of Monty Hall at the CBS Daytime 30 years photo shoot, and how he looked so sick and frail. Unfortunately, that will stick in my head just as much as his performance on LMAD. When I hear about what Bob's going through, it's painful. We all remember him being so youthful, even during his last season, and to hear about his health problems kind of puts a haze over it so to speak. I hope he gets to see him before he passes away. However, there were some things he said which kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
First, he said that the game shows of today were not game shows, that they were "scripted reality shows" (I went back to get his exact quote). He mentions the recent Alec Baldwin version of Match Game as being in terrible taste, and he mentions that when digital editing became popular, shows could stop tape more frequently and do retakes a lot more easier, and that live to tape is the best way of doing it. He also says that production companies are getting "has beens" to be hosts.
Secondly, the question is asked towards the end of the episode for his thoughts on Price today. Among the things he says are that the set changes constantly, they have weird prizes like 100 pairs of shoes, and that it's starting to look cheap like foreign versions he used to watch. He also compares it to Bob's show by saying Bob's show was more about the contestants, while Drew's version is about the show itself.
I disagree with him in regards to current hosts being has beens. People like Wayne Brady, Michael Strahan, and Elizabeth Banks may not be good hosts in his book, but to call them has beens, is kind of low in my opinion. When it comes to Price, I was initially someone who was against changing the show as well. However, over time I've come to love the current show just as much as Bob and Roger's version. I especially love the "family feel" the show has again that was lost the last 10 or so years with Bob.
I respect Roger and the amount of devotion and time he put in to not just Price, but every show he worked on over his career. I respect the way Roger ran the show when he was producer, and I love that version of the show. But when he continues to not even acknowledge the tremendous job the current showrunners have done to not only update the show and keep it looking fresh in 2022, but keep it on the air when people were saying it wouldn't last without Bob, he just sounds like a bitter old man.
