Poor Dave Price. Back in December, the nerdy Milhouse Van Houten lookalike and CBS Early Show weathergeek was a lock to take over for old Bob Barker on The Price Is Right. Dave was all set to do Chenbot foil duty Monday through Thursday in New York, then fly to the coast for to tape his namesake show on Fridays.

But as the days tick down to old Bob's last leering appearance in June, it looks like somebody at CBS has forced a focus group into the picture. Because producers are now showing tapes of a new potential hosts to test audiences around the country. And to a man, the candidates are manly, hunky, cookie-cutter creepy-- in the Bob Barker mold.

The "hottest" contenders right now are anti-Price, lightweight Tom Cruise double and Anna Nicole exploiter Mark Steines from Entertainment Tonight; Bob Barker contemporary and schkeeve-factor competitor George Hamilton (at his age, sort of a game show Pope Benedict); and Latin dancer Mario Lopez. Second-tier hopefuls include comedic ladies' man (and fellow twinkle-toes) John O'Hurley; Todd Newton, the Mark Steines steinnabe who hosts The Price Is Right Live in Las Vegas; and dark horse Mike Richards (no, not that Mike Richards-- it's the guy who hosts Beauty & The Geek, who'll get the gig if CBS wants to save money).