The TV Zone

Bob Barker went out this morning the same way he rose to fame -- as a consummate television pro doing his job without drawing attention to himself.

His last original episode hosting CBS’ daytime game show “The Price Is Right” after 35 seasons unreeled like any other, except for Barker’s benediction “I want to thank you very, very much for inviting me into your homes for the last 50 years. I am deeply grateful.” And then the renowned animal activist exhorted viewers to “have your pets spayed or neutered.”

Some things never change.

Barker and “The Price Is Right” certainly didn’t, their retro-cheesiness being their continuing charm in an era when all other network game shows have gone the way of dodos. The host’s finale included all the usual elements: the Plinko game where contestants drop chips down a maze, rooting for them to land in the highest-money slots at the bottom. The range game where they have to stop a thermometer gadget’s rising mercury within $150 of an item’s correct price. The grocery game of buying products whose costs add up to a specified amount. And finally the showcase showdown, with wanna-bes spinning a tacky 10-foot wheel hoping it’ll stop on the right sum to get them into the big-prize finals.

All this is well-known to Barker’s devoted cult, though those unfamiliar might be forgiven for thinking they’ve stumbled into an alien world tonight at 8 when CBS repeats the host’s farewell hour in prime time. Newbies won’t have a clue why all the contestants exhorted to “Come on down!” from the studio audience are running, screaming, weeping and hyperventilating at the prospect of winning $7.31 (one poor guy’s prize) -- much less why they’re wearing custom T-shirts emblazoned with the likes of “BOB IS #1” and “PLINKO PRINCESS.”

“The Price Is Right” remains a bastion of gown-clad pretties (“Barker’s beauties”) sitting atop prize cars and waving, the way they did on “Let’s Make a Deal” 40 years ago. The CBS Television City studio named in Barker’s honor is still filled with flashing lights, beeping sounds and cut-out $$$-signs affixed to wall flats. Folding camping trailers and collections of board games send might-be winners into a frenzy.

Of course the finale’s big winner does take home more than $140,000 in prizes, which could make anybody scream a little. But no more than at the prospect of actually playing “The Price Is Right” with Barker, now 83, before this last exponent of network game-hosting geniality retires from a 50-year career. His replacement this fall (Barker repeats will run all summer) has yet to be named, but no matter who it is, the game won’t be the same.

[Above: AP photo of Barker's final taping, June 6, 2007.]