The Banker's Offer...
One... Million... Dollars...
September 21
So Deal Or No Deal, still looking for their first million dollar winner,
has decided to keep adding million dollar cases to the selection (up to
six, according to the promo) until they get one. The odds of being a
millionaire dropped from one out of 26 to one out of 6.16. NBC has
decided to take a game which already has been augmented by its silly
stunts and make it even sillier.
This is an error of enormous proportions. If someone actually walks away
with the money, this is a shark-jumping moment for the show. Not only
does it cheapen the gameplay of the show, but the mystique of someone
having the guts to go for the money with no safety net will be
obliterated. Eventually, someone will wind up pulling a Michele Falco by
holding two of the Million Dollar cases as the final two left, but let
it be done that way instead of the contestant potentially wrapping up
the million with only 21 or 22 cases open.
The game was fair enough on it's own, without having to resort to cheap
tricks to try to pull in the viewers. Maybe they will get some eyeballs,
but what will happen once the million is finally won? You know what will
happen - the million dollar moment will be put on You Tube and people
who have now seen what happens will no longer have that sort of interest
to watch the show. The reason why people like myself watch the show is
to see someone fairly play the game, not to be handed a million dollars
on a silver platter.
It's almost ridiculous to think that Deal or No Deal is attempting to
manufacture a 'must see TV' moment to try to catapult the game into a
cultural icon and not a fad. Yet, they have to realize that the best
game show moments are the ones that come out of the blue, and not the
ones that are prepared. No one expected Dan Avila to go for the two
million on Greed, or John Carpenter to call his dad and tell him that he
won the million dollars on Millionaire. Those moments make watching
these shows priceless, instead of shamefully handing out dollars or
Donald Trump bringing out the wallet due to sympathy for a little kid.
Deal Or No Deal has had a 'rehearsed, instead of natural' feel to it for
a while, and this new stunt is not going to change that.
So what should Deal Or No Deal do? Bring in the Temptation Case, which
will allow the person to take the deal and give some random person in
the audience a chance to play the board the player left. Allow people
from the audience to guess what's in the case to win prizes. If you must
change the board, then do it while keeping the fair ratios on the board,
and not stacking the board. There are ways to add some spark to the game
without burning it down. Hopefully, Scott St. John and company can
figure it out before the house of DOND is a dying ember.
Two last
pricing games to give you some info about...
Triple Play - The price for the first car is almost always the
lower one.
2 for the Price of 1 - The first number is usually the higher
one. The last number is usually a zero or 5. Hence, use the free number
on the second digit, which you would not be able to logically deduce.
And that's it for the Pricing Games. Hopefully you'll have read up on
all of them before you audition for Drew Carey. Good luck!
Gordon Pepper's offer... that you e-mail him at
gordon@gameshownewsnet.com. |