[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'237259\' date=\'Mar 9 2010, 10:21 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'237227\' date=\'Mar 9 2010, 02:36 PM\']Drew is a comedian, plain and simple.[/quote]And part of what I like about him is his everyman appeal. When did you see Bob dance with the contestant as the Cliff Hangers music played and Hans was plotting a career change? Or Bob celebrating with the contestant after a big win? (usually, he was the one running away...) His contestant interactions are not the problem, it is that he seems to be treating the job like it doesn't matter, because what can they do? Fire him? Deprive him of another umpteen million dollars so he can buy another soccer team? TPIR may not be Sarious Business, but the job should not be taken as a joke.
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That is what I think is one of the best parts of Drew hosting (part about the everyman appeal). I normally watch the show every morning before I leave for class so I'm going to try to post as an average watcher rather than as a huge fan and say what I think of him and the show.
Drew-He was not the best host in his first year, but he has made great progress. I do not nit pick every little thing he does, but simply look at the big picture. I do think there are days where he's off, but Bob had good and bad days also. However, I do think he hosts with the attitude of, "I'm going to host how I want and if you don't like it, too bad" which could be a turn off some days. One person mentioned how there was a winner next to the guy who overbid the Porsche and Drew shouldn't have focused all of his attention to him. Yes, the guy did win and should have been celebrated for his win, but how could you not feel sorry for the guy and not want to console him? Even the guy that won wanted to give him a hug and you could hear how upset the crowd was after reading the price. I think that is one good quality is he goes with the flow sometimes rather than try all the time to be a regulator or play which is good to have a balance.
The prizes- Ok, I get that making fun of the prizes does not make it attractive for suppliers to give their products to the show, but if that's a problem, make the prizes more attractive and less likely to be made fun of. I mean come on, WTF am I going to do with a cotton candy machine or a teapot shaped clock? Don't tell me you haven't seen an episode where they introduce a cheap or useless prize (like designer women's clothes/accessories) to a (male) contestant and you can see the look in the contestant's face of "I don't want this, but I'll try to clap anyway." Make it something a contestant would dream of or need and it'll be a great prize. You can't go wrong with cars and cash and don't give me the "the variety has to be constantly mixed up" because I still haven't grown tired of playing the lottery and I'll always enter a contest for a car.
Ratings- Whoever their marketing dept is needs to be fired and replaced. Usually when I talk to my peers about the show, I normally get a "that show is still on?" response. I think part of the ratings issue is that not many people know the show is still on the air and could use some publicity like a Million Dollar Spectacular to generate buzz. I think some of the problem is that more people aren't watching as much daytime TV like they used to. I do think there are a lot of people that dropped off simply because it doesn't have Bob anymore, but there's nothing that can be done about it.
Overall, speaking as an average viewer, I think the show and host are fine. There should be some adjustments, but the overall machine isn't broken. I think the biggest thing that could help the show are bringing buzz back by bringing back some MDS to primetime to make people aware of the show.
