Network: Global Television Network
Broadcast Run: 2007
Broadcast Medium: Television
One of the most popular game shows on North American TV at the time, Deal or No Deal was hosted by Canadian Howie Mandel and aired in Canada on Global Television. The show gave contestants a chance to win up to $1 million by choosing one of 26 briefcases. Each case was numbered and held by a model. The contestant would then choose more cases, opened one at a time, each revealing an amount of money from one cent to one million which would take that amount out of the running. After each round of choices, a banker who was only shown in shadow would telephone down to Howie Mandel on stage to reveal a cash offer for the contestant to leave the game. The contestant could accept or decline, until they either accepted a deal from the banker, or went all the way to the end and opened up the one case they had chosen for themselves at the beginning of the game.
This U.S. show was so popular with Canadian viewers that Global had a Canadian special series created that aired only in Canada. Premiering after Global’s telecast of Super Bowl XLI on February 4, 2007, the 5-part series ran through to March and became Global Televison’s biggest TV success story of 2007 with over 2 million viewers per show.
The Canadian series was produced expressly for Global Television by Insight Production Company Ltd. and Endemol USA.
Broadcast: 2007
Time slot: First show Sunday, Feb 4th at approx. 10 pm, following the Superbowl, then for 4 weeks on Thursdays at 9 pm
Running time: 60 minutes
Written by Joanne Ingrassia – March, 2007