Lets Make a Deal renewed for 4th season

[david10985]

According to buzzerblog twitter. I hope it's in hd this fall.

[CardSharks8689]

That doesn't surprise me at all. Even though LMAD's ratings are about half of TPIR's ratings, it's still enough to keep the show running for another season.

I wonder what will be in store for the 4th season? And I wonder if the longevity of this version of LMAD will surpass any of Monty Hall's runs?

[TheKid965]

And I wonder if the longevity of this version of LMAD will surpass any of Monty Hall's runs?

It already has. In terms of longevity, the current Deal has bettered the two '80s versions (both the one-season wonder from 1980-81 and the somewhat better-known All-New version from '84-'86). I don't really count the 1990-91 NBC run as one of Monty's, because he wasn't supposed to be the host; he only stepped in because he was going to be one of a series of "guest hosts" to replace Bob Hilton, but it ended up that nobody else was available that wanted the job and the show was doomed by that point anyway.

And of course, it blew the doors off of the two most recent non-Monty revivals -- Fox's disastrous Big Deal of the mid-'90s and the not-much-better Billy Bush version from 2003 -- simply by lasting to the end of its first month.

Naturally it still has a long ways to go before touching the original network and syndie runs, but it can hold its head high by being the longest-running Deal incarnation since the 1970s -- even if it were to be cancelled tomorrow.

[CarShark]

It's amazing. We hear nothing about this show from CBS. No press releases. Few commercials outside of daytime. And it just keeps on going.

You know who's probably most thrilled about this? GSN. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear in the hear future that they try to get the first two season's worth of episodes. It'll be nice to not have a bitter octogenarian standing in the way of their business model.

[bossradio93]

...the current Deal has bettered the two '80s versions (both the one-season wonder from 1980-but it ended up that nobody else was available that wanted the job and the show was doomed by that point anyway.
Naturally it still has a long ways to go before touching the original network and syndie runs, but it can hold its head high by being the longest-running Deal incarnation since the 1970s -- even if it were to be cancelled tomorrow.

I thought I'd seen every show growing up or paid attention to every show that was out there! I didn't know there was a short-lived 1980-81 gem, perhaps produced in Canada that fans in the U.S. never saw. But yes, the '84-86 I remember thusly since it was taped at NBC's Burbank studios where the show began in 1963. If someone can post a YouTube video of the 1980-81 goodie, much appreciated. Maybe it will conjure my memory. Great to know a fourth season's been renewed. I still need my game show fix even though CBS is now the only place to get it in daytime.

[TheKid965]

If someone can post a YouTube video of the 1980-81 goodie, much appreciated. Maybe it will conjure my memory.

Ask and ye shall receive! Here's a full episode of it, albeit in rather less than broadcast quality (to put it charitably):

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

There's also an intro from another episode, in much improved quality, which you can see here, but that's all of that episode I can find, sorry. It does give you a better look at the set and curtains used on this version, however, which are rather interesting to say the least. Peter Max would be proud.

You're half-right in that this version was produced in Canada -- and the prize budget definitely shows it (note the Big Deal on the complete episode is worth less than five grand!) -- but it was also intended for American syndication. (When Monty appeared on Password Plus in 1980, this was the show he was there to plug.) It was distributed by Catalena Productions, which also handled the infamous Pitfall that same season. Its current status is unknown; it's not listed (AFAIK) in the Hatos-Hall catalog and the tapes appear to have fallen off the face of the Earth, even though its sister series Pitfall is said to survive intact and was reran on Canadian TV for a good portion of the '80s.

[CarShark]

What I think would give both LMAD and TPIR a shot in the arm is a serious run in primetime. When I look at CBS's Friday line-up, I'm left thinking, "Really? The Eye Network could throw on bigger dollar weekly versions of both and get the same ratings at half the cost of A Gifted Man, CSI: New York or Blue Bloods." That would fill two time slots and effectively promote the daytime shows for two hours.

[CaseyAbell]

Wayne Brady tweeted about the new season a while back. I wrote a blog entry on it February 23...

Four dealing seasons

Wayne Brady just tweeted what had been rumored in an interview mentioned in the faux tweets. Let's Make a Deal will return for a fourth season.

I'm happy for Wayne and company, though I'm frankly not a particular fan of the show. I never even liked the classic Monty Hall version that much. Though I do get a kick out of the Monty Hall problem. It's got to be the most commonly known mathematical problem with a wildly counterintuitive answer.

The Wayne Brady version has never been a big winner in the ratings. But it's dirt-cheap compared to soap operas, which are becoming an endangered species thanks to their relatively high costs. So Wayne rolls on.

I'd like to think that some network daytime execs would learn a lesson here. There are a lot of decent game show formats that could probably do as well as Let's Make a Deal, if not better. And they really don't cost a lot. Not to mention any names...PYRAMID!!

[CarShark]

I know it's just beating a dead horse, but man...Price is Right skews old. Most households. Decent 18-34. Awful 18-49. Nearly 4.5 million viewers in the first week of October. 500,000 in the target demo. That's 4 million over 50s watching, or 90% of total viewers. That's extraordinary. The most recent data put it at over 5 million viewers and well over 600,000 in the demo. Still 87% of viewers are over 50, but all three are going in the right direction. Not that CBS would tell you.

[ElectricPeterTork]

I know it's just beating a dead horse, but man...Price is Right skews old. Most households. Decent 18-34. Awful 18-49. Nearly 4.5 million viewers in the first week of October. 500,000 in the target demo. That's 4 million over 50s watching, or 90% of total viewers. That's extraordinary. The most recent data put it at over 5 million viewers and well over 600,000 in the demo. Still 87% of viewers are over 50, but all three are going in the right direction. Not that CBS would tell you.

That is only data for Females age 18-54.

Now, granted, they are generally the target daytime audience, but just because only around three quarters of a million viewers out of 5 million are in that demo doesn't mean that the rest of the audience is ancient.

I mean, what about males age 18-54? The ratings reports we see like this never mention the male demo, just females.

[CaseyAbell]

I mean, what about males age 18-54? The ratings reports we see like this never mention the male demo, just females.

Another report once said that TPiR's median viewer age is 63. Which means half their audience qualifies for Social Security.

Sure, the median age for the entire TV audience is creeping up. The U.S. (hey, the whole world) is getting older as birth rates fall everywhere. But TPiR skews old by any standard. Not saying that's terrible, but it's a fact. As the report notes: "Game shows per se traditionally draw among the oldest viewers."