I’m not a big fan of games of chance and tonight’s debut episode of Deal or No Deal confirmed it. The promos declared this most pointless of all game shows is sweeping the globe. Yes, that’s the same sales pitch used with Big Brother and the Weakest Link.

Premise in a nutshell: 26 briefcases held by 26 models (America’s Next Top Model rejects?). Each briefcase contains an amount – from a penny to a million dollars. Pick a case. We find out the amount in your case through the process of elimination. As you open up the cases, a shadowy man in a skybox calls Howie Mandel. Shadowy Skybox Man declares a number to make you stop opening briefcases. You take the money or not (that’s the deal or no deal).

So, no trivia questions, no feats of skill, nothing but opening random boxes for way too long.

It was boring tonight. It will be boring tomorrow. I’m pretty sure the contestants on the debut episode were plants. Their enthusiasm didn’t smell right. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t replaced before the holidays were over. Sorry Howie.

On the plus side, 30 minutes into it, the Tivo asked us if we’d like the channel changed. Yes. Thank you, Tivo.

Update 27 Dec 2005: Bob at TV Squad feels the same way.