Bye-Bye, Bob Barker— After 35 years of hosting daytime gameshow “The Price is Right,” 85-year-old Bob Barker is finally retiring. Names of replacement hosts are being bandied about (Mark Steines, Todd Newton and George Hamilton seem to be the frontrunners, although Rosie O’Donnell is tooting her own horn rather loudly). Rest assured someone will be back in a Burbank studio quizzing people on the price of canned corn sooner than later.Not ones to let the milestone pass them by, the Game Show Network will air a multi-night tribute to the venerable Mr. Barker. Starting Tuesday, May 15, GSN will air several nights worth of disco-era episodes of “The Match Game” featuring Barker as a celebrity panelist—along with the likes of Charles Nelson Reilly and Richard Dawson—at 7 and 7:30 p.m. Those same nights will also feature Barker and his “Barker Beauties” appearing on “Family Feud” in 1991, where they squared off against cast members from “The Young and the Restless.” The tribute concludes on Saturday, May 19, with the special “Game Show Countdown: Top 10 Hosts” at 5 p.m., and later that night, a 1972 edition of “I’ve Got a Secret” with Barker as a panelist and a little-seen episode of “Tattletales” from 1976 in which he filled in for regular host Bert Convy. Goodbye Gilmore Girls— The CW and Warner Bros. Television announced last Thursday that the popular multigenerational family show “Gilmore Girls,” starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, will wrap its seventh and final season on Tuesday, May 15. The announcement didn’t come as any particular shock. The show’s creators, Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband/collaborator Dan Palladino, left at the end of the sixth season when The WB network shut down. The show was picked up by the fledgeling CW network, but only landed a one year commitment. The year is up, and CW is apparently moving on. “60” Isn’t 86ed?— Aaron Sorkin’s drama “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” went down in flames earlier this season, yanked from NBC’s Monday night schedule due to sinking ratings. Now the network has announced its return—at least for a little while. NBC will move the show to Thursday nights at 9 p.m. starting on May 24. Unfortunately, that Thursday is the day after the end of the crucial May sweeps period and it comes a week after the big upfront presentations at which NBC will reveal to advertisers whether or not “Studio 60” is being renewed next season. The show’s chances for a slot on the fall schedule are believed to be relatively slim. More Musical— Relax, tweens. The Disney Channel announced last week that High School Musical 2 would air Friday, Aug. 17. All the stars and the director are expected to return from the first smash hit movie to participate in a “summer extravaganza at a posh country club.” A second sequel, Haunted High School Musical, is expected to hit movie theaters in 2008. OMG! TSC! IST!
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