Even though I'm a fan of game shows, Deal Or No Deal makes me very uncomfortable. I think the show is over-produced and the contestants are over-coached... to the point where I fear just about everything, short of the results of the game, are staged.
Sure, all game shows encourage contestants to be animated. But I think the contestants on Deal Or No Deal are really more performers. They take so many more risky chances than contestants on other game shows that I fear they may not be playing the game sincerely.
First, the show doesn't ask for viewers to try out to be contestants, even during the fine print at the end. I'm wondering if out-of-work or would-be actors are being cast from ads in Variety. One person admitted that the audition she was at took SIX hours.
No one EVER quits early in Deal or No Deal, no matter how bad their luck is. After all, the producers have spent a lot of money flying in three of their friends or family to be on stage with them. And then there's usually an additonal twist. One contestant spoke about not having seen her mother and brothers in South Africa in a year and a half. Halfway through her time on stage, Howie brings out her mother and brothers. And get this, reaction shots of her husband show him crying, wiping away tears. Hey, she's only been separated from these people who live halfway around the world for A YEAR AND A HALF. I have plenty of people I'm close to who live only a few hundred miles away I haven't seen for a year and a half. Yet he's crying on national television? What if it had been several years? Would he have had a nervous breakdown? And they're not even his RELATIVES, they're his in-laws. Is this acting? Suppose the young South African woman had quit early? Would we have missed all this drama?
Another woman had to leave her husband and child in New Jersey. Sure enough, she's doubled over in amazement when she sees a satellite feed of her husband in their living room. That means the satellite truck and crew assembled at her home AFTER she had already left for the West Coast and nobody told her about these people invading her living room? Or how about the woman who comes out in a Jets football jersey telling Howie what a fan she is of the team. Halfway through her time on the show, the Banker offers her Jets season tickets, accomodations at a hotel near the stadium, transportation to the games and field privileges if she takes a deal offered by the Banker. What if she decided at the last minute not to wear her Jets jersey to the taping? I've never seen anyone on Jeopardy wear a Jets jersey. What if Howie asked about her interests and she forgot the Jets, instead mentioning that she's learning to play the clarinet?
Maybe the best was the teacher from Texas. She was beside herself in amazement when her entire second grade class showed up in the audience. Wouldn't just one seven-year old accidentally tell the teacher all this was being planned in secret? The producers got the parents to agree to fly their very young kids to LA from their small Texas town, yet the teacher hasn't a clue? How about when those same kids had hand-written banners to hold up telling her "No Deal"? Are second graders able to figure out when a contestant should or shouldn't take the deal? Did they decide among themselves to hand-letter the banners? Do they even understand the show? If you coach second-graders, maybe the contestants are also being coached?
When Howie goes to a break, he often teases the contestant. They act like they weren't expecting a break, that they're upset they have to wait through the commercials. Is anyone on Wheel of Fortune upset when Pat Sajak takes a break? We know contestants are committed to several days of taping, so why the hurry? During the show, one contestant takes off her shoes, another lies down on the floor. One family member has a stuffed bear to give to the contestant. How interesting that he waited all during the show, hiding the bear, till a difficult decision comes up. What timing for someone who's not a TV pro. "Howie, can I give my mom this bear and a hug?" the family member asks. Other times we see family members dancing. Is all of America swallowing this as real life? Even the family members are show-boats? Shouldn't contestants and their families be too nervous to perform? Should they be running all over the stage and into the audience like they're Jerry Lewis? Does every contestant have a gimmick?
Oh, and how about the contest where viewers at home can win money? How can anyone outside the Eastern and Central Time Zones ever win since the show is delayed in the West and the winner is announced before the show ends in the East? Or how about how heavily edited the show is. We see reaction shots of audience members trembling in fear or splitting their sides with laughter one moment. Then we switch back to Howie and behind him we see the audience members sitting quietly and unemotionally in place. Ever watch the feet of the models as they assemble on stage? Every cut of the camera is edited. The lead models' feet are on one level one moment, then in an instant they're several steps down from there, then in another instant, they're at the bottom of the platform. Howie makes a big deal of the models' entrance but the producers think our attention span is so short, they actually cut the real time it takes the models to climb up and down the steps and assemble themselves in place. Even when a contestant is called from the audience to come on stage, a split second is edited from the time it takes them to arrive in place from where they were sitting. Yes, all game shows undergo some editing but the editor for Deal must be going nuts.
How little the producers must think of the American audience. Do they really think we're so gullable? If they stage the show to this extent, can we fully trust the producers NOT to go one step further and rig the results?
Gregg
[email protected]
Sure, all game shows encourage contestants to be animated. But I think the contestants on Deal Or No Deal are really more performers. They take so many more risky chances than contestants on other game shows that I fear they may not be playing the game sincerely.
First, the show doesn't ask for viewers to try out to be contestants, even during the fine print at the end. I'm wondering if out-of-work or would-be actors are being cast from ads in Variety. One person admitted that the audition she was at took SIX hours.
No one EVER quits early in Deal or No Deal, no matter how bad their luck is. After all, the producers have spent a lot of money flying in three of their friends or family to be on stage with them. And then there's usually an additonal twist. One contestant spoke about not having seen her mother and brothers in South Africa in a year and a half. Halfway through her time on stage, Howie brings out her mother and brothers. And get this, reaction shots of her husband show him crying, wiping away tears. Hey, she's only been separated from these people who live halfway around the world for A YEAR AND A HALF. I have plenty of people I'm close to who live only a few hundred miles away I haven't seen for a year and a half. Yet he's crying on national television? What if it had been several years? Would he have had a nervous breakdown? And they're not even his RELATIVES, they're his in-laws. Is this acting? Suppose the young South African woman had quit early? Would we have missed all this drama?
Another woman had to leave her husband and child in New Jersey. Sure enough, she's doubled over in amazement when she sees a satellite feed of her husband in their living room. That means the satellite truck and crew assembled at her home AFTER she had already left for the West Coast and nobody told her about these people invading her living room? Or how about the woman who comes out in a Jets football jersey telling Howie what a fan she is of the team. Halfway through her time on the show, the Banker offers her Jets season tickets, accomodations at a hotel near the stadium, transportation to the games and field privileges if she takes a deal offered by the Banker. What if she decided at the last minute not to wear her Jets jersey to the taping? I've never seen anyone on Jeopardy wear a Jets jersey. What if Howie asked about her interests and she forgot the Jets, instead mentioning that she's learning to play the clarinet?
Maybe the best was the teacher from Texas. She was beside herself in amazement when her entire second grade class showed up in the audience. Wouldn't just one seven-year old accidentally tell the teacher all this was being planned in secret? The producers got the parents to agree to fly their very young kids to LA from their small Texas town, yet the teacher hasn't a clue? How about when those same kids had hand-written banners to hold up telling her "No Deal"? Are second graders able to figure out when a contestant should or shouldn't take the deal? Did they decide among themselves to hand-letter the banners? Do they even understand the show? If you coach second-graders, maybe the contestants are also being coached?
When Howie goes to a break, he often teases the contestant. They act like they weren't expecting a break, that they're upset they have to wait through the commercials. Is anyone on Wheel of Fortune upset when Pat Sajak takes a break? We know contestants are committed to several days of taping, so why the hurry? During the show, one contestant takes off her shoes, another lies down on the floor. One family member has a stuffed bear to give to the contestant. How interesting that he waited all during the show, hiding the bear, till a difficult decision comes up. What timing for someone who's not a TV pro. "Howie, can I give my mom this bear and a hug?" the family member asks. Other times we see family members dancing. Is all of America swallowing this as real life? Even the family members are show-boats? Shouldn't contestants and their families be too nervous to perform? Should they be running all over the stage and into the audience like they're Jerry Lewis? Does every contestant have a gimmick?
Oh, and how about the contest where viewers at home can win money? How can anyone outside the Eastern and Central Time Zones ever win since the show is delayed in the West and the winner is announced before the show ends in the East? Or how about how heavily edited the show is. We see reaction shots of audience members trembling in fear or splitting their sides with laughter one moment. Then we switch back to Howie and behind him we see the audience members sitting quietly and unemotionally in place. Ever watch the feet of the models as they assemble on stage? Every cut of the camera is edited. The lead models' feet are on one level one moment, then in an instant they're several steps down from there, then in another instant, they're at the bottom of the platform. Howie makes a big deal of the models' entrance but the producers think our attention span is so short, they actually cut the real time it takes the models to climb up and down the steps and assemble themselves in place. Even when a contestant is called from the audience to come on stage, a split second is edited from the time it takes them to arrive in place from where they were sitting. Yes, all game shows undergo some editing but the editor for Deal must be going nuts.
How little the producers must think of the American audience. Do they really think we're so gullable? If they stage the show to this extent, can we fully trust the producers NOT to go one step further and rig the results?
Gregg
[email protected]
