lathebault wrote:
alexseth wrote:
but since when is the point of the game of Deal or No Deal supposed to be eschewing one's best interests in favor of being entertaining?
Since the day it started.
If the viewing public aren't entertained then the show will simply be withdrawn from the TV schedule due to poor viewing figures. If the players aren't happy with their winnings it won't stop the show unless they take Endemol to court for whatever reason and they obviously won't be successful but that's a different story altogether. So yes, it is hinged on what the viewers think ultimately. There will never be a shortage of contestants applying for the show whereas viewers will stop watching if they aren't satisfied (evidence of this on the forum? Maybe only a few members but this forum isn't representitive of all of the viewing public)
I think generally the viewing public are entertained by the show as is shown frequently in the viewing figures, Deal or No Deal frequently tops the viewing figures for Channel 4 on a daily basis. Whether you are entertained by every show is another matter, and clearly you are not on a daily basis as your frequent posts indicate.
croftrock wrote:
I guess not. The shows this week have been some of the highest rated of the recent series both in terms of numbers and share. "Missing the big money" shows are always big hits with viewers. People enjoy seeing how people react I suspect.
The figures have proved over the years that viewers like the show irrespective of the actual size of the win or the gambles. The 20 most popular shows include big wins, big losses, huge missed opportunities, good characters - you name it.
Everyone here just seems to assume that big gambles are the lifeblood of deal but there is actually no evidence for that at all in the figures. I think it's because the uk version is focused on people and banter to provide the lion's share of the entertainment so the actual game is less pivotal than you think.
As I wrote above it's not everyone here that thinks the big gambles are the lifeblood of the show, the problem is you get a very vocal few who rant on every day that the deal was totally wrong and the show/contestants are pathetic!! This tends to really distort the general feeling on most show threads, as the vocal few rant away with their negative views about the deal, and focus totally on this rather than the "entertainment" aspect of the show which as you say is clearly what the producers and Noel aim to achieve in each show. These negative posts by their nature tend to stand out more as you read through the threads and even when a total player win is achieved as Derek did today, the threads can take on a negative slant as the vocal minority show their disinterest!