Dave, thanks for the mention
Well, it's odd to think we're all now obsolete, in a way. We're now fans of a game show from the past. Ten years ago, I don't think any of us who were around, doing the same thing I'm doing now - posting here - could really envisage this moment. It's worth making a cameo tonight just to ponder that. We knew the end wasn't in sight, or that's how I saw it; we knew there were still years and years to come. I remember the 'deal' being extended to 2008 or something, or 2011, and thinking that was a million miles in the future. Although I stopped watching regularly in 2008 and never regained my enthusiasm, I still kept one eye on the show through the forum, and even after the various gimmicks and changes had sculpted the DoND landscape into something frankly unrecognisable, one never considered its inevitable conclusion.
It's not exactly a demise - the thing had run its course, a few times over - and the gradual decline in ratings does feel to me like a long, slow suicide, and in that respect, it's like having a relative who was very old and very weak, who has at last found the other side. It's like a relief.
Now, we can reminisce, and sit back and watch again the moments that helped to mould our lives over the last eleven years.
As for the forum, what could I say that's not been said already? This is our monument to something we loved, something we lived. This is what we've built, in homage to a game of luck called Deal or No Deal. And do you know what? It's not too shabby. It's pretty good, really.
All the best from the house of 123. Make yours a cracking Christmas.