On October 23, the folks behind Deal or No Deal are taping what is apparently the pilot for a daytime version of that show. Rumor has it that the rules will be a little different and that Howie Mandel will be supplanted by Arsenio Hall. A further rumor is that this is not a syndicated effort but rather, that it represents a desire by the NBC network to get back into the business of daytime game shows.
Once upon a time, there were a lot of them but they all went away…all except for The Price is Right. (Every year or three, I try watching The Price is Right, which I enjoyed once upon a time. I now have trouble remembering why. I guess Bob Barker was always that smitten with himself but he didn't used to be so insufferable about it.) All the quizzes and games with the buzzers and lights and cases of Turtle Wax were replaced by things like The View, which is a great show if you want to see a bunch of people who don't seem to like each other very much all try to talk at the same time.
I wouldn't mind seeing daytime game shows make a comeback but it strikes me that more Deal or No Deal is a colossal mistake. First off, the prime-time version is already reaching the saturation level. By its very nature, the show gets repetitive — same set, same sound effects, same twenty-six cases…and the contestants keep coming to pretty much the same decisions, time and again. The show is really only interesting when a really huge cash award is in the balance, and I'm assuming those will be fewer in number on a daytime budget. Will a daytime Deal even be able to afford the twenty-six lovely models to wield the cases?
So not only may a daylight incarnation of the show not work, it may hasten the demise of the nighttime version. Sounds to me like the producers are taking a big gamble. If I were them, I'd grab the next offer from the Banker and get out.