Dealing again

Finally got around to watching the sneak peek of the rebooted Deal or No Deal on the NBC web site.

For the most part, the episode was just like old times. Howie was a little older and now bespectacled, but he still looked to be in fine fettle. The models were as beauteous and well-coifed and well-dressed as ever, and the contestant was the usual nutcase risk-taker.

Well, Luis Green was more than a nutcase. After spurning multiple six-figure offers with only one real case left in play, he finally faced an offer of $333,000 and only two cases: $5 and $750,000. Just to make things more excruciating, the show had wallowed in his life story. Luis was adopted at age 12 after shuffling through several foster homes. With the familiar This Is Your Life sentimentality from the original, the show had hyped the suspense to the maximum.

And you guessed it, star-crossed Luis left the show with...five bucks. Which just proves that after all the hype and buildup and gush, Deal or No Deal comes down to an unsentimental fact. You can wipe out big on the ultimate risk/reward show.

The sneak peek performed reasonably well for NBC. 5.43M viewers and a 1.0 18-49 rating. Nowadays broadcast networks don't turn up their noses at such numbers. We'll see how the show does in its usual slot on cabler CNBC.

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