Bob Barker’s career has been long and illustrious. From early Truth or Consequences days to daytime immortality with the Price is Right, Bob Barker has been on television for half a century. Tonight marks his final appearance on the prime time edition of his popular game show, the Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular. It airs tonight on CBS at 8pm ET, and gives fans one last chance to see Bob before his big summer send-off. The Spectacular will be followed on Thursday night by a CBS tribute celebrating Bob Barker’s life in front of the camera.

Born December 12, 1923, Bob Barker has won seventeen Emmys since he began his tenure on the Price is Right in 1972. The CBS show is the longest-running daytime game show in the history of television. After many years of putting, playing, and watching the wheel spin, Bob is going to give his hosting duties a rest and enjoy retirement. His last episode of the Price is Right is set to air June 15, 2007. Ever since Barker’s announcement, speculation has been hot and heavy as to who will fill his sizeable hosting shoes. 

Barker became the host of Truth or Consequences, the only game show which has a real-life town named after it, on New Year’s Eve 1956. He stayed with the program until 1975, three years into his daytime Price is Right gig. Barker also served as the host of short-lived The Family Game in 1967, a program similar to the Newlywed Game. Somehow, Barker still managed to find the time to make regular appearances as a panelist on other game shows, including the popular Tattletales (where Barker appeared with his wife) and Match Game (where Barker often managed to plug both Price and Truth).

The Price is Right has a long history in TV, beginning back in the 1950s with Bill Cullen. Like Bob Barker, Bill Cullen would go on to become one of America’s most recognizable game show hosts, though Barker holds the record for on-screen longevity. Will CBS find someone else to fill Bob’s role on the show? Undoubtedly. Will the new host receive the same level of esteem and love from faithful Barker fans? Absolutely not. Barker’s retirement from the show probably won’t kill the game show straightaway…but, for the first time in three and a half decades, CBS has to be seriously considering losing their popular game show mainstay to poor ratings.