The Drew Carey story I promised you a while back…
As long-time readers of this site and long-time viewers of The Price Is Right may know, Bob Barker would send a signed photo of himself to anyone who asked for one, and not just those who sent a self-addressed, stamped envelope, either. Toward the end of his run, Bob was responding to email requests!
Anyway, when Drew Carey started working on the show back a ways, I figured I’d shoot them an email and see if I could get a signed picture of Drew. A month later, an envelope from The Price Is Right arrives, and sure enough, there’s a picture of Drew in it, signed! But wait…something was amiss. As it turned out, the ink was printed on the negative of the picture, rather than being hand-signed (and even if Bob had an intern do it, he made sure we got ink on photo paper). To Drew’s credit here, though I thought it was kind of a bush league move, the inscription said, “Dear ______, I’ll never forget that time we ______ in _____. Your Friend, Drew Carey” or something to that effect, which is almost funny. And in Drew’s defense, he’s got a much busier career than Bob does, as he still does a lot of other stuff besides TPIR, whereas Bob did the show, his animal charity stuff, some golf, and he spent the rest of his time banging the HELL out of the models on the show or DYING TRYING. Bob probably had more time to yell at interns to sign those pictures, damn it!
I kinda stewed over this for a little while, watched the show a little less than I was, and even though it was a silly, trivial issue in the grand scheme of things, I did decide that the people in charge needed a piece of my mind. So, I wrote to them:
“Hi there,
Before I start, I would like to thank you for the picture of Drew
Carey, as I requested on December 1st, 2007. However, at the risk of
perhaps seeming ungrateful (and I’m certainly not that; I meditated on
the propriety of sending an email like this for some time before I
actually sat down and typed it, because I didn’t want to seem greedy
or unappreciative…), I would like to call something to your
attention that concerned me a little about it. A few years ago, I made
a similar request for a signed photo of Bob Barker, as it was offered
on your The Price Is Right web site, and received it 6 weeks later,
personally autographed. That photo is framed on my wall, right near my
television set. The Drew Carey photo, however, had a funny but
impersonal “Dear ____” message printed directly on the photo negative.
Now, there are a few factors to consider here. First off, when I made
the request for the photo, Drew was not offering an autographed
picture on the site in the same way that Bob did, near as I can tell.
Second, it is possible that Drew could have some sort of hand ailment
(and no, I’m not being facetious) that precludes him from a lot of
signing, though I have seen him doing some for audience members at the
end of the show. However, as I’m sure you’ll agree, traditions are a
very important part of The Price Is Right (the games, the music, the
sound that the announcers have gone for through at least 3 different
announcers, and even the pet population message has remained after
Bob’s retirement), and even if Bob actually didn’t personally sign all
of those pictures, passing the work off to an assistant (I’m not
saying that this is the case for sure, just open to the possibility
that it was, as it’s a not-too-uncommon practice in Hollywood), he
still made sure that everyone who asked got a photo with actual ink on
it, and some of us, myself certainly included, treasure those photos
and the personal touch that went along with them. If Drew’s policy is
to send out these signed-on-the-negative photos, it could result in
some hurt feelings here and there. I’ll admit that it stung a little
when I got a good look at the picture and realized how it was signed,
which is why I’m writing to you. If you can let Drew know that some of
us who have really been pulling for him as new host might be put off
by his approach to this, I would greatly appreciate it. I am still
pulling for him, but I’m also hoping that he sees that certain parts
of the show’s tradition, even the menial ones, should be respected, as
should the viewers who benefit from them, because we really are doing
our best to embrace him as host, and we wish him all the success in
the world.
Sincerely Yours,
Scott Crawford
P.S. I did not write this letter to try to weasel another picture out
of you guys; the message here is really the important thing. However,
if Drew reads this or hears about this and feels that it’s important
to make good, my address is below, just so you don’t have to go
digging through a ton of emails to find it.
(address redacted)”
Not too “trying to impress Jodie Foster” I hope, not too Comic Shop Guy, just a reasonable concern from a longtime viewer. I sent this email out, oh, I guess it was a little under 3 months ago, and have not heard anything, so, I figured it was time to tell the story, and ask you all to *politely* see if policies have changed over there at CBS Television City. I’m basically over it, and though I’ve been watching the show less than I was (more time constraints and sleep schedule than anything else), it’s not a situation where I can’t watch the show because I feel like I was wronged (see: Pitt, Brad; seriously, email Uncle Bob and ask him about Brad Pitt’s legal team, then never ask me again if I saw “that movie with Brad Pitt in it…”), but I do want to know if Drew’s started hand-signing or not.
If those of you who haven’t already bugged them for a photo of Drew (let’s not be greedy, folks) could please drop a polite (key word, because if you’re not polite, you could ruin this for everyone) email to pir@tvc.cbs.com, requesting a signed photo (don’t forget to include your mailing address), I would greatly appreciate any stories you could pass onto me about what you received in the mail (genuine signature vs. facsimile signature, etc.), how you were responded to and such. I’d just like to know if my concerns were taken to heart here, without personally bugging them any further.
Best of luck to you all in your pursuit of a signed pic!
Also: they changed the site for the show recently, apparently. The FAQ (where I found out about the picture offer in the first place) is conspicuous by its absence, but on the upside, you can watch full episodes right on the site!