55 Responses

1. Drew

   1

   October 4th, 2007 at 3:30 pm

   Aggravating, just aggravating. Picking only big win episodes or low win episodes that have something special like Trump giving his son $25K? WTF? Come on. Another reason I’m going through DoND withdrawal. (sigh)

2. Measles!

   2

   October 4th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

   It’s official. You fail, Endemol and NBC. I don’t care if it ends up in a small win, you show it. Don’t be big bullshitters like this, because that just makes you look like gimptards.

   Endemol + NBC = Massive amounts of fail

3. Intelligentfan777

   3

   October 4th, 2007 at 3:58 pm

   It said in the article that her game had two Million-Dollar cases, and she picked them both to start the game! Funny, The “Million Dollar Mission” started with a 2 $1m cases game, but it wasn’t Halie’s! This is crazy, confusing and ridiculous!

   I really, really, hope this is the only time they did this, as far as DoND is concerned! It’s not right at all, each show deserves to be aired whether the game is good or bad. Plus, if I recall, a handful of games were like Halie’s, but every episode still aired. I hope this not a regular practice they’ve just employed.

   Oh and Measles, all is not lost. Don’t forget about 1 vs. 100! That IS an Endomol + NBC = SUCCESS! story.

4. Measles!

   4

   October 4th, 2007 at 4:03 pm

   You’re right. 1 v. 100 is 100% win.

   Okay, Endemol and NBC are only 50% fail. If they fuck up with 1 v. 100, THEN they will be 100% fail.

5. Greg

   5

   October 4th, 2007 at 4:05 pm

   We might have the quiz show scandals all over again.

6. CeleTheRef

   6

   October 4th, 2007 at 4:36 pm

   Here in Italy that’s pretty much the norm. You are almost guaranteed to see at least one high value box alive till the end.

   and sometimes contestants aren’t real but just actors being paid a fixed fee regardless of the outcome.

7. Adam

   7

   October 4th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

   I wish DOND would die already. It’s losing it’s lusture.

8. David

   8

   October 4th, 2007 at 6:05 pm

   That’s really poor of Endemol saying they’re not gonna show it at all-they could have at least said “we decided we’re not going to air it when we planned”- they could have done some re-editing and dubbing to get rid of the Million Dollar Mission spiel….it probably would have looked horrible, but at least it’s better than not airing it at all…

9. Marc Power

   9

   October 4th, 2007 at 6:23 pm

   wow that really turns me off from the show if it’s true. That’s very strange cause i’m sure the company has to pay a lot to produce each episode and that would be a huge loss to the company to give you an idea I read somehwere that the uk family fortunes cost approximately 37,000 pounds (about $75,000 US) so I’d take a wild guess considering they would have to pay Howie, the 26 models and all the other staff that it must cost at least $250,000 a show + whatever the contestant wins. but another problem is how is that fair to the others in the $1m mission, i.e. that family of four in that case (no pun intended) there should have had 5 $1m cases although it wouldn’t have made a difference since the last 2 were $100 and $200K both of which would have still been there in that amount. then again, maybe endemol did another round of the $1m mission meant to air at a later time.

   Endemol or NBC better have a good explanation for this or we may never even see syndie DoND

10. David Howell

    10

    October 4th, 2007 at 6:39 pm

    Holy fucking shit.

    Relatedly, two new players on today’s DoND. Rumour has it one player was kicked off - who says that it wasn’t actually a second-offer Deal that wasn’t aired because it ‘wasn’t exciting’??

11. Gary

    11

    October 4th, 2007 at 7:45 pm

    That’s seriously messed up if you ask me. After reading this information, I may as well just stick to the DoND that I have on my computer (thanks bigjonpcgames.com) at least that game is more honest about how everything is played out.

    No matter what the case is.. If the game needs to be edited, it shouldn’t affect the outcome of the game. This is a scandal just waiting to explode. If there are some people out there reading this and end up sitting in the studio audience, please give us feedback on what REALLY happens in there. Endemol is about to go down like Jack Barry and Dan Enwright

12. Joe Capitano

    12

    October 4th, 2007 at 10:16 pm

    So. This lady picks off the two $1,000,000 cases in Round One, stays alive long enough to win a nice tidy $50,000 (sounds like she went all the way), and her game doesn’t air because it doesn’t look good? OK, explain this…

    Game 90. Terra Walker, a reading coach from Orlando. Her first round in order:

    #10 (Anya) — $300,000
    #25 (Hayley) — $100
    #15 (Brooke) — $1,000,000
    #16 (Kasie) — $750,000
    #14 (Pilar) — $500,000
    #21 (Tameka) — $100,000

    For those of you who lost track, Terra took out five of the “Power Seven”, which is about as bad as anyone’s ever started in the over 150 games played to date.

    Terra ended up salvaging an $48,000 offer…AND THIS GAME AIRED!

    I don’t like this at all. If only that guy from Indy had held out to the end we would not be seeing fortified games now. If only.

13. Joe Capitano

    13

    October 4th, 2007 at 10:18 pm

    Correct that…she took a $46,000 offer.

14. Adam J

    14

    October 4th, 2007 at 10:41 pm

    First of all, since another person used “Adam”, I guess I must now use “Adam J”. ANyway, the fact that NBC isn’t airing this episode only because she lost two Million Dollar Cases in round one is absolutely absurd. It’s total bullshit. NBC and Endemol should be ashmed of themselves for doing this. That is so wrong of them not to air it. Seriously uncalled for.

15. Travis P

    15

    October 5th, 2007 at 3:47 am

    > Relatedly, two new players on today’s DoND. Rumour has it one player was kicked off - who says that it wasn’t actually a second-offer Deal that wasn’t aired because it ‘wasn’t exciting’??

    From what I’ve heard, she got kicked off as she was abusive backstage and at the hotel.

16. ucb2912

    16

    October 5th, 2007 at 3:50 am

    Endemol (Or as I call them- “End-’Em-All”) Are headed for some serious trouble if this isn’t fixed soon. Chances are that if a scandal breaks out over DOND, 1 Vs. 100 wont return either. Beteween this, Temptation US, and Crosswords, the game show world is probably headed for another dark period…

17. David Howell

    17

    October 5th, 2007 at 4:29 am

    That does make more sense as she wasn’t due to play yet Travis.

    ucb2912, sadly you’re almost certainly right. This is probably going to be remembered as the end of this game show boom. (Which in turn puts NBC in trouble…)

18. Marc Power

    18

    October 5th, 2007 at 6:29 am

    I thought of another one Joe, there was a contestant in the first season who literally cleared the entire right side of the board in 4 rounds (i think) and played on for about 10 15 minutes with nothing higher on the baord than $750 and the offers going up a miniscule $50 each round with a final offer of $650. THAT AIRED! the 100th episode with a board with nothing higher than $400 left in the later time THAT AIRED!

    Now that I really think about it this is like a 5-year old sore loser who keeps losing and demands a do-over.

19. DoND hater

    19

    October 5th, 2007 at 8:09 am

    I have been a DoND hater since the beginning. With its weak concept of random number picking, the obnoxious contestants, a horrible host in Howie Mandel, and the fake “drama” that is non-stop throughout the show, DoND has proven that it will never stand the test of time. The fact that people went so gaga over this show just goes to prove that there is really a “dumbing down” of America. Why use your brain on a game show when you can just shout out random numbers?

    This latest development in the DoND saga just proves my point. How can you just pick & choose which episodes air? How many times did we all watch Match Game, only to have the game end with one of the contestants scoring 1? How many times have we watched episodes of TPIR where there were no winners in any of the pricing games?

    Losing is part of a game show. I hope this spells the beginning of the end of DoND.

20. Scott

    20

    October 5th, 2007 at 9:40 am

    Endemol could solve the problem like this — if a contestant clears the right side of the board (or all the cases above a certain amount, say $10,000) the game ends IMMEDIATELY and they keep what is in their case, or maybe they could be really mean and say the game ends IMMEDIATELY AND THE CONTESTANT GETS ZERO (talk about suspense for bank offers). Those high-end cases could be a different color on the board to add to the suspense and to remind everyone of the doomsday potential. The result, boring, bad-luck games end early and there is an extra element of losing it all quickly.

    If the games aren’t exciting enough, just change the format. But what does this bode for a $250K max syndie Deal? Won’t some of those games get rather unexciting, too?

    This was a great game in its first season. What is being reported now is simply appalling. Does NBC not remember Twenty-One (the Barry-Enright version)?

21. myke25

    21

    October 5th, 2007 at 10:37 am

    OK, is the lady’s show not going to air AT ALL, or just not in sequence? Game shows do that all the time…especially syndies with no returning champs. In fact, I heard that we may not see the first week of Drew’s TPIR in the order in which they were taped.
    But, if it won’t air at all, then yes, Endemol and NBC should be ashamed.

    But when did a $50,000 win become a “loss?” Heck, if it’s because the player wasn’t “exciting” enough, on DoND that would be a refreshing change! The contestants are SO over the top now that the show is unwatchable. And this “Million Dollar Mission” reeks of desperation and is a big-ass spoiler! Why should I watch games with 2-5 $1M cases when I know they won’t be won? The only way they’ll give the Mil away is if the last few cases are nothing BUT $1M cases.

    I liked the game early on. There was a natural suspense to it. Now, it’s all manufactured carnival crap. The Power of Ten can’t come back soon enough for me.

22. Josh Halbur

    22

    October 5th, 2007 at 10:44 am

    I recently purchased a $5 Deal Or No Deal scratch-off for the Wisconsin Lottery, and one of the prizes is a chance to get on the show (on my ticket, I got down to three cases: $5, $500, and the $50,000 top prize). However, the fine-print on the back of the ticket states something to the extent that your show may or may not be aired on TV–now this statement has even more interpretations due to what was described above.

    My opinions on this show have been fluxuating since it first aired, and this story doesn’t help it much at all.

    (Oh, and I knocked out the $50,000 and the $500, in that order, to win the value of my ticket back.)

23. lobster

    23

    October 5th, 2007 at 11:15 am

    this isn’t exactly a “scandal” on the level you guys are painting this as, but simply poor judgment and poor planning due to the shitty format of this ridiculous game. “Scandal” implies cheating or fixing of some sort, and that didn’t happen here.

    This $50k chick is lucky.. Do remember, when you’re signed on to be a contestant you sign a huge book of shit acknowledging all sorts of crazy things, and one of them (at least for the two shows I’ve been on) is that it is always explicitly stated that if the show never airs, they are not obligated to pay the contestant, no matter what the reason for not airing it. So she’s very lucky she got paid at all. The production costs are so high on these things, they’re dumb to not air it and eat the cost simply because the game is flawed.

    If the lady in question never got paid, that’d be some pure shit and would cause a LOT more outrage — however, unfortunately the show is in the right to not pay if they wanted to be assholes. I imagine they considered it but probably decide to pay her to avoid a huge media mess..

    LObs

24. Haterade

    24

    October 5th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

    This may be something that is coming out new for Deal or No Deal, but this is not something that hasn’t been done before. Many shows, especially shows that are fully contained, have moved episodes or eliminated them entirely. Millionaire has done this a number of times, or they have just edited out contestants who have crashed out quickly (and yes, I have been to at least one taping where that was the case). Call me jaded (which I am), but the objective of television is to entertain the masses, and if we’re spending 10-20 minutes playing out a game with no right side money left, you’re not going to be entertained and instead will jump to see what’s going on at ABC or FOX. I have no problems with this practice AS LONG AS they still give out the money to the contestant, who earned it. According to the article, they did, so no harm, no foul.

    G.

25. Scott Meckley

    25

    October 5th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

    I think NBC is trying to kill off Deal Or No Deal. When this show started up this was there powerhouse show. It seems to me that after about 3 seasons that some networks try to kill off primetime gameshows especially NBC take the Weakest Link for example putting celebrities on it nearly all the time. I really think that most people are getting bored with Deal now. Losing is as much part of a gameshow as winning. It seems like that most of the contestants the last few seasons have pushed themselves too far which to me is part of the game in this show. You either drop out and take the deal when you don’t have a safety net or you play on hoping to have one million dollars. I also think that getting rid of the Monday airing was a bad move. I’m cool with this show being on once or twice a week but it needs to at least keep the Monday airing. Mondays and Wed is the two nights it needs to be on. I checked Zap2it.com and Deal airing on Wed and Fri it wasn’t even in the top twenty last week. I still like Deal but not as much as I use to. It needs to stick more with the gameplay and do away with the silly stunts. Also 1 VS 100 needs to come back because 1 vs 100 is a great show to watch. I think that most of the contestants are too over the top on Deal. I think they need a contestant like me who is there to have fun but also play the game.

26. David Howell

    26

    October 5th, 2007 at 2:34 pm

    The thing is, this didn’t even look like a truly dull game, heck she won $50,000 - implying either she played it out to the end and won it, or she took a Deal with higher on the board, neither of which would be that dull.

    The implicit assertion here - suddenly $50,000 (more than a year’s pay for tens of millions of Americans) is being treated like nothing. That might be the worst element of the whole thing, not that DoND is innocent of it anyway.

27. Mcwwin85

    27

    October 5th, 2007 at 2:46 pm

    The moment the $1,000,000 prize is won DOND will die. No one will care to watch anymore.

    It makes me sick that they would do something like this. Even those $0 three way ties on Press Your Luck were aired.

    Cheryl winning $5 was aired. Don’t even get me started on Brooks (2 times a loser) Leach!

    This is just unacceptable. The Chair had more pride than this. Power of 10 had so many people leave with nearly nothing yet people WATCH!

    I would’ve loved to watch this sweet lady win $50,000 it would be a great win to see, but End-em-all won’t allow it.

    UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

28. lobster

    28

    October 5th, 2007 at 3:48 pm

    David Howell makes an excellent point…
    Look at how we had to wait weeks and weeks just to see someone win $100,000 on Pyramid.. It’s very strange how these huge dollar shows have somehow made winning 6 figures a buzzkill.. I’ve seen a few times on DonD people who have said DEAL to $100,000+, yet when howie shows that their case had more in it, they’re all let down and there’s a huge buzzkill.. Take that same money and give it to a contestant on a 1970s game show.. and it’s screaming, balloons, confetti and insanity ..
    good point :D

    loobz

29. David Howell

    29

    October 5th, 2007 at 6:29 pm

    Game show prizes, and the way they are treated, have certainly gone way above inflation, because they make sporadic dramatic leaps. Millionaire made one, Power of 10 feels like one but nobody’s ever likely to win the $10m, but the difference with DoND is that while its top prize is (normally) the same $1m that became the standard seven years earlier, six-figure wins are practically de rigeur with the ultra-stable board. Ditto with Fifth Grader - or at least, if the contestants had any brains it would be that way - ditto with Identity (how many $500,000 wins again?), and presumably (though I’ve not seen it) ditto with Lyrics.

    When extraordinary sums of money are treated as if they’re just ordinary, the backlash is never too far away.

30. The Great Butler

    30

    October 5th, 2007 at 7:17 pm

    Wait until the day the Million Dollar Mission backfires—and all six first round cases contain $1,000,000.

    THEN the real fun begins.

31. Intelligentfan777

    31

    October 5th, 2007 at 9:22 pm

    Six-Figure and Seven-Figure (or More, Maybe?) wins are still very exciting, on most shows when they happen. It is diluted a lot by DoND’s MDM. But, at the same time, when, the top prizes are won on certain shows, that particular show only gets more popular because it takes a heck of a lot to do it. So, when it happens again, it’s still very exciting! Millionaire is a perfect example, Po10 too, I’m sure 1 vs. 100 will remain strong if/when it happens for the first time. Same for Duel I’m sure, and many other shows.

    On tonight’s DoND, the million wasn’t won, BUT….both contestants rode their games almost to the end and still won big! There actually was more game play than “other stuff” on this episode.

    Anyway, despite what you feel about DoND today, game shows in general still have a bright future for the most part.

32. shelly

    32

    October 5th, 2007 at 11:33 pm

    Heck, if it’s because the player wasn’t “exciting” enough, on DoND that would be a refreshing change!

    According to the article, she was your now-typical over-the-top contestant. Her entrance was on horseback; it featured an appearance by Leann Rhimes (who showed off her yodeling skills). I’m surprised a lot of you aren’t HAPPY this isn’t airing. After all, it’s one less obnoxious contestant you’d have to watch. ;) (I don’t like the OTT ones, either; yet, I watch anyway because, IMO, it’s crack.)

    That all said, this is NOT a scandal. Her game was not fixed; it’s illegal to do that. On the other hand, it is NOT illegal to keep certain episodes of a show from airing for whatever reason, regardless of how stupid the reason is. (Case in point: Some celebs who appeared on Match Game don’t allow GSN to air their episodes. Also: The final episode (or two?) of Show Me the Money, before GSN picked it up.)

33. shelly

    33

    October 5th, 2007 at 11:41 pm

    Correction: Even GSN won’t air the final two eps of SMTM, for obvious reasons. (I’d forgotten about that. ;))

34. Intelligentfan777

    34

    October 6th, 2007 at 1:27 am

    I went back and read some of these posts. And folks, some of things you’ve said continues to reinforce my point of game show bloggers overreacting because of a certain game show related thing.

    Warning: I’m about to go semi-nuclear here………..

    DoNDhater is one of the worst kind. Technically shelly is right that this is NOT a scandal, it will not develop into one, and we probably will forget about it in a week. DoNDhater, if you don’t like the show, fine. But for God’s sake, stop this “Oh, because you like DoND America is “dumbing down” crap! That’s not the case, that was never, EVER the case! America is a SMART nation that gets smarter every day! We lead the world in science, research and development, opportunity, and innovation!

    DoND is JUST A GAME SHOW! If you like it fine, if you don’t, then don’t watch, and leave it at that! Speaking of which, hey DoNDhater, did you forget about J!, WWTBAM, 1 vs 100, GS, Po10, Duel, Etc. etc. etc?! All of which are SMART shows!
    Also, the game show boom is not ending, the genre is going to be just fine in the long run!
    For the love of………

    I’m sorry for ranting like this. I know I’m going to take some heat for this post. I’m a game show fan like all of you, but when you start losing perspective on the world around you just because you didn’t like what you saw on a television (which is also SMART for the most part) program, you need to seriously take a step back and realize that you’re just saying things that you really should not have said in the first place. Next thing you know, you’re going to blame DoND for the next major earthquake that strikes California, or the next hurricane. Stop it! Just stop it! I don’t condone what the show did in not airing that particular episode, but I think this will pass.

    Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but in a way, some of you are abusing that right when it comes to the Internet game show community. I still want to be a part of it, I just suggest that some of you re-evaluate you choices of words sometimes, because they can get offensive. Again, I know I’ll take some heat for this, but I also know many of you will back me up on these well thought out points.

35. Eric

    35

    October 6th, 2007 at 3:19 am

    1. Why am I not suprised by this?
    2. 2 of the smartest shows on TV will probably never have a top prize winner (Po10 and 1v100)
    3.That was only semi-nuclear, Intelli?
    4. America is dumbing down America, Not Set for Life, Not DoND,Not (god help us) National Bingo Night)
    5. And here I thought the networks only cared about getting to the top of that list that I thought only game show geeks really paid any attention to. Does $1,000,000 even get you in the top 10?

36. David Howell

    36

    October 6th, 2007 at 7:07 am

    Does $1,000,000 even get you in the top 10?

    Let me think… there were eight millionaires on Grand Slam (Christy was seeeded 8 and Ogas 9, yes?). Right off the top of my head, I can name Kevin Smith as a millionaire who wasn’t on Grand Slam. Bernie from the ABC version. Jamie Sadler, the first millionaire of the DoND era. Etc etc.

    There are more than ten million-dollar wins - heck, there’s been more than ten million-POUND wins, though as yet nothing bigger (though some of the £1m winners have won on other shows too), and that’s $2m and change now, and the UK has a much shorter history of big-money game shows (we had prize caps as recently as 1996!). Whether there are more than ten wins over $1m is another matter. I suspect there are, though.

37. Mike B.

    37

    October 6th, 2007 at 3:03 pm

    I’ve lost any shred of respect I had left for the show. I’ve always thought DoND was a pretty dull game, but Howie and the models somewhat redeemed the show for me. Over time the show became too heavily infested with gimmicks and obnoxious contestants, and this latest bit of news is just pathetic. I still have hope that the syndie version will be more down-to-earth, but I’m through with primetime DoND.

38. Intelligentfan777

    38

    October 6th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    The Real Truth is America Is SMARTENING up America, That’s The REAL TRUTH!

39. Intelligentfan777

    39

    October 6th, 2007 at 7:38 pm

    ERIC, YOU ARE WRONG!

    America is a Smart nation that is getting Smarter Every day! That’s the real truth!

40. Chris

    40

    October 7th, 2007 at 12:13 am

    I’d make the argument that the brightest in the US are brighter than those in our past, but the overall mean is likely dropping. Admissions to get into university are more difficult than ever, but I’d wager that the majority of the US could not name the current British prime minister, the capital of Canada, or their local State representative.

    To bring this back to game shows, compare the level of questions on Jeopardy in 1984 and today - I’d argue that they’ve gotten easier. Password is another prime example; through each incarnation, you can see more and more leniency with the clues that are given. At this point, as much as I’d love to see a revival, I just don’t think we as a country are smart enough to “get it”.

    With that being said, the only reason why this is a problem for DoND (and good news for detractors like myself) is that it means they’re one show closer to hitting the million, and once that’s hit, the show will plummet.

41. Eric

    41

    October 7th, 2007 at 1:29 am

    Why do I suddenly get the feeling I’m preaching to the choir?

42. Gary

    42

    October 7th, 2007 at 9:38 am

    I’ve watched a lot of gameshows in my time and I have to admit. If you go back to the 80’s daytime/syndicated shows — you’ll notice that the contestants weren’t as loud, obnoxious, over the top, and well call it “dumbed down” Here’s a breakdown

    WOF 80’s had more of a quiet but smarter group who always rememberd that buying vowels COST money so if you knew where and what the vowel was, you didn’t buy it to make your opponent figure it out.

    WOF current — There are no more champions, the contestants sound like really bad cheerleaders when they call out a consonant.

    TPIR is another case of that IMHO. Find some vintage episodes of Bob and Johnny O. They were excited and some funny to watch back then. Now you just expect contestants to just have some sort of gimmick about them the moment Rich F. calls their name.

    PYL 80’s — Paint this picture: you’re down by $6,000 with only 1 earned spin. I’ve seen more than about 60% of the time that the player would pass that spin and hope for the whammy to come up. Strategic play

    Whammy — Opening round you see sometimes that 2 players would be knocked out of the round and the remaining 3rd player would continue to play on. (another example of choosing “dumbed down” contestants instead of strategic players) Oh and I still strongly believe that board was fixed.

    But anyway, I’m posting these examples because I feel that in some cases contestant selections are just plain terrible, thus resulting in horrible aired shows. Thus building a chain reaction (no pun intended) to airing or not airing episodes, and protests to these shows.

    I like DOND but I have to agree with a few of you out there. Drop the pathetic gimmicks and just play the game. Stop dragging everything out. And pick some contestants that know when to quit. I think the game would be a little more enjoyable at that point.

43. lobster

    43

    October 7th, 2007 at 10:33 am

    Chris is correct, and if you take it back to the 50s and 60s, game shows were clearly reserved for people that clearly knew their shit. I recall seeing a rebroadcast of one of the classics (Might have been $64,000 question .. can’t recall exactly) where the final question was “What was served as the final dinner on the Titanic?” .. And I remember the contestant rattled off the entire ten course meal .. “uhhh… Consommé Olga, Cream of Barley, umm.. Poached Salmon with Mousseline Sauce, Cucumbers” etc. Insane. Now THAT’s some obscure trivia knowledge worth winning a high dollar amount for.

    When John Carpenter was given the “Nixon on Laugh-in” question as the $1m question (which I’m sure millions of people knew the answer to since they might have saw or heard about that), I had this sudden heart-sinking feeling that dumbed down questions were indeed a sign of the times. To win $1m, or hell, even $100k on a game show should still require some sort of uncanny knowledge above and beyond your standard person, and I imagine such questions would not be very hard to write. “What is the capital of The Maldives”, but I’m now wondering if those high-valued easy questions and easy ways to win lots of money are strictly tooled so the viewer can feel like they could have done it themselves? I’m sure there’s some sort of logic to it.. but when marketing drives game show difficulty integrity, logic is out the window :D

    LObs

44. David

    44

    October 7th, 2007 at 10:52 am

    IIRC, when GSN was doing originals at night, I seem to recall them setting it up on one of theit premier nights that they just happened to have a $50,000 win on WinTuition the same night they had someone win $100,000 on Russian Roulette…

45. Mike

    45

    October 7th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

    Eric, I agree with you. Intelligent, calm down and please stop trying to fool yourself.

    I teach and can tell you that students generally are not as smart or enthusiastic as a generation ago, when I was in school. What’s to blame? I believe four items are to blame–TV, video games, the Internet (especially kids accessing sites without any supervision), and single-parent households. Most of my students don’t complete their educational obligations because they’d rather watch TV or play with their XBox 360 and if mom or dad doesn’t get home from work until 9 or 10 PM, who’s going to stop them?

    If America is getting smarter, why are most daytime syndicated shows courtroom shows and talk shows? Very few of those shows truly educate in a worthwhile way. (Montel Williams, Oprah, and *possibly* Dr. Phil would be on the short list.) NBC’s biggest show last year involved randomly picking numbers and winning insane gobs of money. One of FOX’s biggest surprises this year is a show where adults tackle material which is supposedly 5th grade-appropriate. (Maybe by California’s educational standards; I don’t remember seeing 75% of the 5th grade material used until middle or high school.)

    I’m not going to rant forever. Just don’t fool yourself by thinking America’s getting smarter every day when someone who works in the education field sees dozens of 16-year-olds who can’t even multiply one-digit numbers together without using their fingers or a multiplication table.

46. David Howell

    46

    October 7th, 2007 at 1:54 pm

    I seem to recall reading that FOX were using the Arizona curriculum.

    (Oh, the UK version started tonight and I’ve not heard anything good about it yet… :p)

    From what I can tell, there are certainly a whole load of dumb Americans, and perhaps their numbers are swelling, and there are also a whole load of smart Americans still. Game shows, however, have gone from intellectual challenges to near-circuses.

    Thankfully we still have intelligent shows here in the UK…

47. Bluescreen_ODeff

    47

    October 7th, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    Here are some interesting quotes I’ve found:

    Homer Simpson - “Game shows aren’t about cruelty; they’re about greed and wonderful prizes like poorly built catamarans.”

    Geritol president (Quiz Show) - “…they just wanted to watch the money”

    Any relation to this situation with DoND?

48. David Howell

    48

    October 7th, 2007 at 4:02 pm

    Very, very interesting quotes there…

49. SEAN

    49

    October 8th, 2007 at 6:40 pm

    The dumbing of game shows started with jokers wild in 1972. Jeopardy on the other hand has for the most part has become hardder dispite more piop colture.

    The other great knowlege game that is tops is Split Second.

50. Mark David

    50

    October 10th, 2007 at 9:39 pm

    I know I’m going to take a lot of heat for this, but here goes…

    Tonight (10/10), they showed a comeplete trainwreck of a game, where some idiot won alomst nothing. Why they would show that piece of horses**t in place of a show where someone actually wins a nice amount of money ($50K) is beyond me. End ‘Em All thought that this game wasn’t exciting. Bulls**t! They must think that forcing us to watch some complete idiot pollute our TV screens by winning $100 or less just because they’re one of those over-the-top, cookie-cutter contestants who they assume we will warm up to. Games where people win less than a day’s pay ARE NOT EXCITING!!! Games where people win substantial amounts of money, like $50K, for example), are exciting. I don’t watch DoND to see people walk away with less than what’s in some people’s wallets. I watch it to see people win big. Unfortunately the show has become a nine-ring circus with all the gimmickry and schmaltz that they’ve loaded it up with lately. That’s my take on this matter.

51. David Davenport

    51

    October 11th, 2007 at 12:50 pm

    When are NBC/Endemol going to get a grip on reality? This is way too overboard as far as skipping games goes. They can still salvage this show before it’s too late.

52. Daniel

    52

    October 12th, 2007 at 8:05 pm

    Thank goodness they are stopping tne Mission at 8 cases and ending tonight

53. Jamal

    53

    October 13th, 2007 at 12:16 am

    Well, the Mission ended in failure and I felt bad for the woman. When she finally took the deal she told Howie, “I feel the million is in my case, but maybe it’s not”. I thought that was one of the smartest things anyone on DoND ever said. Everybody says that and they’re wrong 99% of the time and end up settling for less than their highest offer. But this poor woman was RIGHT about her “feeling”. The last of the 8 $1M cases was hers and she left over $800,000 on the table. I felt so bad for her. She made a good decision that turned out to be the wrong decision.

    On another topic, anyone who thinks TV has not dumbed down this country over the last 50 years really needs to reconsider who they get their koolaid from. Sheesh. A teacher gave 4 reasons why people are dumber today than a few decades ago, but I disagree. In fact, I think the Internet is contributing to anti-dumbness by getting people away from the boob tube. TV is the #1 reason why people today are so unaware about what goes on in the country and the world. TV exists for advertisers to sell their products. Period. Shows that appeal to the lowest common denominators, i.e. money for nothing and chicks for free, get the highest ratings, advertisers love them and so they make more of them. There is some decent programming around but 90% of it is garbage, and you can judge certain things about someone by how much they loves them their teevee.

54. David Howell

    54

    October 13th, 2007 at 7:23 am

    Could we argue that, by having both intelligent and ‘dumb’ content (and a far greater variety across this than TV, which leans more clearly dumb), the Internet is in fact increasing the gap between the smart and dumb, without necessarily changing the mean much?

55. Andrew

    55

    October 13th, 2007 at 5:43 pm

    NOW, after the MDM is over, will you show this episode?

    :P