If Bill was so great, how did Bob and Dennis get hired?

[Chelsea]

Huh?

It was supposed to read "Goodson went to Bud Grant" - I had to transcribe it manually from the Kindle edition since I couldn't figure out how to copy+paste from the kindle cloud reader. It has been edited.

[JayC]

Two questions this thread makes me wonder about-- who would've taken over as host after Bill Cullen retired/passed away if Bill hosted The New Price is Right? And what would've come of Bob Barker's career had he not become the host of Price?

[pricefan18]

Two questions this thread makes me wonder about-- who would've taken over as host after Bill Cullen retired/passed away if Bill hosted The New Price is Right? And what would've come of Bob Barker's career had he not become the host of Price?

Better question too..what woulda became of the Nighttime show? Would Bill have hosted that AND the daytime version, assuming there would even BEEN a daytime version still? Or would Dennis still get the nod, and if he did...what woulda happened after he left in 77?

[gamesurf]

Two questions this thread makes me wonder about-- who would've taken over as host after Bill Cullen retired/passed away if Bill hosted The New Price is Right?

Better question too..what woulda became of the Nighttime show? Would Bill have hosted that AND the daytime version, assuming there would even BEEN a daytime version still? Or would Dennis still get the nod, and if he did...what woulda happened after he left in 77?

You’re assuming the show runs 20+ years with a different host, different production choices, different EP guiding the evolution, etc.

Changing the personalities means it’s fundamentally not the same show. Maybe they decide XYZ works to Bill’s strengths instead of doing what worked for Bob. The show would not have evolved in the same way.

[JayC]

You’re assuming the show runs 20+ years with a different host, different production choices, different EP guiding the evolution, etc.

Changing the personalities means it’s fundamentally not the same show. Maybe they decide XYZ works to Bill’s strengths instead of doing what worked for Bob. The show would not have evolved in the same way.

Yes of course there's that possibility also. Would Price have had the run it has with Bill hosting rather than Bob is the better question thinking that way.

[PimpinJC]

Yes of course there's that possibility also. Would Price have had the run it has with Bill hosting rather than Bob is the better question thinking that way.

Doubtful Price would’ve survived the “game show cancellation” of the 90s.  From probably 1995-1999, Price was the game show genre.  Bob’s popularity and his stint on Happy Gilmore likely carried the show through that drought period.  Had Bill hosted the show until his death, I doubt anyone would’ve had the same kind of pull to carry the show through that.

[pricefan18]

Doubtful Price would’ve survived the “game show cancellation” of the 90s.  From probably 1995-1999, Price was the game show genre.  Bob’s popularity and his stint on Happy Gilmore likely carried the show through that drought period.  Had Bill hosted the show until his death, I doubt anyone would’ve had the same kind of pull to carry the show through that.

Don't forget Wheel and J! in that. They were there too. But Price was it from a network standpoint for sure.

[Chelsea]

Working backwards a bit: Bill would have been out at Price no later than early 1989 as that's when the cancer really became symptomatic.

After his pancreas issues in '85, he stayed on with what he was already committed to (Joker, some radio shows) but didn't replace them with new work once he finished them, and on the TV side stopped working entirely (by choice) after doing a guest week of Pyramid in '87.  If Price is still on and still a hit, my guess is somewhere around the time the show breaks Concentration's record, Bill says he wants to retire, and several people get looked at. Whoever isn't working in summer/fall '87 probably get looked at. Maybe a veteran or two like Wink, probably a lot of younger and mid-career talent like Bob Goen and Jim Peck, couple of left-field candidates too. If Kennedy's run had been more successful then he probably migrates to the daytime show, but without that once Wordplay wrapped, Tom largely stopped getting emcee phone calls.

Whoever gets hired realistically doesn't last past 1993 at most, if that long. 1989-95 was a very fragile time for the genre, and then the next 15 years game shows in network daytime literally WAS just Price, largely on Bob's pop cultural status - and later Drew's pop culture status and willingness to give him a chance on the audience' part.