So, I see Howie Mandel and “Deal or No Deal” is coming back. Maybe with upgrades. I’m happy. Anyone else?
Can they get Meghan Markle back as a suitcase girl?
Eh, I was never a fan. It was a highly simplistic game, which everyone involved pretended wasn’t. Just pick suitcases 1,2,3,4,5,6 and be done with it: They’re random, it doesn’t matter.
That’s not the game, the game is in watching the contestants have no clue of the probabilities. I started watching it with the sound off so I didn’t have to listen to the stupid sob stories and “That’s a lot of money…” and “That’s OK, that’s OK.”
It’s a great game of chance.
Deal or No Deal is a decent concept in theory, but it’s a terrible show in practice.
It’s an hour-long show and most of the time is filled up with BS drama and meaningless time wasting.
On a good game show, like Jeopardy!, they do fast action questions and answers.
On a bad game show like Deal or no Deal they have the contestant make a choice and then spend several minutes building up drama before the reveal.
Deal or no Deal doesn’t even deserve to be called a game show. In my mind, I think of it on the same tier as a reality show.
Well, crap. Nothing beats Jeopardy!, not even in the same category. You have to have knowledge for one and luck for the other. The idea of winning scads of cash for nothing more than picking a suitcase. And the deal making is drama. In my book.
Somebody who went in with a set figure as a goal and a good grasp of probability and outcome could do fairly well on this show but would be a boring contestant. It depends on people who have poor math skills and are willing to throw caution to the wind in order to be exciting.
A game of Deal or No Deal can be played properly (ideally by someone who can calculate an approximate expected value) in a total of five minutes. They could run eight games in a one-hour slot if they wanted to. The show is unwatchable because the base game is so simplistic, so the whole point is watching the players. So then it depends on how much you want to watch people that can’t do simple math agonize for 20 minutes.
I agree, except that the decisions involve not just calculated expected value but also the player’s personal utility. And it isn’t “unwatchable” for everyone, because plenty of people do watch it. But yeah, it is the most vapid, content-less game show ever.
I was stuck at home for a couple weeks and I spent most of those days watching the Game Show Network. I’m amazed at how slow game shows have gotten. Classics like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and Price is Right are incredible fast paced.
I’m watching “The Chase”, and outside of the 1 minute lightning round, it’s so slow. Here’s how the one on one section goes:
- Ask the question
- Give an answer
- Explain why you think it’s that answer
- The host goes “Is the answer X?”
- Wait five seconds
- Reveal the correct answer
- The Beast explains why he came up with his answer\
- Recap the last five minutes
It’s a slog.
You are correct that utility matters. But it’s rare that it’d make much of a difference until about half the cases are open. In two extreme examples, $1 versus $1 million with an offer of $500,000 on the table is a no-brainer to take the deal. If the last two cases are $750,000 and $1,000,000, it’s worth gambling if the offer comes in at $875,000. So, yes, the part the producers play up is the utility, because there’s nothing else to the game.
I assumed this was a thread about UK politics for a moment…
Has any of the contestants ever taken one of the first four offers?
The Chase is, in my opinion, the best game show on television right now. But I agree with you that it would be better if they tightened it up significantly during that particular round (the one-on-ones with The Beast). I think the other two rounds of the show are paced reasonably well.
I find Deal Or No Deal unwatchable, and that’s not intended to be a knock on anyone who enjoys it—it’s just not my style. I find it to be too much drama for the sake of drama, and not enough that’s legitimately interesting. The same issue I have with a lot of reality television, honestly.
I always wanted to go on Deal or no Deal so I could just pick cases like this:
Howie: OK, now pick 7 cases.
Me: 1-7.
Howie: Uh, are you sure? So quick.
Me: Well, I know nothing about them and if they are randomly shuffled, I see no reason to pretend my picking is strategical.
And so on…just pick 8-14 next time and on ward. I would pick the highest number case to be “my case”.
I’d take a medium, hopefully decent, offer. Luck would dictate what that would be.
Most game shows are largely luck to begin with, so one that’s pure luck doesn’t really bother me. There were three things, however, that were absolute dealbreakers for me. In order:
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That “which one WOOOOHHUUULLDDDD you have picked” garbage. Beyond sickening. Man, talk about a pure loss. If you’re “right”, you get jack squat; if you’re “wrong”, you get utterly degraded through absolutely no fault of your own. Used to be when the game ended, THAT WAS IT. No more being mocked, no more pain, it was over. And as every poker player knows, if you don’t have the guts to go the distance, there is NO REVEAL. Maybe he had a full house, maybe he was bluffing, but you’ll never know and you just have to accept that. In the 80’s, no game show worth a damn would even dream of doing this, because they knew that hindsight was 20/20, thus a stupid pointless meaningless waste of time. So many people completely dragged through the mud for the crime of not being goddam psychic. I can’t believe other game shows adopted this grotesque crap.
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The Banker, a 100% dead-center straight-down-the-pipe neutral party with ZERO interest any way in how much the contestant wins, cast as a villain. As a career government worker, I find this at best ludicrous and at worst insulting. This would be like the WWE having a heel equipment manager. I know this nation despises the very concept of neutrality, but it is what it is, all right?
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Your Case, i.e. a case which you cannot eliminate but also cannot claim until the very end, when there is but one other case remaining…which you have the option of switching to. Who the hell came up with this one, NCAA’s college football division? I mean, I kinda sorta get the idea of building up drama…bogus, artificial, stupid drama, but half a loaf, I guess…but why is isolate one specific number even necessary? Couldn’t Howie just politely but firmly demand that the contestant “always remember which is Your Case” without actually having to choose one, and then if it gets down to two, have him ask “Now, which one was Your Case?”
Unless the new incarnation gets rid of all these, I’m not wasting a minute on it. Not getting my hopes up.
Huh, is that true? I’ve never thought about all the game shows out there and thought about how much were luck.
Jeopardy isn’t luck. Wheel of Fortune contains luck, but is a skill game, too.
I think there is a ton of luck in game shows, but which ones are largely luck?
Deal or No Deal - all guessing and luck
Let’s Make a Deal - hugely luck and just odds guessing
Price is Right - luck and hopefully some math skills(really a lot of luck, though)
Survivor - personal skills and tons of luck, especially early on
Millionaire - well, luck, but mostly knowledge
Jeopardy - again, luck on the categories, but a lot of knowledge
I always thought of game shows as a subset of reality television. And therefore the first reality TV historically.
But yeah, I never liked Deal or No Deal. I’d just as soon watch somebody flip a coin over and over for an hour.
The suitcase ladies were easy on the eyes at least.
Nope, I’m not happy at all.
I’m pissed about it frankly.
Because it is (was?) filmed here in Orlando and they had auditions and I auditioned, but I was behind this set of professional (ahem…“professional”) comedy/entertainment twins and they were SO GODDAMN ANNOYING in line and just wanted the attention for themselves. Then, we got picked to be in the same “spend 30 seconds talking about yourself to the casting director” section and they completely threw everyone off their game by never shutting up and not letting anyone else have their due.
So, yeah…I’m angry about it. Boo this show! Boo Howie!