So Deal or No Deal is a hit. Who would've thunk it? I'd seen the Australian version before and wasn't totally blown away, but the daily version down there is only a half hour and it plays much tighter. It also has a Q&A play-in element so at least the chosen contestant earned his way up there.

The American version, sigh, I have trouble understanding how people are enraptured by this. The contestant basically is given free money just for showing up on stage. It's all personality based, no skill required. Second off, in an hour long format, the show just drags. 50 minutes for the first contestant? Third, the friend/family element is annoying and is a real distraction. They're opening briefcases, not contemplating marriage or anything. It's not really a life or death decision. And lastly, the faceless banker is just ridiculous.

That being said, the show's success could be good in general. Imitators will surely come along and hopefully we'll see some more primetime games in 2006. It will be interesting to see if the show can hold up well against stronger competition. This week has been a dead zone for TV, so DonD has been running virtually unopposed in most time slots. We'll see what the future holds when the show (inevitably) is brought back for a second run.

 

posted by Brad @ 2:46 PM   0 comment(s)