“The amazing success of this programme”

Deal or no Deal again.

It opened on Saturday with a pre-titles bit featuring Noel breast-beating about its “amazing success” in changing people’s lives (he seems big on that), particularly regarding the bloke on Friday who’d packed in his job to go on the show and won £10. The Saturday contestant, John (think I’ve seen him on something else – gantry crew?) had been on for five weeks, which Noel went on about, how John had made an impact on him, and he’d been looking forward to seeing him in the chair.

What I also liked was John, at one point, asking some of his trusted confidantes for advice on what to do. I like the way it’s almost become a little community. Is it too bold (or too crap) to describe DOND as the first quiz-soap? There was also lots of speculation about whether having a large sum in your box makes it more or less likely that you will have one today, and that opening the boxes with pace (usually) yields better results. I love all this. Why isn’t there a DOND play-along Flash game on the C4 website yet?

My mum, a television touchstone a la Old Ma Dyke, loves it, and regularly tells me on the phone what’s been happening, brilliantly in the argot of the show (“he got rid of most of the blue numbers, then the banker phoned up, and Noel …”)

I think that bit about “amazing success” – 3m on Friday, according to DigitalSpy, winning its slot, makes a lengthy recommission inevitable. I hope they don’t start trying primetime specials or anything like that, yet.