Deal or No Deal (U.S. syndicated game show)

Deal or No Deal (U.S. syndicated game show)
Logo
Format	Game show
Created by	John de Mol
Presented by	Howie Mandel
Starring	Patricia Kara (Model) Tameka Jacobs (Model) The Banker
Narrated by	Joe Cipriano
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
Production
Running time	approx. 22-26 minutes
Distributor	Entertain The Brutes NBC Universal Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndicated MyNetworkTV (2009–2010)
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	September 8, 2008 (2008-09-08) – May 28, 2010 (2010-05-28)
Chronology
Related shows	Deal or No Deal (primetime)
External links
Website

Deal or No Deal is an American game show, a daytime version of the American series of the same name that is syndicated by NBCUniversal Television Distribution. It premiered on September 8, 2008 and is hosted by Howie Mandel. The format is similar to the UK version of the show (and other versions in Spain, Italy, France, and India). In the show's second season taping moved to Connecticut.

Deal or No Deal was also picked up by MyNetworkTV.^[1] On February 8, 2010, it was announced that Deal or No Deal will be canceled following its second season due to declining ratings.^[2] Its final episode aired on May 28, 2010, with reruns that continued to air on local stations until September 10, 2010. Repeat episodes aired on MyNetworkTV back to back at 9:00 PM on Tuesdays until September 28, 2010.

Reruns now air on GSN.^[3]

Gameplay

Deal or No Deal is played by one contestant at a time, five contestants per week with 22 contestants per week trying to play. Prior to each game, 22 dollar amounts ranging from $.01 to $500,000 are distributed by a third-party among 22 briefcases,^[4] the values are unknown by the host or the Banker. The cases are then randomly presented to 22 contestants.^[5]

The game begins by spinning the "Deal Wheel," a wheel with the 22 numbers that correspond to the numbers on the cases. A golden ball is placed in the wheel and as it spins, the ball bounces around inside the wheel to various numbers. When the wheel stops, whichever number the ball lands is the case number selected. The contestant's case is then placed on a podium. The player has the opportunity to either keep the case that they have or swap with one of the 21 remaining cases. The only exception to this rule was when Evian has been a sponsor on the show and the models would spin a bottle of Evian water to determine the contestants for that particular week. During special themed weeks, the logo sponsoring is shown on the wheel as well.

Through a series of rounds, the contestant is asked to select a number of the other cases still in play; each case is opened and the value revealed before it is taken out of play, and a large electronic board is used to track which dollar amounts still remain in the game. After completing the selection of cases for that round, the Banker, a silhouette figure lit only dimly from behind in a box overlooking the stage, will call down to the host using a phone on the podium. The host will then tell the player of the Banker's "offer": a cash value that depends on of the values of the cases remaining in play, in exchange for leaving the game. The host opens a Plexiglas case on the podium containing a button; if the player accepts the deal, he or she presses the button to end the game, otherwise, he or she closes the case and declares "No Deal," requiring the player to continue into the next round.

Each round progressively removes fewer cases from the game; the first round begins with five cases to be removed, the second round with five more, then four, two, two, and subsequently down to removing one case at a time. (During the six pilot episodes taped, including the Arsenio Hall pilot, three cases were opened in Round 4 instead of two, resulting in only 6 total rounds of play instead of 7.) The Banker's offers typically depend on the interaction between the player and himself. Sometimes, they represent a small percentage of the average value of all the remaining cases. From round to round, that percentage generally increases, sometimes exceeding 100% toward the end of the game. Should the player make it to the final round, with the selected case and one other case left in play, they may take the final offer or win whatever is in the case they kept (there is no swap at the end of the game). If the player takes a deal prior to the final round, the host usually encourages the player to play through to the end to see what would have happened. Only one player plays for the entire show.

Case Values

Left Side	Right Side
$0.01	$1,000
$1	$2,500
$5	$5,000
$10	$7,500
$25	$10,000
$50	$25,000
$100	$50,000
$200	$75,000
$300	$100,000
$400	$250,000
$500	$500,000

Deal's $10K Giveaway

The syndicated version also has a "Lucky Case Game" called Deal's $10K Giveaway, playing for $10,000 cash. Unlike the prime-time version, the contest lasts all week (with one winner per week), and viewers participate by calling a toll-free number. There are also 5 regular cases rather than 6 gold cases. The contest is designed as an advertisement for the Deal or No Deal Club,^[6] a club where shoppers could get special discounts for a monthly fee at dealornodealclub.com.

In season two, this was changed to Deal Mania!!!, giving away a $1,000 prize rather than $10,000 cash.^[7] The contest works almost exactly like Deal's $10K Giveaway, except that viewers can enter 5 times a day by calling the toll-free number or an unlimited number of times at mydealmania.com. Deal Mania!!! is also played every weekday^[8] and holds weekend sweepstakes as well.

History

Originally, Mandel planned not to host the syndicated version, as his asking price to host it, in addition to the prime time NBC version, was considered to be outside of the production budget. Arsenio Hall was first considered to be the host, and even taped a pilot for the syndicated version, but was later passed over. According to rumors, Mark Curry and Frank Nicotero were also among the candidates.^[9] NBC also had concerns that the syndicated show would harm the prime time show, as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire had suffered from overexposure.^[9] However, the syndicated version debuted September 8, 2008, with Mandel as host.^[10]

Initially, NBC planned to package this program with the Program Partners-produced Merv Griffin's Crosswords for its first season, as its owned and operated stations were already airing Crosswords and were picking up Deal or No Deal as well. However, this was later scrapped after Crosswords abruptly stopped production after its first season and most, if not all, of the NBC O&Os aired Deal or No Deal in a double-run format.

As Deal or No Deal became an exclusively syndicated show for the 2009–10 season, major changes were made to the show:

• The show moved from the Culver Studios in Culver City, California to the Sonalysts Studios in Waterford, Connecticut, as part of a corporate decision in which four NBC Universal Television Distribution shows moved to Connecticut. The entire set was shipped east, but scaled down to fit the studio.

• The show was also to be taped in high-definition, the fourth current game show to be taped in the format, joining Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and The Price Is Right.^[11] However, for whatever reason, this did not occur.

Sponsors

Themed Week Sponsoring

There have been a few times where the week would be sponsored by a company, and the $1,000, $7,500 or $10,000 would be themed like the company that sponsors it. hp, Lucky Listerine, Sears, and Splenda have all sponsored a week. The contestant that opens the case will win items from that company, unless the contestant that was playing the game has that case and takes a deal, in which case nobody wins the bonus prize that day.

The exception is with Splenda; when the Splenda case is opened, the next offer after that would be "sweetened" by $10,000, thus automatically giving the contestant that money plus the offer if all cases $25,000 or higher have been removed from play. If the playing contestant went home with the Splenda case, they would win $20,000; the only way that the contestant would receive neither situation is if the Splenda was the last case in the gallery.

Also Evian sponsored one week, where the contestant holding the company's case received $1,000 and a year's supply of Evian water; an actual bottle was placed in the case in this instance.

During Visine-A week, the $7,500 spot was covered and whose ever case held the logo won an outdoor package (e.g. season baseball tickets to favorite team) and $7,500.

During Halloween week in 2008 and 2009, the Mars candy company sponsored the show. The contestant's cases were covered with the logo of a Mars candy brand, and the show's two models, Patricia and Tameka handed candy to audience members.

Also, in the $7,500 case was replaced by a "Lucky" Listerine logo. Whoever's case held the logo would win a trip.

When the hp logo appeared in the $10,000 spot, the contestant with that case would receive HP equipment valued at $10,000.

Similarly, when the Sears logo appeared in the $10,000 spot during Winter Wonderland week, the contestant with that case would receive a $10,000 Sears gift card.

Tums Relief Moment of the Week

Every last day of that week, Deal or No Deal had a Tums relief moment of the week, where they show a contestant who played that week who had a few troublesome points ("short heartburn moments of relief"), and they show how much they won saying ("Congratulations _____, what a relief!").

Samsung Help

Sometimes when a player receives an offer and is having a tough time making a decision, Mandel extracts a Samsung phone (Blackjack 2, Glide, etc.) and the contestant can call anybody for assistance.

List of Sponsors

Company	Board Spot Replacing	Spot Color
hp	$10,000	Blue
Lucky Listerine	$7,500	Green
Sears	$10,000	Blue
Splenda	$10,000	Yellow
Evian	$1,000	Pink
Mars
Tums
Samsung
Visine-A	$7,500	Blue

Top Prize Winners

No contestant ever won the $500,000 grand prize. However, 21 contestants sold their case which later turned out to contain the grand prize. The highest winner, Chelsea Drake, sold her case for $275,000 with $100,000 and $500,000 still in play.

Contestant Lisa Einstein made a very bad deal on May 23, 2010, when she took a $23,000 deal before learning her case contained $500,000. Two contestants have each won $0.01. Therese Matthews was the first to win it on October 19, 2009, and Erica Kilcoyne won the same amount on January 14, 2010.

Reruns

In October 2010, GSN picked up the rights to air reruns of the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal. The show was pulled from the schedule for a short time, but then returned to a weekend run. It currently airs at 2:00pm and 6:00pm on the weekends

References

1. ^ http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/05/mynetwork-plans-unit-and-deal-for-fall.html
2. ^ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/447998-NBC_Stations_in_the_Spotlight_Yet_Again.php
3. ^ http://buzzerblog.flashgameshows.com/gsn-acquires-syndicated-deal-or-no-deal-bumps-catch-21-back-an-hour/
4. ^ Dempsey, John (August 12, 2007). "NBC shopping slimmer 'Deal'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117970099.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved 2007-08-13. 
5. ^ Dempsey, John (October 7, 2007). "Stations ready for 'Deal'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973600.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved 2007-10-07. 
6. ^ "Deal or No Deal Club". http://www.dealornodealclub.com. 
7. ^ "Deal Mania". http://www.mydealmania.com. 
8. ^ "Deal Mania – the Blog". http://dealmania.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/improve-your-chances/. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "Mandel Out of Syndie Deal For Now". Broadcasting & Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6396751.html?display=Breaking+News. Retrieved 2006-12-05. 
10. ^ "Mandel Takes Day Job". TV Week. http://tvweek.com/news/2007/06/mandel_takes_day_job.php. Retrieved 2007-06-10. 
11. ^ "Deal or No Deal renewed for season 2". Broadcasting & Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/230853-_Deal_or_No_Deal_To_Come_Back_For_Season_Two.php. Retrieved 2009-04-30. 

External links

• Official syndicated Deal or No Deal website
• Official website for the Deal or No Deal club^{[dead link]}
• Official website for My Deal Mania
• Deal or No Deal at the Internet Movie Database
• Deal or No Deal at TV.com