Horrible. I watched for a few minutes and he was stumbling all over himself.

The "Ezekiel" reference and the inclusion of the Spay and Neuter plug were nice nods. I also suspect that either it wasn't the "first" episode taped, or else they deliberately made no reference to the changing of the guard, so that the episode could be more easily inserted into rerun rotation.

All in all, though, I think things went very smoothly. Drew just needs some time to become more at home on the set (Bob taped over 6000 episodes, after all), and he'll be fine. People expecting a clone of Bob will likely be somewhat disappointed. The two hosts have their own personalities, and I think that over time Drew will be a good fit for the show.

As for the Beauties, I think that "Carey's Cuties" would be a great replacement for their nickname.

(just in case)

Oh, and I think the new face-lift that they gave the sets works very well also. I bit retro in some respects, with some design elements sort of going back to the show's roots, but a very clean, attractive design nonetheless.

Caught the last half of it earlier. At his speed, the show should only be a half-hour long.

Drew is trying wayyyy to hard. Just an element of class missing with him as host. I hope he gets better.

If by class you mean slimy, sexist asshole, then you're right! ;)

He seemed nervous and a little behind the show. BUT, when you think about it, there is alot to hosting this show. You have to remember the various prices for Contestant Row, be quick with your math, be entertaining, and keep the show going, all of this in front of a live audience. I'm sure it's very nerve-wracking and will take some time to get used to. I'm sure Bob wasn't as flawless on his first few shows, either.

And let's not forget that Bob had three years to get used to the format of the show in an abbreviated, half-hour version, while it was still being polished. He also only had a dozen or so games to juggle in the beginning, compared to the roughly 75 games that are currently in rotation.

I just watched the beginning and the first contestant and it felt like actors posing as contestants. I'll have to check it out later. They wouldn't stage the first few people to ensure a smooth beginning would they? That black dude felt totally staged.

I think Drew will do a better job when he gets more comfortable with it. I can't imagine that it's easy to take over for Bob.

I really hope he gets a better handle on the contestants, though- right now he doesn't seem to have much control over them. And I don't need him to ask each one how they are- keep the chit-chat down to a minimum. And the "did you drive here?" question will get old fast.

Did anyone else catch the woman who called him "Ray"? :lol:

That's interesting because I remember the very first contestant on his 'Power of 10' show won the whole thing. A million bucks. Maybe Drew Carey is a lucky charm or lerprechaun or something.

I'm getting the same vibe. I don't remember the contestants acting the same way with Bob Barker.

Just caught a few minutes. Didn't seem that Drew was terribly comfortable.

After the quiz show scandals back in the 50's, there's no way they would even think about staging a show like that, and try to claim it was real.

This is a very hard show to do. Barker never got enuf credit. there's a lot of juggling to do.

carey proved himself on 'Who's Line' as a good host. give him time.

also, i think he'd be more popular if he stopped dyeing his hair ... ;)

At least we have seen an end of the days of the host of the show not hearing the contestants say they prices they want to bid. I love Bob as a host, but let's face it...the man was getting really hard of hearing there towards the end.

I missed the first episode...pretty remarkable that people won all six games, but it's been done before. Did they roll out some of the easier ones to play?

I caught the second episode and thought he did an OK job. Far better than I was anticipating, and much better than Ricki Lake. And a lot more enjoyable to watch than Rosie O'Donnel.

Which is not to say I don't wish they had just gone with a fresh face all together who had the chops to do the job. But I guess it's hard to sell a fresh face on an old show like that....even Bob Barker didn't get the show right off the bat.

I dunno. Bob dyed his hair for about a decade, and he still seemed to be pretty popular. ;)

We also thought the first episode was staged. Drew kept saying "A perfect show" over and over again... but the prizes were terrible! A Ford Focus!?! Come on! They should have played for a Viper like they did on the second show... and the showcase showdowns the first night were terrible... I mean the one was only worth what? $25k? Last nights second showdown was $61K!!! And, everyone knows that the most popular game is Plinko, and they waited for the second show for that as well... I think I'll change my stance and say that the first show aired was probably the second show taped, and the second show aired was probably the first taped... and they switched them up in favor of the "perfect show" as Drew's first.

As for Drew... I hope he gets better, because right now he's flailing. I hate it when he asks each contestant if they want to say hi to someone... they'll ask you if they want to. And when he asks where they're from and then says "Well if you're from ______, then you're sure to love this!" and the prize has nothing to do with the place. Its just bad.

George W. Bush is the new host of The Price is Right!

I was going to try & watch The Price is Right this morning & Bush appears! The audience isn’t smiling & he isn’t letting them, ‘come on down!’

I knew Carey wouldn't last long.

Still no HD for Price is Right? Seems it would have been a good time to do it with the set change.

wouldnt the 'whole thing' have been 10 million?

and barker made mistakes. TONS of them.

First episode was horrible.

#1.) He talks WAY too fast. He's going to lose the older audience quickly talking that fast.

#2.) He lets the contestants walk all over him. Especially the woman who took five minutes deciding on something...Barker would've stopped that after 10-15 seconds.

#3.) It's not necessary to do the "Did you drive here? Well maybe you can drive home!" bit before they announce a car...yet he did it each time.

#4.) I don't think I knew the announcer's last name before this show. After one show with Drew, I know it's Rich Fields, since he said it 11 times in the episode.

#5.) The set looks terrible. It's like something straight out of the 80's. And what's with the awful music?

I really wish now that they just retired TPIR and just had Drew host a brand new game show. This is not working for me.

I am liking it fine. He just needs to find his own pace/style with the show. Bob had 35 years to be established. I wonder if everybody thought Bob Barker was the it man back in his first week of shows as well?

I am not a huge Drew fan, but I am willing to give the guy a fair chance. If in a few weeks he's still not quite as comfortable with the gig, then I think I might start agreeing. However, I don't think they should EVER cancel TPIR. If he doesn't work out, they should seek for a new host.

The only thing I truly miss is the failure music.
http://tpirfailure.ytmnd.com/

I have missed it all week long...did they retire that wonderful piece of music?

Is it just me or is the audience space like a THIRD of what it used to be? I looks like about 20 rows where it used to look like a huge auditorium with tons of people. :hscratch:

It was never a huge auditorium. It's always been small. I know somebody who went to a taping and confirmed it was much smaller in life than it appears on TV. Maybe they are filming the audience different this year to give you an idea of the actual size of the auditorium?