“Deal or No Deal” Schedule for Rest of 2008
Well, if you’re a fan of NBC’s primetime Deal or No Deal, your time for the show is winding down. It’s off the schedule (for how long remains to be seen) starting January 6th, but NBC has put out the remaining episodes and their information. It’s nothing that special beyond the Christmas episodes we previously put pictures up for. First off, the show is on a month-long hiatus currently. New episodes will pick up on Christmas, December 25th. That Christmas episode will air at 8PM ET.
They are getting all the episodes they can out of the way as soon as possible after that, though. The next one will be December 26th. Kobe Bryant will be featured in this game for a top prize of $2,000,000. The final episodes, unless something changes really soon, will come on December 29th with a two hour edition. Three games are going on during that, and the top prize will be back down to $1,000,000.
The final episode will air on Monday, the night that has always been a hit for the show. I really don’t want to defend the show too much because I do believe NBC and Endemol royally screwed with Deal or No Deal to the level that they need to completely redo the show to salvage it, if it comes back at all, but why it was moved from Mondays I will never understand. It’s always done well on Mondays. No crap the ratings suck on Fridays. All the ratings suck on Fridays. So for Deal fans, be sure to check it out because there’s no word on when and if it’ll come back.
They have absolutely nobody to blame for this other than themselves. Changing when the show came on was one nail in the coffin, the other was the endless gimmicks that grinded the game to an utter standstill.
Good riddance to what is now bad rubbish.
I blame NBC (mostly Ben Silverman) for messing up what was a good thing. Keeping it on Mondays would’ve been a good idea. I would’ve moved Heroes to Wednesdays as a possible lead-in for Knight Rider. And, if I’m a betting man, my money’s on “it’s not coming back”. But look at it as the glass “half full”, at least we still have the daytime version.
Please Ben Silverman!!! Put DOND primetime out of its misery already. There should never have been a fourth season in the first place.
Hi, there, I’m Weakest Link. Nice to meet you, Deal or No Deal. Let me tell you a story about myself.
I premiered in primetime to solid successes. I never was the most intellectual of television shows, but I was quite charming, and people enjoyed watching me.
Unfortunately, NBC decided to put me in every hole that opened up in their schedule. This overextended me, and made me much weaker. People were beginning to overdose on me, and started to stop watching me.
Then, things got worse. NBC, instead of loosening my load, instead decided to tinker with the patient. I was corrupted by the network; forced to endure week after week of ratings stunts designed to draw eyeballs by any means necessary.
I became damaged goods, and became the kind of underperforming show that I was originally forced to replace.
Thankfully, I was given a reprieve. I premiered in syndication shortly before I was killed off completely in primetime, my primetime ratings completely sabotaged by the network sucking all of the life and charm out of me.
I healed in syndication, but by that point, NBC had already caused people who would’ve watched me to develop immunity to me as a result of my previous diseased state.
I would eventually be put down a couple years later as the remaining viewers trickled away. If I were on ABC, like Millionaire, I might still be alive today. If I were on CBS, I would retire happily, save the occasional reappearance to pass the time between marquee shows. But since I was on NBC, I was used and disposed of like tissue.
This is my story, Mr. Deal. Soon, it will be your story too.
I sent a letter this week to NBC and telling them how they could save the primetime version of Deal. I mentioned something about it being on at least Mondays and if they do twice a week then do Monday and Wednesdays which were the two highest nights when it was on twice a week. I mentioned something about the decision a contestant had from here on out (30 seconds). I mentioned about bringing back a week long event introducing this and advertising it in commericals and during the show that from now on a contestant has 30 seconds to decide DEAL OR NO DEAL. Granted like most of you I’m not a fan of the overcaffined contestants but i could deal with that for a quicker show. I also mentioned about how the case opening in speed deal was too fast but the decision making should be faster from now on. NBC i pray to God that you read this. This is a fun show and could be again and bring some viewers back. I know some of you say this show in primetime should die but many games have been on both daytime and primetime. If Deal went to once a week in primetime then it should be on Monday there strongest night. NBC didn’t overexpose DEAL but there were too many MILLION DOLLAR MISSIONS. I agree with DeVares about Heroes should move to Wednesdays as a lead in for Knight Rider. Also Deal could be put on at the 8/7 central hour on Mondays and then Heroes after it and Chuck could get moved to Wednesdays maybe.
Face it, the primetime version has nothing left to prove. Get it outta here. The daytime version is fast-paced, the contestants are not over-the-top when something good happens, and the contestant has no support group for help. I don’t think Deal or no Deal died from overexposure (it was sometimes on hiatus because of Stanley Cup or other circumstances) it was from too many million dollar missions, October from **** ‘07, and over-the-top with their emotions contestants.
Adam, NBC doesn’t care about its viewers (the few it have left). At one point they were the #1 network on TV. Ever since ABC overtook NBC at #1 (thanks to Primetime Millionaire), NBC has gone way down. Even Fox, which, since last year, has never been #1, have overtook NBC. And Kevin G. has a good point. They corrupted Primetime Deal the same way they’ve corrupted Weakest Link.
Devares: Once again, you and I agree. But, I have to say this: I don’t blame Endemol…I don’t even blame NBC. I blame one person…and one person entirely: Silverman. He has had a reputation with screwing around with game shows. He was the one responsible for cancelling the original version of “The Hollywood Squares” (with Peter Marshall), along with a couple of other game shows. What did he put in their place? Dave Letterman’s first talk show…which FAILED MISERABLY AND WAS NEVER PICKED UP PAST IT’S ORIGINAL 13 WEEK RUN!
My advice to NBC and all game show companies: either kick Silverman out on his keester, or look for another network to market your game show. If you put a game show on NBC, it will be GUARANTEED to be tweaked with…and will (eventually) lose popularity.
Why am I so adament about this? Like I said, Silverman has been doing this for THIRTY YEARS or more! If NBC wants to keep a game show…or if a game show wants to stay on NBC, Silverman needs to leave. If not, this kind of stuff will just keep on happening.
Jay, I’m glad you and I are on the same page about this, however, I must correct you on one thing: you’re right, Fred Silverman did cancel Hollywood Squares (along with High Rollers and Wheel of Fortune, which he later uncancelled), he left NBC in 1981, and Brandon Tartikoff (whom I’m sure NBC execs back then called their savior) took over the network. The Silverman who runs the network now is Ben Silverman (don’t know if they’re related or not, but all the same). But I see how you can be confused about it, they both ran NBC to the ground.
DeVares: I stand corrected. I did think they were the same person.
However, given what has happened, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were related. However, I am not making any assumptions about this. I’m just saying that the events seem too similar.
I’m sorry to lean “Deal or No Deal” may be dropped by NBC. No wonder their ratings are in the bottom. Everytime they have a decent program the seem to drop it. Maybe they should drop the top dogs who make this decisions.
And while I like JayLeno I’m NOT looking forward to the change that’s coming. I won’t be watching the late night show nor the five times a week on prime time.