OFFICIALLY it’s tomorrow, but according to hardcore statistician and long time friend of the Bar Mister Al it’s actually today on Tuesday because someone at Endemol can’t count and missed a show off. Either way it wouldn’t be the first show that fudged its numbers.
The point is, in many ways Deal or No Deal was the show that made this place, we saw its success coming and backed it with various now internet celebrities (many of whom now guest on Lewis Murphy’s Fifty50 Show in one form or another) providing live text commentaries and debate for those who couldn’t access a TV. I will never forget frantically F5-ing the first time the quarter-mill was in live play in the final two.
Unfortunately those commentaries have been lost into the old commenting system ether and the show whilst still entertaining doesn’t really surprise these days, Box 23 being a bit of a damp squib (with crushing predictability). Despite this, in the ideal world, the Deal team past and present should probably be responsible for making most of television.
It remains one of the most misunderstood shows on television – yes it’s a game of luck but it’s not a game *about* luck, it’s about living with the very real consequences of your decisions. That’s the appeal. Imagine all those people who said it wouldn’t make it past the initial order. Well done Noel.
No longer a must watch (I remember the first days of the show you would be watching every day so would actually get to know most of the ‘wingers’, now I just dip in and out).
However it still has the odd surprise, I was at home Sunday so decided to tune in and was actually stunned when the contestant declined £30,000 as it seemed like he was dealing that amount all day long. For him to then go to £1,000 to £0 in minutes was crazy.
Pointless 3.07m (25.6%)
Eggheads 1.07m (7.1%)
Ejector Seat 0.94m (12.4%)
Perfection 0.80m (15.5%)
Come Dine With Me 0.73m (5.8%)
Fifteen to One 0.52m (5.5%)
Deal or No Deal 0.50m (7.4%)
Countdown 0.30m (5.5%)
Paul O’Grady 1.75m (15.2%)
All include HD and +1 where appropriate.
Awww at Ejector Seat.
Almost entirely off-topic, this.
Brig’s favourite podcast has been bought by the BBC. “Classic” episodes will go out on Radio 4 Extra on Sundays (11am and 7pm) for the next three months.
They begin with episode 197. In “Before It Had a Name”, something is happening, but we’re not exactly sure what. Scott won a fiver.
Nice one. The first one I listened to was one called Tough Room where they went behind the scenes of The Onion (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/426/tough-room-2011). Basically as a show it tells really good stories – readers may well enjoy this episode from late last year about a car showroom trying to reach its sales target (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/513/129-cars).
I also recommend Planet Money from NPR which has a large staff and theme crossover, which talks about economics in layman’s terms and is very entertaining (http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/).
Probably about 500 episodes too far – can’t understand why at least the weekend episode which C4 throw around the schedule at will is still with us.
It’s still a show though that can hold your attention if you catch a decent episode – but couldn’t watch it daily anymore. Indeed with it struggling in daytime I’d be tempted to just air it weekly – perhaps a Sunday night block with 15 to 1 and Deal.
It’s a shame it probably wouldn’t be cost effective to run it live on Friday/Saturday nights post watershed, maybe with Jimmy Carr who proved fairly adept in that Cats episode a while ago.
It’s a surprise really they haven’t done another block of live episodes – that’s probably the last time I watched it daily.
Maybe already known, but Sat1 in Germany is bringing back Deal or No Deal…
No! Wow, interesting. They’ve tried it a few times before and it’s not really been a massive success, I wonder what they’ll do differently this time.