The long goodbye to “The Price Is Right” host Bob Barker begins in earnest next week, as CBS honours the legendary host five decades on television.

“After 50 years in show business and 35 years on CBS, we want to give Bob a prime-time send-off befitting of an entertainment icon,” Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement.

Barker, 83, started his national television career in 1956 on “Truth or Consequences,” which he hosted for 18 years. Then, in September 1972, came “The NEW Price is Right,” so named because it was a remake of a show first launched in 1956 and hosted by Bill Cullen.

The show was dreamed up by rookie producer Bob Stewart and hosted by Bill Cullen. But the show might never have happened at all. A rehearsal before their first broadcast was so bad, the network told Stewart, “We’ll give you seven weeks of money, as if you were on the air, and let’s forget the whole thing,” he recalls.

The producer fought for, and won, a 13-week run, not knowing “The Price Is Right” would be a hit, would become the highest rated daytime game show and the longest running game show in television history…Read more

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Bob Barker, Celebrities, TV Shows, The Price is Right