Thoughts on Brady LMAD?

[J.R.]

I noticed the season premiere of LMAD came by yesterday and I don't recall any buzz around here regarding it. In fact, It seems the show in general rarely comes up in discussions around here.

So, I'm curious after five years, what is everyone's feelings on it?

Personally, I find the show okay, if just sorta "there". It doesn't have to be compelling and I'm not asking it to be. It sets out to entertain for an hour and that's fine.

Brady does a good job at moving the game along and banters well with his co-hosts.

I've gotten used to the single-player Big Deal Of The Day. I know it was an issue around here for a while, but it doesn't bug me.

My only issue, and I know I've mentioned his before, is the contestants just feel "casted" so far in advance. They calmly jog down to the main stage, can sing and dance along with Brady with confidence and just seem way too comfortable in front of the camera to be a "randomly" selected player. Some of the most memorable moments from the classic LMAD was when the contestant went completely BONKERS!!!! when Monty picked them and how they were still happy even if they got Zonk'd because they just got to participate. (Look how excited TPIR contestants still get whenever they suddenly hear their name.)

Overall, I like it and can't think of anything that could be "improved". I wish it a long, long life.

[BrandonFG]

"There" is the perfect word I'd use to describe the show. It's nothing that really stands out, and that's not the worst thing in the world. Wayne and Jonathan's chemistry is pretty good, but at times the moments seem a bit forced. The audience being told to cheer for every single thing makes it a little more forced IMO. Let the excitement come naturally.

Still not a fan of the solo Big Deal, but mainly because they still haven't figured out how to not make the reveal anticlimactic.

Wayne (paraphrasing): "If door #2 is not $23,000, then you've won the Big Deal..."
Instead, just say, "You chose door #3...we'll see that...........after we see door #2!"

[SuperMatch93]

Wayne and Jonathan are good, but I honestly think in an hour format, Deal drags on a lot. I'd rather see it as a half hour show with a two-player Big Deal.

[TLEberle]

I useta grab it when the Tivo could grab two things at once, but I would skip over about half of the show (the bucks or box deals were many and boring) and wouldn't stick around for the Big Deal because it lacked excitement for me.

Wayne is a talented improviser but he lacks the forceful personality to drive deals in the way that Monty did. The show might have a long life but it doesn't interest me.

[BrandonFG]

Wayne is a talented improviser but he lacks the forceful personality to drive deals in the way that Monty did.

This is a good point too. Monty was slick and charming, but also a conniving used car salesman underneath it all.

Wayne is a good host, but he lacks that used car salesman trait. Honestly, none of the hosts not named Monty Hall have been able to capture that, and prolly for the better. In that regard, I'd rather he'd be his own personality than a pale imitator.

[BillCullen1]

I've seen bits and pieces of the new season while channel surfing. If there are any new games on LMAD this season, I haven't seen them yet.

[Neumms]

Wayne is a talented improviser but he lacks the forceful personality to drive deals in the way that Monty did. The show might have a long life but it doesn't interest me.

I agree, with this and the "it's just there" comment. Last week, Wayne did a bit with a married couple. He did a Dr. Phil-like character, which was pretty good, better than the improv segments where he and Jonathan waste time rapping a hopelessly vague clue about what's behind the curtain. They actually played a unique game. Shown a pair of prizes, the husband and wife each secretly picked one, winning it only if they agreed. They did two rounds of that, and it was fun. Then, the climax of the bit...surprise, surprise, Wayne offered them a curtain in exchange for whatever they won, thus rendering the build-up pointless.

They make a show where anything could happen pretty dull and predictable.

[TLEberle]

I agree, with this and the "it's just there" comment. Last week, Wayne did a bit with a married couple. He did a Dr. Phil-like character, which was pretty good, better than the improv segments where he and Jonathan waste time rapping a hopelessly vague clue about what's behind the curtain. They actually played a unique game. Shown a pair of prizes, the husband and wife each secretly picked one, winning it only if they agreed. They did two rounds of that, and it was fun. Then, the climax of the bit...surprise, surprise, Wayne offered them a curtain in exchange for whatever they won, thus rendering the build-up pointless.

They make a show where anything could happen pretty dull and predictable.

For all the casting they do on this show, they should be able to find a couple that will make a Battle of the Sexes game theory deal interesting: Tim wants to go to the football game and Jill wants to see an opera. What would make for a much better ending to that than "do you want to sell off whatever you won for the unknown" is to let them risk it all on one final deal with the curtain has two cars; one painted red and one painted blue. Pick the right one and they win everything.

I mentioned how Monty's persona built up the show; he was the guy you wanted to beat, but he also drove the action and pacing, and also (this is a huge thing) made it seem like the contestant/couple had actually made a real choice, when it could easily have been a coin toss or roshambo. It would be bad enough with LMAD as a half hour where Wayne never gets the show out of first gear, but it's an hour show and should be moving along at a good clip. Don't let the contestants hem and haw whether to take five hundred dollars or the box, make them choose something to get on with the deal.

As to your other point, one of the things I enjoy most about the shows from the 70s and 80s was indeed the idea that just about anything could happen. With Wayne as deal-maker it seems like the show is now about premanufactured "moments" where people are singing and dancing and running on down to check out their prize instead of letting it flow. (And even when things are exciting the show manages to bungle it. I remember somebody actually winning the top prize in Car Pong on his first throw; Wayne says to keep throwing balls to pick up gas money. Boo.)

[Neumms]

I mentioned how Monty's persona built up the show; he was the guy you wanted to beat, but he also drove the action and pacing, and also (this is a huge thing) made it seem like the contestant/couple had actually made a real choice, when it could easily have been a coin toss or roshambo. It would be bad enough with LMAD as a half hour where Wayne never gets the show out of first gear, but it's an hour show and should be moving along at a good clip.

Monty never seemed likable to me, but here, you make a great point. He was both the villain and the face of the show. It's such a fine line, and if he didn't walk it so well, the show fails miserably.

It's nice that LMAD is on, I suppose, but maybe other games passed it by long ago. TPIR had prizes, doors and excited people, but without the desperation of costumes and with the addition of skill--sometimes more the illusion of skill, but there was more to it.

Later, PYL had big gambles, but the competition made it strategic rather than pure greed.

With DoND, the odds change as the game goes on, so a player has something to consider when risking huge money. There's so much more to the decision. And there the banker played villain so Howie didn't have to.

There's this, too. Pat Sajak likes to point out how inflation has yet to strike the $250 price of a vowel, yet the going rate to give up a giant box has remained $500-600 even longer.

[MSTieScott]

Adding prize money doesn't save a bad show, but... some formats just don't work as well when they're played for lower stakes. Instant Bargains have to be tempting for "Sale of the Century" to fully work, ABC likely wouldn't have had a hit if Regis had hosted "Who Wants to Win $100,000," and when I see that a LMaD contestant's one chance to play the game had them agonizing between choosing $800 or a big-screen TV, it's difficult to get excited.

With not enough prize budget to make the game of "Let's Make a Deal" completely work, they've done the reasonable thing and instead tried to place a greater emphasis on the improvisational talents of Wayne and Jonathan. But improvisation, by its very nature, doesn't work 100% of the time, so when that happens and they're forced to fall back on the game, coin-flip deals and nice-guy Wayne can't live up to the format's potential.

(My least favorite attempt to meld improvisation and game show is in the "Wayne and Jonathan improvise a song about a prize" deal. It's unreasonable to expect them to both come up with rhymes on the spot while also devising hints that could interpreted in multiple ways. So more often than not, it's completely evident what's behind the curtain before the contestant makes their decision.)

[Neumms]

What would make for a much better ending to that than "do you want to sell off whatever you won for the unknown" is to let them risk it all on one final deal with the curtain has two cars; one painted red and one painted blue. Pick the right one and they win everything.

Yes, much better. It could also be a choice of two good trips.

[Neumms]

My least favorite attempt to meld improvisation and game show is in the "Wayne and Jonathan improvise a song about a prize" deal. It's unreasonable to expect them to both come up with rhymes on the spot while also devising hints that could interpreted in multiple ways. So more often than not, it's completely evident what's behind the curtain before the contestant makes their decision.

They use the "here's a clue" thing too often anyway, accompanied by song or not. They're just not clever, and it's not as if they want you to deduce what's back there.

[wdm1219inpenna]

Even though the Drew Carey era of "Price is Right" is nothing like the heyday of the show, Price is Right still has a crisp, fast-moving pace to it and is worthy of an hour (38 minutes after commercials unfortunately)...

I never liked "Let's Make a Deal" in an hour long format.  I dislike still that only 1 trader has a chance to win the Big Deal.  Wayne Brady is very likeable, but as another poster put it, Monty was, is, and forever shall be "TV's Big Dealer".  He had an edge to him whereas Wayne is very easy going and extremely congenial. 

I will, when home, watch LMAD with Wayne but after a little while I tend to kind of tune it out.  Price is Right seems to lend itself much more with its play-along factor.

I also dislike that when they do the quicky deals, somebody always has what is needed because of Twitter.  It takes away those magical spontaneous moments that would sometimes happen with Monty. 

Overall it's "okay", but hardly "must see" for me, and I'm a game show fan going back some 43 or so years now.  Make it 30 minutes, give 2 people a chance at the Big Deal, and I'd be more likely to enjoy it.