30Jun2010
The British are Better Than Us: Dramatic UK “Deal or No Deal” Finish
Time for another installment of our most popular series: The British are Better Than Us. We're going back to a show we haven't seen in quite some time. The British version of Deal or No Deal is still going strong. This past Sunday's episode was, in particular, a very dramatic ending. The main part of the show ended when the contestant took a £7,000 Deal with the third highest figure on the board, £75,000, still available. They play out the rest of the game to see what could have happened and...well, just watch and see what happens. It's pretty great that even this far into the series the show can still create dramatic moments the US version could never dream of. If there's one giant example of a show that the British have stomped
Read MoreView Comments (14)05Jun2010
Weekend Replay: Big Winner on Aussie “Deal or No Deal”
The Australian version of Deal or No Deal has been on the air for seven years daily now and they've only had one $200,000 grand prize civilian winner. That was far back in 2004. They had a celebrity win $200,000 in 2007, but it's more exciting to see a regular player win.
Read MoreView Comments (15)13May2010
Noel Edmonds Signs for Two More Years of “Deal or No Deal”
Noel Edmonds, the host of the popular and fantastic Channel4 game show Deal or No Deal, has signed a new two year contract to keep the show in England through 2012. A few months ago there was a bit of uncertainty about the show due to Channel4 and Endemol UK about budget cuts.
Read MoreView Comments (6)06Apr2010
This Weekend’s Intense Dutch “Deal or No Deal”: What Would You Do?
If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you know the Dutch Deal or No Deal hypothetical we gave out. For those who haven't seen when we've shown off their version, called Miljoenenjacht, it's to me the absolute perfect game show. You will have trouble convincing me that there's a better game show out there, let alone a better version of Deal. A 500 person audience is brought to one by some various trivia rounds. That person gets to play the famous briefcase game, treated more like a bonus round and sans Banker, for five million euro. They don't get sappy or emotional. They don't make players feel like crap with prove-outs. It's treated like what it is, a bonus round, and it's just simply the best version of the show. Very few have
Read MoreView Comments (18)30Mar2010
News Flashes: Lyrics, The Hub, and Family Feud
*Twentieth Television's syndicated edition of Don't Forget the Lyrics! is still casting for its first daytime season. It's been off of Fox's primetime lineup for around a year now. The top prize will be $100,000; and it's hosted by former Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath, taking over for Let's Make A Deal host Wayne Brady. Be sure to know all the music you can: from the 50s to current hits. All you have to be is at least 18 years old. Have a great, fun personality and love to sing and you've got a shot at being on. Click here to apply. I'd be expecting it to be a retread of the primetime version, and that's fine by me. Oh, Fifth Grader was also renewed but we already knew that. *Hasbro's takeover of Discovery Kids, called The
Read MoreView Comments (7)24Mar2010
Ratings Report: Everybody’s Down
Sweeps are over and back-to-normal ratings are coming in. I feel like mentioning Wheel of Fortune first. By the way, all the ratings come from the week ending March 14th. Wheel was only down 1% to a 7.3, and of course it was still the highest rated syndicated show. The interesting thing is that they really didn't save the big money wins for Sweeps like everyone else tends to do. They've apparently had a few $100,000 winners in the past week or so. It's a bit interesting that they didn't put these in the month that really mattered at this time: February sweeps. But I don't think Wheel really has to worry about that. Out of all the syndicated shows I don't think they need much help getting anyone. Jeopardy!, Wheel's very exclamatory
Read MoreView Comments (8)14Mar2010
Rumor Control: “Deal or No Deal” Coming Back to NBC?
I've got a pretty big rumor for you today. We got an interesting email on Saturday. Apparently there are targeted casting notices going out for Deal or No Deal. Not the now-canceled syndicated edition either. The notice specifically states NBC and specifically states a $1,000,000 top prize. Again, this is a very targeted casting notice. People are being specifically messaged on some talent hunting websites which means, if this is for real, they want people extremely quickly. Having a full casting session would add a lot of time (and cost) to this. The notice expires on Monday. Also the notice is sent out by a legitimate verified big industry person from the Los Angeles area, so it's not some joke being pulled. I won't post the
Read MoreView Comments (73)11Mar2010
Ratings Report: “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel” Increase
Time for some more ratings. Nothing that big so I'll keep it brief for a change. Check out all the results by clicking here for the full listings. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are the only shows to increase ratings for the week ending February 28th. It's the final week of sweeps also. It's very important for each show to bring in those advertising dollars around now. Wheel went up 3% to a 7.4. Overall during sweeps, which got a little screwed up because of the Olympics, the show was down just 2%. Jeopardy! was also up 3% and saw a 6.4 rating. Jeopardy! actually broke even during sweeps period and appears to be the only show that really has, so good job for it. Who Wants to be a Millionaire sank 4% to 2.6. It was down only 4%
Read MoreView Comments (8)03Mar2010
Ratings Report: “Millionaire” Holds Steady
It's time for a ratings report for the week ending February 21st. It's still sweeps period at this time, so all the shows are needing a boost. The Olympics definitely hurt most, though. By the way, as always, be sure to visit our often updated ratings page. We've got all the syndicated shows in there with ratings backed up, as well as percentages they gained or lost. We'll add more game shows once results get in. But for now, in terms of syndicated game shows, Who Wants to be a Millionaire was, comparatively, the king this report. Millionaire was the only show to not lose any viewers at all, which is nice. It stuck at a 2.7 rating, where it's been sitting comfortably for the better part of five weeks now. With how people's
Read MoreView Comments (4)25Feb2010
Ratings Report: Poor “Deal or No Deal”
A new ratings report came in yesterday. As the headline says, all you can think is, "Poor Deal or No Deal," whenever you see the ratings these days. No matter what the other shows do, even if everything else increases, Deal cannot seem to get any momentum whatsoever. It's almost like the viewers know it's canceled and aren't bothering to stick around anymore. It had a not-so-nice drop for the week ending February 14th. It went down 8% to a 1.1 rating. It just can't do anything no matter what they throw out there. It went down 8% last ratings report also, so we're down 16% during the sweeps period. Not too good. I really do like Deal or No Deal, so it's a bit distressing to see it go out with a huge whimper like this. Again, I
Read MoreView Comments (25)21Feb2010
Weekend Replay: Aussie “Deal or No Deal”
We've finally got an exciting and/or interesting clip to show you for this week's Weekend Replay! We're going abroad this time, over to Australia and their edition of Deal or No Deal. Aussie Deal has been going strongly daily since 2004. It's come under incredible competition recently from the Who Wants to be a Millionaire spinoff Hot Seat, but it's still doing well. It's essentially the same format as ours. The top prize is $200,000 and the people holding the cases get to guess what is inside them for a $500 prize, much like the Dutch version. Where it becomes different (and superior) to ours is the variety of sub-games they have. One is Chance, where a player who has previously taken a Deal and plays the "What Would Have Happened" ending down to two cases has the option to give back the Deal to open his or her case. The British use this as "Banker's Gamble".
Read MoreView Comments (13)19Feb2010
Ratings Report: All But “Family Feud” Down
We've got ratings for the week ending February 2nd coming up. First, though, we got reports of ratings for the premiere of High Stakes Poker. Given how popular the show has been in the past, the ratings are shockingly low. We've got reports that the show sixth season debut only got a .2 rating. It's very down, by that show's standards. I wonder what happened. Has interest just died down? I've been hearing from a few people that there really was practically little attention given or huge support, showcasing what is probably the channel's most valuable show (and rightly so).
Read MoreView Comments (10)09Feb2010
Ratings Report: “Fifth Grader” Continues to Shine
Time for another ratings update. The headliner this week is surely Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, which was recently renewed for a second season. The show went up 6% to a nice 1.8 rating. One thing to note with this is that this isn't solely the syndication rating. This is factoring in other things, like the MyNetwork airing (which became a programming syndicator this season). When the show first came out the original episodes in syndication-only got around a 1.0 or less. But the show's success has been because of a fantastic marketing plan by Twentieth. I originally scoffed and said airing the show on MyNetwork and CMT would be overkill, but it's brought in a lot of money and kept the show around. Not to mention it is genuinely a fun format. If they can keep up this momentum and actually build anticipation for a second season, which Deal or No Deal chose not to do, this show may run for some time to come.
Read MoreView Comments (12)03Feb2010
Ratings Report: The Positive Edition!
At the top, as always, is Wheel of Fortune. It rose 7% to a 7.5 rating. It's a rating most broadcast networks would dream for these days. In slot two is Jeopardy!, up 2% to 6.4. I started on this idea a bit ago, but I think it can be brought up again. I truly think these two shows could be the only shows that never get canceled. I don't think people necessarily watch for the hosting. Both are hosted by true pros and are hard to even think of replacing, but I think people watch it for the game. It's almost like a Law and Order episode; if you get started you're going to get sucked in. It's due to the brilliant producing by Harry Friedman. These shows have absolutely no end in sight.
Read MoreView Comments (8)01Feb2010
Ratings Report: “Jeopardy!” Up, Everything Else Down
It wasn't a good week for any game show except Jeopardy!, which doesn't happen too often. The quizzer actually rose by 2% to a 6.3. It puts it pretty close to Wheel of Fortune which is always nice to see. As far as I've been reading they've had some exciting relatively-big-money games with some long running contestant streaks so that doesn't hurt. It's one of the shows that truly has no end in sight. This thing could go on forever.
Read MoreView Comments (59)