After awarding his last Showcase of all time today (well, a week or so ago, but his last Price Is Right just aired), Bob Barker said his final farewell to his audience:
“I want to thank you very, very much for inviting me into your home for the past 50 years. I am deeply grateful. And please remember: help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered!”
Which raised a question that hadn’t yet occurred to me in amid the Barker-retirement hoo-hah. We didn’t just lose Bob Barker. Pet population control advocates lost probably the best spokeman they’ll ever have. Whenever CBS finally replaces Barker, who’s to say what cause the new host will speak for, if any? Recycling? Vaccinations? Public breastfeeding rights? God knows how many causes out there have quietly seethed all these years at the unfair windfall for the pet-control folks, and how hard they are lobbying potential new hosts to take up their standard.
More important, are we about to be up to our elbows in stray cats and dogs?