Top 10 Moments of 2008: Number Three
I actually think we’re finally over all the potential ugly moments and we’re at the truly special and memorable moments. We start our top three by visiting syndication. To say that people were sick of NBC’s Deal or No Deal looks to be an understatement. The show dropped viewers by the end of season three and beginning of season four like the plague and no gimmick they did helped whatsoever. Massive publicity didn’t matter. It was basically dead, and this really worried many about the syndicated version announced. Were people just sick of the format, or was there still life in it?
Our third top moment of 2008 is how the syndicated edition of Deal or No Deal seemed to save the format. The daytime version purged everything bad and odd about the primetime version. You got to know contestants more without getting annoying up close, the game was sped up, the relationship couch was gone, the Banker got more nasty and personal, the board was actually challenging, and the top prize of $500,000 was a fortune for daytime television and really got people to play on more. Literally anything negative about the primetime version was erased and drastically improved upon in the daytime. The clip above, with Chelsea Drake, was the best US Deal has ever been, and so much more dramatic than the primetime version has ever been, even with half the top prize.
It’s impossible to argue that it’s worked, or that the format is dead. Look at the ratings. While primetime Deal continues to go down and down, daytime Deal goes up and up. More people are seeing how the format is supposed to be played. It’s won over many critics because of the speed. It’s not in-your-face speed like the primetime version’s speed edition, but it’s done so you can connect with players while not getting irritated by them. Ratings started out rocky ratings wise, but it honestly looks like it may overtake Who Wants to be a Millionaire? by the end of this season or beginning of next season as the 3rd highest rated game show in syndication. It’s amazing how similar the run of Millionaire is to Deal or No Deal. Like Millionaire, Deal ran its course, overstayed its welcome, came back new and improved in daytime, and looks like it’ll be sticking around for a long time to come.
Not to mention, the publicity and communications nerd that I am, this really shows that if you promote a show in simple ways, people will watch. Crosswords, Temptation, and Trivial Pursuit had extremely little publicity and look how disappointing the ratings are. Deal or No Deal had actual advertisements and publcity and it’s the number one new daytime show this season. It’s not coincidence. Other shows could really learn something.
Moment of Truth: Did Daytime Deal or No Deal bring new life and rejuvinate the format? What has made the daytime edition so popular?
Did Daytime Deal or No Deal bring new life and rejuvinate the format? Big time. I do believe other shows (the upcoming Daytime version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is one) should learn something about advertising their shows (Are you listening, Fox?).
As for the popularity of the show, other than the promos during the summer, is that it has a faster pace than its primetime version. Not to mention that the contestants are holding cases rather than the models (I’ll miss them all), and the other 21 contestants usually roots for the contestants to win.
Well, this might have been the biggest moment in syndicated TV this year. While WoF’s $1 Mil probably ranked higher, I think this win, and the success of the daytime version of DonD after it’s prime time destruction, are bigger stories. The pacing of this show, and the fact that these contestants seem more like real people than the nighttime show, makes this much more enjoyable to watch. Howie did the right thing to sign on to do the daytime version since this show is going to last in syndication.
When the show started in prime time, the pacing was a wee bit slower than this, but not by much. They always had more than one contestant, and frequently straddled contestants between shows. By the end of the show, they sometimes stretched the show so much that one contestant could las a whole 90 minute or two hour show. That is way too long, and for a show with not really much game play, it really added to it’s demise in prime time.
With all due respect, DeVares, we’re not going to miss ALL the models. I mean, Patricia and Tameka are, along with Howie, keeping the show going.
Without Patricia and Tameka, who will:
* select the contestant, i.e, use the wheel?
* carry cases if the contestant decides to switch?
* collect the chosen cases?
Sorry, but I have to rain on this parade. I can’t speak for any other area, but my affiliate advertises this version almost as much as NBC did for the Prime Time edition. So, I see no difference there…again, this is my area I’m talking about.
I also have to say that many a game show has seen its demise with theme weeks. Again, I don’t know if the episodes run in the same order as in other areas. But, here, at least for a few weeks, it was theme week after theme week after theme week. It DROVE ME NUTS! I’d rather just get to know individual contestants for their own sake…not because of a theme week…and, before anyone mentions it…let me say it here. WoF’s theme weeks drive me crazy too.
Let’s go back to the days when game shows relied on contestants…and not on themes. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do think syndie DoND helped immensely. It took the game back to its roots. No stupid gimmicks (theme weeks notwithstanding), no supporters’ corner (honestly, I think — overall — it’s more a nuisance than anything), and a quicker game pace. Not to mention it’s a good change of pace, IMO, seeing the contestants themselves open the cases and root for and support each other.
Sorry folks, but I have to present to you Exhibit A: Weakest Link.
Made unwatchable in primetime by ratings stunts, moved to syndication where show was allowed to thrive, but ultimately cancelled after a couple of seasons.
There’s maybe a couple of years of syndication ahead, tops.
Then you have “Millionaire.”
It’s been in syndication longer than the original primetime series.
I am convinced that the million dollar missions was among other things the primetime deals downfall.
If it aint broke, don’t fix it! That’s the lesson for Primetime. They forgot about Deal or No Deal’s basics.
Daytime Deal will be around for a long time. I am sure that NBC will do specials for Primetime with the Deals.
I hope that if they come with another Daytime season in September 09, that they will have more prize cases on the board, like what they do in Australia. Like replace the $25,000 case with a car. Or have a Mega guess come up randomly so that a player who’s opening cases gets some money for correctly predicting whats in their case.
What do you guys think about that idea?
I love the daytime version for many reasons: It’s fast-paced, there’s no quarter-million dollar missions, the contestants are not over the top with their emotions nor do they cry, and do you know what the best part of daytime DOND is? The contestant has no support group.
Tameka and Patricia are good choices for daytime DOND.
Let me rephrase myself, I will miss SOME of the models (happy now, william?).
To Kevin G: the syndicated version of The Weakest Link was cancelled because of Millionaire. Here’s the explaination: The majority of the stations that aired Weakest Link also aired Millionaire (which was launched the following season) and when Millionaire did premiered, many stations (KPRC in Houston, WCBS in New York, KTHV in Little Rock, and WLTX in Columbia, South Carolina, just to name a few) aired Millionaire in the time slot occupied by Weakest Link and put the latter on during late night or overnight hours where it met its demise.
To my new friend Jay: I agree with you. These so-called “theme” shows (with the exception of Wheel of Fortune) are killing game shows.
To Eric: Patricia and Tameka were good choices, which is proof that the show wasn’t looking for sex appeal, instead, looking for true beauty (not that any of the other models weren’t beautiful).
Primetime Deal will stay around in some capacity. Last week (Christmas) it was the top-rated program on Christmas night among adults 18-49. NBC won’t ignore those ratings.
I have a feeling this show will be back in the spring, albeit trimmed to once a week and airing on a night other than Friday (maybe Wednesday ). If not, at least we have the syndie version.