March 14, 2006
Somehow I don’t think the home version will be such a big hit
America’s love affair with the game show goes back a long way. The format combines three of this nation’s favorite things; money, luck and undeserved attention. It’s these same factors that drive the popularity of the lottery and ensure the massive fanbase certain to form around the yet to be founded professional high-stakes coin-flipping circuit.
But up until last night just about every game show I’d seen required at least some minimal amount of acumen from the contestants. If you wanted to win you had to display a bit of knowledge or skill. Sure the knowledge called for might be about the minutia of old television shows, the costs of household items or foods starting with the letter Q, and maybe the skill was word association, tune naming or pressing a button at the right time to avoid Whammies, but it made the game about something more than luck.
Then, last night I caught a bit of the new prime time hype Deal Or No Deal. Apparently enough people watch this for NBC to throw it on twice a week, but it left me clueless as to why. Sure the game is built around the tension of whether or not the player will take guaranteed cash or risk it for a chance at more, but that chance is based on nothing but luck. The player picks shiny suitcases to be opened and it’s all based on a guess. Short of X-ray vision, there is not a single skill that can help a player maximize his or her earnings on this show.
In a strange way this show is the perfect encapsulation of the current incarnation of the American dream. Deal Or No Deal makes things completely fair and equal for every contestant. It rewards and punishes at random, allowing no chance for real self-determination other than the decision to keep playing or quit and go home. It’s the perfect game for a culture that values watching things happen more than it values making things happen and celebrates the wealthy and lucky more than the skilled and innovative.
Still that’s not my biggest problem with the show. I could be wrong here, but isn’t the fun of watching a game show playing along and trying to out perform the contestants? Maybe other people have figured out a way to play along with Deal Or No Deal, but short of making it into a drinking game, I’m stumped as to how.