A 36-year Price Is Right veteran says host Drew Carey should be cut loose so his multimillion-dollar salary can reverse the show’s slide into cheap production and thin entertainment.
Roger Dobkowitz, the 81-year-old former producer who helped build the CBS game show from its 1972 premiere, posted a lengthy Facebook message on Thursday calling for Carey’s exit. He argued the longest-running game show in television history now “reeks of a show desperately trying to stay on at any cost.”
The Sun reported Dobkowitz’s detailed critique of format changes, budget cuts, and a host he says adds little beyond reading rules and ushering contestants. Carey’s reported $10 million-a-year paycheck, Dobkowitz wrote, could fund real fixes instead.
Dobkowitz started as a production assistant and associate producer in 1972, rose to full producer in 1984, and left in 2008. He also worked on Family Feud, Double Dare, Now You See It, and Match Game. His post scrutinized the current 55th season and the cost-cutting that followed years of falling TV revenue and high production expenses.
Dobkowitz did not mince words about where the money should go. He said Carey’s pay package would stretch far if redirected into the product viewers actually see.
He wrote:
“[Drew’s] reported $10 Million a year salary would go quite far in remaking the show...a second model could be hired ($150,000-200,000 thousand a year).”
He added that better prizes could return to the stage instead of mere pictures, more cars could be given away, and the show could afford more wins. “As I wrote earlier, $10 million dollars can go a long way,” he posted. Dobkowitz singled out the picture-of-the-prize practice as “the worst.”
Fewer models and digital stand-ins for large grand prizes have become visible markers of the squeeze. Dobkowitz framed the host’s compensation as the clearest lever left to reverse it.
Carey took over for the show’s 36th season in October 2007 after Bob Barker departed the previous June. CBS sought Carey out; he did not formally audition. Barker later made three guest appearances before his death in August 2023 at age 99. The show itself survived that transition, Dobkowitz noted, and remains strong enough to thrive with a different face.
On Carey’s on-air role, Dobkowitz was blunt:
“I understand many people like Drew’s presence on the show...but it is obvious he ADDS very little to the show...he ushers contestants to their game, recites the rules quickly, and always asks if they want to say hello to anyone at home.”
He continued that a new host would gladly work for a fraction of Carey’s pay and would likely deliver more entertainment value. “There are lots of good candidates out there...there were 18 years ago when we did auditions. I am sure there are just as many today,” Dobkowitz wrote.
Some commenters on the post agreed. One said it was time for “someone who can ADD something to the show. Someone younger, and cheaper.” Another claimed most of the people who auditioned after Barker looked better than Carey. A third joked the show might soon return to a bare 1950s format of four contestants stuck onstage the whole hour.
Dobkowitz opened his message with simple concern: “I am a little worried about The Price Is Right.” He closed by insisting the franchise easily outlasted Barker’s exit and could do the same with Carey if executives chose product over a single paycheck.
Neither Carey nor CBS has publicly answered the post in the available reporting. The salary figure remains Dobkowitz’s stated number, not a confirmed network disclosure. Absolute dates for the Thursday post and any formal network reply are not yet clear.
When a show that ran for decades starts looking threadbare while the host’s reported pay stays sky-high, the man who spent half a lifetime building it is entitled to say the math no longer works for the audience footing the bill.
