OK, class is over for the day, and here's what happened this past Sunday when I attended a taping of NBC's hit primetime gamer,
DEAL OR NO DEAL!!!
I arrived at Sunset Gower Studios at around 1:30 for the 2:30 taping. At first, not too many people were lined up outside of Stage 9. As it grew closer to 2:30, a mob scene formed. A few minutes later, audience coordinators began letting people in, under tight security. Cell phones, iPods, and digital cameras were all confiscated, along with IDs to identify the owners of the devices (therefore, sorry guys, no behind the scenes pics).
After the security check, we were led through the lot to the studio, which is significantly smaller in person, but nonetheless impressive. Compared to the December episodes, I could only detect one difference (and some of you might have already caught on to this). The DEAL button is about 3 times larger than what it once was. It can be plainly seen anywhere you sit in the audience.
I managed to get a great seat, almost directly behind the contestant's podium and to the lower right of the Banker's box.
After a few minutes, the warm up guy came out, and told a couple of really crappy jokes. We received instructions on how not to shout "DEAL" or "NO DEAL" until Howie asks the question, along with a brief summary of how the game worked (for the Deal-challenged).
After this briefing, the man of the hour, Howie Mandel, came onto the stage to a standing ovation and thunderous applause. The applause gre even louder as the 26 babes with briefcases (in brown) took their place in the gallery. No, the show hasn't even started yet. It turns out that our taping was the end of one episode and an entire second episode. (Airdate is 03/13/06)
A few short minutes later, we were rolling. The first part was Howie coming back from commercial and [Gameplay information deleted. -DZ]. He then introduced the next contestant, whom I will only identify as "The Queen of Spam." She picked her case, and the game commenced. Something I noted here is that the models are not in the same positions as Christmas week. She was able to get in two rounds before this episode ran out of time. As far as how she was doing, not too shabby.
At this point, there was a 30 minute break while the models and Howie changed clothes (not in the same room, of course). The warm up guy offered a t-shirt to anyone who could correctly guess what color dresses the models would be wearing when they returned.
Once the break was over, Howie began his opening spiel, but NOT from the vault. He delivered the tail end of the spiel directly from the stage. He then introduced "26 very good friends" of his (who were wearing navy blue with gold trim). After bringing back the "Spam Queen", he announced that she made some Island Teryaki Spam for everyone present, but turned down some for himself. As for the rest of us, the question posed was: "Meal, or no meal?" The natural answer, of course, 'meal.' NBC pages passed out the canned meat concoctions, which were OK (not a Spam fan, myself). Howie then recapped Spam lady's performance from the last show. After that, Howie asked the models if they were ready to play, to which they simultaneously replied: "Ready, Howie." [Gameplay information deleted by moderator. -DZ] Interesting...
Somehow, they were able to fit in a second contestant in this episode, whom I will identify only as "The Black Tornado". Her luck was not nearly as consistent as Spam Lady's, and her final total went down as the lowest grand total of any DoND USA contestant to date.
If you thought the people in the audience during Christmas week were insane, nothing has changed. Everybody had something to say about each offer. The contestants' families applied far less pressure than the audience.
I gained a new appreciation for the models. They are on their feet upwards of 10 hours a day in high heels. During commercial time-outs, they often sat down on the staircase, rubbing their tired soles. They did stand up for a Q and A session, led by warm-up guy. [Gameplay information deleted. -DZ]
Howie spent a lot of time talking to the audience during the breaks. He struck me as very personable and outgoing. His hosting was smooth and classy, just like his head :-).
Taping for one and 1/4 episodes commenced at 2:30pm. We didn't get out of there until 9:45pm, just enough time for me to race to the subway and get back to the Amtrak station.
All in all, the in-person experience of DoND was truly memorable. And now, the ticket plug:
For free tickets to see Deal or No Deal in person, log on to
On Camera Audiences.
You can even print your tickets out online.
Questions, comments? I will be online for the next hour or so.
