I find myself shouting at the television. Even though I know that the people I am yelling at cannot hear me; they are thousands of miles away and most certainly pre-recorded. Yet I cannot help myself. Within the confines of my living room, I am shouting profanities at a man I have never met before because he just turned down $83,000. He is a fool. Howie Mandel is a fool. The banker is a fool. And I am probably a fool for watching this show.
"Deal or No Deal" is a rare cultural phenomenon in that the concept behind the show is so mindless and inane that it is impossible to explain it to anyone who hasn't seen it. However once you've seen it, it feels like you've seen it a thousand times because it is instantly understandable.
The show is also interesting in that everyone who watches it falls into two camps. Group A pretends to hate the show, but only because it secretly adores it, while Group B outwardly loves the show, but deep down it loathes it with every fiber of its being. Either way, the show is completely and utterly moronic, but it is that quality that makes it probably the most watchable show on television.
"Deal or No Deal" is a game show, but not really. There are no buzzers, no timers, no trivia questions, no bonus lightning rounds, no giant spinning wheels. There is nothing to the show except the contestant, the banker and 26 briefcases held by 26 chicks who, growing up, idolized Vanna White. The show is appealing on nothing but the most basic, moronic level, but that is probably the reason why the show is so appealing. Its format and pacing are designed to appeal to people who don't necessarily want to think. The last huge game show phenomenon, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," ostracized the majority of its audience after the eighth question. The contestants didn't know the answers to any of the big money trivia questions, and the audience didn't know the answers to any of the big money questions, so the show became kind of pointless as soon as anybody started doing well. Also, Meredith Vieira didn't help.
But "Deal or No Deal" is engaging, and its pacing is even slower than "Millionaire's". It's not like "Jeopardy", which features a rapid-fire series of questions. Ken Jennings could run an entire "Jeopardy" category in the same amount of time it takes the folks at "Deal or No Deal" to open one damn briefcase. But it is this slow pacing and pseudo-tension that makes the show watchable, because if you are watching it, you are, without a doubt, yelling at the television. The show is irritating, but in a way, even though you are irritated, you aren't really having a bad time.
No doubt one of the biggest-selling gift items this Christmas is going to be the "Deal or No Deal" computer game. This is baffling to me, because if you win the game, you aren't earning anything, you aren't proving anything. A high score is totally random. It's not like money is going to shoot out of the floppy disk drive if you do well. I've always thought that there has to be some sort of skill involved in any game to make it fun, but "Deal or No Deal" is different in that there is no skill anywhere near the show. Contestants don't have any skills that warrant the earning of vast sums of cash. Every contestant on the show thinks there is a strategy to win, but there isn't. Everyone shouting from their couch can tell you there's only one strategy: Open briefcases, stupid.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
