I was in northern California recently visiting my aunt. This bears mentioning because it meant that I stayed in a motel and didn’t have Tivo or a DVR to keep me from watching commercials and shows that I otherwise would never see because I have 50 hours of Law & Order, Law & Order SVU or Law & Order Criminal Intent to catch up on.
Flipping through the channels, all ten of them, I ran across Deal or No Deal, the new game show phenomenon that has stolen the heart of America away from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Finally a game show that requires ABSOLUTELY NO BRAINS WHATSOEVER to play! “Deal or No Deal” comes to the U.S. by way of Australia, just like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” came to the U.S. by way of Britain. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad news that we couldn’t think this stuff up on our own. The recipe is simple: take 26 models, a scarily bald Howie Mandel, and a hyped-up studio audience, throw in some random luck and some dramatic symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>music and ta-da! you have “Deal or No Deal.” Contestants basically play against the “banker,” a mysterious man (who has a blog!) who we never see but who periodically calls the stage and makes offers to get the contestants to walk rather than stay and gamble that they’ll get a big payout (top prize – can you guess? – a million dollars). It’s like slot machines only dumber. They claim it tests your “deal-making skills.” Sheesh! If somebody offers me, say, $30,000, I’d take it, because the odds of my winning the elusive $1,000,000 is so slim as to be nonexistent. Yet time after time (or at least the three times I saw people do it in the hour I watched) people kept trying, whittling their winnings down to paltry amounts like $200. Is it me or have game shows completely deteriorated? When I was a kid, nothing was better than a sick day at home spent watching Password, Jeopardy, or the $10,000 Pyramid. Now THOSE were games where at least some brains were required.
When I came home, I regaled Chuck with my explanation of the show, and he was so intrigued that he had to see an episode for himself. He didn’t get much beyond the 26 models before deciding that the show was okay. That was at the start. By the end of the hour he was done with it, too – even the 26 models had lost their appeal in the face of such inanity.
Looks like it’s back to Law & Order for us!