Price is Right
Golden Garden Park, Seattle via iPhone
Sorry for the lack of posts and the inability to comment. I updated to the latest version of Movable Type, and I haven't figured out the best mechanism to prevent comment spam.
I was packing to fly home from Walla Walla this morning when I happened to catch the game show The Price is Right. This year Drew Carey took over as host after Bob Barker's 35 years at the helm. I haven't watched this show in depth since I was kid. The premise of the show is to have the contestants guess the prices of various items, which conveniently gives the producers the opportunity to showcase their advertisers' wares. I would be awful at this game.
Watching Drew Carey reminded me of an investment manager I know that got into a bidding war with a prospective employer and his current firm. He stayed at the new firm for a week and then returned to his old company. He said that with all the back and forth negotiating he realized after the dust had settled he ended up on the wrong side of the aisle.
Drew Carey is in the wrong job and I think he knows it. I suspect in the heat of all the salary negotiations Carey forgot to consider how confining the show would be. During the show, Carey had a smirk on his face much of the time as if he couldn't believe how stupid the show is and how ridiculous the contestants act. The saddest part is Carey's comic mind is so quick, yet he's not allowed to say what he's thinking. The producers are too busy cajoling him to get the contestants to stand in the right place or screaming the rules for whatever silly game Carey has to explain. At one point, a contestant had to choose whether a $4,567 price tag matched the price of a dining set or some fantasy jumping game. Carey could barely get through the segment, because he was trying to stifle a laugh. Clearly, he had come up with with a joke about the fantasy jumping game - which cost over $6,000 by the way - but was unable to tell it.
There is nothing worse than having a job where you can't be yourself. I don't think Carey will make it more than one season. He won't be able to tolerate working in a straitjacket.