That's not me saying that, it's The Los Angeles Times. But I have to agree.

As several of us here have pointed out in the past, just look at the shows that pass for game shows nowadays. Deal Or No Deal has the gimmick of hot chicks and shiny suitcases. So far, so good (every show needs something). But then we get the most annoying guests in the history of television. Seriously, these people are so OUTGOING and have big PERSONALITIES, all of them, that the producers must give them a test before the show and won't pick anyone normal. Even their family members are this way. This was never the case on game shows before, and if you got an episode where it was like that, it stood out.

Now all of these contestants are the same, and so are the shows. After all, what is Identity but Deal Or No Deal, only with humans instead of suitcases? More annoying guests, more luck, and more stupid decisions (honestly, quit while you're ahead). And the l.......o......n.....g, drawn out pauses and "suspense" each show tries to build. Ugh.

I've already given my review of Deal Or No Deal on these pages, and Joel gave his counterpoint, so this isn't another review of the entire show, it's just an observation I have about one particular part of the show.

After a player decides to take the money, screams "Deal!" and presses the button, Howie (and viewers) want to see what WOULD have happened if the player had continued to play the game. So he'll ask "what number suitcase would you have picked?" And then the player tells him. But this is illogical. Until you're in that moment of a decision, you don't really know what you would have picked. You can think you'd pick a certain thing, but until you're faced with that decision, you don't really know, you're just guessing.

It's even worse when Howie asks the player what they would have picked after that , and then after that. You don't really know what suitcase you would have picked one, two, or three moves down the line. Makes for OK television though.

OK, yeah, I sat through the new NBC game show hosted by Howie Mandel. Supposedly it's the #1 game show around the world right now, but I just don't get it. I mean, it's a simple enough game, and it's possible to win a boatload of cash, but it really gets tedious after about, oh, 20 minutes.

There are 26 models on stage, each holding a suitcase. Each suitcase has an amount of money in it, ranging from a penny to $1,000,000. The contestant picks a suitcase, which is brought down to them and sits next to them while they play the game. The contestant keeps picking suitcases to see the amounts inside, and during the game a mysterious banker calls Howie and makes the contestant an offer for her suitcase. This continues on and on and on until you want to hurt someone.

Not only did the first contestant take too many illogical chances, but the whole bit with the banker is ridiculous. Great models though.