“Deal or No Deal” Begs for a Millionaire for Season Debut

16 Aug

Posted by Alex Davis as Deal or No Deal, NBC

Power of 10 has been a fantastic reminder that game shows don’t need to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars every night to be exciting, engaging, and entertaining. That being said, be expecting a millionaire soon on NBC’s next season of Deal or No Deal. The new season will kick off on Monday, September 17th with Donald Trump guest starring with an additional episode on Wednesday, September 19th before settling into its new time slots of Wednesdays and Fridays starting September 26th (poor 1 VS 100). What are the catches you ask? You know Endemol too well.

On the debut episode, Nashville contestant DiBiase will play, but the Banker is still on Summer vacation. For the first time, a guest Banker will be present and that will be media whore Donald Trump. If it’s a huge offer, be expecting some comment towards Rosie O’Donnell’s ass most likely. On the Wednesday episode, Deal or No Deal will be celebrating Sunday Night Football on NBC. The set will be transformed to look like a football field, the models will be in appropriate costume, and more. More stunts ahoy!

Deal or No Deal will literally be doing ANYTHING to give away a million dollars. The Lucky Case game is worth $1,000,000 to someone at home and will be open for the first two shows, with the winner being shown live on September 26th. Also, for contestants will be the “Million Dollar Mission”. It’s a tiny bit confusing in the press release, but it seems that starting on September 26th, every time there is not a million dollar winner they will add yet another million dollar case (up to six total).

This is a very nice reminder of why I very rarely watch the show anymore. It’s just become insane and hardly watchable for me. Too many stunts ruin it. If it was the game alone, I’d be fine. But let people actually work for the million. It’s incredibly hard to get, and doing what they are doing just takes away the drama of it. I can’t wait until someone is left with two million dollar cases left in play at the end. Knowing our Banker, the offer would be $1,100,000 to leave.

29 Responses

Adam
1
August 16th, 2007 at 7:04 pm

Whoops. I think you got your calendar mixed up there. Didn’t you mean to write “September” 17th?
Alex Davis
2
August 16th, 2007 at 7:19 pm

Whoops, I’m apparently drunk. Sorry, it’s all fixed.
Gary
3
August 16th, 2007 at 8:00 pm

If they’re going to do anything like adding more million dollar cases… I have a better idea:

Why not make the jackpot case higher in value for each player that does not go home with the case.

example — 1,000,000
next contestant 1,050,000
and go up 50,000 dollars more

if the amount still gets way high, then bump up the 750,000 case

example — 2,000,000 / 1,000,000 / 500,000
next contestant 2,050,000 / 1,000,000 / 500,000
and go up 50,000 dollars more on the jackpot, and 500,000 more for every million on the jackpot case

they’ll eventually get their desperately needed million dollar winner one way or another.

or just give up and play the game as normal.. just make it a bit less pressure like Austraila
Drew
4
August 16th, 2007 at 8:17 pm

I don’t follw DoND due to annoying contestants, but PLEASE. Are they REALLY that desperate for a millionaire. Let’s see here

First Millionaire on ABC WWTBAM:11/19/99
First Greed Millionaire:11/11/99
First Po10 hit: Last Tuesday

So 1Vs100 doesn’t have a millionaire, yet the formula is very perfect. But DoND hasn’t been hit in 2 years and are in desperate mode? I smell another reason this WILL be the last year for this show.
Intelligentfan777
5
August 16th, 2007 at 8:37 pm

The most exciting thing will be when/if a millionaire does happen on 1 vs. 100! That will me quite a moment.

Say what you want, but it will still be nice if/when it happens on DoND also.

Oh, and Drew, you mean you think it might be the last season of the Primetime version. Well, that remains to be seen. Also remember, Syndie DoND launches in ‘08
Mike
6
August 16th, 2007 at 9:43 pm

You cannot be serious. Having up to 6 $1M+ cases on the board dilutes how exciting winning $1M is under the circumstances.

Winning $1M on Power of 10’s first episode was exciting and fun because nobody expected it from the very first contestant out of the gate, and a teenager at that. Winning $1M on Millionaire is nerve-wracking and exciting because nobody has done it in darn close to half a decade. Winning $1M on 1 vs. 100 will be similar because it takes a ton of chutzpah to risk hundreds of thousands of dollars when the 1 left in the mob could be the equivalent of Ken Jennings or Brad Rutter. Winning $1M on a loaded Deal or No Deal board…sorry, the excitement gets sucked out because Endemol and/or NBC wants a 7-digit winner sometime in the first few weeks.
Brad
7
August 16th, 2007 at 10:26 pm

Why doesn’t DoND just add money to the $1mil case (a-la jackpot) instead of adding more $1mil cases. Adding more cases just makes the game less exciting since the chance of winning $1mil is going to be much higher (esp. with 6 CASES!). I predict around 12 people winning $1mil this season. Yep this is going to be the “whammy” for DoND. I can’t see the show lasting that long with this “add-a-million-dollar-case” format.
Intelligentfan777
8
August 17th, 2007 at 12:41 am

Wait, Mike! Read the post again….

I just said it would nice for it to happen on DoND. You misinterpreted me thinking it’s equally exciting as seeing it done on Power of 10, Millionaire, and 1 Vs. 100.

I’m actually with you! It’s not even close compared to those three! Yes the excitement is diluted the way DoND is planning on doing it! I just said it would be nice, and that’s it. It’s much more exciting seeing it won on the three other shows we’ve mentioned.
Mike
9
August 17th, 2007 at 1:05 am

No, I read your comment completely. Deal has gotten so lame that one of the few things that would pique my interest is a legit million dollar win on a standard board, not a ridiculously top-loaded board just for the sake of giving away a million. $100 bills could shoot out of Howie’s butt when the million is won on this loaded board. By no means does it mean the event would be nice.

This is another case of NBC/Endemol thinking throwing wads of money at a game will bring in ratings. If they wanna believe that…
Jordan Hass
10
August 17th, 2007 at 2:02 am

I agree, the “Million Dollar” Mission stunt is just very very confusing.

Gary, had the right idea, how about a “jackpot mode” (Just Like Who Wants To Be a Millionaire’s Third Season!)

With $50,000 each time it was not won, and after 10 episodes, ($500,000 added) the board changes.

—

A “Double Episode” $1,000,000 Lucky Case Game, means that alot of people will gamble their standard texting rates to win it. (I assume, only one person in the entire country gets it)

—

I like the “Guest Banker” stunt though, and Donald Trump is a great person to be considered a “Good Dealer”.

I just want to know what kind of “Stunts” they will pull on the Syndicated Version.
Brandon
11
August 17th, 2007 at 2:45 am

The only thing that interests me about the new season is Trump as the Banker. Everything else is a lame gimmick that turned me from the show in the first place.

Endemol USA really has an bass-ackwards method of producing game shows. I’m glad there’s more shows coming out that look competent, that way the genre won’t get boggled down by Endemol’s horrible production values.

I hate to see a game show get canceled, but there’s a reason “Show Me the Money” and “Set For Life” tanked. The sooner they realize that manufactured cartoon character contestants, and loudmouth peanut galleries turn people off, the sooner they’ll get another hit.
Scott
12
August 17th, 2007 at 8:38 am

Bad move with the added $1Million cases…I like the jackpot idea better. It would still push the bank offers higher. And it would build suspense. DOND has been so stunt-laden it is hard to remember what the original game was really like (and it was good). Does DOND really feel that threatened?
Stevie
13
August 17th, 2007 at 9:23 am

I also agree with the Jackpot Format. Too Many stunts and gimmicks will turn
this show into the ****ed on ashes of celebrity millionaire
dropzone5
14
August 17th, 2007 at 11:44 am

Good Lord, are they really that desperate? It’s been done before on international versions of the show…I think, more than anything, that the problem lies with the contestants. We all know the million-dollar case HAS been picked, but the player sold it way too early. People are way too chicken in this game (aside from, in some people’s cases, being way too annoying).

They’re just trying to up the stakes in the hopes of getting attention…hmm, could Po10 have sparked that?
Travis P
15
August 17th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

I thought the first Greed $1 Million winner was crowned in February 2000? I know the Dan Avila team reached $1 Million in November, but the prize was still split between three players.

NBC clearly want a top prize winner, but they need to look at the other versions of DoND across the world. It didn’t take other countries to declare a top prize winner overnight.

Were fortunate in the UK they haven’t tinkered the format. We might’ve had special celebrations (Halloween, Easter etc…) and the odd spot prize but out of 517 episodes, only 3 were decicated to a £500,000 top prize.
Mike
16
August 17th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

I’ll say doubtful in response to the PoX factor, dropzone. The first Deal tapings were July 31, roughly a week before Power of 10 debuted. Remember last year’s premiere week, when the top prize rose by $1M per game? This sounds like a similar stunt but, for some reason, the powers that be want to give away $1M.
Jordan Hass
17
August 17th, 2007 at 3:09 pm

I believe the whole “Stunt” thing started when they had the offer of a Hummer.

All of a sudden the show went from “Hey we could forget about the cash, and offer up rediculous prizes in hopes they will deal”

Maybe have The Board Be (for the big 7)

$100,000—-
$200,000—-
$300,000—-
$400,000—-
$500,000–
$1,000,000–
JACKPOT—-

And the jackpot is $2,000,000 + the case the contestant selected (so if the contestant chose a case with $25), it would be $2,000,025.00

The only problem with my jackpot idea, is the lack of continuity between episodes, because during tapings, they switch contestants around and out of order.

===========

The final blow to this game is the $1,000,000 Lucky Case game… that will hurt alot of people’s pockets, unless they “Play For Free at NBC.com Slash D O N D”
Donald
18
August 17th, 2007 at 3:36 pm

Isn’t the second season usually the desperate season where they will do anything to make a millionaire?

Let’s just hope that 1 vs 100 won’t do anything drastic like that. I mean sure there was that $3,000,000 attempt when they brought it back after the October premiere, and they changed the format of the game even better.

Deal hasn’t gotten a top prize winner yet (whatever the top amount is on special Deal episodes, it HAS to be the top prize for it to be official)

1vC hasn’t had a millionaire yet

Weakest Link NEVER had a millionaire. Closest they did from what I remember was $167,500 and that was won by Levar Burton

Deal is really really getting desperate for a millionaire. If they keep it up like this, I agree… Deal will end in season 3.
Mike
19
August 17th, 2007 at 4:10 pm

Jordan: Adding whatever is in the contestant’s case doesn’t add much to the game if someone has $25, as in your example. “Let’s add that $25 to our jackpot, bringing the total to $2,000,025.” Saying that line sounds foolish and cheap. In “jackpot” versions of Deal or No Deal I’ve hosted, I add $100,000 to the jackpot every time it’s not won. For the TV show, $50,000 should be sufficient. A previous “jackpot” version of Deal I hosted had whatever the contestant won go into the jackpot. There was a time someone won the penny, which was actually quite funny. The average win was roughly $50,000.
GhostOfGSN'sPast
20
August 17th, 2007 at 6:13 pm

Alex brings up a good point–if the final two cases do end up being a million and a million can we officially render DoND as having jumped the shark?
Intelligentfan777
21
August 17th, 2007 at 6:17 pm

Brandon made an excellent point on Endemol….

You know, it’s amazing, we shouldn’t forget that Endemol has produced 1 Vs. 100, one of the best primetime games we’ve seen. You would think they would take another look at that show and make more shows like THAT. I would not mind a 1 vs. 100 clone, if it follows a solid format. If they realize these Deal clones just don’t work, they might start making better shows, like 1 vs. 100.
Laurie
22
August 17th, 2007 at 6:19 pm

And then in a DoND/Heroes crossover, the Banker hires Sylar to give the Donald a telekinetic beat down.

/sarcasm

(Although…part of me would find that amusing, sadly.)

Arrgh. Why is NBC kissing up to Trump? Why can’t they just axe his show and make him go away?
Tim Connolly
23
August 18th, 2007 at 3:59 am

You know, I actually find it quite disappointing the way everyone seems to be bashing DoND. While I certainly have my beefs with it (pacing is far too slow, they find incredibly annoying people for contestants, too many stunts), I appreciate the show for what it is - a stripped-down test of a player’s nerve - and I enjoyed watching it as a lead-in to Heroes.

That said, spoon-feeding someone a million dollars by increasing the number of jackpot cases is not the way to do it. It would simply ruin the intensity of the game, and even worse, it totally stinks of desperation. Last season’s upward-marching jackpots at the start of the season could be written off as a way to begin the season with a bang; this just looks like they need someone to win the million to prove that it can be done.

And let’s stand back and think about this for a second. Even if there were six cases in the field worth $1M (or more), that’s still only a 23% chance that someone’s going to pick a seven-digit case. Which means that it could take five games - or potentially even more, if players get unlucky or deal early - to see a $1M win. You almost wonder if they’d go as far as making the entire right side of the board nothing but million-dollar money amounts if they could coax a millionaire out of it.
David Howell
24
August 18th, 2007 at 5:23 am

You know, I’m actually thinking this is almost fun - BUT it does seem like they’re doing anything to produce a $1m win - and as such, CBS have spectacularly lucked out in getting a premiere-episode millionaire on PoX, because it makes this look like a kneejerk reaction to it even though DoND actually started taping first, something most viewers won’t be aware of - but for me, I can’t see even this producing a $1m winner.

The probability no $1m case comes to the table, and by implication the probability of no $1m winner assuming nobody ever Deals:

(25/26)*(24/26)*(23/26)*(22/26)*(21/26)*(20/26)=0.41 (to 2 decimal places)

In practice, some contestants actually understand the value of six-figure sums still, and especially as we are now in what looks (to me) like the first throes of economic crisis with the sub-prime mortgage collapse. (We’re not getting that so much here in England, but frankly I have no idea why. The property bubble’s even worse in this country.)

A finish with only $1m cases (especially more than two!) would be one of the funniest things ever. That’s a 4.62% shot on the six-jackpot board.
Gene
25
August 18th, 2007 at 6:47 am

Wow i wish america would ban Endemol from making gameshows.

Like i said tv networks always mess up primetime shows. For a syncated show

I guess i need to record the last of deal or no deal. I hate to see what Endemol has for nbc next

I Would love to see a primetime show on for longer then 3 years.
Gene
26
August 18th, 2007 at 6:50 am

Im glad celador did not sold Who wants to be a millionaire to Endemol they would probably add a deal or no deal element to the show.

Choose a case thats how much the question is worth!
David Howell
27
August 18th, 2007 at 8:28 am

That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.

…oh wait, it’s a 90%-accurate description of Show Me The Money.
Tim Connolly
28
August 18th, 2007 at 5:13 pm

I hate to turn this discussion into a math lesson, but I don’t see how you arrive at that figure, David. If there are six cases with a million-dollar prize and 20 without, the probability of picking a million-dollar case with only one choice is 6/26 = 23.08%. To find out the probability of all million dollar cases going unclaimed for multiple games, you multiply the remaining probability (76.92%) by itself for each subsequent game.

The odds of the million going unclaimed after one game = 76.92%
The odds of the million going unclaimed two games in a row = 76.92% * 76.92% = 59.17%
Three games in a row = 76.92% ^ 3 = 45.51%
Four games in a row = 76.92% ^ 4 = 35.01%
Five games in a row = 76.92% ^ 5 = 26.93%

So theoretically, there’s still a very significant chance that we could go more than a month without a million-dollar winner - and that’s not taking into account someone who does pick a jackpot case and deals prematurely.

As for the likelihood that the final two cases remaining in a game are both of the million-dollar variety, the odds of that happening would be 6/26 (odds of picking a jackpot case) * 5/25 (odds of a jackpot case being left for last) * 2 (since it doesn’t matter which case was selected and which one remains in the gallery) = 2.4%
David Howell
29
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:37 am

I was working upon how I was reading the game, which is that there’s a one-jackpot-case game followed by a two-jackpot-case game followed by a three-jackpot-case game and so on up to six.

Your calculation is based on successive six-jackpot-case games, and is correct for that, but as I understand it there’s the 2-5-jackpot-case-games first.

And (6/26)*(5/25) = 4.6%, *2 = 9.2%.