Let's Make a Deal

If you have The Game Show Network you should make it a point to check out Let's Make a Deal. The show can be nerve-racking, but is fun to see all the prizes everyone wins. Host Monte Hall and the late announcer Jay Stewart (who plays a larger role than most game show announcers) have great sense of humors and make the show very enjoyable to watch. Besides, its fun to see how stupid some of the costumes the contestants wear are. All in all, Let's Make a Deal is a classic game show well worth watching.

The Game Show Network has recently started airing old reruns of Let's Make a Deal. I'm really enjoying seeing it again. Monty Hall really knows how to work an audience. But my favorite feature of the show has to be the "zonk" (when a person trades in a known prize for an unknown one behind a door or curtain, and it turns out to be a gag gift, such as a farm animal). Everything, from the theme song, to the announcer Jay Stewart, to the prize model Carol Merrill, brings back nice memories.

God I love this show. It is back on GSN so life is good. I love this show when it first came on. Something about the colors and the spontaneity's of the contestants made it very addicting. Monty Hall has to be one of the best hosts ever. He did not know what to expect, what decision was going to be made so he had to deal with the unknown which is how the contestant is going to react. I just saw one when a woman chased him around the audience. He is very quick on his feet. And cool as a cucumber. And a quick thinker. I do not think he gets the credit he deserves.

He also has two sidekicks Carol Merril and Jay Stewart. Both were very active, more then let's say a Vanna White and the announcer on The Price is Right. Jay had to be the hardest working guy on TV. One minute he is announcing and bringing trays back and forth, the next second he is dressed as a old lady who is sitting on this giant rocking chair as a Zonk. Carol who is a one lady Barkers Beauty presents most of the stage prizes and she also gets dressed up for zonks too.

What fascinates me about the show now is they we can see how much appliances have changed and how much cars were. I just saw a brand new station wagon for 4,000 dollars. I have seen this show give away high charged Camaro's worth at the time 2500 dollars. We see side by side refrigerators in that horrible yellow or green color with no water or ice on the door. Microwaves were all called radar ranges. Defunct food chains like Tasty Kreme, perfumes that I haven't heard about in years, such as Evening in Paris. Quasar Color TV's in those old fashion cabinets. Quadiphonic stereos, or that brand Electrophonic, what ever happened to them? Vacations on defunct airlines like Braniff, Pan Am and Eastern. Giving away fur coats like a chinchilla worth 5000 dollars.

It is a trip down memory lane every time I watch the show. The Price is Right obviously took some ideas from this show. Not the original Price is Right with Bill Cullen but the newer incarnation of it that was hosted by Denns Day and Bob Barker I am going to tape this show now so when GSN takes if off its schedule again I will be able to go back in time anytime I want.

If you are looking for a fast paced show check this out. Monty Hall is flawless. Carol is great. I believe she is related to some big actor but I can't think of who it is. And watch Jay. He does more changes then a high price model during Fashion week in NYC.

First off, I must say that this is a fun game show. Also, since I'm 26, I haven't seen every episode. However, I do know the show very well. Every time I've watched it, I've had a lot of fun playing along and watching. The thing I like most about it are the deals, but the costumes the contestants wear are really goofy. Still, I still have fun playing along. I hope the Game Show Network keeps it on so I can play along and watch again. If that happens, I will be really happy. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever. Now, in conclusion, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.

Like all you others out there that were thankful when GSN brought the show back on the air for a brief run, I made it a point to make sure and get the VCR rolling to get episodes preserved, for who knows when it may ever come out on season DVD. And indeed, the show's moments were classic from the new cars to the dreaded zonks. It's a pity they weren't able to go a bit further back in time to the early to mid 60's when the show was really in full popularity...wondering if ABC preserved those tapes??? They didn't have very many game shows on at that time, and I've heard that one of the networks scrapped a lot of classic game shows from the vault before anyone could watch them again in reruns. If you're a Christian, you may remember the Christian comedy group Isaac Air Freight that started their album "Fun In The Son" with a brilliant parody of the show called "Let's Trade Your Salvation" where the gifts were the enticement against the Bible and Monty Hall became Monty Lucifer who was booed by the audience. It is hilarious but does give a great message.