Why Let's Make a Deal is the Greatest Game Show of All Time

Long before there was a prime-time game show called "Deal or no Deal," there was a game show called "Let's Make a Deal." As a kid, I grew up with that game show. It was wacky, and it even had animals on it, which was great to watch as a little girl.

History
Let's Make a Deal made it's debut on NBC on December 30, 1963 and actually appeared on two different networks. NBC and ABC both aired the show in prime time and as a day time game show. It had a brief run on NBC daytime between July 1990 and January 1991.

The Cast
The show was hosted by Monty Hall the "dealer" himself. His announcer was Jay Stewart. The model that showed off the prizes and moved the items on camera for the audience was Carol Merrill. There were numerous writers for the show.

How the game was played
All the members of the audience were dressed up in homemade costumes just to get Monty's attention. Before the show would start 30 people were selected to go to the bottom area of the audience to be possibly called on by Monty to "make a deal". Everyone had to have in their possession an item to make a deal with. Monty would ask someone if they would be willing to trade their "item" for cash or what was behind door number 1 or curtain number 1. Monty would then be asking them if they wanted to trade again for another prize. Watching the players get greedy for a bigger and better prize was the fun as a member of the audience at home.

The prizes
The prizes behind the doors and curtains would range from furniture to appliances to "zonks". A "zonk" was a prize that could range from a giant rocking horse to a cage full of monkeys. Several times I saw a zebra and a horse. The zonks were legally won by the contestant but after the show was over they were always offered another item or cash since many of the zonks were just too impossible for the contestant to either transport or keep. Occasionally Monty would walk through the audience and offer cash for an unusual item. One time he offered $100 to a woman for every dime she had in her purse - she produced a roll of dimes!

A bit of Trivia
The Let's Make a Deal show format is now so popular in Greece and Indonesia that they are both making their own shows. Melvin Dummar, the man made famous for his claim to the Howard Hughes fortune appeared on Let's Make a Deal in 1975. Monty Hall makes occasional appearances on TV shows. Carol Merrill now lives in Australia.

For more information, go to the official Let's Make a Deal Web site or the Wikipedia Let's Make a Deal page.