I would think $otC in its rules bible has a clause about the "Best Answer" being the only one acceptable for a regular question. Password Plus had a similar one:

Yes, but I would argue that the "Best Answer" doctrine is not what's at issue here.  In the Password Plus example, this is to say that the definitive answer and not items that coincidentally fit the same category is what will be accepted (in essence, you can't play like a Cliff Clavin and twist the answer to your benefit).  The case I cite is that differing terms identifying the same individual (i.e., birth name versus stage name, the latter of which was also the name of his most memorable character), the contestant did provide an answer that matched to the same specific individual as to what was on Perry's answer card.

I suppose Sale of the Century was never as high-calibre of a trivia quiz as, say, Jeopardy!, but, hey, if your Jeopardy! answer is, "Ed Sullivan said of this actor's 1931 Broadway performance in Nikki that this ‘young lad from England has a big future in the movies’." and contestant questions, "Who is Archibald Leach?" instead of "Who is Cary Grant?", you're not going to rule against him, are you?  I doubt you'd be expecting anybody to answer his birth name either way when, technically speaking, he hadn't adopted the name "Cary Grant" at that point.  Either way, you're referring to the same individual.

I think the broken part of the game was the contestants playing it...

I would think $otC in its rules bible has a clause about the "Best Answer" being the only one acceptable for a regular question. Password Plus had a similar one:

http://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,31288.0.html

8.  Best Answer

        Suppose there is a puzzle with the passwords:
President, Peanuts, Billy, Teeth, Georgia.  The answer
obviously, is Jimmy Carter.  It is conceivable that some-
body may indeed exist who is President of a Georgia Peanut
butter factory, and has a dog named Billy who has sharp
Teeth.  Although the passwords may also happen to describe
this other person, Jimmy Carter is the "best answer" to
these clues and will be considered the only correct answer.

I think I get why CBS wanted him. He was a brand name. They could promote "watch Drew Carey on The Price Is Right." Mark L. Wahlberg? Not so much

I suppose such a claim would be consistent with "how showbiz works", but if that really was the case, how the heck did Mikey Richards ever get the hosting job for Jeopardy!?  Being producer alone wouldn't have been enough.  He was unknown to almost everybody, and there was certainly no shortage of B-list celebrities they could have got as host of the show.  The whole "nobody knows this guy" didn't ring here when it seems to ring everywhere else.

Wahlberg would have been great, but he would have had a much harder time escaping Bob's shadow because despite his skill, most people would only have seen him as the replacement Bob. Drew was/is so different, it's folly to compare them that way.

Only insofar as Walberg has done a better job hosting game shows than Drew Carey has.  If Roger Dobkowtiz said Mark L. Walberg should have been the next host of The Price Is Right (and he did), then Mark L. Walberg should have been the next host of The Price Is Right.  Your producer who's risen through the ranks having been there since day one, who has shown the knack for recognizing a stinker change to your format when he sees it coming to remain on the outside (i.e., Davidson's Price), then his is a judgement you do not just throw aside before you throw said producer under the bus.  In my opinion, the only redeeming aspect of Drew's first season was that it came across as "some fat guy hosting Bob's show", and for the number of people who've come out of the woodwork in light of Barker's death to talk about how much the show was "comfort food" to them, being that's the legacy they built with the show, it's a legacy that never should have been shed through the transformation they've done to the show in the last fifteen years.

There was a specific order of selection for contestants based upon their personalities and how Barker would be able to interact with them....

I'd never heard this. It makes sense, but I learned something today. Thank you.

My two cents on Drew: I think I get why CBS wanted him. He was a brand name. They could promote "watch Drew Carey on The Price Is Right." Mark L. Wahlberg? Not so much. Wahlberg would have been great, but he would have had a much harder time escaping Bob's shadow because despite his skill, most people would only have seen him as the replacement Bob. Drew was/is so different, it's folly to compare them that way.

Their decision has borne out and if it hadn't, the show would have been cancelled, so I appreciate Drew for keeping it on the air. I take a charitable view anyway because I like him as a person, although I'm not crazy about his new parolee style and wardrobe.