I have to tell you, for the most part, this season’s Deal or No Deal gimmicks have been fantastic. They really change the game into something new and exciting, like Winner Takes All. Of course not all are hits, like the Million Dollar Mission. However, I think this one’s going to be a hit: Deal’s going on a world tour for May sweeps!
The show will be traveling to different countries around the world and taping from their set. Countries being announced are the Philippines, South Africa, and Estonia. They will be playing by their rules, which are our rules. No word on using their prize tree, though.
So yeah, they’re going to countries that have sets that sort of look like ours and with the same format. But still, the idea of traveling is really cool and one of the better if not the best gimmicks they have done. The only thing I would have done is go to the British set to do a daytime format episode. We’re going with a 22-case $250,000 syndicated edition of Deal this fall; it would have made sense to test the waters with their format. But anyway, it’s a very welcomed change that doesn’t take away from what the show is and doesn’t basically fix the board so it’s an obscenely better chance at winning $1,000,000. Are we all in good spirits about this one?
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I really like this “world tour” idea. Giving viewers a chance to see how the game looks in other countries is something that I would definitely look forward to.
Personally, I hope they decide to eventually include the Netherlands (yep, the Miljoenenjacht set), whether it be as part of this tour or a future one if they do this again. I think that would rock! Yeah, it might be difficult to get 500 Americans to go if they want to do the qualifying rounds, since it would mean each of them would have a 1-in-500 shot at actually playing for the big money. If you ask me, they wouldn’t necessarily have to do those rounds for this, but it would be nice to at least mention to viewers that such rounds exist in the Dutch version.
I am rather curious as to how they’ll handle the contestants for this. For example, the couple that played last night’s “Million Dollar Mission” game are students at the seminary I work at. If the show is to be believed, she got the call only two-and-a-half hours before the taping (and I imagine it took them at least a half-hour to an hour to get to the studio from here in Pasadena!). My understanding is that they thought they’d be playing a couple of days later (and had made arrangements to be out of class for that time), but DoND had some kind of a change of plans (I don’t know the nature of what happened).
In any event, obviously this kind of “last minute” thing couldn’t possibly happen for overseas tapings. Unless they’re not using American contestants, they’ll not only have to plan things out WELL in advance, but they’ll most likely also have to pay for travel for the contestants (at least, I don’t get the impression that they generally pay for contestants in this way). That doesn’t leave them much room for any unexpected occurrences (such as I imagine happened in order to move the students from their previously planned taping of two days later).
I just thought of something.
What if DoND took a couple of the Episodes that they taped in Canada and Played them on NBC.
I mean it’s new to the States and Canada had a few great games.
Just a thought!
With The $250,000 22 Case Format They Do One In The U.K. By That Format
This is going to be interesting i hope they go to uk and some of the spanish countries. Some versions look poor the Filipino version looks crowded. This will be worth recording. I wish millionaire would do that but Regis is too old to travel
it would be mrs M, not regis… places Id like to see… ladies please take your podiums (UK), the monkey making an appearance in Aussie land, heck we can even have a DonD in Japan (remember they did do a one-off nite with a team concept to get around Japan’s 2mill yen rule on gameshows)
The contestant thing shouldn’t be a problem. It wouldn’t cost the producers much more than a plane ticket and a hotel room. (I hear flights are cheap to Estonia!)
Plus, wasn’t the first season of GSN’s Lingo taped in Copenhagen (or something), using their set, etc.
And…not for nothing…I think the UK version of DonD is much, MUCH better than ours. It has more suspense AND faster gameplay. Both winning elements in my book.
Ken C, there is a version taped in Quebec airing now called “Le Banquier” (translation: ‘The Banker”) with a $500,000 top prize. the set, the rules and even the occasioanlly this is your life moment are very similar to the US but the biggest difference is that this version has 21 female models and 5 male models (i think I got that right) and instead of asking Deal or No Deal they ask the contestants “is this offer accepted….. or refused” unfortunately, every time I’ve seen it the banker’s offers tend to be WAY too generous.
one country i’d like to see them visit (that hasn’t been mentioned yet) is Germany, their set is awesome and it’s all similar to the US except with a smaller button and less money. there’s at least one clip on yotuube somewhere.
Estonia?????? LOL!
Sorry…I gotta say I’m against this one…if you look at game show history, when you try to keep throwing in gimmicks, the show (eventually) gets cancelled…it’s happened before…trust me.
I, also, must be one of the few people who actually prefers the Million Dollar Missions…and, for the record…nobody got it…even with 13 cases…so, this proves that (although your chances increase that much, there is still no guarantee…plus, it’s up to the contestant to decide whether or not they go for it, or take the deal.
I’m loving this idea. I would HOPE *can’t expect knowing this company* that they go to countries with varying formats, Australia and Netherlands being most preferable, but a cultural change in pace for the show I think is a great idea, and one that should be explored on other shows on TV. Maybe Howie will become America’s next peace representative… ;)
I can see it now: “WE’RE OFFERING THIS LADY PEACE ON EARTH, OR A 50/50 CHANCE AT $1,000,000″ DEAL OR NO DEAL!?
No no, I’m kidding with that, but I do have an extra *ideal and likely unrealistic* thought. What if they go to the countries with formats which, in the GS community, are considered superior, and fans have a fit because they start to think our format is boring/unoriginal/broken/needing tweaking? Will they change it and become copycats, or will they rest on their laurels? Your guess is as good as mine…
The show won’t come here. Our studio is too small for NBC standards. The Italian version would suit them as that also use a 20 box format but their studio is 2-3 times larger.
I know that Lingo was originally filmed in Holland but the UK version of That’s The Question was also filmed in Holland. However, they put out an English spoken advert in Dutch newspapers asking for British born contestants and accents to take part. I won’t be suprised if NBC do the same in these three countries and audition the hopefuls within their homeland.
btw anyone hear the news NBC is being sued by the Georgia Attorney General over the lucky case game. (Might explain why the case game has been gone for a while)
The Quebec version has the back row of 6 men, with 1-20 being women. Occasionally, the men’s row will be different. A couple weeks ago, they had one of the guys who played Montreal Expos mascot Youppi! as a contestant, so several Quebec mascots were in the back row (Bohnomme, former Nordiques mascot Badaboom, etc). My website link should take you to a GIF of the strangeness.
Hostess Julie Snyder is fluent in English, so I would like to see her host at least one round of the US show.
if you look at game show history, when you try to keep throwing in gimmicks, the show (eventually) gets cancelled…it’s happened before…trust me.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but I’ve gotta say, every show “eventually” gets canceled. It’s unavoidable. Eventually, it will even happen to The Price is Right. Drew seems to be staving that off for longer that almost anyone could have imagined post-Barker, but still….
Look forward to this.
I remember watching this one week of Wheel of Fortune that aired from Orlando where the hosts of one other country’s version of Wheel came to the show and explained to Pat, Vanna, and us the similarities and differences between their version and ours. Likewise, I enjoyed some international tournament Jeopardy! did from Stockholm about a decade ago. So, it’ll be interesting to see what’ll happen on Deal or No Deal! ^^
And to B-W @ comment 15: Price get cancelled? Blasphemy! =P =P =P
Let me be a little more clear…
I’m saying that past shows have gotten cancelled quicker as soon as the throw in gimmmicks, change the formula, or whatever you would like to call it.
The only show that I have seen that wasn’t cancelled after tweaking the formula was WoF. Remember the days when the show started with the host spinning the wheel…and not going into a toss-up (that doesn’t even involve the wheel)?
Also, remember when (Regis’) Millionaire was quickly cancelled after a LOT of Celebrity Editions? People couldn’t stand it.
I’m not sure how long the gimmicks can work.