Critics Appreciation – The Hollywood Reporter

Bob Barker, who died this week at the age of 99, was the patron saint of sick days.

Hearing Barker’s name is immediately poignant.

You might also have stayed with the boxy television in your living room—the one that was normally taboo during the day, but which turned into a lifeless doctor, endlessly babysitting you once your body temperature hit 100 degrees.

For me, Bob Barker’s name is the magical wardrobe that takes me to every student lounge at every college my parents have ever taught at, where I’ll sit in a frayed, foamy chair normally reserved for undergraduates and sit for hours on my fever waited to break. The students looked in, saw that a presumably sick child was monopolizing television, complained that this was the time they usually watched their favorite soap operas, and left. Unless what was running was The price is correctIn this case they took a seat in another part of the lounge, far away if I wasn’t pretending, and waited a section or two.

It’s idiomatic to call chicken soup “Jewish penicillin,” and I don’t know if Barker and The price is correct claimed to have such magical healing properties—but I know that nothing FDA-approved made time pass faster than Bob Barker and The price is correct.

I wasn’t a sickly kid, so I think Barker and the show’s ubiquity extended to teachers’ days, the occasional holiday, and the occasional ill-timed school vacation. Bob Barker and The price is correct were, it seemed, always there, or always next if you just waited for a local morning news program. At this point I couldn’t tell you how long the episodes are The price is correct actually are/were. One hour? 30 minutes? “All damn morning”? There’s a reason why, when I was very young, I would wake my parents up during the commercial breaks of weekend cartoons by standing at the bottom of the stairs yelling “Nona Fienberg.” [that’s my mom], Come down! You are the next participant The price is correct.” Annoying? Adorable? Who’s to say?

This is my deep and personal connection to Bob Barker and The price is correctand almost anyone whose age spans four or five decades can make their own similar connection.

To understand Barker’s greatness, you have to understand this: people were and are fundamentally bad at it The price is correct.

In a typical episode, at least half of the contestants understand the basics of the one-bid game that begins each cycle of the show, and—and this is the bedrock of the entire show—people typically don’t either, know, how much something costs. And that’s before you get to the show’s myriad one-on-one competitions, ranging from “legitimately challenging” to “glorified gravity exercises.”

One could say that Barker, as the man tasked with explaining these games thousands and thousands of times, deserved some responsibility or even blame for any confusion. But that would ignore the other fundamental principle The price is correct: EVERYBODY could and can play. This is not the case and never has been American ninja warrior or Danger. A 90-year-old grandmother from Topeka and a 21-year-old fraternity boy from Arizona state are approaching The price is correct with equal certainty of success and with equal understanding of the strategy or lack of strategy from Plinko or Hi Lo.

Which Barker contributed to The price is correct resembled in many ways one of Alex Trebek’s great gifts Danger – namely, the patience of a martyr, but not infinite patience. Barker could smile tolerantly at the contestant who genuinely believed a box of Rice-A-Roni could cost $17, or cheerfully ask the 90-year-old grandmother from Topeka what she would do if she actually won a jet ski. He could calmly teach this hyperactive sophomore in Arizona state not to be overly aggressive with the flimsy-looking gaming console that appeared to be made of plywood, glue, and advertisers’ trust.

But then he might freak out, or at least theatrically lose patience with a mocker or fool who simply refused to grasp the concept. He was never cruel. Well, considering there were certain things you could say to people in 1983 that you wouldn’t say today, he might be a little cruel, but cruel in an ironic, avuncular way that made his desperation ambitious.

The original desire – I think Freud wrote several essays on the subject – to be encouraged by Bob Barker, to be reprimanded by Bob Barker, to be gutted by Bob Barker is central to his legendary cameo appearance in Adam Sandler’s film Lucky Gilmore. you could watch The price is correct and be assured that behind Barker’s professional persona, beyond the catchphrases and perhaps all too overbearing affection on camera (as much or more from his fans as from him) lurks an elaborate sadism, and that it would really be fun to be there, if it ever bubbles to the surface.

Let’s just say Bob Barker was the patron saint of sick days, but also the patron saint of “sick days.” look The price is correct was sure he knew if you were really ill or just faking it, just as he knew which competitors grossly overestimated the value of a display case of prizes that might come in handy on your week-long vacation to CINCINNATI !

You see, when we were growing up – oh, I feel the same age here – and it became necessary to spend a day with insufficient activity and insufficient supervision, we didn’t have tablets and streaming services to watch everything we did wanted wanted whenever we wanted. We took what the TV gods gave us and thank God the TV gods gave us Bob Barker and… for 6,586 episodes from 1972 to 2007 The price is correct.

Spay or neuter your pets and children.

Spay or neuter your pets.