Playing Plinko WIth My Heart Strings

And thus endeth an era. I just finished watching Bob Barker's final episode as host of The Price is Right. When I was a kid - and by kid I mean all the way through when I was in high school - I remember watching this show every weekday I happened to be home at 11am.

There's something kinda cool about how quick you unwittingly get sucked into sharing the contestants' excitement. Every ounce of my cynicism was temporarily drained away as I found myself involuntarily smiling and actually enjoying someone elses's good fortune; something you don't get to do with a lot of television these days. It's a feeling I had almost forgotten until I tuned in today; the first time I've watched the show in probably fifteen years.

There's another reason I was glad I tuned in today. It brought back one of my fondest memories of being young - watching The Price is Right over lunch with my grandfather whenever I happened to be visiting. We'd set up in the living room with our TV trays, my grandmother would bring us lunch, and we would spend the next hour guessing prices, discussing prizes and generally just having a good time.

Farewell Bob, and thanks for a least a few minutes of feeling like a kid again. The show won't be quite the same without you.