Bob Barker,

October 17, 2001 7:35 PM

Bob Barker, inspiration to all of us who want to someday host a mid-morning game show, seems to be throwing in the towel.
posted by geoff. (14 comments total)

Crap, I hope he doesn't do it soon. A friend of mine left two months ago on a pilgramage by bicycle across the u.s. with his final reverent destination being an attempt at getting into the showcase showdown. He should be in Nevada right now. Sick days won't be the same anymore...
posted by machaus at 7:47 PM on October 17, 2001

I once sat in the lobby of a local car wash and oil change place for the entire hour of that show. At first I was alone, by the showcase showdown, there were 7 of us bidding aloud, laughing at each other, armchair quarterbacking the overweight frat boy...I knew it was under $20,000. Dumb fat kid, probably never even got lucky in a 30 foot travel trailer. Ahh, the good ole days of high school by the river...oh, uh, yeah, going to miss old mr. neuter himself.
posted by n'awlins at 8:30 PM on October 17, 2001

You have to hand it to Bob. He's got stamina and style. As a kid I remember him asking people to help control the pet population. Years later I laughed my ass off when he and Adam Sandler duked it out in Happy Gilmour. In the past few years a few of the TV personalities I considered constant in my early years have passed on, making me acutely aware of the impermanence of things. The thought of Bob retiring is another of those that gives me pause to look back, look around, look ahead. I once would have said it was shallow to mark some of the signposts of life with the passing of people on TV I never met, but now I know that it's the memory of the things around me when I would see them on TV that makes these people endearing to me.
posted by holycola at 9:00 PM on October 17, 2001

he really does have the right to retire. i'm still in college so i can watch the show pretty frequently; the contestants seem to interact less with bob now, i remember when it was always an old lady or femullet groping bob whether they win or lose, now it's frat boys waving to their friends and ignoring bob. *puff*

...during the show he keeps his opinions to himself. ''I don't try to sell my way of life during the show. This is a fun show.''
i did not know that he is an activist; that he does not pontificate has evoked in me a new found respect for him.
i respect bob barker.
posted by elle at 9:21 PM on October 17, 2001

Yes, but what about the timing of this move?

Bin Laden's unedited, secret message-filled videotape airs nationwide, and within 10 days, Bob decides to retire.

Coincidence? I think not.
posted by verdezza at 9:31 PM on October 17, 2001

I'd think that this retirement is prompted more by the fact that he's become a huge legal liability. He's now on his third or fourth lawsuit from former "Barker's Beauties" and the allegations would suggest that even if only half-true, Barker's a pathetic old mysoginist perv. Wouldn't shock me one bit.
posted by Dreama at 10:12 PM on October 17, 2001

"The price is wrong, bitch."
posted by Dirjy at 10:56 PM on October 17, 2001

Wow, I never gave the man a notice.
I feel like I've missed an institution.
posted by Hima Otsubusu at 1:09 AM on October 18, 2001

Bob is an inspiration to all of us who want to boff 6-foot-2 statuesque blonde models half our age. Go Bob!
posted by darren at 6:27 AM on October 18, 2001

A good human being and if anyone's the King of Daytime, it's Bob. Like Johnny Carson, Bob's always been a man of impeccable timing. He knows how to hit his mark. He knows what to say and when. So it's logical to say he knows when it's time to go.

I wouldn't call retiring after such a successful a career stretching over thirty years "throwing in the towel." I have noticed in recent years that he doesn't seem to enjoy it like he used to. There's been times some overexcited person rushes on stage all excited and goes to hug Bob and Bob's like, back off! It's not the same world he started in, and though he's spry, he's not as young as he used to be. The lawsuits are probably a factor in his decision. He may simply no longer enjoy the work environment.

When he chooses to finish his efforts as Master of Ceremonies for Price, he should still have a good ten or twenty years of his life with which to spend all the money he's made over the years. He's going while he can still enjoy his retirement. I say more power to him.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:59 AM on October 18, 2001

From the article: His Harvard donation, which will fund one course on animal rights law every other year...

(puke)

(puke some more)
posted by davidmsc at 3:13 PM on October 18, 2001

once he retires, he'll have plenty of time to devote to his online bondage and discipline supply, from which he'll be glad to sell you a sexy gown to go along with your new belt!
posted by quonsar at 4:25 PM on October 18, 2001

Outstanding field research, quonsar! Um...but suddenly I'm afraid to know how/why you came to know about that site...

(backs away cautiously...)
posted by davidmsc at 3:40 AM on October 19, 2001

davidmsc - i suspect i actually learned of it here, but since the search seems to be limping on its knees i can't confirm that! :-)
posted by quonsar at 5:27 AM on October 19, 2001