Let's Make a Deal

As someone who loved the many versions of the Monty Hall-helmed "Let's Make A Deal", I was happy to hear about this revival a year ago. While it's not perfect, it's still way better than any other game show on T.V.

I've been a big fan of Wayne Brady for years; I've seen his stage show here in Ottawa. As one of the best improv comics around, he's able to use his myriad talents to fit into any situation his contestants place him in. I know that some purists prefer Monty's no-nonsense car salesman style but what can you do?

Wayne's good friend Jonathan Mangum is the announcer and the two share tremendous chemistry, which helps keep the show entertaining. They have worked together in Las Vegas for several years and put that to good use.

I was never a fan of Alison Fiori as the original door girl; Tiffany Coyne is a huge improvement here. She reminds me of Carol Merrill, the woman who had the same duties when Monty hosted. She's cool.

I especially like watching a game show during The Great Depression 2 and seeing what decisions people are making in regards to deals. It adds something to the show, that honest and unflinching reality we live in.

The only problem I have with Let's Make A Deal is that I'd prefer Wayne to just pick people quickly like Monty did. I don't know why he needs to go all 80's and have music playing while he chooses somebody.

Still, the show is great fun and Monty Hall has a hand in it so it's true to its source. I like some of the games they play and the contestants' crazy antics fit well since they are costumed. I'm glad to see a new season of shows are being aired and I will be enjoying this until May.

I do hope they get to return to Las Vegas, though. It seems to be more Vegas than Los Angeles in regards to atmosphere.

I used to enjoy "Let's Make a Deal" whenever I had the chance to watch it. Now with host Wayne Brady, it's more like a forum for Mr. Brady to sing, dance & use so much time performing instead of the reason he's hosting - to make deals with people. I find it really annoying that he spends all this time on the show using it to perform. That's not why he's there.

After two attempts to revive Let's Make a Deal without Monty Hall, the third time turned out to be a charm as CBS revived the show to replace the long running soap opera Guiding Light with Wayne Brady as host. I have seen numerous episodes and to me it's a successful revival of a classic game show since the producers and Hall, who serves as a consultant made the right choice in hiring Brady.

Coming off a stint on Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics, Brady shows that he is a very competent host, injecting humor, not overpowering the game and having excellent rapport with contestants, which is a good asset for a game show host. He's also one of the few African- American game show hosts who is destined to have a long run. Let's Make a Deal has always been one of the most difficult shows to host and Brady has the ability to do what Bob Hilton and Billy Bush failed to do, build drama and suspense and have a quick wit.

Also added to the show's success is announcer/sidekick Jonathan Mangum. He has outstanding chemistry with Brady the way hall had with Jay Stewart and he also should have an outstanding future ahead of him as a game show announcer. Let's not overlook the show's model Tiffany Coyne.

CBS made the right choice in adding Let's Make a Deal to its daytime lineup, the first new network daytime game show in 15 years and by allowing stations to run it in either the morning or afternoon, it could have the potential to have a long run. And that's no zonk.

I have enjoyed this revival hosted by Wayne Brady for quite a long time. This show has had a lot of good qualities over the years, and it was a show I would look forward to every day. It had laughs, fun, and a whole bunch of prizes and funny zonks. But after 12 years, does this revival still stand strong?

To be honest, it's a little hard to say. Season 12 of LMAD has recently ended, and I was unfortunately a bit underwhelmed with this last season. Don't get me wrong, many of the same great games of the show were still there, but that's part of the problem: it creates a feeling of deja vu. Only 2 games were added to the show this season, and while that's better than nothing, it isn't enough to make the show feel brand new. As a result, I felt as if they played it safe this season, but at least they didn't try to fix what isn't broken.

Actually, it's probably a good thing they played it safe. After all, we are still in the middle of the pandemic right now, and I think the team did a great job to protect their contestants from Covid. The new format is designed quite well, with 12 contestants onstage socially distanced from each other, and 18 more contestants playing from the comfort of their homes.

Unfortunately, I noticed that when Wayne picks contestants, he mostly picks contestants onstage rather than the ones at home, and it feels a bit unbalanced as a result.

The flaws don't quite end there, however. One of the problems with this show is that when Wayne offers money to stop playing certain games, he can go a bit too far so that the contestant takes the money but misses out on a truly amazing prize, usually a car or a vacation. A good example of this is when a woman played 0 to 80, a game where you must pick up tokens and reach 80 miles per hour in 4 picks or less. After her second pick, she was already at 60 miles per hour, but Wayne offered $1,000 not to continue. Then $2,000. Then $3,000. She agreed to take the $3,000 before her third pick, which would have won her the car. It sometimes feels like Wayne doesn't want to give out these prizes at all, and while this has always been a problem with the show, it only feels more frustrating now.

Still, as previously mentioned, this show has a lot of great qualities. Oftentimes, Wayne will reward a person $100 or so if they get zonked but show an impressive talent or if it's a friends birthday. Speaking of zonks, the show boasts a great variety of zonks, which are funny but worthless prizes. A lot of these zonks are very clever, such as a pot of mold(as opposed to a pot of gold) or a jelly bean purse.

Meanwhile, many of the games are good fun to watch, though it can be a bit tiring to watch the same game 100 times or so. Though most of them are luck based, some involve a bit of trivia or even drawing something as accurately as possible within 15 seconds.

All in all, Let's Make a Deal has had an impressive run over the years, and this revival has been quite enjoyable for some time. However, it could definitely use some improvements, such as adding a few new games. I also agree with the discrimination comments somewhat, as Wayne can sometimes be a bit picky with the contestants. In the end though, this is still a rock solid show, even if I did find season 12 to be a bit underwhelming, though it certainly isn't worse than previous seasons.

When CBS announced the cancellation of Guiding Light and chose Let's Make A Deal as Guiding Light's replacement show many fans were disappointed at Guiding Light's cancellation but happy to see Let's Make A Deal return in a new version to TV. Although many people think this version of Let's Make A Deal seems like a spin-off of The Price Is Right because it's produced by FremantleMedia and shares Mike Richards as producer CBS has come to air a game show that people of all ages can like and enjoy on TV. When it comes to making deals and bringing joy and laughter to every contestant Wayne Brady is an excellent choice to host the show and delivers fun and excitement as the late Monty Hall did when he was the host of the original version of Let's Make A Deal and the announcer Jonathan Magnum and model Tiffany Coyne make excellent additions to the Let's Make A Deal cast along with Cat Gray who is also part of Wayne Brady's band. The only improvement I would do for Let's Make A Deal in the future is have more trips to U.S. cities be given as prizes to contestants who play rather than trips to South Africa India China England and other countries. But CBS has done an amazing job with Let's Make A Deal and I hope they can continue to keep the spirit of Monty Hall alive with future seasons. I am glad that it's still on the air and hope CBS makes more episodes and less themed episodes as well